Christmas is not Pagan

As the scent of pine and cinnamon fills the air, the season of giving and gathering is upon us, and the day we celebrate the birth of our Heavenly King is around the corner; there are those of us who aim to take and pervert the truth of Christmas. Who are these grumpy folks, you might ask? The good old mystics and TikTok university professors who love to shout from the hills that Christmas is a pagan holiday that Constantine adopted into Christianity for political power. Every year, these people spout the same lies, and though it's getting old, the truth must be established. Last year, I wrote about how the traditions of Christmas trees and December 25th are not pagan, but that was before this website was created. So this year, I will do the same thing, but with some additional traditions that people claim come from pagans.

Aren't Christmas Traditions Pagan?

This first section will go over various holiday traditions that are claimed to be assimilations from pagans by Christians. There is not a shred of historical evidence that Christmas itself traces back to pagan holidays, and all of its traditions are purely Christian in origin, but later perverted with pagan influence when introduced to occultic religions. Without further ado, how exactly is Christmas and its traditions Christian in origin? And are there any connections to paganism?

Yule Logs

The first tradition is the burning of Yule Logs, and no, I'm not talking about yo' granny's secret recipe. Yule Logs were an old Christmas tradition where short logs were burned in a fire or fireplace. Many people believe they trace back to the pagan. Yule was a Germanic holiday celebrating the winter solstice, celebrated on December 21st. Because of the name, Yule Log, many people think it originated with the pagan holiday, but there is no historical or etymological connection to it. The word for Yule in Old English was ġeōl or geol, and it had a wide variety of meanings; in other words, it is a polysemy. The earliest usage of the word in Germanic areas referred to the midwinter period. (Jacqueline Simpson and Steve Roud, A Dictionary of English Folklore, Pg 402). The very first mention of a Yule Log originated from Robert Herrick's Hesperides Poetry Collection (1648), No. 704, where he calls it a Christmas Log. It wasn't until about 40 years later, in 1686, that John Aubrey first called it a Yule Log. Before these records, there is no mention of Yule Logs, and surely none referring to the pagan holiday.

Moreover, there is no evidence that the tradition itself traces back to Yule, as the holiday was celebrated on various days, none of them being December 25th. There is actually evidence that Yule was moved to Christmas to give pagans something to celebrate at the same time as Christians.

“King Hakon was a confirmed Christian when he arrived in Norway… He had it established in the laws that the Yule celebration was to take place at the same time as it is the custom with the Christians… Before That, Yule was celebrated on midwinter night, and for the duration fo three nights.” (Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway, Pg 106)

There is no evidence that the holiday of Yule has any connection to Christmas; in fact, the claims are likely the other way around. Pagans adopted the day because it was moved by a Norwegian King, not Christians stealing the holiday from them.

Santa is a Pagan Deity

Some believe Santa is a pagan idol or a pagan deity because his name is a respelling of Satan. I'm kidding, there are more reasons than just that. People online say that Santa is a rebranding of pagan deities like Odin, but this is completely false. Santa is short for Saint Nicholas, and this is pretty obvious.

“The Santa Claus we know and love was invented by a New Yorker, it really is true,’ Hutton said, ‘it was the work of Clement Clarke Moore, in New York City in 1822, who suddenly turned a medieval saint into a flying, reindeer-driving spirit of the Northern midwinter.” (Richard Harris, Did ‘shrooms send santa and his reindeer flying, NPR)

Saint Nicholas of Myra

Santa actually appeared in the 1800s. Christmas in New York at that time had become a day to party and get drunk, but a lot of people wanted it to be a family-oriented holiday rather than the party night it was becoming. Since Saint Nicholas was a gift-giving Saint, and the Feast of Saint Nicholas was earlier in the month, on December 6th, they moved Saint Nick to December 25th to rebrand Christmas. They dressed Saint Nick in the common attire of a New York Dutchman, a big red suit. His name was shortened to Santa, and he would deliver presents to good children with their families. Dutch immigrants rebranding Christmas would eventually become a global phenomenon, and be introduced to occulting areas like Finland.

