The Pagan Origins of Christmas

[GOTFIVEONIT]

The Pagan Origins of Christmas

By Royce Carlson

Many of our modern Christmas traditions began hundreds of years before Christ was born. Some of these traditions date back more than 4000 years. The addition of Christ to the celebration of the winter solstice did not occur until 300 years after Christ died and as late as 1800, some devout Christian sects, like the Puritans, forbade their members from celebrating Christmas because it was considered a pagan holiday. So what is the history behind these traditions?

The Christmas tree is derived from several solstice traditions. The Romans decked their halls with garlands of laurel and placed candles in live trees to decorate for the celebration of Saturnalia. In Scandinavia, they hung apples from evergreen trees at the winder solstice to remind themselves that spring and summer will come again. The evergreen tree was the special plant of their sun god, Baldor.

The practice of exchanging gifts at a winter celebration is also pre-Christian and is from the Roman Saturnalia. They would exchange good-luck gifts called Stenae (lucky fruits). They also would have a big feast just like we do today.

Mistletoe is from an ancient Druid custom at the winter solstice. Mistletoe was considered a divine plant and it symbolized love and peace. The tradition of kissing under the mistletoe is Druid in origin.

The Scandinavian solstice traditions had a lot of influences on our celebration besides the hanging of ornaments on evergreen trees. Their ancient festival was called Yuletide and celebrated the return of the sun. One of their traditions was the Yule log. The log was the center of the trunk of a tree that was dragged to a large fireplace where it was supposed to burn for twelve days. From this comes the twelve days of Christmas.

Even the date of Christmas, December 25, was borrowed from another religion. At the time Christmas was created in AD 320, Mithraism was very popular. The early Christian church had gotten tired of their futile efforts to stop people celebrating the solstice and the birthday of Mithras, the Persian sun god. Mithras’ birthday was December 25. So the pope at the time decided to make Jesus’ official birthday coincide with Mithras’ birthday. No one knows what time of year Jesus was actually born but there is evidence to suggest that it was in midsummer.

So, if you are celebrating any of the western traditions of Christmas this year, remember that you are actually enjoying the rituals and activities of several ancient religions whose traditions have been borrowed by the Christians over the years for the celebration of the birth of Christ.

Happy Holidays!

[Variable]

Yep....

....

[Revert]

This isn't new news but thanks for the article anyway.

[Skinwalker]

People ascribe their own meanings to these festivals today, and the original is obscured by the sands of time. Relevance factor? Pretty low. Hardly a blip on the radar for the majority. It is seen more as a curiosity of history and has very little to do with the world today.

[Deel]

not just christmas
it's valentines day
and birthdays
and halloween
and easter
and april fools

they have no idea what they're celebrating. sad isn't it.
oh, now when i don't wish you a happy birthday, you'll know why

[jinnzaman]

I find it incredibly offensive for Muslims to constantly post about how Christmas is a "pagan" holiday. Most Christians do not view their tradition as such. I don't see the utility of bringing up this topic. We have better ways of giving up dawah rather than accuse other religious traditions of such things.

[TariqBinSleepin]

jinnzaman said

I find it incredibly offensive for Muslims to constantly post about how Christmas is a "pagan" holiday. Most Christians do not view their tradition as such. I don't see the utility of bringing up this topic. We have better ways of giving up dawah rather than accuse other religious traditions of such things.

I think its more of a reminder to Muslims NOT to be celebrating christmas rather then criticizing the christians that its a pagan religion....

[Wolfn]

jinnzaman said

I find it incredibly offensive for Muslims to constantly post about how Christmas is a "pagan" holiday. Most Christians do not view their tradition as such. I don't see the utility of bringing up this topic. We have better ways of giving up dawah rather than accuse other religious traditions of such things.

I agree. I don't like it when people say we worship a moon god and say we're pagan, so I try not to do it others.

Treat others the way you want to be treated.

[iTz_NoT_Me_iTzZu]

TariqBinSleepin said

I think its more of a reminder to Muslims NOT to be celebrating christmas rather then criticizing the christians that its a pagan religion....

don't think so. how many muslims celebrate christmas? Not that many, and the ones that do probably won't be phased when they hear of it's evil pagan roots

[Lookyuan]

Festival is just an excuse to be happy. In China, people don't know what chirstmas is, what's that mean but we celebration too, Expecially for our teenages, when the day come we may say "Merry Christmas" like western do, but in fact many of us even don't know what "Merry Christmas" mean, but it don't give us any trouble to be happy.

[jinnzaman]

TariqBinSleepin said

I think its more of a reminder to Muslims NOT to be celebrating christmas rather then criticizing the christians that its a pagan religion....

That can be done by reminding people of the principle of not imitating the kuffar.

[the_only_one]

In the hospital ward, I overheard two of the nurses...( i dont ease-drop usually, they were sitting across the waiting area, it was difficult to plug my ears, ok? )

first nurse: "christmas is all about birth of Jesus, and thats why I consider it an important celebration..."
second nurse: "i know i can't break my kids heart by telling them, it is not all about the santa, its about Jesus, one day they'll grow out of it"

i was wth, are you gonna pass them the same books that you read as child...pstt.

[Variable]

Deel said

they have no idea what they're celebrating. sad isn't it.
oh, now when i don't wish you a happy birthday, you'll know why

They do know why they're celebrating it. Christians are celebrating it because they're commemorating the birth of Jesus. Many do full well knowing why it's celebrated on that date as well. It's not important to them.

I say it every Christmas on here a zillion times, but here it is again: because it's important to Muslims, does not make it important to Christians.

I can't help but to notice how utterly lame it is for someone to stand there snickering about how clueless another group is in their beliefs, when they're simply applying their own religious standards to them. It's made especially lame because the target group couldn't care less.

[Deel]

commemorating the birth of Jesus, hmm.
a date that was chosen according to a horoscopic calendar which was used by pagans at the time and was officially made a traditional Christian holiday from then on. okay.

the target group could care less, hmm.
my point exactly. why do they not care? i know if i was nonmuslim, i sure would. and i'd question my religion. what i'm trying to say is, if i'm wrong about people having no idea what they're celebrating, they should still feel the need to ponder on the origins of their beliefs. for us, we base our beliefs on the quran which has never be changed or rewritten; and so we hold our holidays to be accurate.
alhamdulilah for islam

[sixpakistan]

Wolfn said

I agree. I don't like it when people say we worship a moon god and say we're pagan, so I try not to do it others.

Treat others the way you want to be treated.

It should be noted that Christmas is indisputably pagan in origin; the "moon god" theory is nothing but junk propaganda spread by Evangelicals & was easily refuted by Muslim scholars.

But yeah, other than that, I agree.