Christmas is a dual season. For Christians, it heralds the birth of Jesus of Nazareth and the hope of eternal life. For others, it is a yuletide season filled with festive lights, joyful sounds and a secular Santa. Much of what we associate with this holiday season has its roots in pagan celebrations that predate Christ and Christianity.
When was Jesus born? The Bible doesn’t say, not really. It gives hints but doesn’t declare His month, day and year of birth. We’ll get to when historians believe the historical Jesus was born, based on Biblical accounts, towards the end of this piece. However, December 25th is clearly not Jesus’ actual birthday. So, why pick that date to celebrate the birth of the Christ Child?
The answer lies in the early Church’s desire to convert pagans to the new religion of Christianity. In order to make the transition easier and more palatable, several pagan customs were woven into the new traditions of Christianity.
The Romans celebrated “Saturnalia”, a tribute to the Roman god Saturn. Saturn was the god of abundance, wealth, agriculture and time (among other things). The festival of Saturnalia took place between December 17-24 with feasting, parties and gifts. The presents that were distributed during the festival of Saturnalia were to bring the recipient good luck and the giver a good harvest, both of which were within the province of Saturn. Many pagan cultures had celebrations around the Winter Solstice, which varies by year but occurs around December 21st. When the Church finally decided to celebrate Jesus’ birthday on December 25th, they did so to coopt and combine the jubilees of Saturn and Odin as well as the various Winter Solstice commemorations in order to turn pagan celebrations into a Christian event. In fact, for the first couple of centuries of the Christian Church, the birth of Christ wasn’t important to the Church at all; instead, the early Church placed its focus on Easter and the promise of everlasting life.
Norse people brought in pines and boughs, a kind of Christmas tree, because those were “ever green” symbolizing life continued throughout the winter and gave hope for the coming spring. This began, what would become, the tradition of having a Christmas tree inside of the home. Early decorations that hung on the tree included apples, which symbolized fertility and the hope of abundance in the spring. Artificial red ball ornaments were initially an acknowledgment of apples as the original decoration of a Christmas tree. Other adornments were originally tributes to, or representations of, the god Saturn in Rome and the god Odin in other places.
Odin was a Norse god, akin to Zeus, who had a long white beard – like Santa. Odin rode an eight legged horse named Sleipnir. Odin rode Sleipnir through the sky delivering presents to children in their stockings or shoes, again like Santa. Children left out hay and carrots for Sleipnir, just as kids today leave carrots for Santa’s reindeer. You can see where some of Santa’s later attributes and abilities came from.
Mistletoe is a holiday staple. Mistletoe was used to honor the Roman god Saturn. Fertility rituals were performed under the mistletoe. These were believed to ensure a good harvest for crops, safe calving for livestock and easy childbirth for women. Today, we’ve toned down these “fertility rituals” into a mere obligation to kiss whoever is under the mistletoe.
Druids were ancient Celtic people with a belief system similar to Native Americans’ which imbued every living thing with a spirit. Druids used mistletoe as a symbol of peace and joy, which is an apt description of the Christmas season. During times of war, Druids used mistletoe instead of the proverbial “white flag” to indicate a desire for truce. When opposing soldiers met under the mistletoe, they kissed each other to show their nonviolent intentions and desire for a dialogue under the protection of the benevolent mistletoe.
Romans used holly as a sign of good luck during the celebration of Saturnalia. Early Christians, during the time when the Roman government still victimized them, used to hang holly to blend in with the pagans in order to escape persecution.
Christmas caroling has its origins in the earlier practice of wassailing. The phrase “waes hael” is Anglo-Saxon for “good health”. People used to roam the streets, especially during times of plague, singing from house to house to bring good health to themselves, to their friends and neighbors. If we still believed this, instead of quarantining during Covid we’d all have been wandering the streets singing our hearts out.
