As with the majority of our holidays, Christmas also was first known as a pagan holiday, which was called "The Winter Solstice." This festival was in honour of the Iranian sun god, Mithras. The festival also called the Saturnalia was one of the most popular of all holidays for the Romans. This is the time of year when the days are the shortest with the nights being long and cold. It was a weeklong festival consisting of torchlight processions, gift-giving, special meals and partying. Many people also decorated their homes with evergreen, holly and mistletoe. It concluded with a winter solstice feast called "The Birth of the Unconquerable Sun", which was held on December 25 of each year. Winter Solstice was in honour of the Romans sun god, Saturn who signified the rebirth of light. Most pagans believed during Winter Solstice the sun died during this period and then rose from the dead. . The tradition and customs associated with Winter Solstice is still practised and a major holiday for Wiccan's as well as many other cultures worldwide.
As with most pagan holidays once Christianity came into existence, the Church was able to convert these holidays into a celebration honouring our Lord. Knowing how difficult it was to convert the pagan's holidays the Church usually compromised and allowed several pagan customs to continue but they now had a Christian perspective to them. December 25 was declared as the day to celebrate our Lord's birth during the 4th century by Pope Julius. This was the Christian response to the pagan holiday known as Winter Solstice. Many of our Christmas traditions still incorporate those which were used by the pagans such as use of evergreen, holly, mistletoe, Yule logs along with special feasts prepared for the holiday.
During the 12th century Christmas became the most important holiday for Christians. It was not a celebration, as we know it today but a very solemn affair with prayer and spirituality being the focus of the day. Later on the pagan rituals gradually once again began to creep into the Christmas celebrations. In the 16th century many church leaders tried to have Christmas outlawed due to the many pagan rituals associated with it. Once again it became a very solemn affair but gradually reverted back to the old ways of nonreligious customs becoming popular.
In 1752, 11 days were dropped from the year when the Julian calendar was converted to the Gregorian calendar. What this means is that Christmas was actually celebrated on January 7 at one point in history. Even today this day is often referred to as "Little Christmas" and many cultures still celebrate on this date in lieu of December 25.
The word Christmas actually comes from old English (Cristes maesse) which means Christ's mass. The word Yule is often associated with Christmas also and is derived from the Germanic root geol.
The first known mention of the birth of Christ is from the year 354. No one really knows the exact date of the birth of Christ. There is neither scriptural nor secular evidence to establish the exact date of Jesus' birth. We do know that it was not in December and this date was only chosen to rival the pagan holiday, "Winter Solstice." It is thought the birth of Jesus took place during the spring season. According to the Bible (St. Luke 2:8) "He was born shepherds were "abiding in the field, keeping watch over the flocks by night." During the month of December it is extremely cold and shepherds used to lead the flocks out in the daytime and bring them in at night.
The early colonists did not celebrate Christmas. Even as recently as 100 years ago it was still considered to be a pagan holiday and therefor it was banned to hold any type of celebration. Persons caught celebrating Christmas were punishable by law. Gradually it became accepted and now is considered an important Christian holiday.
Christmas In Canada
French missionaries and colonists brought the celebration
of the Nativity to New France as it was known at the time. The focus for
the celebration of Christmas was on the birth of Jesus, thus the Nativity
was of prime importance. Even today many of the French traditions remain
vivid and are still incorporated into the Christmas celebrations. Today
Christmas celebrations are a mixture of old French traditions, English
customs and American traditions.
Eightball and ThunderCloud's Holiday Graphics
Get your own Free Home Page