Joulupukki

Then, in 1927, a Finnish radio broadcaster named Marcus Rautio reinvented Santa as Joulupukki, a pagan deity with the head of a goat who demands gifts. Joulupukki means "Yule Goat," and this is the first historical connection that Santa has to paganism, a Finnish broadcaster stealing the originally Christian concept. Santa is completely Christian in origin, based on a real Christian Saint, who was later adopted by paganism and perverted into Joulupukki.

Mistletoe

Some people say that the tradition of kissing under a mistletoe originated from Celtic, Norse, and Roman pagan rituals, but this is entirely false and is making a logical jump with reference to the evidence. The traditions of the mistletoe can be traced back as far as the 18th century, where it originated within the servant class of England, but the exact situation of its birth is not known. Instead, other cultures saw the mistletoe as a healing herb, rather than a ritual kissing or sex object, and it was never associated with Christmas. Just because pagans saw a herb as a healing plant does not mean Christians stole it for Christmas; rather, they both view the mistletoe as special, and in very different ways. To say Christians adopted it from pagans, you would need evidence of them taking it from them, but there is none.

Father Christmas is a Pagan Idol

Another claim is that the concept of Father Christmas is connected to pagan idolatry, but this is completely untrue. The first appearance of Father Christmas is from an old hymn where a symbolic personification of Christmas, named Sir Christmas, announces the birth of Christ. There is no mention of his appearance before this in any record. Moreover, the Bible does this same thing in the book of Proverbs, where Wisdom is depicted as a woman who offers the reader advice. But this is obviously symbolic and not literal.

Santa is Actually Shrooms

I personally have never heard this claim, but Inspiring Philosophy has a short video debunking what it posits. Here's how it goes: Amineta Miscaria mushrooms are red and white, like Santa's suit. They also grow under pine trees (which is true, but they grow under various other types of trees), and Siberian shamans would wear red and white robes while collecting the shrooms in large sacks. The shaman would then deliver the shrooms through the chimneys of Siberian homes.

The reality of this is, unsurprisingly, false. These claims come from Robert Gordon Wassan in Soma Divine Mushroom of Immortality, in the 1960s. He was not a historian or an expert in Siberian culture, and as we've already mentioned, Santa came from Dutch immigrants, making Christmas more family-oriented. “The Santa Claus we know and love was invented by a New Yorker, it really is true,’ Hutton said, ‘it was the work of Clement Clarke Moore, in New York City in 1822, who suddenly turned a medieval saint into a flying, reindeer-driving spirit of the Northern midwinter.” (Richard Harris, Did ‘shrooms send Santa and his reindeer flying? NPR). Wassan fooled a lot of laymen, and his deception still has its effects today.

Isn't the Date of Christmas Pagan?

Claims are still made about the date of Christmas. Some say that it was created to replace pagan holidays like Saturnalia, or that the date of December 25th was commonly used by pagans and that Christians in later centuries stole/borrowed the date from these holidays. But these are false, and it wasn't until the 4th century AD that December 25th was attached to the holiday of Sol Invictus, and inscriptions mentioning the day earlier than this all have inconsistent dates. Some state the day was in the fall, some fell in early December, but not late enough for the 25th. Therefore, Christmas was not copied from Roman holidays, as the evidence suggests it was moved to the date after Christianity. In the early 3rd century, around 204 AD, Hippolytus records the conception of Jesus in March and birth in December in his Commentary on Daniel. He comes to his conclusion based on calculations made from textual details within Daniel, alongside the belief that Jesus was conceived in March.

