CJ definitely is bothered by Christmas. Any sign of Christianity seems to bother people on the extreme left.
There was no concept of a national Christmas holiday until the mid-1800s.Congress regularly was in session during Christmas until 1855. And many Christian sects didn't celebrate it at all. To think of it as embedded deep in the traditions of the country would be wrong.
That's extremely misleading. Dicken's Christmas Carol, set in England, was published in 1843, indicating that Christmas traditions in Anglo-American culture go back a long way. Certainly, different churches and national cultures have different traditions and the way in Christmas was celebrated has changed over time.
If Christmas were really a recent introduction we wouldn't have Christmas carols in English that go back centuries like these:
"Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" is a Christmas carol that first appeared in 1739 in the collection Hymns and Sacred Poems, having been written by Charles Wesley.
"The First Noel" (also written "The First Noël" and "The First Nowell") is a traditional classical English carol, most likely from the 18th century, although possibly earlier.
Circa 1760 (from Three New Christmas Carols, Printed and Sold at the Printing-Office on Bow Church-Yard, London):God rest you merry, Gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay,
For Jesus Christ our Savior
Was born upon this Day.
To save poor souls from Satan's power,
Which long time had gone astray.
Which brings tidings of comfort and joy.
Christmas carols in English first appear in a 1426 work of John Awdlay, a Shropshire chaplain, who lists twenty five "caroles of Cristemas", probably sung by groups of ' wassailers', who went from house to house.
At Christmas 1744, the Wesleys paid to have 1500 copies of a pamphlet of Christmas hymns printed by William Strahan in London, the Hymns for Christmas Day (1744). ..... Christmas 1745, the Wesleys issued an 18-hymn collection of entirely new Christmas hymns (presumably written by Charles), Hymns for the Nativity of our Lord. This collection was extremely popular among Methodists of the day, and it's believed that the pamphlet went through at least 25 printings in Britain before Charles’s death in 1788.
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