Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
& the Story of Santa Claus
K.Gajendra Singh ,December, 2012 , Mayur Vihar, Delhi ,FOUNDATION FOR INDO-TURKIC STUDIES
Wishing you and your family Merry Christmas and a very healthy, happy and prosperous New Year
Below is a piece on Santa Claus and the evolution of Christmas celebrations around the world .While posted at Ankara ( 1969-73 ,1992-98 ) I visited as many places as possible associated with Christianity ie Santa Claus , Jesus Christ ,St Paul and Mary ,supposedly buried in Turkey, known as Asia Minor in history.
The piece was written for my granddaughter Tara Singh Breuer.
"If one drives from the Turkish city of Fethiye to Antalya, littered with hotels and resorts for millions of tourists who throng its Mediterranean coast, which was known as Lycia in ancient times, after passing innumerable ancient ruins, one reaches the town of Demre, known as Myra in olden days.
In the center of the town one will come across the Church of St Nicholas, the patron saint of children, sailors and the poor and one of the most popular saints in Christianity now associated with the celebration of Christmas. Many legends have been woven around Nicholas, who was the bishop of this church in the 4th century AD and where he died in 342. He was born in about 280 AD in the town of Patara, which the traveler would have passed about 100 kilometers earlier."
In the center of the town one will come across the Church of St Nicholas, the patron saint of children, sailors and the poor and one of the most popular saints in Christianity now associated with the celebration of Christmas. Many legends have been woven around Nicholas, who was the bishop of this church in the 4th century AD and where he died in 342. He was born in about 280 AD in the town of Patara, which the traveler would have passed about 100 kilometers earlier."
Some of you might have read this piece earlier, so I have added some info about the origins of the New Year celebrations, now almost universal and the greetings in local languages around the world. Basically, the celebrations began from crop harvesting season by our ancestors and the celebration of the life gifted by Mother Earth and the Sun, a dominant god in almost all ancient religions and cultures, and both worshipped in various forms including the fertility cult by all early agricultural societies.
New Year Celebrations
In countries using the Gregorian calendar, the New Year is usually celebrated on January 1. Although by tradition, the Roman calendar began from the first day of March but it was in January (the eleventh month) that the Consuls of ancient Rome assumed the government. Julius Caesar, in 47 BC, created the Julian calendar. It was modified in 44 BC at the time of Mark Antony, then by the emperor Augustus Caesar in 8BC .And finally by Pope Gregory XIII in 1585, the current calendar which begins on January 1.
Subsequently, it acquired a religious significance during the middle Ages and in later centuries. Following the domination of the West and the dissemination of its system to the rest of the world during the twentieth century, January 1 celebrations have become almost universal, even in countries with their own hoary ancient New Year traditions and celebrations (e.g., China, India, Iran etc).
Jamshedi Navroz: Celebration of Life - Jamshedi Navroz
One of the oldest tradition of new year are those of Iran's Zoroastrians or Parsis in India .Their prophet Zarathushtra accorded as much sanctity to nature as to human existence. The Sun became the celestial emblem of the Fire which was kept burning within the homes and fire-temples on earth as an eternal tribute to the spirit of the Creator, Ahura Mazda.
A benediction to the spirit of the Sun proclaims: "When the Sun rises, the land created by Ahura Mazda becomes purified. If the Sun were not to rise, evil forces would devastate all that exists.'' During winter the power of the Sun decreases, the nights are long and cold, nature slumbers.
Then on March 21, the Sun enters the sign of Aries and this day is known as the spring or Vernal Equinox. From this day on the power of the Sun waxes, the days get longer and nature rejoices. King Jamshed of the Peshdadian dynasty in ancient Iran introduced the Sun-calendar with the day of the Vernal Equinox as the first day of the year - Naoroz (new day).
Jamshedi Navroz is celebrated not only by the Zoroastrians, but also by Muslims in Iran, Afghanistan, Kurdistan and some parts of the former Soviet Union. Entire families go to the countryside to be close to nature, to celebrate the coming of spring. Iranians prepare a table with seven articles beginning with the letter 'S': Sib (apple), sabzi (vegetable), sirkey (vinegar), soomac (powder), sir (garlic), sikke (coin), senjed (olive).
Both Zoroastrians and Aryans, being of the same stock i.e. Indo- Iranians, worshipped fire. Parsees in India still do so. Hindus also worship Agni (fire); during Hawans for marriages and other religious and social functions. Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan, north of Iran, told me that in ancient times his country was known as Aagban, Aagbaan etc. which could perhaps mean forest of fire or an arrow of fire. Near Azerbaijan's capital Baku is Atishgah, a temple with a burning fire from natural gas seeping out from earth's crevices .It was believed to have many miraculous powers which brought happiness and wellbeing to visitors and devotees .Located on the silk route, a number of Indian traders- Parsees, Punjabis, Gujaratis and others visited it and built rooms for their stay and for their horses.
In south east Turkey , where the Kurds, an Iranian related people are in majority but their language and culture are suppressed, celebrate Nawroz with great fanfare as a mark of defiance against the unitary Turkish state , whose secular elite celebrates the New Year with European style balls and feasts .
India in its diversity.
A culturally rich and diverse country, India, where different regions follow different traditions and cultures the New Year celebrations also manifold. Like other ancient civilizations, the New Year celebrations are associated with harvesting of crops. Almost every Indian state has its own history and traditions behind the celebrations .So the people celebrate New Year as per their regional calendar with vibrant colors with their own distinctive features .It also provides many lazy Indians in bureaucracy to take another day off from work.