In the 3rd century, Roman temple attendance was on the decline, so it makes sense that we observe the first mentions of Sol Invictus being on December 25th during the rule of Emperor Aurelian (270-275 AD), who moved the date of Sol Invictus to the 25th to combat the spreading Christianity. The claim that Christmas was copied from Saturnalia is also false. Saturnalia celebrated the god of agriculture, Saturn, which was celebrated from December 17th to 23rd, not on the 25th. So it is quite literally impossible for Christmas to be a replacement for Saturnalia. The actual evidence from early Christianity suggests that they believed Jesus was born on December 25th from a very early point in its history, not whenever Constantine legalized it and supposedly used it to gain power. Most of the early Church fathers place the date of Jesus' conception in March, as Luke seems to indicate. As Zecharaiah seemed to be carrying out priestly duties in connection with the Day of Atonement (Luke 1:8-13, Leviticus 23:26-28) in the month of Tishri, or September-October. Not long after this is when Elizabeth becomes pregnant, which would most likely be in late September. Then, 6 months later, Mary becomes pregnant, which would be around March. Extrapolating this, 9 more months lead us to December.

Irenaeus places Jesus' conception on March 25th and His birth on December 25th sometime in the 2nd century AD (Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses); Julius Africanus, writing in the 2nd century aswell, records the conception of Jesus on March 25th (Sextus Julius Africanus, Chronographiai); and then also in the 4th century AD, Valentinus write a chronoligcal work that records the date of Jesus conception in March and birth in December (Valentinus, The Chronography of 354). An important fact about these is that they were not focused on the celebration of Jesus' birth, but rather simply recording the date and place of it. They also all predate the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD.

"Thus, the December 25 date had nothing to do with religious syncretism or attempting to replace pagan holidays with Christian holidays after the legalization of Christianity. In fact, there is not one suggestion in any of the early writings that the date for Christmas was chosen to supplant a pagan celebration, and this idea only appeared in the 12th century and finally became popularized in comparative religion studies of the 19th century. On the contrary. early Christians were not only societal outcasts but also sought to clearly separate their beliefs and practices from those of the imperial cult or other pagan systems. Numerous early manuscripts suggest that the birth of Jesus probably occurred on Or around December 25, and it remains a possibility." ¹

Therefore, there is 0 evidence that Christians copied the date of Christmas from pagan holidays; all of the historical evidence comes at later dates, and thus they copied the tradition from Christians. The Archbishop of Constantinople, John Chrysostom, mentions that Jesus’ birth was long-since-established on the 25th before 386 A.D. Christmas was being listed on common calendars as early as the 350s A.D.

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Where did December 25th Come From?

Nobody knows the exact date of Jesus’ birth with 100% certainty. An example, some say it was in the spring because of the shepherds being in their fields. The date of December 25th was decided from an early Church belief that Holy and Righteous people died on the same day they were conceived. Many Early Christians held this belief, and since the Gospels date Jesus' Crucifixion in March, and an early belief was that creation happened, and redemption began on March 25th with it, they just counted 9 months and agreed to celebrate the Messiah's birth on December 25th. Is it of salvation importance to celebrate Jesus’ birth on the exact day He was born? Obviously not. To think that would be taking things to the extreme, and almost to legalism. We celebrate the incarnation of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ. To go out and say Christmas shouldn't be celebrated because it is pagan is a complete misunderstanding.

Isn't the Christmas Tree Pagan?

The origins of the Christmas Tree are in no way stolen from pagans. One origin comes from Saint Boniface in the 8th century. He cut down an oak tree that the locals decorated for Thor. When Boniface wasn’t struck by the lightning of Thor, he dedicated the evergreen tree to Jesus in response. Some sources say Christmas Trees originated in the 1500s with the Paradise Tree. These were evergreen trees decorated with fruit that represented the tree of life in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:9). There was usually a play done around the tree on Christmas Eve, and then it was kept up for the 25th. The Paradise Tree was put in people's houses to remind them of the Tree of Life in the Garden, and the redemption that Christ offered when He came, and the coming Tree of Life in the New Heaven (Revelation 22:2).

