David T. Music And Stuff

Happy Holidays to my friends and family!

To celebrate the Christmas/Hannuka, etc. holidays I thought I would post one of the articles written by the legendary Detroit News reporter/journalist . . . my dad, Don Tschirhart. This is from Christmas, 2003.

Dad was an amateur Historian. I believe history was his second major at college. He also was an amateur Theologian and liked to mix the two disciplines. Here is a good example of that. A little history of the origin of Christmas.

p.s. If you’re here to just read Don Tschirhart’s wonderful story then, skip the next paragraph. The next paragraph is simply my way of venting and, it’s not nearly as uplifting as the Don Tschirhart story.

I haven’t written in this blog for several months. I was recovering and, still am, from lung cancer surgery and chemotherapy. I’ve also had a difficult time with the crazy antics of our cult leader in the White House and even more with the people who believe what the man says. It’s been difficult to hold back my anger and sorrow over the last four years. I believe dad would have been appalled and would not hold back his words for cult leaders and those who follow them. I wish he were here to guide me on how to respond to friends and relatives who have been caught up in the cult of our outgoing-President. I don’t want to lose my friends and alienate relatives. I love them all and can understand the anger and sense of displacement that has led them to this insanity. But, it’s time to get back to reality. Trust the words of our President-elect. He means what he says and has nothing but the best intentions for all Americans. It’s time for a new era of forgiveness and reconciliation.

Thanks for reading. Please, please, stay safe. Don’t take any chances with your health and life. And above all, the health and lives of your friends and loved ones. Please wear a mask.

Love to all,

David T

p.s. Comments are very welcome. You can comment at the end of this article.

Christmas Has a Long Tradition

An acquaintance stopped me the other day and I wished him a Merry Christmas. He frowned and said, “Hell! I wish Christmas were over with. All you hear is Christmas, Christmas, Christmas.”

I said, “How sad you aren’t enjoying this wondrous season. Didn’t you know Christmas is the reward for all the good deeds we do during the year?”

His comment got me to thinking. I wonder how many people don’t have any idea what Christmas is all about. I’ve been told that 55 percent of Lapeer County residents are “un-churched.” Whether that means they don’t attend church or don’t believe in the reason why there are churches, is anyone’s guess.

Well, for those churched and un-churched, those atheists, those who are depressed, for those who don’t know and all good people may I give you a little history lesson.

While many people think that all Nazarenes, as early Christians were called, celebrated the birth of Jesus the Christ on December 25 from the time of Resurrection, they are wrong.

The most reliable source — the New Testament — doesn’t give a date for the event, according to Sacred Origins of Profound Things by Charles Panati, but it probably occurred in the Spring, not Winter.

Saint Luke tells us in his Gospel that shepherds were “abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night.” But shepherds guarded their flocks day and night only at lambing time, in the spring. In winter, the sheep were kept in corrals, un-watched.

For two centuries after Jesus’ birth, no one knew, and few people cared, exactly when he was born. Birthdays were unimportant then; death days counted. Besides, Jesus was divine and his natural birth was deliberately played down.

It was in the early fourth century that the Nativity became important and the date set. It was a smart move by Church fathers, who wished to eclipse the December 25 celebration of a popular and rival Roman pagan religion, Mithraism.

Author Panati says that on December 25, pagan Romans, still in the majority in the early fourth century, celebrated Natalis Solis Invicti, “Birthday of the Invincible Sun God” — Mithras. The cult originated in Persia and moved to Rome in the first century B.C. In the year 274 A.D. it was so popular that Emperor Aurelian proclaimed it the official state religion and it threatened Christianity.

Now what do we do, Church fathers asked. Everyone liked the pagan-celebrated festivals — wine, women, and song, not necessarily in that order — and church fathers racked their brains for something that might soft-pedal the pagan feast.

Finally, someone came up with the idea to offer Christians, especially converts, a church celebration recognizing Jesus’ birth. To offer head-on competition to the sun worshipers’ popular feast, the Church located the Nativity on December 25.

The Nativity feast would be observed characteristically prayerful: a Mass, in fact, Christ’s Mass. Today, of course, Christians put these words together to call the day Christmas.

A theologian in 320 A.D. wrote: “We hold this day holy, not like the pagans because of the birth of the sun, but because of him who made it.”

The Christmas celebration took hold in the Western world in 337 when the Roman Emperor Constantine, who was converted to Christianity, united the Crown and the Church.

St. Francis of Assisi popularized the Christmas crib or creche in his celebration of the Nativity in Greccio, Italy, in 1223. Francis used wooden figures of Mary, Joseph, and the infant, sheep, and shepherds, to build a stable scene starting a tradition popular today.

So you can see, my unhappy friend and you Lapeer un-churched, the feast of Christmas has a long and beautiful history, and deserves to be honored by everyone.

And isn’t it wonderful that the nation’s radio and television stations and all the merchandise stores whether owned by Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, and yes, even atheists, play seasonal music heralding and giving free advertising to the Christ Child’s birth and a hoped peace on earth?

To my friend who poo-pooed Christmas and to all those un-churched people out there in Lapeer-land I invite you to attend one of the county’s many churches this Christmas Eve or Day.

May the spirit of the Nativity rub off on you and uplift your life during the coming year, 2004.

Don Tschirhart