Emporiblog - The Pagan Origins Of Christmas
Note - I have nothing against those who practice Christianity/Protestantism/Catholicism. This is an educational post and will likely offend those mentioned above. If so, look away..... Now!!
Ancient Rome
Before you say anything, I know that the Ancient Romans weren't strictly Pagan but, they did have their own mythology and Deities before Christianity took over, so it's only fair that they get a mention too!!
In Ancient Rome on the 25th of December, there used to be a celebration called Saturnalia. This was a feast to honour Saturn, the harvest God. During Saturnalia, gift giving, candle lighting, decorating the home and singing in doorways was customary although, the singing in doorways mostly consisted of poor people singing in the doorways of the rich, who in turn, sometimes gave them food and drink. Schools and other establishments where closed so that everyone could take part in Saturnalia.
Also happening on the 25th, was the celebration of the birthday of Mithra, the infant God supposedly born of rock.
There was also, around this time, the celebration of Juvenalia, the festival that celebrated children, but, again, this was mostly done by the rich.
When Christianity tried to wiggle it's way into Ancient Rome as the official religion, Christians adopted Saturnalia as a Christian festival which allowed them to fix the date of the 25th of December as an official celebration day.
Pagan/Druidic/Nordic/Germanic
I have put these together as a lot of traditions overlap with eachother.
In no particular order, the list of usurped traditions includes:
Christmas Trees. Particularly evergreen trees like Pine as evergreens symbolise light and the return to life as their leaves don't fall off and they stay pretty much the same all year round. Said trees would be decorated, mainly with Apples. This is also where the precursor to caroling comes from.
Wassailing was a tradition where people would go to orchards and sing to the Trees and Spirits to thank them for the past harvest and to ensure that next year's harvest would be good and bountiful. There would also be some drinking involved....
Mistletoe. The origin of mistletoe is not like the romantic tradition we have today. Mistletoe has strong protective properties and a place in Viking mythology. Story time....
Baldr is the Norse God of light, purity, the summer sun and joy. He is also the son of Odin and Frigg. Baldr began to be plagued with visions and dreams of his own death so, Frigg made all of the Flora and Fauna and everything else take a bow not to hurt her son. This new immortality proved to be something of a novelty to the other Gods as they would delight at throwing things at Baldr and then watch in awe as said objects just bounced off him without leaving a mark. Loki (surprise surprise) saw an opportunity for some mischief and asked Frigg if she had left anything out of her promise, to which she admitted that she thought that mistletoe was too small to hurt her son. Loki, probably beaming with anticipation, made a spear out of mistletoe and convinced the blind God Hodr to throw said spear at Baldr, which lead to his demise.
Yule Log and the 12 Days of Christmas. The original Yule log wasn't a delicious chocolate treat. It was actually a whole tree! Each family would select a tree, of which, the trunk would then be cut into logs and the largest would then be placed on a fire (the the ashes of last years log) and burnt. Feasting would then occur for as long as the logs where burning, some would last up to 12 days!
In Cornwall (UK) this log was called The Mock.
As this tradition spread, different areas preferred different trees e.g England used Oak, Scotland used Birch and France used Cherry.
Yule. Before Christmas, the celebration of the Winter solstice was Yule. Yule is normally celebrated around the 21st of December, depending on where you live. Customs of Yule include:
- Baking goods
- Giving presents
- Feasting
- Decorating
- Lighting candles
- Singing
Beer and Wine where also popular as the beverages that had been prepared earlier that year where sufficiently fermented by Winter.
Here are a couple of other winter festivals for those that may want to do some more reading:
- Hanukkah - Jewish
- Shab-e Yalda - Iranian
- Dongzhi - Chinese
I think I've covered everything! If I've missed anything, let me know so I can add it to the post!!
I hope you've enjoyed this post! Stay tuned for more festive posts!
Blessings,
C )0(
👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻
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