New Year dates of many religions coincide with each other. Baisakhi falls on April 13 or 14 every year and so does Bihu inAssam, Nabo Barsho in Bengal, Puthandu in Tamil Nadu and Pooram Vishu in Kerala. In an agriculturally rich country New Year in different regions of India are usually celebrated to mark the time for harvesting of crops. In some places, the religious minded people celebrate it to honor Lord Brahma, creator of the universe. Whatever be the reason, the day begins with pooja at homes and temples followed by specific customs and rituals. At the time of New Year, every house is adorned with auspicious flowers, leaves and lights. People also present traditional New Year gifts to their dear ones and share rich meals with families and friends to mark the auspicious day.
New Year dates of many religions coincide with each other. Baisakhi falls on April 13 or 14 every year and so does Bihu inAssam, Nabo Barsho in Bengal, Puthandu in Tamil Nadu and Pooram Vishu in Kerala. In an agriculturally rich country New Year in different regions of India are usually celebrated to mark the time for harvesting of crops. In some places, the religious minded people celebrate it to honor Lord Brahma, creator of the universe. Whatever be the reason, the day begins with pooja at homes and temples followed by specific customs and rituals. At the time of New Year, every house is adorned with auspicious flowers, leaves and lights. People also present traditional New Year gifts to their dear ones and share rich meals with families and friends to mark the auspicious day.
In north India's agriculturally prominent and prosperous states of Punjab and Haryana, the festival of Lohri "The Bonfire Festival" is celebrated on 13th January every year. The festival marks the solar equinox when the Sun starts moving towards Uttarayan (North). People specially the farming community of Punjab celebrate it with great gusto, zeal and enthusiasm. Bonfires, songs and dance, til Jaggery and peanuts are an essence of Lohri celebrations. In north India, especially in Punjab which prides itself on its food grain production, its most significant festival is Baisakhi (also called Vaisakhi) .This harvest festival is celebrated on the thirteenth day of April according to the solar calendar.
Pongal is a four-days-long harvest festival in Tamil Nadu, in south India. It falls generally on the 14th or the 15th of January and is the quintessential 'Tamil Festival'. It is a festival of thanksgiving to nature for celebrating the life cycles that give us grain. It takes its name from the Tamil word meaning "to boil" .It is held in the month of Thai (January-February) when rice and other cereals, sugar-cane, and turmeric (an essential ingredient in Tamil cooking) are harvested.
Tamilians say 'Thai pirandhaal vazhi pirakkum', and believe that knotty family problems will be solved with the advent of Thai. This is also traditionally a month of weddings. This is no surprise in a largely agricultural community - the riches gained from a good harvest form the economic basis for expensive family occasions like weddings.
This first day is celebrated as Bhogi festival in honor of Lord Indra, the supreme ruler of clouds that give rains. Homage is paid to Lord Indra for the abundance of harvest, thereby bringing plenty and prosperity to the land. Another ritual observed on this day is Bhogi Mantalu, when useless household articles are thrown into a fire made of wood and cow-dung cakes. Girls dance around the bonfire, singing songs in praise of the gods, the spring and the harvest. The significance of the bonfire, in which is burnt the agricultural wastes and firewood is to keep warm during the last lap of winter.
Tamilians say 'Thai pirandhaal vazhi pirakkum', and believe that knotty family problems will be solved with the advent of Thai. This is also traditionally a month of weddings. This is no surprise in a largely agricultural community - the riches gained from a good harvest form the economic basis for expensive family occasions like weddings.
This first day is celebrated as Bhogi festival in honor of Lord Indra, the supreme ruler of clouds that give rains. Homage is paid to Lord Indra for the abundance of harvest, thereby bringing plenty and prosperity to the land. Another ritual observed on this day is Bhogi Mantalu, when useless household articles are thrown into a fire made of wood and cow-dung cakes. Girls dance around the bonfire, singing songs in praise of the gods, the spring and the harvest. The significance of the bonfire, in which is burnt the agricultural wastes and firewood is to keep warm during the last lap of winter.
Chinese New Year or Spring Festival
Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays .It is often called the Lunar New Year, especially by people in mainland China and Taiwan. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first month (Chinese: 正月; pinyin: zhēng yuè) in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th; this day is called Lantern Festival. Chinese New Year's Eve is known as Chúxī. It literally means "Year-pass Eve". The Lunisolar Chinese calendar determines New Year dates. The calendar is also used in countries that have adopted or have been influenced by Han culture (notably the Koreans, Japanese and Vietnamese) and may have a common ancestry with the similar New Years festivals outside East Asia.
Chinese New Year falls on different dates each year between January 21 and February 20. In the Chinese calendar , winter solstice must happen in the 11th month, so the Chinese New Year usually falls in the second new moon after the winter solstice (rarely in the third ) In traditional Chinese Culture, lichun is a solar term marking the start of spring, which occurs about February 4.
According to legends, the beginning of Chinese New Year started with a fight against a mythical monster called the Nien (Chinese:年; pinyin: nián), who would appear on the first day of New Year to devour livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. To protect themselves, the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the beginning of every year believing that a food satisfied Nien would spare them . Once, people saw that the Nien was scared away by a little child wearing red. So, when the New Year is about to commence the villagers hang red lanterns and red spring scrolls on windows and doors. They also use firecrackers to frighten away the Nien. The Nien was eventually captured by Hongjun Laozu, an ancient Taoist monk and became the latter's mount.
