why do some misinformed people still relate Christmas to Paganism?

Question

Why December 25?

According to conventional wisdom, Christmas had its origin in a pagan winter solstice festival, which the church co-opted to promote the new religion. In doing so, many of the old pagan customs crept into the Christian celebration. But this view is apparently a historical myth—like the stories of a church council debating how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, or that medieval folks believed the earth is flat—often repeated, even in classrooms, but not true.

William J. Tighe, a history professor at Muhlenberg College, gives a different account in his article "Calculating Christmas," published in the December 2003 Touchstone Magazine. He points out that the ancient Roman religions had no winter solstice festival.

True, the Emperor Aurelian, in the five short years of his reign, tried to start one, "The Birth of the Unconquered Sun," on Dec. 25, 274. This festival, marking the time of year when the length of daylight began to increase, was designed to breathe new life into a declining paganism. But Aurelian's new festival was instituted after Christians had already been associating that day with the birth of Christ. According to Mr. Tighe, the Birth of the Unconquered Sun "was almost certainly an attempt to create a pagan alternative to a date that was already of some significance to Roman Christians." Christians were not imitating the pagans. The pagans were imitating the Christians.

The early church tried to ascertain the actual time of Christ's birth. It was all tied up with the second-century controversies over setting the date of Easter, the commemoration of Christ's death and resurrection. That date should have been an easy one. Though Easter is also charged with having its origins in pagan equinox festivals, we know from Scripture that Christ's death was at the time of the Jewish Passover. That time of year is known with precision.

But differences in the Jewish, Greek, and Latin calendars and the inconsistency between lunar and solar date-keeping caused intense debate over when to observe Easter. Another question was whether to fix one date for the Feast of the Resurrection no matter what day it fell on or to ensure that it always fell on Sunday, "the first day of the week," as in the Gospels.

This discussion also had a bearing on fixing the day of Christ's birth. Mr. Tighe, drawing on the in-depth research of Thomas J. Talley's The Origins of the Liturgical Year, cites the ancient Jewish belief (not supported in Scripture) that God appointed for the great prophets an "integral age," meaning that they died on the same day as either their birth or their conception.

Jesus was certainly considered a great prophet, so those church fathers who wanted a Christmas holiday reasoned that He must have been either born or conceived on the same date as the first Easter. There are hints that some Christians originally celebrated the birth of Christ in March or April. But then a consensus arose to celebrate Christ's conception on March 25, as the Feast of the Annunciation, marking when the angel first appeared to Mary.

Note the pro-life point: According to both the ancient Jews and the early Christians, life begins at conception. So if Christ was conceived on March 25, nine months later, he would have been born on Dec. 25.

This celebrates Christ's birth in the darkest time of the year. The Celtic and Germanic tribes, who would be evangelized later, did mark this time in their "Yule" festivals, a frightening season when only the light from the Yule log kept the darkness at bay. Christianity swallowed up that season of depression with the opposite message of joy: "The light [Jesus] shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:5).

Regardless of whether this was Christ's actual birthday, the symbolism works. And Christ's birth is inextricably linked to His resurrection.

Really, this rumor was pretty much unpopular since about 1987...I wonder is it just the HATERS that try and make it something it clearly IS NOT?

NONE>>>>OF YOU people even looked up the meaning of PAGAN.....NONE NOT ONE...YOU GIVE IT YOUR OWN MEANING....it is a country dweller...as per the DICTIONARY...as far as the source this was written by a NON CHRISTIAN.....PAGANISM....? WHO cares? NO ONE....it doesn't have any roots to Christianity....IT was ROMANS>>>not modern day Christians...sad thing is that you tell this crap to children.....CHRISTMAS IS A MAN MADE HOLIDAY>..and I BET MY *** ALL OF YOU ARE SUCKING IT UP.....

The amusing thing is that its the CHRISTIANS who are AGAINST Paganism, seems like you are all a bunch of hypocrites.....

YES.....Darwin fellow...BUT ask yourself WHAT is PAGANISM...A country dweller, someone who is "mis informed" in their beliefs or thinking according to Christians...IT is the IDIOTS that MADE PAGAN a BAD WORD...WHICH IT IS NOT>>>THAT IS MY ENTIRE POINT>..it is a basis for ancient customs??? WHY is that now a sword to use??? IT ISN'T..that is MY ARGUEMENT...that historically, PAGANISM was nothing EVIL or WITCHCRAFT OR SATANIC...all of these things YOU people try to make it...like a smart Wiccan lady said you people think Wiccans are Pagans..and they are NOT...its just a way to try and devalue Christian beliefs, AND Atheism has NOTHING to do with PAGANISM either...SO, I did NOTHING but reinforce the FACT that HISTORICALLY Christmas has nothing to do with the ancient YULE on Dec. 21, a Pagan celebration....

Arnon you are RIGHT PARROTING...their peers, I am sure I am arguing with a group of ninth graders who think they are metaphysicals....

Many of what you are quoting are anti religion, anti Christian propaganda...that is NOT fact....I researched HISTORICAL sites....NOT religious ones...as for this article it was reprinted from its original source which was academic in nature. NOT a site for the druds....

Answer 1

I am certainly not an expert,but many pagan/local celebrations and Hollidays were used by Catholic Missionaries to convert local tribespeople to Christianity . Many of the local celebrations just happened to fall on or near Christian Holy days and the result was that there were elements of both hollidays in the celebration.IE; The evergreen or Christmas tree at Christmas And the egg ,rabbit and other fertility symbols at Easter.. there are other examples..and this might lead some to believe that Dec 25th is a pagan holliday...