Some claim that the Christmas Tree is from the Roman Cult of Asheira. They would put up a tree that they would decorate, but there are no historical sources that support this. Any information about them using Christmas Trees has no source notes and no Historical support. In the 1300s, there is some evidence that commoners were going into the woods to collect wood on Christmas Eve. Some 14th-century forest management laws in Sundhoffen and Bergheim limited the collection of branches before or after Christmas. Saint-Hippolyte commanded that forests be guarded 9 days before Christmas. The Earliest reference to a decorated tree is in 1419, when some bakers in Freiburg reported a decorated tree in a hospital. The word “bom” doesn’t mean a tree; it also refers to a maypole. This is supported by specific Maypole tree-cutting regulations in Adelsheim and Ammerschwihr in the mid-1400s. From here on, the tradition expanded and decorated trees are displayed in public, in front of buildings, and in markets. But Christmas Trees in homes didn't appear until the 1500s with the popularization of Martin Luther. The stories about Martin Luther (1546), in which he was on a winter stroll when he saw beautiful stars over the evergreen trees, reminded him of the incarnation. It is recorded that he cut down one of them and decorated it in his house. After he did this, it became a widespread German tradition ²

This practice then spread to Britain in the 19th century when Queen Victoria married the German Prince Albert. This is actually one of the most solid sources as to why we have Christmas trees, and it explains why Christmas trees were, for almost 300 years, a primarily German practice, where Luther was located. The Royal family distributed pictures of themselves in front of their Christmas trees, and their popularity resulted in mass participation in the Christmas tree tradition. Any claim that this originated from pagans is simply speculation, simply because the evidence we have only says when and where it began, not why. There is evidence that the Paradise plays done around the Paradise Trees is what eventually led to the wider populace decorating their own Paradise Trees. Then, later on, with Martin Luther, the tradition exploded in Germany and France. Whenever the German Royal family married into the British Royal family, the tradition became widespread across Britain and Europe. The tradition eventually made its way to the New World, where we see it becoming a global tradition today.

Doesn't the Bible Forbid Christmas Trees?

“Thus says the Lord: Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them, for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move." (Jeremiah 10:2-4)

Many people use this verse to declare that erecting a Christmas tree is a sin and that God makes that clear here. The issue is that this is cherry-picked, and the context reveals a completely different intention and message. Jeremiah is talking about when a tree is cut down and then worked on by a craftsman into a graven idol. The passage is very clear that there is a process of production done on the tree before it is decorated. The following verses compare the idol to a scarecrow.

“Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor is it in them to do good." (Jeremiah 10:5)

“They are both stupid and foolish; the instruction of idols is but wood!" (Jeremiah 10:8)

“...every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them." (Jeremiah 10:14)

Just like how a scarecrow mocks a human being to scare away birds, but will never actually be a living human, so is the graven idol, made by the craftsman to have arms, legs, and faces, but no living qualities. Idols also mock God by being made out of material, something God is not (Exodus 20:4). This verse also makes no sense if what is being cut down resembles an evergreen tree. Why would Jeremiah warn about making Christmas trees when he had no reason or application for mentioning that to his audience? When you run into people using this verse out of context, invite them to read the context. Sit down with them and walk through the scripture with them, show them that the verse does not mean what they say it means, and reveal the real message behind it.

Christmas Isn't About the Presents, or the Tree

Despite the lies being spread around about Christmas, remember what the holiday is truly about. We shouldn't divide within the body of Christ, disputing about foolish things; we should all unite under the one, the first and last, Jesus Christ. This is the day that we celebrate the day that the Creator of the universe came down and entered mankind. He would go on to live a perfect life, fulfill prophecy, and restore man's connection to God. Through His righteousness and Deity, Jesus was the perfect sacrifice, one for all. Not only to go to the cross to pay our debt as breakers of the moral law, but also to die so that we may also inherit His reward of eternal life with the Father. When the universe's cries and groans will end, and Yahweh will again be in fellowship with His creation, and in a love relationship with His creatures. I challenge you to take some time in prayer to ask God to bless you with unity this season and to not forget what this day is truly about, the coming and incarnation of our savior, Jesus Christ.

May we make Paul proud when he says, “Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. (Philippians 2:2)." And may we all find ourselves “Eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift (Ephesians 4:3-7).”

“For in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26-28).”

(1) (Titus Kennedy, Excavating the Evidence for Jesus, pg 36)

(2) https://youtu.be/m41KXS-LWsY?si=MGi1584KFPB3cDRE