So what is it all about?

I suspect an alien landing on Earth today would find it quite possible to go through the festive season without gleaning the slightest clue as to what we were actually celebrating.

I bought a "Christmas Traditions" magazine last year that managed to fill over 100 pages without once referring to the birth of Jesus Christ. So I thought I'd give a quick synopsis for any passing aliens, and explain some of our more puzzling traditions...

•   God is painfully aware that his Chosen People, mankind, made in his own image, have fallen from grace & decided to go their own way, so he decides to send them a Saviour. He drops hints throughout the ages that the baby will be born into the Jewish Royal Family.
•   But the baby is born into an obscure branch of this family, to an as-yet-unmarried mother, in modest circumstances & extraordinary times. Fortunately her fiance Joseph is in on the plot.
•   Because the Roman conquerors have ordered everyone back to their home towns for a census, and all the hotel rooms in Bethlehem have been taken, the baby ends up actually arriving in a pub stable. But God lights a star above the stable, and sends some "herald angels" to let the ordinary people (e.g. shepherds) know what's going on.
•   They drop everything & rush to worship the child. But they are followed by the Magi, a group of wise & powerful men, who know by their studies of the stars that something world-changing is happening. They unwittingly let Herod, the puppet King, know where they're going and why, & he decides to eliminate any potential opposition.
•   So Herod arranges to have all baby boys in the area slaughtered; Mary, Joseph and the baby escape by the skin of their teeth and lie low for a while; Jesus, though showing exceptional intelligence and wisdom as a child, grows up to be a carpenter in a town called Nazareth.The rest of this dramatic story doesn't belong here...

This is all explained in the Bible, but in a slightly confusing "Flashback from different viewpoints" format. There is some evidence that Mary & Joseph went on to have several children of their own, so Our Lord probably grew up in a "large family" environment! Many of our Christmas traditions such as the use of stars & angels come directly from the Nativity story; others have a more tenuous connection and some are downright pagan. Here are some quick explanations...

•   We give and receive presents in honour of God's gift to us.
•   Candles, Christmas tree lights, candle arches etc. symbolise the Light coming into the world.
•   Evergreens, such as the Holly & the Ivy, and the Christmas Tree itself, symbolise everlasting life, which He came to give us.
•   Paperchains and other linked decorations represent the links between the members of the Christian family, all over the world.
•   Mistletoe is definitely a hangover from the pagan midwinter feasts - but isn't it fun!

These are all human traditions, not holy commandments, but I reckon God is all in favour of us having a good old knees up - after all, He turned the water into wine, not the other way around!

Click here to find out why we celebrate Easter...

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