I read that before Christmas was called Christmas it was a pre-christian pagen holiday but the Christians pre-empted it and named it Christmas. So what was it called before being named that by the Christians?
2007-10-03 08:47:55 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Holidays ➔ Christmas
Christmas was celebrated around the time of the Winter's Solstice. Emperor Constantine mandated that several of the pagan traditions that were rampant throughout the Roman Empire be celebrated as Christian Ceremonies. From worshiping the sun on Sunday, to Easter, many of the feasts were "Christianized"
To answer your question, it was called "the Nativity of the Sun", and observed by the cult of Mithraism.
2007-10-03 08:50:44 · answer #1 · answered by Christmas Light Guy 7 · 4⤊ 1⤋
Yule is a winter festival celebrated in Northern Europe since ancient times. In pre-Christian times
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule
2007-10-03 16:01:00 · answer #2 · answered by camel.liver 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yule. The 12 days of Christmas were "yuletide" and they burnt the yule log. All the partying has it's origin in yule-along with the scary stories, wassail, and mistletoe.
2007-10-03 15:54:52 · answer #3 · answered by sugarbabe 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
In old english it was 'Cristes Mæsse' which means the mass of christ.
I found this on the following website, it has info on the origins of christmas and how it came about. I hope this helps.
http://www.allthingschristmas.com/traditions.html
2007-10-08 20:05:05 · answer #4 · answered by citygirl781 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Saturnalia.
2007-10-03 16:08:36 · answer #5 · answered by Sherry 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
December 25th.
2007-10-03 15:50:55 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋
winter solstice and yule
2007-10-03 15:55:19 · answer #7 · answered by spunky monkey 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Christ mass
2007-10-03 16:18:18 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