The New Year Greetings around the world
| Language | Happy New Year |
| Afghani | Saale Nao Mubbarak |
| Afrikaans | Gelukkige nuwe jaar |
| Albanian | Gezuar Vitin e Ri |
| Arabic | Antum salimoun |
| Armenian | Snorhavor Nor Tari |
| Assyrian | Sheta Brikhta |
| Azeri | Yeni Iliniz Mubarek! |
| Bengali | Shuvo Nabo Barsho |
| Cambodian | Soursdey Chhnam Tmei |
| Catalan | FELIÇ ANY NOU |
| Chinese | Chu Shen Tan / Xin Nian Kuai Le |
| Corsican Language | Pace e Salute |
| Croatian | Sretna Nova godina! |
| Cymraeg (Welsh) | Blwyddyn Newydd Dda |
| Czechoslovakia | Scastny Novy Rok |
| Danish | Godt Nytår |
| Dhivehi | Ufaaveri Aa Aharakah Edhen |
| Dutch | GELUKKIG NIEUWJAAR! |
| Eskimo | Kiortame pivdluaritlo |
| Esperanto | Felican Novan Jaron |
| Estonians | Head uut aastat! |
| Ethiopian | MELKAM ADDIS AMET YIHUNELIWO! |
| Finnish | Onnellista Uutta Vuotta |
| French | Bonne Annee |
| Gaelic | Bliadhna mhath ur |
| German | Prosit Neujahr |
| Greek | Kenourios Chronos |
| Gujarati | Nutan Varshbhinandan |
| Hawaiian | Hauoli Makahiki Hou |
| Hebrew | L'Shannah Tovah |
| Hindi | Nav varsh ka shubkamnayein |
| Hong Kong(Cantonese) | Sun Leen Fai Lok |
| Hungarian | Boldog Ooy Ayvet |
| Indonesian | Selamat Tahun Baru |
| Iranian | Saleh now mobarak |
| Iraqi | Sanah Jadidah |
| Irish | Bliain nua fe mhaise dhuit |
| Italian | Felice anno nuovo |
| Japanese | Akimashite Omedetto Gozaimasu |
| Kabyle | Asegwas Amegaz |
| Kannada | Hosa Varushadha Shubhashayagalu |
| Kisii | SOMWAKA OMOYIA OMUYA |
| Khmer | Sua Sdei tfnam tmei |
| Korea | Saehae Bock Mani ba deu sei yo! |
| Kurdish | NEWROZ PIROZBE |
| Lithuanian | Laimingu Naujuju Metu |
| Laotian | Sabai dee pee mai |
| Macedonian | Srekjna Nova Godina |
| Malay | Selamat Tahun Baru |
| Marathi | Nveen Varshachy Shubhechcha |
| Malayalam | Puthuvatsara Aashamsakal |
| Maltese | Is-Sena t- Tajba |
| Nepal | Nawa Barsha ko Shuvakamana |
| Norwegian | Godt Nyttår |
| Papua New Guinea | Nupela yia i go long yu |
| Pashto | Nawai Kall Mo Mubarak Shah |
| Persian | Saleh now ra tabrik migouyam |
| Philippines | Manigong Bagong Taon |
| Polish | Szczesliwego Nowego Roku |
| Portuguese | Feliz Ano Novo |
| Punjabi | Nave sal di mubarakan |
| Romanian | AN NOU FERICIT also la multsi An |
| Russian | S Novim Godom |
| Samoa | Manuia le Tausaga Fou |
| Serbo-Croatian | Sretna nova godina |
| Sindhi | Nayou Saal Mubbarak Hoje |
| Singhalese | Subha Aluth Awrudhak Vewa |
| Siraiki | Nawan Saal Shala Mubarak Theevay |
| Slovak | A stastlivy Novy Rok |
| Slovenian | sreèno novo leto |
| Somali | Iyo Sanad Cusub Oo Fiican! |
| Spanish | Feliz Ano ~Nuevo |
| Swahili | Heri Za Mwaka Mpyaº |
| Swedish | GOTT NYTT ÅR! /Gott nytt år! |
| Sudanese | Warsa Enggal |
| Tamil | Eniya Puthandu Nalvazhthukkal |
| Telegu | Noothana samvatsara shubhakankshalu |
| Thai | Sawadee Pee Mai |
| Turkish | Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun |
| Ukrainian | Shchastlyvoho Novoho Roku |
| Urdu | Naya Saal Mubbarak Ho |
| Vietnamese | Chuc Mung Tan Nien |
| Uzbek | Yangi Yil Bilan |
ASIA TIMES online -25 December, 2002
St Nicholas: Turkey's gift to the world
In a journey down the byways of history, K Gajendra Singh travels to Demre, on the Turkish Mediterranean coast, where he finds the Church of St Nicholas, once the domain of Bishop Nicholas, now hailed as the patron saint of children and the poor and everywhere associated with the celebration of Christmas. (Dec 24, '02)-Editor
In a journey down the byways of history, K Gajendra Singh travels to Demre, on the Turkish Mediterranean coast, where he finds the Church of St Nicholas, once the domain of Bishop Nicholas, now hailed as the patron saint of children and the poor and everywhere associated with the celebration of Christmas. (Dec 24, '02)-Editor
Written for Tara Amelia Singh-Breuer , Brussels
Turkey's gift to the world By K Gajendra Singh
If one drives from the Turkish city of Fethiye to Antalya, littered with hotels and resorts for millions of tourists who throng its Mediterranean coast, which was known as Lycia in ancient times, after passing innumerable ancient ruins, one reaches the town ofDemre, known as Myra in olden days.
In the center of the town one will come across the Church of St Nicholas, the patron saint of children, sailors and the poor and one of the most popular saints in Christianity now associated with the celebration of Christmas. Many legends have been woven around Nicholas, who was the bishop of this church in the 4th century AD and where he died in 342. He was born in about 280 AD in the town of Patara, which the traveler would have passed about 100 kilometers earlier.
As a young man Nicholas traveled to Palestine and Egypt and became the bishop at Myra on his return. He was imprisoned during the persecution of Christians by Roman Emperor Diocletian. The persecution ended when Emperor Constantine made Christianity the state religion and built his capital at Constantinople in 324 AD on the Straits of Bosporus, separating Asia and Europe. When conquered in 1453 by Sultan Fethi Mehmet, Constantinople became the new Ottoman capital, now known as Istanbul.
