In popular American culture, Christmas ends on Dec. 25. By the next day, many people have taken down their trees and are on their way to the mall to return unwanted gifts or look for bargains in after-Christmas sales. But for the Church, Dec. 25, the feast of Christ’s nativity, is only the first day of a festival that lasts for 12 days.
Within those 12 days are several other feasts that might surprise those who think that Christmas simply celebrates a happy birth. Christmas Day is followed immediately, on Dec. 26, by the feast of St. Stephen, the first martyr for the Christian faith. The commemoration is a vivid reminder of the serious consequences of becoming a Christian in the centuries before the faith was adopted by the Roman emperor Constantine. Even today, St. Stephen’s feast day makes it clear that following the child born at Bethlehem is a decision that has costs.
The following day, Dec. 27, is the feast of St. John the Evangelist, recognized in the Church’s tradition as the writer of the gospel with his name. St. John is also identified with the unnamed follower of Jesus who is described in that gospel as especially close to Jesus (the “beloved disciple”). This feast day links Jesus’ birth and death, for the beloved disciple is featured prominently in the narrative of Jesus’ passion and death. From the cross, Jesus tells his mother, Mary, and John to care for each other as mother and son after his own death. It is a somber reminder during a birthday festival period.
But the darkest moment of Christmastide comes the next day, Dec. 28, which is known as the feast of Holy Innocents. It is dedicated to the countless children who were killed by Herod, the ruler of Judea. According to Matthew’s gospel, Herod was alarmed by hearing from the wise men that a new king had been born and, in an attempt to eliminate any threat to his rule, ordered his forces to slaughter every child under age 2.
The historical accuracy of Matthew’s narrative is open to question, for the gospel writer was more concerned with illustrating the fulfillment of ancient prophecy about the Messiah than with recording political and military history. But the feast day stands as an expressive reminder of those in every generation who have been the innocent victims when those in power felt threatened.
I found myself thinking of Holy Innocents a few months ago when I was in Prague. The beautiful Pinchas synagogue has been transformed into a memorial to the 77,000 Czech Jews who died in the concentration camps of the Third Reich. One of the rooms of the synagogue contains children’s drawings from Thereseinstadt, the camp where almost all the deported children were first taken. The drawings are so touching because they depict everyday life as the children remembered it from the time before they arrived in the camp.
The faces of those children are not the only ones that come to mind on Holy Innocents Day. Innocent children suffer also by living amidst poverty and pain in many parts of the world. I think of children with multiple disabilities in Haiti who have been abandoned by their families or children in inner-city Boston living in the midst of violent communities.
For those of us in the Church, Christmas invites us to bring light into the dark places of the world. As a community, we at St. Michael’s do this in several ways, including supporting Wings of Hope school and home for children with disabilities in Haiti and sponsoring a week of the B-SAFE summer day camp for children in Dorchester.
But each of us must also try to find ways individually to speak out for and serve the holy innocents suffering in our world. Christmas is about more than a birthday celebration.
(Christine Whittaker is the priest at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Holliston.)
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