"Christmas has lost its true meaning."

[Oh look, another essay.]

"Christmas has lost its true meaning." Discuss.

Where has the deeply religious aspect of Christmas gone? How has it been almost entirely replace by a fat hairy man who single-handedly represents capitalism?

Christmas as a feast is meant to celebrate the birth of Jesus, or Christ. The day itself was actually chosen to be the 25th of December by Pope Julius I in 336 AD. The reason most probably being that it is nine months after the feast of the Annunciation; in which Christianity celebrated the news that was given to Mary by the archangel Gabriel. According to the best information and research done however, Jesus' real birthday was found to be the 14th May in 6 BC. How many members of the general public know any of this as the reason why they all look forward to the season?

My point is that people have no idea what the day really means, let alone what they're actually celebrating. They are all preoccupied with frantically looking for gifts and how to decorate their house to compete with their neighbours' without sparing half a thought to purchase and decorate some sort of crib. You can forget charity if it's not to do with "Istrina" in Malta. I am not in any was criticising Catholicism and its faith, I am, however, criticising and wholly blaming the self-proclaimed "practising" Catholics who conveniently forget their faith on the second most important day to it.

What of Christmas' real world-wide mascot? Here's a little history about the symbol replacing Christ with materialism. Christmas was first personified as "lord Sire Christemas" in an English carol which was found as an anonymous manuscript dating back to 1458 AD. Another carol of the same era which is attributed to Richard Smert also uses the same name to personify the feast. The large, jolly man as we know him today in his red and white garments was actually created by a German-born American caricaturist. His name is Thomas Nast and until his drawing in 1863, Santa was depicted as a long, thin man, usually in green. So can we say that the world has chosen this cartoon figure over Jesus? Considering all the legends and myths surrounding the persona, I say yes. He seems to be some sort of incentive for children to be good lest they want to get coal for Christmas.

I do half expect Christmas to be, if not done away with entirely, very heavily modified in about a century. Perhaps the story of Christ will also be dismissed as just another children's story, just like the fat, bearded man. Perhaps I should also start referring to the day as Xmas, that is the politically correct way nowadays anyway.

[Just in case you wanted a column-esque history lesson about Christmas.]