After his release from prison, St Nicholas attended the first Christian Council in 325 at Nicea. There is definite historical evidence of this in the records of the council. Nicea, now known as Iznik, famous for its Ottoman tiles, is not far from Istanbul on the Asian side of the city that straddles two continents.
The stories of miracles and benevolence associated with St Nicholas and the legends woven around him have identified him as Santa Claus and Father Christmas. The earliest reference to him occurs in a Greek text of the 6th century, according to which three officers condemned to death by Constantine were saved when St Nicholas appeared to the emperor in a dream. In another legend, a merchant fallen on bad times was very much worried about dowry for his three daughters who could not be otherwise married and might have ended up as prostitutes. One evening, while passing by, St Nicholas overheard the unhappy merchant's conversation of with his wife. So the next day, secretly entering by the window, he lobbed three bags of gold coins in the house of the merchant, thus enabling his daughters to marry and live happily ever afterwards.
That story lies behind the three gold balls used as a sign by pawnbrokers. Another legend consists of three boys who had been cut up by mistake by a butcher. St Nicholas restored them to life. There are many other such stories.
A biography of St Nicholas written by a 6th century abbot of a nearby church, also named Nicholas, spread his fame throughout the Christian world, starting with Germany and other countries of reformed Christianity and later to France. St Nicholas was chosen the patron saint of Russia, Greece and various charities and was a popular name for kings and common men alike. Thousands of churches are dedicated to him, the first built in the 6th century AD at Constantinople by Emperor Justinian. His miracles became the subject for medieval artists and liturgical plays.
But Santa Claus' tomb in Myra is of a later date. By the 6th century his shrine was quite well known. Being especially benevolent to sailors and merchants, who had adopted him; his remains were spirited away to Bari in Italy in 1087 by a group of merchants or sailors to save it from desecration by Muslims. His relics are enshrined in the 11th century Basilica of St Nicholas. Its removal on May 9 to Bari is celebrated with fanfare, making it a holy and crowded place of pilgrimage for Christians.
The word Christmas comes from old English cristes maesse, or "Christ's Mass". For Christians, Christmas is a celebration of Jesus' birth, although the exact date of birth is not known. However, in 336 AD, Christian leaders set the date to December 25 in an attempt to counter a popular pagan holiday in Rome that celebrated the winter solstice. Originally, Christmas involved a simple mass, but slowly it has subsumed or replaced a number of other holidays in many countries, and a large number of other religious and cultural traditions have been absorbed into the celebrations.
Christmas comes three times each year to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born. While the Western Church and the Russian Orthodox Church both celebrate Christmas on December 25, the Russian Church still uses the old Julian calendar which places their (December 25) celebration on January 7, according to our calendar. The Armenian Church celebrates on January 6 by the Julian calendar, which becomes January 19 to us. To add to the confusion, the January 6 celebration of Epiphany overlaps into the Russian Christmas. In addition, the diversity in climate has shaped Christmas festivities all over the world.
Ethnic groups have brought their own traditions, especially in an immigrant society like the United States. Even food varies from country to country. Americans concentrate on Turkey (in Turkey, the bird is called Hindi - anything exotic has to be from India), while dinner on Christmas eve in Germany consists of dishes such as suckling pig, white sausage, macaroni salad and many regional dishes.
The English celebrate Christmas season with hearty feasting and merrymaking with wild abandon. They have been doing so perhaps since King Arthur, as the legend goes, made "merrie" in 521 AD at York surrounded by "minstrels, gleemen, harpers, pipe-players, jugglers and dancers". It appears that celebrations went underground during puritan Cromwellian rule as did sex during another puritan Victorian era.
Apart from Le Pere Joel (Father Christmas), the French have Le Pere Fouettard (Father Spanker) to "reward" bad children with spanking. In the Netherlands, children are told that Santa Claus, known as Sinterklaas, arrives from Spain on a steamer on his feast day, December 6. The night before, children fill their shoes with hay and sugar for his horse. In the morning they find them filled with gifts such as nuts and candy. Sometimes Sinterklaas appears in person in the children's homes, along with his assistant, Black Pete.
The people of Twente, Denenkamp and Ootmarsum in eastern Holland announce the coming of the Christ child by blowing special horns, handcrafted from birch saplings three or four feet in length, which when blown over wells produce a deep-toned sound similar to a foghorn. This tradition goes back to around 2,500 BC when horn blowing was believed to chase evil spirits away. Now horn blowing is relayed from farm to farm to announce the arrival of the Christmas season.
In what is now the US, Christmas was perhaps first celebrated atTallahassee, Florida, in 1539 in Spanish style by Hernando de Sotoand his army. Legends of Santa Claus and the celebration of Christmas as the feast day were taken to New York by Dutch immigrants. In the beginning the Puritans in New England had even suppressed it by law (identifying it with pagan rites and Papist practices), arguing that the New Testament gave no date for Christ's birth.
But it then blossomed into a carnival and became even rowdy and disruptive, almost like "Holi" - the north Indian festival of colors. It was neither a family nor a commercial holiday at the beginning of the 19th century, but become so by its end. The transformation of Santa Claus around the 1820s, into a night visitor bringing gifts for children and the poor, made it pro-plebian and Christmas became an enjoyable festival. But Santa Claus' magical tricks, benevolence and love for children have made Christmas a family festival with gifts for children, perhaps based on Nordic tales of rewarding good children and the exchange of gifts among family members and friends. That is why people from all over the world from other religions also join in.
