A Brief History of Christmas

by Allison Jones

Christians began celebrating the birth of Christ in AD 98, though it wasn't until AD 350 that Julius I chose December 25 as the day for the celebration.  The day and even the year of Christ's birth are unknown.  December 25 was chosen because people were already celebrating on that day and Christian leaders wanted adherents of their religion to celebrate for Christian reasons, not pagan reasons.  So, they replaced the Roman holiday of Saturnalia, which was celebrated from December 17th to 25th, with the Mass of Christ.  Though the Christian leaders may have intended to replace the rowdy pagan celebrations with holiday more in keeping with their religious morals, the carousing traditions of Saturnalia and other winter celebrations soon retook the holiday.

By 1100 Christmas was the most important religious festival in Europe.  This is typical of winter festivals in many prechristian European cultures.  In winter there was not as much work to be done and the return of the sun signaled the beginning of the return of life to the land.  As the people converted to Christianity, they brought some of there traditions for winter celebrations with them, though some of the symbols readily changed to have more Christian meanings.  During the Reformation in the 1500's many of the reformers saw Christmas as pagan because of the survival of those non-Christian traditions.  By the 1600's Christmas was outlawed in England and some of the colonies, but it soon reappeared.  People like reasons to celebrate and have fun. 

Originally it was celebrated as a solemn feast.  But non-christian traditions from the winter holidays of various ancient cultures quickly became a part of Christmas celebrations.  The tradition a Christmas tree comes from Germanic customs and the traditions surrounding mistletoe are a combination of Druid and Scandinavian myth.  Though wreaths and candles were used in Christian celebrations from near the beginning of Christmas.

Christmas hymns were sung in 4th century Rome but traditional carols were not developed until the 13th century in France, Germany, and Italy.  In 1426 Christmas carols appear in England.  While some northern pagan traditions were probably the origin of going caroling, music has been a part of religious observance for long before there were Christians and was even a part of Jewish religious observance, so the existence of Christmas carols cannot be attributed to pagan origins.

Santa Claus comes originally from St. Nicholas, bishop of Myrna in Turkey in the 4th century.  He was noted for generosity, gift giving, and care of children and his feast day is December 6.  The celebration of his feast day was conflated with Christmas celebrations and perhaps some pagan deities that were known for gift giving as well.  Though St. Nicholas is the foundation of the Santa Claus myth, the modern idea Santa Claus is an American invention, particularly of New York and is rather commercial. 

While many of the things we do at Christmas-time are not really Christian traditions, the holiday itself is.