Christmas is a wonderful holiday, but do you ever wonder exactly what it’s all about? Sure, we erect a tree, kiss under mistletoe, hang wreaths and burn Yule logs. But why?
To begin the story, we need to go back many years before Christ’s birth.
Christmas has always been a season of light, but not because Jesus was the Light of the World. Many years before Jesus, winter was a dark and scary season. Everyone knows the sun gets lower in the sky as winter progresses. We know this as the Winter Solstice and we also know that the sun will start moving upward as spring approaches. But the pagans felt that they if they didn’t do something about it, it would keep falling until it hit the horizon at which point it would disappear forever. They had a solution, though. Fire and light were believed to strengthen and encourage the sun back to its proper position in the sky.
Also during these dark winter months everyone knew that evil from other realms was lurking around every corner. Especially during the time of the winter solstice when the veil between our world and the world of malevolence was believed to be at it’s thinnest. This left people feeling very vulnerable.
So to combat these problems the pagans began holding loud, cheery celebrations during the winter solstice in hopes of warding away evil spirits and coaxing the sun back up into the sky. They lit candles and gathered together around bonfires and hearth fires to both drive away evil spirits and for communal feeding, but also to encourage the sun back into the sky. When the sun finally did start moving back up in the sky they assumed their practices worked and this validated their beliefs. We still gather with family and friends around hearth fires and sometimes bonfires to this day. We also keep the tradition alive by putting lights on our trees and on our houses. It is a season of light triumphing over dark, good over evil.
Since evergreens did not die in the winter, they were a symbol of eternal life and it was customary to bring them into the home at the Solstice. They were also said to ensure the return of vegetation at winter’s end. This is why we bring greenery such as holly, mistletoe and ivy into our homes. Holly is especially effective against witches and lightning.
Mistletoe has its beginnings in an ancient Norse legend. Baldur’s mother Frigga was a goddess who made every inanimate object promise not to hurt Baldur. She, however, overlooked the mistletoe, and Loki, a mischievous little guy, tricked another god into killing Baldur with a mistletoe spear. His death brought winter to the world. The gods eventually restored him to life and Frigga pronounced mistletoe to be sacred. She ordered it to bring love, not death, into the world. So when Norse enemies met in the forest by chance under mistletoe, they threw down their weapons, embraced, and held a truce until the next day to celebrate Baldur’s resurrection. This is why we kiss under the mistletoe!
Christmas gets many, if not most, of its traditions from pagan holidays, most of them centered on the sun and its return. Here are some examples.
Yule was the Germanic Pagans’ celebration of the Winter Solstice. It was celebration for the pagan god Jul. They burned a Yule log to herald the birth of the new sun. They fed one end of the log into the fireplace and the other end was left extending into the room. The log was fed into the fire as it burned away during the days of the festival. The Germanic Pagans also sacrificed a pig to the god Freyr. We have reduced this tradition to a Christmas ham. The Germans are believed to have been the first to have used evergreen trees in the home.
Roman Pagans called their Winter Solstice celebration Saturnalia. As mentioned above, evergreens were symbols of eternal life, so the Romans also chopped down evergreens and decorated them to pay homage to Saturn. It was also traditional for them to exchange gifts during their holiday.
Roman Mithraism is an ancient (4000 year old) Zoroastrian-based (astrological) religion from Persia that rooted itself in the Roman world in the first century BCE. They worshiped Mithras, the ancient Persian god of light. Mithras’ birthday was December 25, long before it was Jesus’. Mithras was worshiped on Sunday, the day of the conquering sun. Roman Emperor Aurelian declared Mithraism to be the official state religion in 274 CE. Out of Mithraism came the celebration of Natalis Solis Invicti, which was the festival of the “Birth of the Unconquered Sun.” This was celebrated when the days started getting longer after the Winter Solstice, usually on Mithras’ birthday, December 25th. Mithraism is where wreaths come from. Made of undying evergreens in the shape of the sun, they help to ensure its return.
If you can’t beat ‘em…
Because the Christians could not get the Pagans or the Mithraists to change their ways and quit partying on December 25th, the Church fathers decided to turn the pagan holidays into a Christian one. The Christians took the celebration of the “Birth of the Unconquered Sun” and changed its name to the “Birth of the Unconquered Son”. They wanted their celebration to be Holy and quiet unlike the revelry of the pagans so they declared this to be the anniversary of the Nativity and held Christes Mæsse on that day. In reality, they had no clue when the Nativity was and didn’t care.
From the Catholic Encyclopedia, under ‘Christmas’:
Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church. Irenaeus and Tertullian omit it from their lists of feasts; Origen, glancing perhaps at the discreditable imperial Natalitia, asserts (in Lev. Hom. viii in Migne, P.G., XII, 495) that in the Scriptures sinners alone, not saints, celebrate their birthday; Arnobius (VII, 32 in P.L., V, 1264) can still ridicule the “birthdays” of the gods.
They just wanted a reason to party with everyone else.
Even Biblical scholars will tell you that Christ was born in the spring since Saint Luke tells us that shepherds were “abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night.” Shepherds certainly didn’t watch their flocks by night in winter because it was too cold. They kept the animals in corrals, unwatched. Typically they only watched them at night during spring when they were lambing. So it goes to follow that Jesus was actually born sometime in March or April.
Christian missionaries adapted or appropriated most of our familiar practices and symbols from earlier pagan midwinter holiday celebrations. As such, Natalis Solis Invicti is why Christians go to church on Sunday. Notice that they didn’t change that to Sonday. Also of note is the fact that the Three Wise Men were Zoroastrian, possible Mithrian, and found Jesus using Astrology.
Jesus is not the reason for the season.
However if you good Christians DO want to celebrate Christmas, but DON’T tolerate other faiths, feel free to do so. Just don’t use mistletoe, holly, ivy, anything green, evergreen trees, wreaths, gifts, lights, candles, hams, Yule logs or the word Yule. Don’t gather with your friends or family around a fireplace or dinner table. Don’t worship on Sunday because those are all pagan traditions. And for goodness sake, celebrate your holiday in March or April.
So what is the real meaning behind this time of year? Life, love, celebrating, abundance in the new year, good cheer, continued blessings, being with friends and family, light triumphing over darkness, good over evil and general merry-making and decking-of-the-halls.
And to all of you who DO value your fellow mankind’s beliefs…
Happy Holidays!
Blessed Be!
Io, Saturn!
God Jul!
Et. Al.
Jess Black