While New York has its tree, in California thousands flock to Hollywood for the annual Parade of Stars, while others converge on Balboa Park in San Diego for Christmas concerts on the world's largest outdoor pipe organ. Festivities range from a picnic on the beach at Waikiki or Key West to candles in a window during the twilight of a cold day in Alaska. Nowadays consumerism has overtaken simple celebrations, in the US the most, where traders, economists and government look at counter sales between Thanksgiving and Christmas for its likely impact on the US economy. As George Bernard Shaw commented, "Christmas is forced upon a reluctant and disgusted nation by the shopkeepers and the press; on its own merits it would wither and shrivel in the fiery breath of universal hatred."
To most Americans, St Nicholas is just another name for Santa Claus - plump and rosy-cheeked - whereas for most of Europeans and Asians he is a thin figure dressed in bishop's robes, also so it is shown in Demre town's square in Turkey. As Christmas in European North America falls in mid-winter, the tradition of a white snow Christmas, white bearded Santa Claus and other myths, have emerged. The popular song "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" for the movie "Holiday Inn" (1942) sung by Bing Crosby, perhaps further confirmed this perception.
Myra, though, is not cold. Nor is Patara, his birth place five kilometers from one of the longest sandy beaches in Turkey. When I went there in August 1994, it was impossible to walk on the hot sand, although many north European tourists looking like grilled lobsters were enjoying themselves, some bicycling around in steaming temperatures. But it was quite pleasant in March. Patara is also full of Roman and Byzantine ruins, including a theater, the magnificent Hadrian's Gate and a Christian Basilica.
Myra was an important town in the region. St Paul and St Luke had visited it a few times while going to Ephesus. It was the capital of the Byzantine Lycia until it fell to Caliph Harun al Rashid in 808. Apart from St Nicholas' Church, Myra attracts tourists for its shrines and rock-cut sepulchers on a hill, looking like carved wooden houses. At the foot of the hill is a large Roman theater.
Demre town is located in a swampy flat area full of mosquitoes and its hothouse cultivation of vegetables and fruit with acres of plastic sheets make for an ugly sight. The harbor of Demre, now known as Chayazi, the ancient Andriace on the river Xanthos, has boats to take one to the beaches of Kekova Island or Kas, both popular spots with rich yacht owners from Europe and the US. Turkey is now seriously in the business of exploiting its ancient historical and religious sites to attract tourists. It holds a festival every year on December 6 to celebrate St Nicholas Day at Demre, with great fanfare, inviting tourists, clergymen, journalists and others.
Turkey, known as Asia Minor in ancient times, was the cradle of early Christianity. In a grotto near Antakya (Antioch), bordering Syria, St Peter held the first mass. Followers of Jesus Christ were called Christians here for the first time. Christianity spread from here and first blossomed in the east at Edessa, now known as Urfa, from where 500 people went to Malabar Coast in the 4th century AD (and other groups later) to form early distinct Syrian Christian communities.
Nearby in Tur Abdin and Midyat, with old Syrian Christian monasteries and churches, Suryani Christians still speak Syriac, a language akin to what Jesus Christ spoke. St Paul was a native of Tarsus in Cilicia. Seven churches located in Turkey are mentioned in the Revelation of John: Ephesus (nearby the Virgin Mary is reputedly buried), Smyrna, Pergamum, Thiatira, Sardis,Philadelphia and Laodicea. Chalcedon is an Asian suburb of Istanbul, known as Kadikoy and not far from it is Nicomedea, now called Izmit, a major industrial center.
With more Greek ruins than Greece and more Roman monuments than Italy, Turkey, with its Mediterranean and Aegean coast resorts, attracts nearly 10 million to 12 million tourists a year and earns over US$8 billion in tourist dollars every year. Even Europeans are amazed to find that places where Greek and hence the earliest European political and religious thought evolved are in Turkey. The spiritual forefathers of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, the very first Greek philosophers Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenus, were born and lived in Miletus around the 6th century BC, east of present day Ephesus and Izmir, then known as Smyrna, the birth place of Homer, of Odyssey and Iliad fame.
From Ionia along Turkey's western coast entered the word Yunani for the Greeks in the Eastern lexicon. The historian Herodotus was born in Halicarnassus, now known as Bodrum, a port. The geographer Strabo was born at Amasia, east of Turkey's capital Ankara. Troy, of Helen, Trojan horse and Achilles' heel fame, is located on the Asian side of the Dardanelles. Across at Gallipoli on the European side lie buried thousands of Indian soldiers, with their Australian, New Zealand and British comrades. They were killed (some say foolishly sacrificed) in fierce battles during World War I when the mighty British navy tried to take over the peninsula. Its defense made Kemal Ataturk, a colonel then, a hero among Turks.
It was at Zile, northeast of Ankara, that Julius Caesar proclaimed veni, vidi ,vici (I came, I saw, I conquered) after his unexpected quick victory over Pharnaces II, whose father Mithradates VI had given a tough fight to the Romans. The name Mithridates (gift of Mithra), a popular name in the region, comes from the Vedic and Avestan god Mithra.
The Greek Hellenic world came in contact with the sophisticated religions and philosophy of the East, including Mithraism, after the small town boy Alexander and his hordes cut a swathe of victories across the Achaemenian Empire. They also learnt about state protocol and the divinity of the emperor. Coming into contact with neo-Platonian and other ideas, Mithraism flowered between the 2nd and 4th centuries in the Roman world and became a very popular religion among the Roman aristocracy, military leaders and soldiers, traders and slaves with powerful patrons among Roman emperors, like Commodus, Septimium Severus, Caraculla and others. Diocletian built a temple for Mithra near Vienna on Danubeas "the Protector of the Empire".
Along the Rhine, Danube, Euphrates and in Roman North Africa, where Roman legions used to camp, there are ruins of hundreds of underground Mithra temples, with the slaying of the Cosmic Bull symbolizing the creation of the universe and fertility. (Perhaps the Spanish sport of bullfighting originates from it). As the god of Light and Sun, contract, loyalty and justice, Mithraism was organized (but open only to men, being an Aryan patriarchal religion) in a graded hierarchy, with novices ascending up the highest seventh level - something like Buddhist /Hindu sanghas (orders).
