"...clothe not your own house with the appearance of a new brothel."

Do you ever wonder where Christmas lights and decorations have their origins? "Why, on the day of gladness, do we neither cover our door-posts with laurels, nor intrude upon the day with lamps? It is a proper thing, at the call of a public festivity, to dress your house up like some new brothel... They are there of course, not because they are an honor to God, but to him who is honor in God's stead by ceremonial observances of that kind, so far as is manifest, saving the religious performance, which is in secret appertaining to demons...You are a light of the world, and a tree ever green. If you have renounced temples, make not your own gate a temple. I have said too little. If you have renounced stews, clothe not your own house with the appearance of a new brothel." - Tertullian A.D. 198 The origins of decorating one's house in the winter time has nothing to do with the birth of Jesus Christ but instead have their origins in the winter festivals such as Saturnalia dating back to the Roman Empire's rule. 

#Christmaslights #Christmas #brothel #Tertullian