Now that the Xmas season has gone, it is appropriate to enlighten Leon James Suseran about the non-Christian elements in the Christmas celebrations which he values so much as mentioned in his letter “That Guyana Xmas” (GC24/12). Suseran in his numerous letters always takes up the position as “Defender and explainer of the Christian Faith”.

Suseran, as if making an unconscious reversion to his ancestral Hindu faith writes:

“Ever since the first Christmas, love has been spread through every Human being, especially during this time of the year. Perhaps God created this time of the year so that we can relax with friends and family. Christmas is celebrated at the end of the year ideally when we can look back and take stock of ourselves”.

According to historical fact, Jesus was not born on 25th December. 25th December was a date chosen by those in authority fifteen or sixteen hundred years ago (and not by God), to celebrate Jesus’s birth. The reason for the choice of this date was that it coincided with several non-pagan Christian festivals which were celebrated to mark the winter solstice. The most well known of such festivals was the Saturnalia of the Roman religion, and later Yule of the northern countries. When Suseran says that God crated Christmas and this time of the year, he is not talking of his specific Christian deity but of the non-Christian God and religions which created the date and ambience of Christmas.

In all religions, there are holy or revered trees. The Evergreen Xmas tree, the fir, was regarded by north Europeans as a holy tree and they revered it. At the Winter Solstice (Christmas), they placed gifts and food below the tree which they had placed in their houses. Suseran thinks that the use of this eminently non-Christian pagan symbol was for a good reason. The song Tannenbaum (fir tree) is now a song of worship (carol) just as the non-Christian Germanic peoples did .

Next time Suseran writes of churches, he may soon be adding his ancestral Hindu Church to the list.
V. Redman.