Answer 2

True, the Ancient Romans have no winter solstice festival, but you need to remember that the Roman empire owned gobs of land all around Europe--and much of that land was till populated by Druids and others who strongly substribed to Paganistic beliefs. It's not clear whether the Emeror Constantine, the last true ruler of the Roman empire, made an actual conversion to Christianity or if it was merely a politcally adept move, but he cleverly acknowledged the presence of Pagans in his empire, and attempted to combine the two celebrations--Winter Solstice and the birth of Christ. Many traditions we associate with Christmas, such as wreaths and Christmas trees (though they're not necessarily religious) have roots in the Pagan holiday of winter solstice.

Now, that's not to say that the Christian holiday of Christmas is worth any less! I'm a Christian, and I celebrate Christmas, but I acknowledge that it's position on the calendar, and some of the trappings that come along with it, had roots elsewhere before. That's completely ok with me! Does it change the significance of what we celebrate? Does it make them wrong? Of course not. Religions cross-pollenate an an alarming rate. It's just part of the world we live in.

And the only reason "Pagan" means "country-dweller" is because when Christianity first started to spread like wild-fire, it caught on much faster in highly industrialized areas like Antioch, Corinth, Rome...and those in the country either didn't hear the message or weren't steeped enough in city life to believe it. This is where the modern meaning of "pagan" came from. It does mean country dweller, but it still implies one who does not believe in Christ BECAUSE they did not live in the city...at least, it implied that meaning at that point in history.

Answer 3

I'm sorry, but your author is at odds with the vast majority of historians.

There are multiple well documented non-Christian feasts and celebrations around the winter solstice. As soon as Dec 25th was established for Christ Mass, then March 25th is the Annunciation. How nice of Mary to hit that 9 months so precisely!

Christ definitely was not born in December. The events described in the bible are incompatible with a winter time frame. So just why was Dec 25th used? Simply to overshadow the celebrations that people had been having for centuries on that date.

So the cause of the celebration changed, turning up to church was added, but the old celebrations and the traditions stayed in there.

So the midwinter festival is fundamentally pagan in nature. I'm sorry if that upsets you but no amount of wishing praying or denial will change that.

Answer 4

Oddly enough, Romans are not pagans. Asserting that Saturnalia is not true does not mean that Christianity did not co-opt pagan holidays. Christmas is pagan. The Christmas Tree comes from Germanic tribes. The yule log is Scandinavian. Whatever the creators of Christian Christmas intended, pagans celebrated various soltice-related holidays long before Jesus was born or died.

Tighe is sinning by omission.

Answer 5

Besides being C&P happy - it's incorrect.

And Easter had nothing to do with Christ either. Easter is an Anglicized version of the name Ostara - a Germanic goddess who was celebrated in Spring, btw. Bunnies..... eggs.....

To stay pagan free during the Christmas season avoid the following:

Decorations * a tree inside the house * candles lit all night (or lights) * exchanging gifts * mistletoe * toasting each other * feasting * gathering family together * burning a Yule log * celebrating a savior's birthday on the 25th

all of those things are pagan and were before your Christianity.

Answer 6

Brain-washing is an ugly thing to do to someone.
You have been wrapped and packed.
I hope that one day your eyes will opened and you will be set free.

Mithra, Krishna, and Jesus all have the exact same story.
Mithra-2000 years before Jesus
Krishna-900-1200 years before Jesus
See a pattern here?

I will pray for your enlightenment. I will pray that you break free from your imprisonment and step out of the box. I will pray for your peace, balance and harmony.

Your need to take your religion, and start to go backwords through time. Study it's roots. Dig. Search.
The truth is out there. I pray that it finds you.

Be carefull. It took me two year to get over the pain of waking up to the truth. The truth hurts. And the anger will go away. But it will indeed "SET YOU FREE".

I truely feel for you. I was where you are. I bid you peace, a long life, happiness and above all else, enlightenment.

Answer 7

The ancient Romans did have a winter solstice holiday, and it was called Bruma. Even though it was not called "The Festival of Sol Invictus" until later, it was still understood that on this day the Sun showed himself to be invincible. It was also the birthday of Mithras, a popular solar deity pre-dating Christianity, and other aspects of the Mithraic faith have, shall we say, "striking parallels" in Christianity. Bruma (and Mithras' Birthday) was directly preceded by Saturnalia, some traditions of which have survived in Christmastime festivities.

Answer 8

There is far more credible proof that Christmas was originally a pagan festival than there is for Christianity starting Christmas.

I find it hard to believe that some people are still in denial that Christmas was a pagan festival.

Besides, it never says anywhere in the Bible to celebrate Jesus' birth. So what exactly are you celebrating?

Answer 9

Of course Christmas is celebrated like a Pagan holiday with a decroted tree and all and it is on the Pagan hollowday. Very few people think about Christ on Christmas. They come for the presents and the feast.

Answer 10

I'm sorry, honey, but there are strong pagan roots to a lot of the holidays. The Catholic Church tended to coopt pagan deities and festivals as they spread through Europe. So much so, in fact, that they had to purge their calendar of saints - uhh, some time in the mid twentieth century to get rid of pagan deities that had been adopted to ease the transition.

Many of the early traditions around Christmas do come from pagan ideas, although certainly not all of them.

That having been said, I do get tired of the "Christmas is pagan" theme around here. Not to be flippant, but we filed the serial numbers off and painted it a long time ago. There's enough of Christ in Christmas that I think we can retire the pagan origins to points of history.

Hmm... I wonder if this answer will manage to tick off both Christians and pagans? Well, it's the truth as I see it. I guess we'll see how many down-thumbs it gets.