Ancient holiday symbols, such as the Menorah, have ancient mythologies as old as the religions they celebrate. However, symbols such as the Christmas Tree, Yule Log and Mistletoe seem to have dubiously appeared out of nothing, with no obvious connection to the holiday they accompany. However, it is becoming common knowledge that Christmas, as we know it, is many thousands of years older than Christ himself. One might be surprised that Christmas symbols such as the Nativity scene, the Star of Bethlehem, Christmas Tree, Yule Log, Mistletoe, Holly, Advent Wreath and Pine Bough Wreath were all traditions in Europe and Mesopotamia long before the birth of any of the characters in the New Testament.

If one were to look at a calendar of the moon phases, solstices and equinoxes, one would find that all Christian celebrations fall around the same time as these lunar occurrences, and that the pagan holidays that also occur on these days have very similar colors, characters and traditions associated with them as the Christian holidays. This is not due to coincidence, but instead due to a very well-thought-out plan by the early Christian Roman Empire to integrate Christianity into their largely Pagan society. When Emperor Constantine officially converted Rome to Christianity in 313 A.D., there were no holidays associated with the religion. The Ancient Romans, including Europeans and other peoples under the rule of the Roman Empire, already had holidays honoring their Pagan gods on days that correlated with seasonal changes, due to their beliefs that the success of their agricultural endeavors relied on the good favor of their sun god, and the other various deities that supplied them with rain, fertile land, and healthy crops. These days are now known as Ostara (Easter), Beltane (May Day), Samhain (The Day of The Dead, Halloween and Thanksgiving), and Yule (Christmas). Of all these holidays, the most mysterious traditions belong to the celebrations of the sun god’s birth and death, known to the modern, Western World as Easter and Christmas. Since Easter is quite a few months away, and will have its own article when the time comes, the most pertinent explanation belongs to Christmas.

Most Christians know the Nativity story as the modern mythology of the birth of Christ. What many modern Christians may not know is that the Nativity story was first associated with the birth of the Mesopotamian sun god, Mithras, with similar stories occurring in other sun-worshipping cultures as well. Mithras was borne of a virgin, surrounded by animals and was visited by three wise magicians who followed a star and the shepherds’ cries to the site of his birth to bestow gifts upon the “light of the world,” the sun. Similarities to the Christian Messiah do not end there, however, as Mithras is said to have grown up to battle evil spirits, heal the sick, and then dine with twelve companions (to signify the twelve signs of the zodiac), before his death. He was even resurrected before ascending into heaven. Being the symbol for all things good and just, Mithras was also a symbol of the sun, and his birth and death were thought to have occurred each year, reenacted by the physical sun during its solstices.

The Winter Solstice, being the longest night of the year, represented the death of the sun. And the following morning, when the days begin to lengthen, were his birth. Early members of the Roman Empire designated December 25 as the official birthday of the sun god to avoid confusion, as the solstice generally occurred near this date. Christ, who was already known to his followers as “the light of the world” and as a supreme healer and soldier for justice, was a perfect substitution for Mithras and other just, sun-bestowing gods already being worshipped in the Empire. By making Christ the god of the sun for these early people, the Roman Church allowed them to continue to celebrate their holidays without straying from their new religion.

Other symbols from Pagan Yuletide celebrations were also added to the Christmas tradition, and their meanings were similarly adapted to fit this new mythology. Because the sun god was born the next morning, the eve before his birth was filled with symbols of fertility. Kissing under the Mistletoe is also a tradition older than Christ, as the little berries were thought to be good luck for couples hoping to conceive if they kissed beneath them. The evergreen was also a symbol of fertility, as it stayed lush even in the coldest weather, and was usually hung upside-down the eve before the birth of the sun god. Holly was usually hung outside of windows and doors because the spines were said to ward off evil spirits who might intercept the sun god and prevent him from being reborn and maybe even catch the spirits and hold them for good. Even the Advent Wreath was traditionally lit in Pagan households as a weekly reminder that the sun god would return on December 25.

Because of these Pagan roots, the first settlers of the United States did not allow Christmas to be celebrated at all, and it was not until the influence of Italian and Irish immigrants in the early 1900s that Christmas became the nationally-accepted holiday it is today.

–Sabrina C. Mashburn