Various astronomical symbols, still indecipherable, with their meanings transmitted orally from teacher to pupil in Aryan/Avestan tradition, still remain unknown. One can speculate that they were similar to levels in meditation for final unity with God. Celebrations for Mithra's birthday on December 25, the sun's solstice, was so popular in the East that Christmas had to be shifted to this day from January 6 to make it acceptable among the masses. Christianity also took over many of the rituals and symbols of Mithraism, like baptism, resurrection and prayers in honor of the sun.
The earliest written mention of Mithra, the guarantor of contract, was found on tablets not far from Ankara amid the ruins of Bogazkoy, the capital of the Indo-European Hittites. The Mithra gods (also Indra, Varuna and Natasya) were invoked as the god of oath in the peace treaty between the Hittites and the Indo-Aryan Mitannis, who ruled for three centuries in southeast Turkey andSyria (1,500 BC to 1,200 BC). The Bogazkoy archives also produced a horse-training manual. The technical terms used in horse training and chariotry, like aika wartanna, navartanna (one turn, nine turns) are like ek vartanam, nava vartanam, as in Vedic Sanskrit. Both the treaty and the training manual tablets are displayed from time to time at the Archeological Museum inIstanbul.
Mitannis also signed a peace treaty with the Pharaohs to counteract the Hittite threat from the northwest. This was cemented with Mitanni princesses being married to the Pharaohs. Princess Gilukhepa was married to Amun Hotep III. She went to her husband in style with 317 Mitannian maidens.
Later, the Mitanni king Tushratta (whose chariot wheels rolled the fastest - a la Ferrari nowadays) gave his daughter Tadukhepa to Amun Hotep IV, who also married Gilukhepa, youngest in his father's harem. It is generally believed that Gilukhepa was no other than the beautiful and famous Nefertiti. It is known that Nefertiti fully supported her husband's efforts to bring in monotheism. This upset the vested interests of priests and after their sudden disappearance, old gods and cults came back. It was from Egypt, where Moses was born and brought up, that he led out the Jews with the idea of one god Jehovah.
But for the 312 AD victory at the Milvian Bridge under the banner of the Cross, after which Constantine opted for Christianity, leading to the decline of Mithraism, it is conceivable that Mithraism might have spread and become a world religion. But like most religions, Christianity, which was itself persecuted, did the same to other religions and its own newer sects, with religion, alas, becoming another tool for control and exploitation by the powerful.
Then came Islam with jihads to counter the Crusades. The concept of crusades and jihad is once again at the forefront, and if pursued could play havoc with earthlings. It's crucial that leaders of all countries forget their short-term interests and ponder what has gone wrong with the human race. They should strive for reconciliation and peaceful solutions to differences.
After his release from prison, St Nicholas attended the first Christian Council in 325 at Nicea. There is definite historical evidence of this in the records of the council. Nicea, now known as Iznik, famous for its Ottoman tiles, is not far from Istanbul on the Asian side of the city that straddles two continents.
The stories of miracles and benevolence associated with St Nicholas and the legends woven around him have identified him as Santa Claus and Father Christmas. The earliest reference to him occurs in a Greek text of the 6th century, according to which three officers condemned to death by Constantine were saved when St Nicholas appeared to the emperor in a dream. In another legend, a merchant fallen on bad times was very much worried about dowry for his three daughters who could not be otherwise married and might have ended up as prostitutes. One evening, while passing by, St Nicholas overheard the unhappy merchant's conversation of with his wife. So the next day, secretly entering by the window, he lobbed three bags of gold coins in the house of the merchant, thus enabling his daughters to marry and live happily ever afterwards.
That story lies behind the three gold balls used as a sign by pawnbrokers. Another legend consists of three boys who had been cut up by mistake by a butcher. St Nicholas restored them to life. There are many other such stories.
A biography of St Nicholas written by a 6th century abbot of a nearby church, also named Nicholas, spread his fame throughout the Christian world, starting with Germany and other countries of reformed Christianity and later to France. St Nicholas was chosen the patron saint of Russia, Greece and various charities and was a popular name for kings and common men alike. Thousands of churches are dedicated to him, the first built in the 6th century AD at Constantinople by Emperor Justinian. His miracles became the subject for medieval artists and liturgical plays.
But Santa Claus' tomb in Myra is of a later date. By the 6th century his shrine was quite well known. Being especially benevolent to sailors and merchants, who had adopted him; his remains were spirited away to Bari in Italy in 1087 by a group of merchants or sailors to save it from desecration by Muslims. His relics are enshrined in the 11th century Basilica of St Nicholas. Its removal on May 9 to Bari is celebrated with fanfare, making it a holy and crowded place of pilgrimage for Christians.
The word Christmas comes from old English cristes maesse, or "Christ's Mass". For Christians, Christmas is a celebration of Jesus' birth, although the exact date of birth is not known. However, in 336 AD, Christian leaders set the date to December 25 in an attempt to counter a popular pagan holiday in Rome that celebrated the winter solstice. Originally, Christmas involved a simple mass, but slowly it has subsumed or replaced a number of other holidays in many countries, and a large number of other religious and cultural traditions have been absorbed into the celebrations.
Christmas comes three times each year to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born. While the Western Church and the Russian Orthodox Church both celebrate Christmas on December 25, the Russian Church still uses the old Julian calendar which places their (December 25) celebration on January 7, according to our calendar. The Armenian Church celebrates on January 6 by the Julian calendar, which becomes January 19 to us. To add to the confusion, the January 6 celebration of Epiphany overlaps into the Russian Christmas. In addition, the diversity in climate has shaped Christmas festivities all over the world.
