Christmas (Part 1) - The reason for the Season

I'm not a Christian but I will be celebrating a festival called “Christmas” on the 25^th December, so doesn't that make me a hypocrite ?

It's part of the regular dialogue between Christians and non-Christians in early December every year with Christians proclaiming that Jesus is the “Reason for the Season” and non-Christians countering with examples of pre-Christian winter festivals such as Saturnalia or Sol Invictus.

Again, drawing on my previous experiences of a non-Christian faith path but also as a Skeptic, I take a slightly different view. I do not cite Saturnalia or Sol Invictus but instead look to the sacred landscape. The evidence at sites like Stonehenge and Newgrange demonstrates a clear ability to note a significant date in architecture that predates the arrival of the Romans in Britain by more than a thousand years.

At Stonehenge it is possible to use the site to note both the Summer (at sunrise) and Winter (at sunset) solstices. At Newgrange it is also possible to use the site to note the Winter (at sunrise) solstice.

Both Stonehenge and Newgrange are major works of human endeavour in their creation, development and maintenance over many centuries.

From those two examples, one in Wiltshire, England and the other in County Meath, Ireland it is clear that dismissing pre-Christian festivals noting a recurring annual event close to the 25^th December by focusing on the Roman festivals of Saturnalia or Sol Invictus is mistaken.

In other words the reason for the season is not Jesus but the Winter solstice which is a naturalistic event and the evidence is in the landscape, and still there for us to see.