Christmas...Pagan or Christian??

I'm not writing this article to try to convenience anyone that Jesus was born on December 25^th, I'm simply looking into the origins of the Holiday because I think it's important. God clearly tells us that we should not take pagan practices and try to use them in our worship of the true God. 








So if the December 25^th holiday and all of it's traditions are all based on the Pagan holiday of “Winter Solstice” (the worship of pagan sun gods of different cultures) then we shouldn't try to assimilate it to our Christian beliefs.           

The common argument is that when the emperor Constantine converter to Christianity (or a twisted version of it) that he simply took all of the pagan holidays and re-named them to Christian themes but they maintained all of the same pagan practices. For example they say the Christmas tree is simply an extension of the pagan practice of winter solstice where they would bring greenery inside the house.

So I started looking at the origins of this Holiday to see where the truth lies and what I have found so far as been surprising to me because it has shown how sloppy and lazy so many people have been in accepting the whole “Constantine Christmas” idea because it fits their agenda.

All I had to do is dig a little to find that the December 25 feast celebrating the birth of Christ seems to have existed before 312 AD—long before Constantine and his conversion. The Donatist Christians in North Africa seem to have known it from before that time.

So, where did these early Christians get the dates of December 25^th and in the case of some eastern Christians January 6^th? Did they simply borrow them from Pagan holidays? Far from it.

By the second century there seemed to be a lot of interest show in the birthday of Christ but just as much uncertainty about the actual date. 

But then almost 300 years after Jesus was born, we finally find people observing his birth in mid-winter. But how had they go from showing interest in the date in the second century to celebrating December 25 and January 6 in the third century?

the first mention of a date for Christmas (AD. 200) and the earliest celebrations that we know about (AD. 250–300) come in a period when Christians were not borrowing heavily from pagan traditions, in fact they were fighting this. During that time the persecuted Christian minority was greatly concerned with distancing itself from the larger, public pagan religious observances, such as sacrifices, games and holidays. This was still true as late as the violent persecutions of the Christians conducted by the Roman emperor Diocletian between 303 and 312 AD. So to suggest that these same people that were dying trying to keep Christianity clean from Pagan influence would then turn around and accept a Pagan holiday as the birthday of Jesus, is quite ridiculous.

In fact the way they reached these dates had nothing whatsoever to do with paganism but it was instead based on a Jewish understanding of how God works. This way of thinking says that creation and redemption must happen on the same date. Rabbi Eliezer states in the Talmod: “In Nisan the world was created; in Nisan the Patriarchs were born; on Passover Isaac was born … and in Nisan they [our ancestors] will be redeemed in time to come.” So the thought process was “we know when the Lord died, and He would have died on the same date He was conceived.” He was placed in the unused (virgin) grave on the same date that he was placed in the virgin womb. So, if they think they know when he was conceived, then the next step is to count 9 months and then you have the date of birth. Nine months from that point puts it at December 25^th.

So, we have Christians in two parts of the world calculating Jesus’ birth on the basis that his death and conception took place on the same date (March 25 or April 6) and coming up with two close but different results (December 25 and January 6).

The Christian authors of the time do note a connection between the Pagan holiday and Jesus’ birth: but they never saw it as being engineered by the Church or pagan influence on the Church, but rather a coincidence or as a providential sign, as natural proof that God had selected Jesus over the false pagan gods.

So, I think it's clear that the origins of Christmas were not born out of paganism as many have stated. But has it been influenced by Paganism over the centuries? Like most things it has been influenced by pagan practices. Many of the European customs like Yule logs, holly, mistletoe and many other elements are from old pagan holidays that were introduced to the Christmas celebration during the middle ages. Many of these customs were lost in America because the puritans of America didn't celebrate Christmas because of all the pagan influence added to it during the middle ages and so Christmas really didn't catch on in America until the 1800's.

Santa:

As for Santa, actually Saint Nicolas is the Saint of children and commerce. Ancient legend tells of Nicolas going to the poor houses and leaving gold coins in the stockings people would hang up near the fireplace to dry. There is actually a Saint Nicolas day on December 6^th. It used to be a festival for children however at one point due to religious persecution it was banned but Christmas on the other hand was allowed to continue and so they ended up merging the two together forever linking Saint Nicolas to Christmas. However, the modern incarnation of Santa was actually invented by the Coca-Cola company near the turn of the last century and he, and the legend surrounding him, bare little resemblance to the original. One could make an argument that the modern day Santa is nothing more than a pagan symbol that doesn't belong in the Christmas celebration. One could also argue that Saint Nicolas is a legitimate early Christian leader that is recognized by both Catholic and many protestant Churches.  

The Christmas tree:

Is the Christmas tree really the modern equivalent of the winter solstice pagan tradition of bringing greenery inside? Actually the history of the Christmas tree is completely separate from the traditions of the winter solstice. Again, it's only lazy and sloppy research that suggests the tie between the two.

In medieval western Europe, mystery or miracle plays taught biblical stories and Christian ideas to a largely illiterate population. The most famous and loved of these plays was The paradise play, which recounted the story of Adam and Eve. This was traditionally performed on the Church steps at around Christmas time.

 

Although the play featured the story of the Creation and the disobedience of Adam and Eve, it closed with the promise of the coming of a Savior. This made it appropriate for the celebration of Christmas. The paradise tree served as the central prop for the paradise play. It represented the two important trees of the Garden of Eden: 

the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life. Originally, only apples adorned the paradise tree. These symbolized the fall of humanity described in the Adam and Eve story. Perhaps because most other trees were barren and lifeless during December, the actors chose to hang the apples from an evergreen tree rather than from an apple tree. In the fifteenth century round, white communion wafers were added to the paradise tree. These wafers stood for the promise of reconciliation with God made possible through Jesus Christ. Church authorities banned miracle plays in the fifteenth                           

century but since they were so popular among the people, many people performed it privately and would even put a paradise tree on their front pouch out of protest. That is why even today much of Europe places their Christmas tree on the front porch instead of inside like Americans do. Later it was widely called the Christ tree and the red ball shaped ornaments that still represented the apples from the paradise tree were taken down on Christmas day and they would stomp on them and shatter them as a symbol of Christ defeating sin.

So, in closing, if we ask now is Christmas a pagan holiday just clocked in Christianity? Was the pagan holiday just renamed and all of it's pagan practices just relabeled? I think anyone who puts in just a little effort can clearly see that this is not the case. The date was used long before many people think. And the Christmas tree, the iconic symbol of Christmas, is it simply a pagan winter solstice tradition? Absolutely not. We can clearly trace the origins of the Christmas tree back in time and see that it indeed has it's own history apart from the winter solstice traditions. Does Christmas contain pagan traditions? Unfortunately like most things in our world it does. In the middle ages it adopted some of the pagan symbols of the winter solstice which are heavily ingrained in it to this day in Europe and to a lesser extent elsewhere.

While some of the practices might not be good, the intent of the holiday and the day it was placed on is not one of the bad practices. 

I would not fault or criticize someone for not celebrating it on the grounds that it has acquired too much paganism over the centuries.  But when people point their finger at me and tell me that Christmas is a Pagan holiday and that if I celebrate it then I am a pagan sun-god worshiper, I will correct them.

Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival,a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.

Colossians 2:16-17