16 Pagan Christmas Traditions that People Mistakenly Credit to Christianity

Natasha sheldon - December 16, 2018

4. The Lord of Misrule was a Popular Figure in the Middle Ages. However, he was a blatant hangover from Saturnalia.

During the Middle Ages, the Lord of Misrule was the King of Christmas. Whether in a manor house or the royal court, the Lord of Misrule dictated all feasts, dances, masquerades, and processions of mummers and musicians. Throughout the festivities, he sat crowned at the head of the table where he received the mock homage of his fellow revelers. Although people sometimes referred to the Lord as the Abbot of misrule’ no one pretended he was part of the Christian traditions of Christmas. For the Lord of Misrule was a blatant leftover from the Roman feast of Saturnalia.

A principal part of the Saturnalia festivities was the overturning of the social norm. Men dressed as women and visa versa. Slaves also received a holiday and swapped places with their owners who waited on them for the day. One of the salves of each household was appointed the Lord of the Feast. The Lord of the Feast acted as a personification of Saturn and as such was responsible for ensuring that everyone ate and drank too much and behaved foolishly. For one day, Rome went back to a golden age of idleness and plenty. It was a custom that was so deeply rooted; the Christian Christmas had to absorb it.

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3. Father Christmas or Santa Claus Started Life as a Pagan God

Next to Jesus Christ, Father Christmas takes center stage of the Christmas celebrations. Today, he is celebrated as the central gift giver but in times gone by; he was a distillation of the spirit of Christmas. Christian tradition gives the original Father Christmas a saintly origin. He is St Nicholas, a benign and kindly Christian saint who in the fourth century was the Bishop of Myra in modern Turkey. As bishop, Nicholas gave out gifts to the poor and needy. This charitable act was recalled by the giving of gifts on December 6^th, St Nicholas Day. The church commemorated the Bishop with the medieval custom of the boy bishop who was elected to reign over Christmas until December 28^th.

However, there are plenty of pagan candidates for the original Father Christmas. The figure of Saturn himself is one, as is the god Odin who was reputed to drive a sleigh drawn by reindeers. The tradition of leaving mince pies and a glass of milk for Santa Claus also has its roots in the Scandinavian custom of making sacrifices to mark the coming of spring. Some of the other candidates are females, such as La Befana, the kindly Italian witch who delivered presents by broomstick or Frau Holle who gave women gifts at the winter solstice. Any or all of these pagan characters influenced the image of Father Christmas we have today.

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2. New Year Celebrations were so Pagan that the Council of Tours banned them.

The first of January or New Year’s Day is as much a part of the Christmas festivities as Christmas Day itself. However, it wasn’t always the case. Most early societies- including ancient Rome originally marked the New Year with the beginnings of new life in the spring. The date changed in the Roman Empire when Julius Caesar established January as the start of the New Year. Caesar’s change made good sense. For January was the month of Janus, the god of beginnings and endings. It was also the month that the new political year opened when the new consuls took office and priests took the auspices.

January was also a quiet month agriculturally. Columella noted that farmers did not begin working the land again after the midwinter revels until January 13. However, they did use January 1^stas a day for auspiciandi causa- a practical precursor of the New Year’s resolution. January 1^stwas also sacred to Janus and marked with more merrymaking, and gifts of honey, figs, pastries- and money. However, the Roman New Year was one feast the early church would not countenance. In 567AD, the Council of Tours abolished January 1^stas New Year’s Day and named it the Feast of the Circumcision instead. However, in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII re-established January 1^stNew Years’ day – and people have celebrated it ever since.

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1. Christmas Day was the date of the Rebirth of the Sun before it was the Birthday of the Son of God.

No one knows when the birth of Jesus Christ took place. For the first two centuries of Christianity, no one cared, as early Christians focused more on the dates of the martyrdom of Christ and the saint. However, in 221AD, Sextus Julius Africanus became the first person to link the birth of Christ to December 25^thand in 354AD, the date had become inscribed on the calendar of Philocalus in Rome. Over the next two centuries, the idea spread and Christians across the eastern and western empire began to accept December 25th as Christ’s birthday.

December 25^thwas chosen as the birthday of the Son of God because it was already the day of the rebirth of the sun. December 25^thwas the first-day people could appreciate increased light after the ‘sun standing still’ at the winter solstice. So, they marked the day as the birthdate of sun gods such as Mithras or the Sun god Sol Invictus: the victorious sun. So, the early church chose December 25 to ‘absorb’ the festivities surrounding these deities- and refocus them on the birth of Christ. While some Christians regarded this acquisition as a victory, others such as Augustine of Hippo had to keep reminding people it was the Son of God and not the sun they were worshipping.

Where Do We Get This stuff? Here are our sources:

Nine Christmas Customs with Pagan Roots, Patti Wigington, Learn Religions, June 18, 2017

Christmas, BBC, June 22, 2009

Lord of Misrule, Encyclopedia Britannica, August 13, 2015

Christmas tree, Encyclopedia Britannica, October 15, 2018

Chambers Dictionary of Beliefs and religions, ed Mark Vernon, Chambers, 2010

Chambers Book of Days, ed R Chambers, Chambers, 2004

Christmas wreaths, Christmas Forest

Stations of the Sun: A history of the Ritual Year in Britain, Ronald Hutton, 1996

Tree worship: why are our trees so sacred? Ed Cumming, The Telegraph, December 19, 2013

The Contest of the Ivy and the Holly, in Songs of the nativity by William Henry Husk, John Camden Hotten.

Ancient mysteries described: especially the English miracle plays, founded on apocryphal New Testament story, extant among the unpublished manuscripts in the British Museum: including notices of ecclesiastical shows. William Hone, London: W. Hone, 1823