Orlando, FL – Between his campaign against President Gerald Ford in 1975-76 and his race against Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan delivered more than 1,000 radio broadcasts, running about three minutes each, writing nearly all of them himself. In one broadcast during the Christmas season, Mr. Reagan told a story about Christmas in the Ukraine before and after Communism.
In an effort to resist Christians,
Communist leaders secularized a favorite Ukrainian Christmas carol, “Nova
Radist Stala” (Joyous News Has Come to Us). The original song began with these
words: “The joyous news has come which never was before. Over a cave above a
manger a bright star has lit the world, where Jesus was born from a virgin
maiden, …” Communists feared the public outcry that would follow a complete ban
on Christmas, so they began to slowly secularize the holiday. The first rewrite
of the song began: “The joyous news has come which never was before, a red star
with five tails has brightly lit the world.” The second rewrite went further:
“The joyous news has come which never was before. Long-awaited star of freedom
lit the skies in October [the month of the Revolution]. Where formerly lived
the kings and had the roots their nobles, there today with simple folks,
Lenin’s glory hovers.”
The former Soviet Union eventually
began banning Christmas commemorations. St. Nicholas was replaced with “Did Moroz,”
or Grandfather Frost. This Stalinist creation wears a red cap and long white
beard of Santa Claus, but he delivers gifts to children on New Year’s Eve. Christmas
trees were also banned, but people continued to trim their New Year’s trees.
Communism folded all Christmas celebrations into a New Year celebration.
Christians in the former Soviet
Union exhibited bravery and courage in confronting Communism’s anti-Christmas
campaign. One person recalled how the young people would go out in the streets
and sing Christmas carols, knowing that if police heard them, they would be arrested.
In Communist Romania, Rev. Geza Palffy, a Roman Catholic priest, delivered a
sermon in 1983, protesting against the fact that December 25th had been
declared a work day instead of a holiday. The next day he was arrested by
secret police, beaten, imprisoned and died. Inside and outside the Iron
Curtain, Ukrainians never stopped singing: “We beg you our Lord, we pray to you
today. Grant us freedom, return glory to our Mother Ukraine.” Mr. Reagan ended
his broadcast: “I guess we all hope their prayer is answered.” Indeed it was.
The secularization of Christmas is
nothing new. Christianity Today in 2002 reported that in the Vietnamese
province of Dak Lak, children’s choirs were forbidden to sing “Silent Night.”
From 1969 to 1997, Christmas was banned in Cuba. Such examples are endless.
Mathew Staver, Founder and Chairman
of Liberty Counsel, commented: “The war against Christmas is nothing new.
Repressive forces have always had the same goal – to first secularize and then
to eliminate Christmas. We must never take our freedom for granted.”
Liberty Counsel
is an international nonprofit, litigation, education, and policy organization
dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family
since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and
related topics.
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