英語故事講解：聖誕節的由來

The Origins of Christmas

聖誕節的由來

The origins of Christmas go back to before the time of Christ when many ancient cultures celebrated the changing of the seasons. In the northern hemisphere in Europe, for example, the winter solstice, which was the shortest day of the year, occurs around Dec. 25th. During this time extreme celebration occurred and, for most part, businesses and government shutdown. It was a time of pagan celebration with various forms of sinful behavior. These celebrations were based on the day where the cold winter days became shorter and shorter. Since during winter animals were penned, people stayed indoors, crops didn’t grow, etc.,--to know that winter was half over and on its way out was a time of celebration.

聖誕節的起源可以追溯到基督之前的時代，當時許多古老的文化都會對季節的改變進行慶祝。比如說北半球的歐洲會在每年的12月25日左右慶祝冬至--一年中白晝最短的時候。在這期間會舉行一些極端的慶祝活動，大多數地區企業和政府都會閉門歇業。當時這是異教徒舉行慶祝活動的日子，他們會做出各種有罪的行爲。在寒冷的冬天變得越來越短的那一天，這些慶祝活動就會舉行。因爲冬天家畜都進圈了、人們待在室內很少外出、莊稼也停止了生長…，當知道冬天已經過半、並且馬上就將結束的時候，就應該舉行慶祝活動。

In the ancient Roman system of religion, Saturn was the god of agriculture. Each year during the summer, the god Jupiter would force Saturn out of his dominant position in the heavenly realm; and the days would begin to shorten. In the temple to Saturn in Rome, the feet of Saturn were then symbolically bound with chains until the winter solstice when the length of days began to increase. It was this winter solstice, December 25th, that was a time of celebration and exchange of gifts as the hardness of winter began to wane and the days grew longer. So, based on this celestial event, Saturnalia became a week long celebration that began on December 17 and ended on the 25th. In addition, December 25th coincided the day of the birth of the sun-god named Phyrgia a culture in the ancient Balkans.

在古羅馬宗教體系中，薩圖恩(Saturn)是農神。每年夏天，主神宙斯就會強迫薩圖恩離開他在神域所主導的地域，白晝就會開始變短。在羅馬薩圖恩神廟，薩圖恩的腳當時被象徵性地綁上了鐵鏈，直到冬至白晝開始變長時纔會解開。同時也是在冬至(12月25日)這個時候，人們會舉行慶祝活動並且互相交換禮物，因爲寒冬的艱辛已經開始減弱、白晝變得越來越長。因此在這一天文事件的基礎之上，農神節(Saturnalia)成爲了一個爲期一週的節日，慶祝活動從12月17日開始，到12月25日結束。此外，12月25日也是一個古巴爾幹地區文化中太陽神佛裏幾亞(Phyrgia)的生日。

In the Roman Empire, by the time of Christ, Saturnalia, winter festival, was well known and established. The Roman Church was unable to get rid of the pagan holiday. So in the early 4th Century, the Roman Catholic Church, which was the dominant church in Europe, adopted the holiday and tried to convert into a Christian celebration by declaring December 25 to be the day of the Lord’s birth. They called it the Feast of the Nativity. This custom has been part of western culture ever since.

等到基督時期，農神節，或者冬節，在羅馬帝國已經是衆所周知、人人慶祝的了。羅馬教會無法擺脫去除這個異教徒的節日。因此在4世紀早期，羅馬天主教教會(當時是歐洲佔統治地位的教會)就吸收接納了這一節日，並且通過宣佈12月25日爲主誕生的日子，從而將這一節日皈依爲基督徒的節日。他們將其稱爲“基督誕生的盛宴(Feast of the Nativity)”。從那以後，這一習俗就成爲了西方文化的一部分。