Christmas Past
The modern Christmas holiday owes many of its customs to ancient pagan celebrations during the winter solstice.
December 25th—Christmas Day— is the religious and secular holiday celebrated around the world. Although Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, many others simply celebrate the spirit of giving and spending time with their loved ones. But religious or not, it’s that magical time of year when people around the world become more festive, exchange gifts, decorate their homes with blinking, colored lights, bring a fir tree into their homes, drink lots of brandy-infused eggnog at holiday parties and generally spread cheery greetings as they excitedly await a visit from Santa and his reindeer-driven sleigh on the eve of Christmas morning.
How did this most popular and beloved holiday come to be anyway?
I won’t go into too much detail because a little research on the interweb will provide one with ample resources full of historical facts and figures about the origins of the modern version of the Christmas holiday.
But here are some fun stocking-stuffer facts that I’ll bet many of you didn’t know:
Early European peoples celebrated during the winter soltice as the coming longer days and more sunlight symbolized light and rebirth in the darkest days of winter. These early celebrations were practiced long before Christianity recognized December 25 as the birthday of Christ.
The Norse, or Scandinavian peoples, celebrated Yule from December 21 through January. German peoples honored the pagan god Odin. The Romans observed Saturnalia, a holiday in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture.
Most wine and beer was finally fermented and ready to drink by December, making that a perfect time of year to celebrate!
Early “Christmas” celebrations were actually quite raucous and rowdy, not unlike a Mardi Gras party. In fact, for an entire month starting a week before the winter solstice, the social order in Rome was flipped on its head. During Saturnalia the slaves would trade places with their masters and the peasants would essentially rule the city.
Nobody really knows the true date of the birth of Jesus Christ. The Bible doesn’t even mention it. So why is Christmas celebrated on December 25? Pope Julius I declared that to be the day in the fourth century A.D.
Many of the traditions that we associate with the modern day Christmas holiday were adopted from the original pagan celebrations during the winter solstice, such as decorating a tree and giving gifts. By holding Christmas during the month of December there was a much stronger chance of assimilating the pagan peoples and convincing them to adopt the Christian religion.
Many of the pilgrims, the earliest American settlers from England, actually refused to celebrate Christmas and even outlawed it. The raucous festival-like atmosphere of the earlier version of the holiday violated their Puritan belief system.
Christmas wasn’t declared an official federal holiday in the United States until June 26, 1870.
Religious reasons aside, Christmas evolved in American culture into the family-oriented holiday rooted in peace and nostalgia that we know it today.
So as you can see, Christmas used to be very different than the holiday that we observe and celebrate today. But whatever your reasons for celebrating during this Holiday season I think we can all at least agree that there is a change in the air, a different feeling of joy and nostalgia that is felt throughout the world during the later days of December. You might refer to it as the “Christmas Spirit” or “Holiday Spirit”. It’s a time to celebrate the good things that we have, appreciate the people that we love and care about and joyously prepare to greet a brand new year full of new opportunities.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Some Resources:
https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-christmas