How did you eat apples on Christmas Eve?

Because of the homonym of "peace", apples will be promoted from ordinary fruit to auspicious and safe fruit from time to time.

And "Silent Night" is mistaken for "Silent Night" in China because of the famous Christmas song "Silent Night".

Christmas Eve, Christmas fruit, no matter how you look at it, is like a formal competition!

It's not that apples have nothing to do with Christmas. In traditional Christmas in Europe, there are indeed traces of apples.

For example, regarding the origin of Christmas culture, there is a saying that a religious drama called "Paradise Drama" was once very popular in medieval Germany.

This play mainly shows the audience the story of the original sin of Adam and Eve, the ancestors of mankind, in the Bible, until Jesus Christ saved mankind. Since there is a theme of paradise lost, there must of course be a tree of knowledge of good and evil, and the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil that led to the expulsion of mankind from the paradise as props.

Later, pine trees used to represent the tree of good and evil evolved into Christmas trees, candles used to represent Jesus Christ were hung on branches, and biscuits (candy) were also used to represent the atonement communion. The star at the top of the Christmas tree is the so-called star of Bethlehem. The gifts under the Christmas tree reproduce the story of the Magi following the star of Bethlehem to find Jesus, while the apple is the fruit of knowing good and evil or wisdom.

Goethe's young werther also wrote that Werther "recalled his surprise when he suddenly stood in front of his house and saw a beautiful Christmas tree covered with candles, candy and apples."

In less particular occasions, people always call the fruit of knowing good and evil an apple, and a man's Adam's apple is also called in English.

There is a joke that three "apples" have changed the fate of mankind.

Of course, this is only a statement of the origin of Christmas customs. However, most documents about modern Christmas customs in Britain and America do point to Germany, calling it "Made in Germany".

Even so, everyone must still think that eating apples on Christmas Eve is not authentic, just like putting curry in beef Lamian Noodles, vegetables in pancake fruit and chopped green onion in meat buns. Is there an authentic Christmas?

There has never been a real Christmas.

In fact, Christmas in the west is a winter solstice festival.

However, isn't the winter solstice 65438+February 2 1 and 22? This is the date of the modern calendar. In the ancient Roman calendar, 65438+February 25th was the winter solstice. This day can also be called Christmas, but it is not the Christmas of Jesus, but the Christmas of the sun god.

What! How did Apollo (Solsol in Rome, the etymology of solar in English) come out?

Actually, this sun god is not another sun god. Before the 4th century AD, the Roman Empire had not converted to Christianity as a whole. At that time, a mysterious religion called Mithraism was very popular. This belief is actually a branch of Zoroastrianism in ancient Persia, which is also called Zoroastrianism in China. Zoroastrianism, that is, Manichaeism, is a branch of Zoroastrianism.

Mitra, the great god, was the god of light and truth, and later became the sun god.

In short, the Romans at that time would celebrate mitra's birthday from the winter solstice, when the sun changed from the weakest to the strongest. For example, in 274 AD, the Roman emperor Aureliano issued an imperial edict, ordering people to celebrate the birth of the invincible sun god on February 25th, 65438.

In fact, early Christians paid little attention to Jesus' birthday, and because of unknown records, the date of Jesus' birth has always been a theological debate. On the other hand, they also think that celebrating God's birthday is something idolaters do, and Christians should never do it.

Until around the 4th century AD, with the gradual prosperity of Christianity, it defeated Mithraism and other pagans, became the state religion of the Roman Empire, and became the most prosperous religion in the whole Mediterranean coast. At this time, they have absorbed many followers of Mithraism or other religions because of their expansion, perhaps for the convenience of missionary work or to adapt to the habits of new believers. After all kinds of wrangling and arguments, at the Nicaean conference in 325 AD, the Christmas day of Jesus was finally set at 65438+February 25th. So, Jesus became Capricorn.