Ethnic groups have brought their own traditions, especially in an immigrant society like the United States. Even food varies from country to country. Americans concentrate on Turkey (in Turkey, the bird is called Hindi - anything exotic has to be from India), while dinner on Christmas eve in Germany consists of dishes such as suckling pig, white sausage, macaroni salad and many regional dishes.
The English celebrate Christmas season with hearty feasting and merrymaking with wild abandon. They have been doing so perhaps since King Arthur, as the legend goes, made "merrie" in 521 AD at York surrounded by "minstrels, gleemen, harpers, pipe-players, jugglers and dancers". It appears that celebrations went underground during puritan Cromwellian rule as did sex during another puritan Victorian era.
Apart from Le Pere Joel (Father Christmas), the French have Le Pere Fouettard (Father Spanker) to "reward" bad children with spanking. In the Netherlands, children are told that Santa Claus, known as Sinterklaas, arrives from Spain on a steamer on his feast day, December 6. The night before, children fill their shoes with hay and sugar for his horse. In the morning they find them filled with gifts such as nuts and candy. Sometimes Sinterklaas appears in person in the children's homes, along with his assistant, Black Pete.
The people of Twente, Denenkamp and Ootmarsum in eastern Holland announce the coming of the Christ child by blowing special horns, handcrafted from birch saplings three or four feet in length, which when blown over wells produce a deep-toned sound similar to a foghorn. This tradition goes back to around 2,500 BC when horn blowing was believed to chase evil spirits away. Now horn blowing is relayed from farm to farm to announce the arrival of the Christmas season.
In what is now the US, Christmas was perhaps first celebrated atTallahassee, Florida, in 1539 in Spanish style by Hernando de Sotoand his army. Legends of Santa Claus and the celebration of Christmas as the feast day were taken to New York by Dutch immigrants. In the beginning the Puritans in New England had even suppressed it by law (identifying it with pagan rites and Papist practices), arguing that the New Testament gave no date for Christ's birth.
But it then blossomed into a carnival and became even rowdy and disruptive, almost like "Holi" - the north Indian festival of colors. It was neither a family nor a commercial holiday at the beginning of the 19th century, but become so by its end. The transformation of Santa Claus around the 1820s, into a night visitor bringing gifts for children and the poor, made it pro-plebian and Christmas became an enjoyable festival. But Santa Claus' magical tricks, benevolence and love for children have made Christmas a family festival with gifts for children, perhaps based on Nordic tales of rewarding good children and the exchange of gifts among family members and friends. That is why people from all over the world from other religions also join in.
While New York has its tree, in California thousands flock to Hollywood for the annual Parade of Stars, while others converge on Balboa Park in San Diego for Christmas concerts on the world's largest outdoor pipe organ. Festivities range from a picnic on the beach at Waikiki or Key West to candles in a window during the twilight of a cold day in Alaska. Nowadays consumerism has overtaken simple celebrations, in the US the most, where traders, economists and government look at counter sales between Thanksgiving and Christmas for its likely impact on the US economy. As George Bernard Shaw commented, "Christmas is forced upon a reluctant and disgusted nation by the shopkeepers and the press; on its own merits it would wither and shrivel in the fiery breath of universal hatred."
To most Americans, St Nicholas is just another name for Santa Claus - plump and rosy-cheeked - whereas for most of Europeans and Asians he is a thin figure dressed in bishop's robes, also so it is shown in Demre town's square in Turkey. As Christmas in European North America falls in mid-winter, the tradition of a white snow Christmas, white bearded Santa Claus and other myths, have emerged. The popular song "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" for the movie "Holiday Inn" (1942) sung by Bing Crosby, perhaps further confirmed this perception.
Myra, though, is not cold. Nor is Patara, his birth place five kilometers from one of the longest sandy beaches in Turkey. When I went there in August 1994, it was impossible to walk on the hot sand, although many north European tourists looking like grilled lobsters were enjoying themselves, some bicycling around in steaming temperatures. But it was quite pleasant in March. Patara is also full of Roman and Byzantine ruins, including a theater, the magnificent Hadrian's Gate and a Christian Basilica.
Myra was an important town in the region. St Paul and St Luke had visited it a few times while going to Ephesus. It was the capital of the Byzantine Lycia until it fell to Caliph Harun al Rashid in 808. Apart from St Nicholas' Church, Myra attracts tourists for its shrines and rock-cut sepulchers on a hill, looking like carved wooden houses. At the foot of the hill is a large Roman theater.
Demre town is located in a swampy flat area full of mosquitoes and its hothouse cultivation of vegetables and fruit with acres of plastic sheets make for an ugly sight. The harbor of Demre, now known as Chayazi, the ancient Andriace on the river Xanthos, has boats to take one to the beaches of Kekova Island or Kas, both popular spots with rich yacht owners from Europe and the US. Turkey is now seriously in the business of exploiting its ancient historical and religious sites to attract tourists. It holds a festival every year on December 6 to celebrate St Nicholas Day at Demre, with great fanfare, inviting tourists, clergymen, journalists and others.
Turkey, known as Asia Minor in ancient times, was the cradle of early Christianity. In a grotto near Antakya (Antioch), bordering Syria, St Peter held the first mass. Followers of Jesus Christ were called Christians here for the first time. Christianity spread from here and first blossomed in the east at Edessa, now known as Urfa, from where 500 people went to Malabar Coast in the 4th century AD (and other groups later) to form early distinct Syrian Christian communities.
Nearby in Tur Abdin and Midyat, with old Syrian Christian monasteries and churches, Suryani Christians still speak Syriac, a language akin to what Jesus Christ spoke. St Paul was a native of Tarsus in Cilicia. Seven churches located in Turkey are mentioned in the Revelation of John: Ephesus (nearby the Virgin Mary is reputedly buried), Smyrna, Pergamum, Thiatira, Sardis,Philadelphia and Laodicea. Chalcedon is an Asian suburb of Istanbul, known as Kadikoy and not far from it is Nicomedea, now called Izmit, a major industrial center.
