聖誕節的起源Origins of Christmas

聖誕節的起源根本不是基督生日。它最早只是一個吃吃吃喝喝喝的世俗狂歡。

全文+中文翻譯：

We』ve all heard the Biblical origin of Christmas, but societies have been celebrating life and birth in the darkest day in winter centuries before Jesus walked the earth.

大家都聽說過聖經版本的聖誕起源，但是早在基督誕生以前，在冬季最黑暗的冬至時刻，人們（譯註：society是「社會」的意思，複數形式societies在這裡的意思是擁有不同語言和文化的各種早期的人類社會形式。）已經有了慶祝的傳統。

In the north country, this winter celebration was known as Yule. Around December 21st, the winter solstice, fathers and sons dragged evergreens indoors as reminders of life and set logs on fire as promise of a good fortune.

在北方的國度（譯註：主要指北歐），這種冬日慶祝活動被稱為Yule節。在冬至——12月21日左右，父子們將常青樹放入室內寓意生命，並將原木點燃象徵著好運。

Ancient Rome had its own December festivals. One week before the winter solstice, Romans begins celebrating Saturnalia, an orgy of food and drink in honor of Saturn, the God of agriculture.

古代的羅馬人也有自己的12月的慶祝節日。在冬至之前的一周，羅馬人開始名為Saturnalia的節日（見上一篇文章：《古羅馬人是如何慶祝冬至的》），它是為了紀念農業之神Saturn的狂歡盛宴。

Some Romans particularly soldiers and government officials also worshiped Mithra, the sun god. It is believed that to this small but powerful sect, the birthday of Mithra,December 25th was the holiest day of the year.

一些羅馬人，主要是士兵和官員，同時也崇拜太陽之神Mithra。人們相信Mithra的生日——12月25日——對於這個人數不多但力量強大的宗派來說是一年中最神聖的日子。

By the first century AD, pagan traditions were being challenged as Christianity took whole through the empire. But Christ』s birthday remained the mystery since the Bible doesn』t mention exactly when he was born.

公元後1世紀，異教徒（基督教以外）的傳統受到了在整個羅馬帝國得到傳立的基督教的挑戰。但是由於聖經並沒有準確提及基督的生日是哪天，所以基督的生日仍是個謎。

Since pagan Rome already celebrated the birth of Mithraon December 25th, it is theorized that the church adopt the date as the birth of the Christ child. In the fourth century, the church made it official declaring the December 25th as the feast day of the utility.

由於羅馬的異教徒已經在12月25日這天慶祝Mithra的生日，人們建立了一種推理即教會將同一天採納作為基督的生日。在公元4世紀，教會正式宣布這一天可以用來舉行盛宴和慶祝。

The church knew it cannot outlaw the pagan traditions of Christmas, so it came to accept them. The evergreens traditionally brought indoors were decorated with apples symbolizing the Garden of Eden. These apples would eventually become Christmas ornaments.

教會知道他們無法取代異教徒慶祝12月25日的傳統，於是他們順應地接受了它。作為傳統會在這一天被帶入室內的常青樹被掛上了蘋果，用來象徵伊甸園。這些蘋果後來最終成為了現在聖誕樹上掛著的各種裝飾物。

The story of Santa Claus also begins in the 4thcentury with the death of Nicholas, a beloved Turkish bishop. The anniversary of his death became known as Saint Nicholas Day. On December 6th, good children woke to gifts from the kindly saint, bad children sobbed away with nothing. In Holland he was known as Santa Claus.

Santa Claus(聖誕老人)的故事同樣可以追溯至公元4世紀，它與一個備受敬愛的名為尼古拉斯的土耳其主教的死有關。每年這位主教去世的日子被稱為「聖人尼古拉斯節」。在12月6日，乖孩子醒來會看到這位好心的聖人給他們的禮物，而壞孩子則會兩手空空，哭泣地走開。在荷蘭，這位聖人被叫做Santa Claus。

1500 years later in America, a seminary professor named Clement Clarke Moore reimagined the legend of Saint Nicholas.

1500年後的美國，一位名叫克萊門特.克拉克.摩爾的神學院教授重新想像了有關尼古拉斯聖人的傳說。

In 1822, Moore wrote a poem called Night Before Chiristmas about a good-natured saint named Santa Claus who was pulled by group of reindeer and came down the chimney on Christmas eve. Like Saint Nicholas, Santa Claus bred good cheer and gave gifts to children. Less clear was exactly what did Santa Claus look like.

1822年，摩爾寫了一首名為《聖誕前夜》的詩，這首詩講述了一個心地善良的名叫Santa Claus的聖人的故事，它坐著由馴鹿拉的車，在聖誕節前的夜裡爬下煙囪。和尼古拉斯聖人一樣，Santa Claus帶來歡笑和禮物給孩子。只是這首詩並沒有講清楚他的樣貌。

Then in 1863, Thomas Nast, a cartoonist for Harper』s Weekly, settled the matter once and for all with his version of the Christmas saint. Nast』s Santa was rotund and jolly with full white bear and a sackfull of toys. An American icon was born.

然後在1863年，哈勃周報的卡通插畫師托馬斯.納斯特用他的畫一次性解決了這個問題。在他筆下的聖誕老人身材渾圓，散發著歡樂的光亮，有白色的大鬍子和一個裝滿玩具的大背包。於是，一個美國偶像就這樣誕生了。

托福中可能會出現的單詞：

• biblical
• evergreen
• log
• orgy
• sect
• pagan
• theorize
• declare
• outlaw
• be decorated with
• ornament
• bishop
• seminary
• reimagine
• rotund
• jolly

推薦閱讀：