MANILA, Philippines?With the onset of the ?ber? months in the Philippines, one knows that ?Ang Pasko ay sumapit na.?

Strains of ?Jingle Bells? fill the air. Malls and public plazas have put up Christmas décor. In accelerating frenzy, people organize parties, set up bazaars and tiangges. Office workers squeeze shopping expeditions in their daily routine. Everyone gets sucked into activities signaling the commercialization of what should properly be a religious event.

Forgotten is what Christmas stands for?the birth of the Lord Jesus. Oh yes, some will protest. Of course, we know the Christmas story in the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke?from His birth in the stable to his Ascension. The significance for the ordinary man is that the Crucifixion of Jesus has saved him from his sins.

The word ?Christmas? means ?Christ-birth.? The ?mas? is from the Egyptian ?mes,? meaning ?to be born.? ?Mess-iah? means the ?(new) born Iah? (Jah) or Jehovah?God.

Pagan roots

Christians may be surprised, or even dismayed, to know that the origin of Christmas and its practices find their roots in Paganism.

According to Gibbon?s ?Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,? early Christians chose Dec. 25 to mark the birth of Jesus to make it coincide with the Roman festival celebrating the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun in honor of Bacchus. This way, the Christians avoided attracting attention to themselves, which might lead to their persecution.

Pagan cultures in the northern hemispheres celebrated festivals at this time of the year, especially in agrarian societies. The start of the lengthening of the daytime was important for growing crops.

Why December 25?

It is a fact that the early Christians celebrated the birth of the Savior for the first three and a half centuries on March 25. In the year 345 AD, however, Pope Julian II decreed that henceforth, the followers of Jesus Christ should unite with those of Mithra and Bacchus in celebrating the rebirth of the deity under solar symbolism at the winter solstice.

It is said that there were 136 versions of the date of the birth of Christ. Early Christians did not know the actual date of birth of the Savior. They observed the festival on various dates. How they finally chose Dec. 25 has something to do with the manipulation of the calendar by the Roman Emperors.

Hence, the different dates under the Julian and the Gregorian calendars. The first time the definite date of Dec. 25 was chosen was in the Calendar of Philocalus in the year 354.

In determining this important date, scientists take into account the winter solstice?the point at which the sun is farthest south of the equator and ready to commence its northward journey. Likewise considered are the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. These four points form what is called the Mystic Cross.

Injecting an astrological link, the theosophical writer Gottfried de Purucker suggests that it is because about this time of the year, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, the Moon and the Earth are almost always in alignment. Thus, the life-giving forces emanating from the Sun would pass through or near the inner planets and the Moon.

The Virgin Birth

It may come as a surprise to the Christian world that it has no monopoly of the concept of the Virgin Birth. Four thousand years before the Virgin Mary gave birth to the child Jesus, the concept of the Madonna and Child was already extant in Egypt as Isis holding her infant Horus.

In fact, on the walls of the temple of Luxor, as early as 1700 BC, there were carved four scenes which were reproduced in the Gospels as first century Christian history.

From India, much earlier, in 3,228 BC, to Devaki was born Krishna manifesting as an Avatara of Vishnu. (?Avatara? means the descent of a divine being manifesting in human form.) Although she was related to the monarch Kansa, she had to flee from the kingdom with her infant son, just as Mary and Joseph later did in the Christian Gospel because the king ordered that all infant boys be put to death.

Also in India, in 643 BC, Queen Maya dreamed that a six-rayed magnificent star had fallen down from heaven and entered her womb. She gave birth to Prince Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha.

As early as 1,500 BC, in ancient Syria, where the Babylonian and Egyptian cultures had fused, the Semitic goddess Astarte gave birth to Tammuz, also in the period of the winter solstice.

Hidden meanings

One who aspires to fully understand the Bible would do well not to read it as an ordinary literature.

The Scriptures of different religions belong to a special category called the ?Sacred Language? or ?Mystery Language.? While the narratives may have a historical basis, underlying them are spiritual or occult truths. Through the use of allegories or symbols, learned men of the ancient world concealed divine lore through this Orphic method.

Jesus himself made liberal use of allegories and metaphors in the parables which He imparted to the multitude. Afterwards, He would invite His chosen few, his disciples, to the ?mountaintop,? there to reveal to them the truth behind those parables. ?Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables.? (Mark 4:11)

Yet, He refrained from imparting all the secret teachings to his disciples.

Christianity, as with other religions, contains a hidden or esoteric side. The early Christian fathers and Bishops of the Church were aware of the existence of Mysteries, called the Mysteries of Jesus, or the Mystery of the Kingdom.

Knowledge bestows power

Why conceal parts of the Truth from some, but reveal these to others? It is said that allegories contain such knowledge as bestows power which, in the wrong hands, may be abused by the possessor and those of his followers.

The renowned clairvoyant, Geoffrey Hodson, has expounded in his book ?The Hidden Wisdom in the Holy Bible? the esoteric significance of the allegories and symbols in the Scriptures and offered ?keys? to unlock the secrets of the ages.

The Christmas story itself is full of metaphors?the inability of Mary and Joseph to find a room at the inn; the birth of Jesus in a stable with domesticated animals; the Three Wise Men guided by a Star to Bethlehem and the offering of certain gifts to the Babe in the manger.

Nativity in our hearts

While there are several layers of meanings in biblical narratives, for the individual, the significance of the Nativity is the birth of the Christ within him. The Christ tries to enter the heart of man (read, the inn) only to be turned away repeatedly. Mankind is too preoccupied with mundane matters. Indeed, as the poet William Wordsworth said: ?The world is too much with us ??

Every man is a potential Christ, a bud that has yet to bloom. Awareness is the key that will unlock this latent power. Such expressions as ?sapagkat ako ay tao lamang? betrays the perceived gulf that separates one from the deity.

Yet one does not have to reach out to the unreachable. He only has to realize the indwelling Christ within him. Rid his mind of the bogeys of doubt and fear. Stop worshipping at the altar of the false gods of materialism, ambition and lower desires.

Through spiritual exercises, like meditation, self-surrender and study, and living a life of service to others, one can attain ?unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.? (Ephesians, 4:13)

Very pointed allusions to the Christ in us are found in the Bible. As St. Paul said: ?? Christ in you, the hope of glory.? (Colossians 1:27). ?My little children, of whom I travail again until Christ be formed in you.? (Galatians 4:19).

The goal of the Christian is to discover the Divine Presence within him, thus attaining unity with God. ?At that day, ye shall know that I am in my Father and He in me and I in you.? (John 14:20). This is the mystical, the spiritual message of Christmas. Hark back to the definition of the word ?Christmas.? It means ?Christ-birth??the birth of Christ within man.

Transcending religious dogma and theology is the ?formula? of the German mystic of the Middle Ages, Scheffler (also known by his pen name Angelus Silesius), for attaining the interior experience of spiritual illumination:

?Though Christ a thousand times in Bethlehem be born.

And not within thyself, thy soul will be forlorn.

The Cross on Golgotha thou lookest to in vain

Unless, within thyself, it be set up again.?

(Flerida Ruth P. Romero was appointed associate justice of the Supreme Court in 1991 and served until 1999. She was the first TOWNS?The Outstanding Women in the Nation?s Service?awardee in law in 1974. She received the Outstanding Filipino Award in Justice/Law in 2000.?Ed.)