Where Does Christmas Come From

What do Christians - and many non Christians - do on Christmas? Well, for most of us, Christmas time is a time to gather around a table or the decorated Christmas tree with our families. We generally have the Christmas supper on the 24th of December or Christmas dinner on the 25 of December; a dinner that includes stuff turkey with a sauce made out of berries. We open colorful wrapped gifts and watch the kids discover the fantastic Christmas toys Santa Claus placed beneath the evergreen tree; we send greeting cards to those who can't join us for the celebration. We celebrate Santa and his reindeers. Most of us burn a yule log in the fireplace and give each other a kiss whenever placed beneath the mistletoe. Groups of carolers wander the streets, singing Christmas chants and begging for a bowl of wassail.

The Origins of Christmas
Songs and Traditions

However, all these Christmas traditions come from one place or another; most of the traditions we observe during the holiday season come from different cultures, different countries and began at a different time in History. Let's take a closer look at where did the Christmas traditions we know started and originated.

Christians who celebrate Christmas do it because it's the supposed birthdate of baby Jesus. Sadly, nobody really knows when Jesus was born and experts never agree on a specific date. Nevertheless, the 25th of December has been officially selected and legitimized by the Church as Jesus' birth date.

If the 25th of December became the official baby Jesus' birth dateit is mostly in an attempt to put an end to the end of year pagan festivals that were held at this moment. This would ensure the church to see those of the pagan religions to come to the church instead of celebrating their usual festivities.

Naturally, the early Christmas celebrations didn't include nowadays traditions, instead, the celebration was mainly an opportunity to meditate and pray, give thanks to God for the bounties people received and attend the famous Christ's Mass; which would later become the Christmas Midnight Mass.

Pagan Christmas:
The Plants, Spirits, and Rituals
at the Origins of Yuletide

Time passed and Pagans finally got accustomed to the Christ's Mass which took a new name: Christmas. The celebration had a positive effect on people as it reinforced their common belief in just one God, the objectives of this belief and allowed the Christian religion to permanently become the official religion in most Western European countries. As for Christmas, it became an officially permanent celebration after Emperor Constantine was baptized in the 4th century and when the Bishop Liberius insisted on the importance of Christmas as the celebration of Jesus' birth.

The celebrations evolved through the centuries and most of our traditions come from the pagan celebrations that were held before Christianity. For example, the evergreen tree that's supposed to represent immortality, the yule log that's burning in the fire and has even become a Christmas cake (or ice cream dessert) in some countries, the Christmas tree decorations that originated in Germany and were brought to England by Queen Victoria's husband, the Christmas carols which originated from Italy but became popular in England, etc.

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