By Rudolf Steiner
A Lecture given at Berlin
December 22nd 1910
Bn/GA 125

This short but profound lecture is a true gem among Steiner's works. Here he surveys the meaning of Christmas in past, present, and future. Contrasting the contemporary focus on gift giving with the deeply spiritual mood connected with advent and Christmas in earlier times, Steiner goes on to outline the history and meaning of the traditional Christmas Plays. Steiner then discusses the future development and significance of the Christmas festival, which will grow out of the new spiritual attitude brought by anthroposophy.

Translation of: Das Weihnachtsfest im Wandel der Zeiten. In the collected edition of Rudolf Steiner's works, the volume containing this text is entitled Wege und Ziele des geistigen Menschen, Lebensfragen im Lichte der Geisteswissenschaft (Vol. 125 in the Bibliographic Survey).