Christmas is in the heart

By Herbert Vego

THE Christian world celebrates Christmas to celebrate the birthday of Christ every December 25, although there is nothing in the Bible to prove it.  In fact, there is also nothing in it to show that Jesus Christ ever celebrated his birthday.

But even with that “given,” we greet each other “Merry Christmas”.

The  non-fanatic Jews who normally do not celebrate Christmas greet back. As I was saying in this corner last year, the American composer of the song “White Christmas” was a Jew – specifically a Russian who migrated to New York City.

Based on the New Testament gospels, Jesus never established the Christian religion. Born of a Jewish mother, he regularly worshipped God in the Jewish synagogues.

If there is anything historical about Christmas that the Jews believe in, it’s that “the church in Rome began formally celebrating Christmas on December 25 in 336 during the reign of Emperor Constantine, who had made Christianity the effective religion of the empire.”

Jesus could not have been born on December 25, winter time in his birthplace in Bethlehem, because “there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night” (Luke 2:8).

That could not have occurred in the month of December. The shepherds always brought their flocks from the mountainsides and fields and corralled them not later than October to protect them from the cold, rainy season.

It was an ancient custom among Jews of those days to send out their sheep to the fields and deserts in the early spring, and bring them home at commencement of the first rain.

Even outside of the Bible, there is no mention of the apostles and early Christians celebrating Christ’s birthday; not even in the Catholic Encyclopedia, which on the contrary reveals, “Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church.”

The Romans had been pagan. Until the fourth century, Christians were few in number. But with the advent of Constantine as Roman emperor, they accepted Christianity by the hundreds of thousands.

It was only in the fifth century, to quote the Encyclopedia Americana, that “the Western Church ordered it to be celebrated forever on the day of the old Roman feast of the birth of Sol.”

“Sol,” in what is now recorded in Roman mythology, refers to the Roman pagan god who personified the sun.

Oh, well, everybody believes in what he wants to believe.

-oOo-

MORE POWER, LESS COST

THIS corner welcomes the news that MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power), Iloilo City’s electricity-distribution utility, has reduced its rate this month by 40 centavos — from ₱11.81 to ₱11.41 per kilowatt-hour.

The reduction provides a much-needed relief for power customers who are saddled with the need to spend more for the Christmas and New Year celebrations.

Aside from the price cut, we are comforted by the company’s assurance of sustainability while partaking in Christmas parties here and there.

“Thanks to the cold weather we are now experiencing,” so said Niel Parcon, MORE Power’s vice-president for corporate energy sourcing and regulatory affairs.

Indeed, with cold weather comes less hours of household air-conditioners.

MORE Power has grown from a customer base of 62,000 to 100,000 households since 2020 when it took over the previous franchisee, Panay Electric.

Thus, we are not surprised that Mayor Jerry Treñas declared Roel Z. Castro, the president and chief executive order of MORE Power, “an adopted son of Iloilo City” through Executive Order No. 162, dated December 12, 2024. He acknowledged the role of the distribution utility in boosting the city’s capability to host bigger business ventures, notably the multinational call centers, thus becoming one of the most livable highly-urbanized cities in the Philippines.

The company has invested nearly three billion pesos in its 5-year modernization program that requires replacement and upgrading of facilities.

The Megaworld that now occupies the land that used to be our airport is now home to 25,000 office workers day and night.