With more Greek ruins than Greece and more Roman monuments than Italy, Turkey, with its Mediterranean and Aegean coast resorts, attracts nearly 10 million to 12 million tourists a year and earns over US$8 billion in tourist dollars every year. Even Europeans are amazed to find that places where Greek and hence the earliest European political and religious thought evolved are in Turkey. The spiritual forefathers of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, the very first Greek philosophers Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenus, were born and lived in Miletus around the 6th century BC, east of present day Ephesus and Izmir, then known as Smyrna, the birth place of Homer, of Odyssey and Iliad fame.
From Ionia along Turkey's western coast entered the word Yunani for the Greeks in the Eastern lexicon. The historian Herodotus was born in Halicarnassus, now known as Bodrum, a port. The geographer Strabo was born at Amasia, east of Turkey's capital Ankara. Troy, of Helen, Trojan horse and Achilles' heel fame, is located on the Asian side of the Dardanelles. Across at Gallipoli on the European side lie buried thousands of Indian soldiers, with their Australian, New Zealand and British comrades. They were killed (some say foolishly sacrificed) in fierce battles during World War I when the mighty British navy tried to take over the peninsula. Its defense made Kemal Ataturk, a colonel then, a hero among Turks.
It was at Zile, northeast of Ankara, that Julius Caesar proclaimed veni, vidi ,vici (I came, I saw, I conquered) after his unexpected quick victory over Pharnaces II, whose father Mithradates VI had given a tough fight to the Romans. The name Mithridates (gift of Mithra), a popular name in the region, comes from the Vedic and Avestan god Mithra.
The Greek Hellenic world came in contact with the sophisticated religions and philosophy of the East, including Mithraism, after the small town boy Alexander and his hordes cut a swathe of victories across the Achaemenian Empire. They also learnt about state protocol and the divinity of the emperor. Coming into contact with neo-Platonian and other ideas, Mithraism flowered between the 2nd and 4th centuries in the Roman world and became a very popular religion among the Roman aristocracy, military leaders and soldiers, traders and slaves with powerful patrons among Roman emperors, like Commodus, Septimium Severus, Caraculla and others. Diocletian built a temple for Mithra near Vienna on Danubeas "the Protector of the Empire".
Along the Rhine, Danube, Euphrates and in Roman North Africa, where Roman legions used to camp, there are ruins of hundreds of underground Mithra temples, with the slaying of the Cosmic Bull symbolizing the creation of the universe and fertility. (Perhaps the Spanish sport of bullfighting originates from it). As the god of Light and Sun, contract, loyalty and justice, Mithraism was organized (but open only to men, being an Aryan patriarchal religion) in a graded hierarchy, with novices ascending up the highest seventh level - something like Buddhist /Hindu sanghas (orders).
Various astronomical symbols, still indecipherable, with their meanings transmitted orally from teacher to pupil in Aryan/Avestan tradition, still remain unknown. One can speculate that they were similar to levels in meditation for final unity with God. Celebrations for Mithra's birthday on December 25, the sun's solstice, was so popular in the East that Christmas had to be shifted to this day from January 6 to make it acceptable among the masses. Christianity also took over many of the rituals and symbols of Mithraism, like baptism, resurrection and prayers in honor of the sun.
The earliest written mention of Mithra, the guarantor of contract, was found on tablets not far from Ankara amid the ruins of Bogazkoy, the capital of the Indo-European Hittites. The Mithra gods (also Indra, Varuna and Natasya) were invoked as the god of oath in the peace treaty between the Hittites and the Indo-Aryan Mitannis, who ruled for three centuries in southeast Turkey andSyria (1,500 BC to 1,200 BC). The Bogazkoy archives also produced a horse-training manual. The technical terms used in horse training and chariotry, like aika wartanna, navartanna (one turn, nine turns) are like ek vartanam, nava vartanam, as in Vedic Sanskrit. Both the treaty and the training manual tablets are displayed from time to time at the Archeological Museum inIstanbul.
Mitannis also signed a peace treaty with the Pharaohs to counteract the Hittite threat from the northwest. This was cemented with Mitanni princesses being married to the Pharaohs. Princess Gilukhepa was married to Amun Hotep III. She went to her husband in style with 317 Mitannian maidens.
Later, the Mitanni king Tushratta (whose chariot wheels rolled the fastest - a la Ferrari nowadays) gave his daughter Tadukhepa to Amun Hotep IV, who also married Gilukhepa, youngest in his father's harem. It is generally believed that Gilukhepa was no other than the beautiful and famous Nefertiti. It is known that Nefertiti fully supported her husband's efforts to bring in monotheism. This upset the vested interests of priests and after their sudden disappearance, old gods and cults came back. It was from Egypt, where Moses was born and brought up, that he led out the Jews with the idea of one god Jehovah.
But for the 312 AD victory at the Milvian Bridge under the banner of the Cross, after which Constantine opted for Christianity, leading to the decline of Mithraism, it is conceivable that Mithraism might have spread and become a world religion. But like most religions, Christianity, which was itself persecuted, did the same to other religions and its own newer sects, with religion, alas, becoming another tool for control and exploitation by the powerful.
Then came Islam with jihads to counter the Crusades. The concept of crusades and jihad is once again at the forefront, and if pursued could play havoc with earthlings. It's crucial that leaders of all countries forget their short-term interests and ponder what has gone wrong with the human race. They should strive for reconciliation and peaceful solutions to differences.
K Gajendra Singh, Indian ambassador (retired), served as ambassador to Turkey from August 1992 to April 1996. Prior to that, he served terms as ambassador to Jordan, Romania and Senegal.
