Arsenal Cannon (Indianapolis, Ind.), December 16, 1920

              ARSE
GifJlA
CANNON
Issue
Volume 16
Indianapolis, Ind., December 16, 1920
Number 6
"Christmas."
Christmas or the Mass of Christ, is known
in the Christian Church as the festival of the
nativity of Jesus Christ. The earliest body of
gospel tradition begins with the baptism of Jesus, not his birth, for the belief was that his
spiritual rebirth occurred on the day of his baptism. Before the fifth century there was no
common opinion as to when his baptism occurred, whether it was January sixth, March
twenty-fifth or December twenty-fifth.
The earliest identification of December
twenty-fifth with the birth of Christ was in
a passage of Theophilus Antioch, 171-183 AD,
that as they celebrated' the birth of the Lord
on December 25th, whatever day of the week
it be, they ought to celebrate the Hascha on
the 25th of March, the day of his resurrection.
Hyppolytus also says that Jesus was born at
Bethlehem on the 25th of December, a Wednesday, in the forty-second year of Augustus.
No feasts were mentioned in any of these passages and as late as 245 A D, Origen repudiated
as sinful, the idea of keeping Christ's birthday
as if he were a King of Pharaoh. In a Latin
Chronographer, the following passage was
found, "In year one, after Christ, in the consulate of Caesar and Paulus, the Lord Jesus
Christ was born on the 25th of December, a
Friday and the 15th day of the new moon".
No festal celebration was mentioned.
During the second century there was much
speculation as to the date of birth and date of
baptism of Christ. The 25th of December was
called the Natalis invicti solis, the birthday of
the unconquered sun. Many people changed the
date of Christ's birth from January 6th to December 25th, saying that Christ was "solverus."
The Romans were accused of worshipping the
sun when they changed this date.
The custom of the feast originated in the
West and spread rapidly until in 400 AD the
Imperial Rescript of Rome included Christmas
as one of their three feast days. The other two
were held on Easter and Ephiphany. For years,
however, this feast was held on the baptisma
date, the   6th of   January, instead   of on   the
birthday of Christ.
There are two probable reasons why the
Christmas feast was introduced. (1) At this
time occurred the transition of baptism from
adult to youth and with it came the belief that
divine life dated from the birth, and not the
baptism of Christ. The feast was held to celebrate the birth of Christ. (2) Manichaean
propaganda said that Christ was a fantasy or
at least was not in the flesh. A feast was held
in protest against this belief, to show that
Christ was a man and was born in the flesh.
In Britain the 25th of December is called
"modra nicht," or "mother's night',, after the
night long celebrations when the date was considered as the beginning of the new year. In
1644 the English Puritans, by Parliament, forbade any merry making or religious services on
Decemher 25th, and ordered it kept by a fast.
Otherwise, they declared, they would be observing a heathen holiday.
The custom of giving gifts originated in the
Teutonic countries and has spread through
many countries. On the other hand, many
countries do not observe this custom.
Our Big Parade
The general impression which the people of
Indianapolis gained from Tech's great parade
was the vastness of our student body. Several
people were heard to remark, "Hm-m! Didn't know there were so many kids in Indianapolis!" Everyone was drawn to the windows
by the glorious uproar, the waving of the beautiful green and white, and by the music of
Tech's wonderful band. Those who heard the
exercises given on the steps of the monument
were greatly affected by the excellent school
spirit. After the exercises were over there were
not many people who did not leave the scene
of the celebration thinking that Tech was the
one and only great High School in Indianapolis. Oran Osban
If you wish to have membership on the Staff,
see Miss Sengenberger at once!