A recent survey of 2,300 employers across Britain said that 74% of companies in Britain have chosen not to display Christmas decorations. The employment law firm Peninsula that conducted the survey claimed that this was so as not to open companies to litigation for discriminating against non-Christian religions. The National Secular Society dismissed the reports as "exaggerated and misleading." President Terry Sanderson said: "Where Christmas parties and decorations are being discontinued it is usually for cost or health and safety reasons. We do not consider the move to be 'Christophobic' as Christians are increasingly prone to claim".

Most of you will know that 25th December is celebrated as the birthday of Jesus Christ, who Christians believe to be God's only begotten son and the redeemer of all mankind. But what many of you will not know, is that this was not always so. It was only much later in the history of Christianity that 25th December became associated with the birth of Jesus.

The early Church did not celebrate the birth of Jesus at all. In fact they didn't celebrate anyone's birthday, as they considered celebrating birthdays to be an inherently sinful practice.

The celebration of Christmas has its roots in the pre-Christian Pagan traditions of Europe. The Winter-Solstice or Yuletide or Mother Night had been one of the major festivals of all pre-Christian Pagan religions and celebrated in a variety of different ways.

December 21st, Called Yule (remember the Yule Ball in Harry Potter?), is one of the traditional Celtic fire festivals and marks the return of light after the longest night of the year. The tradition of giving presents, feasting with family and friends and generally being merry comes from the festival of Saturnalia, which used to be celebrated around December 17th in honour of Saturn, God of agriculture and plenty. Big feasts were generally laid out by the rich, to feed their poorer neighbours.

These festivities continued over the "holidays" and were followed by the solstice feast of Mithras, God of light, on December 25th and the New Year celebrations. It marked the renewal of hope and people would decorate their homes with all sorts of greenery to symbolize new life. That's where the tradition of the green Christmas tree and the holly comes from. For that matter, decorating the tree with toys, singing carols about the promise of spring, kissing under the mistletoe and even Santa, yes him too (but that's another story)…they all find their origins in the religion of the Pagan ancestors of Europe. On a side note, Hindus too celebrate this sacred time of the year with the festival of Panch Ganapati.

It is well known that when Europe was Christianised, the old religions and traditions were brutally suppressed, with mass conversion to Christianity. However, even after their conversion to Christianity, people continued to practice and celebrate their old Pagan festivals, including the Winter-Solstice, (the same as how many Hindus who have converted to Christianity for whatever reason, usually continue to celebrate Hindu festivals like Diwali).

In this scenario, the Church leaders found it easier to consolidate their power by giving Christian meanings to previous traditions and celebrations. So eventually, the Church pronounced the traditional winter festival as the birth of Jesus Christ, as a matter of strategic interest.

But it did not end there. Even after the Church decreed the birthday of Jesus to be on 25th of December, various practices that betrayed Pagan origins were frowned upon, with an attempt to suppress them. The mistletoe (a name which means 'all heal') was not allowed inside Christian churches. The church had long anguished over the performance of carols and song-dances and these were explicitly banned in the 7th Century at the Council of Chalon-sur-Saône. Even mince pies were looked on with disfavour! Why? Well why not? They're derived from consecrated cakes of the Pagans after all.

In later history, every time puritanical Christian sects have established power, they've made it a point to ban Christmas. When a Puritan parliament triumphed over King Charles I of England (1644), Christmas was officially banned (1647). During the Cromwellian period anyone celebrating Christmas was jailed for heresy. The Restoration (1660) ended the ban, but Christmas celebration was still disapproved of by the Anglican clergy. In America, Christmas was generally outlawed until the end of the last century. In Boston, up to 1870, anyone missing work on Christmas Day would be liable to be fired. Factory owners customarily required employees to come to work at 5 a.m. on Christmas - to insure they wouldn't have time to go to church that day. Even today several strict Christian groups like Jehovah's witnesses do not celebrate Christmas and see having Christmas trees as nature venerating and thus 'denounce' it as - wait for it...idol worship.

So as we can see, Christmas has generally had quite a variable status in society…having repeatedly gone from celebrated to banned and back again. Even today, we witness that there is a move to reduce public expression of Christmas, so as not to discriminate against non-Christians, a phenomenon which may be well intentioned, but quite unnecessary.

The fact is that most people have wanted nothing to do with all the religious upheavals and politics, and have continued to celebrate this age-old festival of good will, like they have been doing for probably thousands of years. With all the twists and turns of history, the meaning of this time of the year remains a time of hope and goodwill in the midst of the cold winter (central heating and global warming not withstanding), and a time of celebration with friends and family - universal themes that anybody, especially Hindus, should be able to relate to.

Some alarmist Hindus bemoan the 'loss of culture' and 'westernisation' simply because their children celebrate Christmas. They should realize that if celebrated with the understanding of the real meaning of the rites and rituals associated with this festive time of the year, then not only are they NOT losing their culture but in fact enhancing it. If anything, Hindus should be able to relate to the spiritual traditions surrounding the Winter Solstice as derives its inspiration from the same outlook to life as that of Hinduism.