At this time, Christmas is more like a religious tool with practical significance, not to mention modern celebration methods such as gifts, cards and necessary Christmas trees.

Most of the things you have to do at Christmas are made.

Just like the custom of eating apples on Christmas Eve created by China people, these common customs of modern Christmas are also the crystallization of the wisdom of the western people.

For example, the Christmas tree was prepared by every household as early as Christmas, and it didn't become popular until19th century. At that time, Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert was in Germany. Just now, I said that many Christmas customs in Britain and America are made in Germany, and this is one of them-Prince Albert introduced the most important part of the German Christmas tree to the Queen.

1848, a newspaper in London published a photo of the royal family celebrating the festival under an exquisite Christmas tree, so the custom of celebrating Christmas by decorating the Christmas tree swept the country and even the world.

At the same time, the custom of sending each other Christmas cards was born. 1843, an artist designed a card with photos of a group of people sitting around the dining table with Christmas greetings printed on it. Although this card with the price of 1 shilling is not popular because it is a little expensive, many people, especially children, are infected by the card to celebrate Christmas. In the industrialized era, with the development of printing technology, the price of cards has fallen sharply. By the 1980s of 19, Christmas cards had been sent.

There is another well-known thing. 1822, the story of a Dutch missionary and an old man who loves to do good deeds was brought to the United States. American capitalists found business opportunities-using the image of Santa Claus to advertise in a big way to promote consumption, and then Santa Claus spread to Britain.

/kloc-the 0/9th century is simply a radical transformation and outbreak of Christmas. In addition to these superficial customs, the overall atmosphere and spiritual core of modern Christmas have also been given new meaning during this period-due to the British novelist Charles? Driven by Dickens, since19th century, Christmas has really become a day for family gatherings, exchanging gifts and helping others with common sense.

However, people will not just be satisfied with the custom of "making"

In this way, Christmas and the custom of celebrating Christmas have been "created" bit by bit, and it has become such a day that everyone is moved by himself and others. If the world outlook collapses, Yi Du Jun (micro signal: yiduiread) can only express deep sympathy. Because there are more collapsed things behind.

People have unlimited creativity. They created a tree decorated with colorful flowers, dragged an old man to do good deeds silently, and stuffed an apple into it without violating it. Are they satisfied?

In the process of spreading Christianity in Taiwan Province Province, there are also records that intentionally confuse the images of the Virgin and the Queen of Heaven (Mazu) in order to attract fishermen.

Therefore, ordinary people will not play cards according to "card theory" at all. There is a special saying in cultural theory called "reinterpretation". It is to learn concepts and elements from other cultures, reinterpret and innovate according to their own cultural understanding, and then spread them.

As mentioned above, the spread of Christianity is also full of reinterpretation of this cultural element. Different nationalities, different cultures, different pagans, whatever is useful can be used by me. It is precisely because of this strong absorptive capacity that Christianity can develop from an unknown small Sect in the early years of AD to the largest religion in the world today.

Of course, sometimes the reinterpretation of culture may not always succeed. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement is an example of the failure of reinterpreting Christian culture in China culture.

From a macro perspective, the rise of Christmas in China is not even an invasion of Christian culture, but a victory of capitalist globalization and consumerism represented by the United States. Many factions in Protestantism have always criticized that Christmas in the United States completely deviates from tradition and approaches the Dionysian carnival in the pre-Christian era.

However, this argument is still a little far from us.

The answer to the Lord's suggestion is that you might as well accept the (wrong) teaching of the ancient sage: "An apple a day keeps the doctor away".

References:

Textual research on the origin of apples, Luo Guihuan, 20 14.

The Origin of Christian Belief, Late, East China Normal University Press, 2006.

After the evolution of Christmas celebration culture, 20 12.

Studies on Mithraism in Roman Empire, TongFu.kabu, 2008.

Introduction to Anthropology: Think like an anthropologist, John? Omohundro, Peking University Publishing House, 20 13.