The tradition of singing carols at Christmas had two false starts. In the year 129, a Christian Bishop in Rome commissioned a hymn, “Angel’s Song”, to be sung from the pulpit at Christmas. It was a hymn, as opposed to a “carol”, and sung from the pulpit and not by the congregation. However, it is often referred to as the “original Christmas carol”. The second false start was when St. Francis of Assisi began his Nativity plays in 1229. The story of Christ’s birth was told in song, much like an opera of today. These songs were Christmas carols of a kind, given their message. It wasn’t until 1410 that Christmas carols as we know them began to become popular.
Some carols are very old, like “Hark All Elkin Rings” written in 1739 by Charles Wesley. It was reworked a bit in 1754 and became the now familiar “Hark The Angels Sing”. Silent Night was written in 1818 after the Napoleonic Wars by an Austrian Priest, Joseph Mohr, and is sung by an average of two billion people every Christmas season.
The Pilgrims thought Christmas should be commemorated, not celebrated. It’s the difference between how Americans celebrate July 4th and commemorate Memorial Day. Pilgrims had no Christmas trees, no presents and no carols. There were religious services on Sunday, but none on Christmas Day – unless that happened to fall on a Sunday. The Pilgrims thought what Christmas represented should be remembered every day and not singled out just on December 25th. From 1789 to 1857 Congress was in session on Christmas. Apparently, they took separation of Church and State more seriously then. When I was in high school, a local atheist activist went to the School Board questioning the constitutionality of “Christmas Break” on the school calendar. The School Board agreed with the atheist activist, so no more “Christmas Break”. Students and staff still got the exact same days off but for “Winter Break”. The fact that the Christmas and New Year holidays were included in the time off from school was simply a “coincidence” according to the School Board. There’s more than one way to skin a cat…
December 25th corresponds with festivals of pagan gods Saturn and Odin as well as other celebrations of the Winter Solstice and was coopted for purposes of conversion rather than commemoration by the early Christian Church. So, when was Jesus actually born?
The Bible tells us that “shepherds were watching their flocks by night” which is something that shepherds typically do only in the spring when sheep are lambing. The Bible talks about how angry Herod, the king of the Jewish nation, was at news of the birth of a “new king” and thus ordered the Slaughter of the Innocents, the killing of all male children under two years old. Since Herod died in 4 BCE, Jesus had to be born before then. Herod’s order was to kill all male offspring two years old and younger, therefore historians speculate that Christ was born no later than the year 6 BCE. That gives us the year, but what month and day was Jesus born?
The Star of Bethlehem plays an important part in the Christmas story. Astronomers believe there really was such a celestial phenomenon. An ancient coin exists commemorating a cosmic manifestation that some astronomers believe is the star referenced in the Nativity story. It has the Roman god Jupiter, equivalent to the Greek god Zeus, on the front and Aries the Ram on the back. Michael Molnar, formally of the Physics and Astronomy Department of Rutgers University, has done considerable research into the Star of Bethlehem. He lays out his thesis completely in his book, “The Star of Bethlehem: The Legacy of the Magi”.
Professor Molnar believes that ancient coin represents a real astronomical event in Judea. Zodiac signs corresponded to ancient kingdoms when it came to representations on coins. Aries the Ram tallied with the Kingdom of Herod in Judea. Jupiter, the planet, rose and was in conjunction with other planets and the moon, creating a particularly bright and highly visible “star” in the night sky. This event occurred on April 17, 6 BCE. The “Star of Bethlehem” was a real heavenly event. Now, whether it was “heavenly” in a religious sense, foretelling the birth of the Christ, is up to your own individual belief. However, compensating for differences in calendars then and now, that’s as close to establishing an exact date for Jesus’ birthday (April 17, 6 BCE) as is possible all these centuries later.
It really doesn’t matter how traditions originated or why things were celebrated in the past since they have taken on modern and cherished meanings. I hope whatever traditions, family and otherwise you practice and cherish, give you joy this blessed holiday season.