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Christmas Before Christ?

© Brenda Gambrell

Born and raised a Christian, I always believed that the first Christmas celebration was when Jesus was born - in the wee hours of December 25th in the year when BC ended and AD began. We attended midnight mass to celebrate his birth; we exchanged presents because the kings presented the baby with gifts of frankincense and myrrh, but I was never too sure why we decorated a tree or why Mom told me a fat bearded man flew in on a sleigh and dropped off gifts while I was sleeping. I was told that Jesus' birth is why we celebrated and Santa Claus, mistletoe, sparkling lights, and cut out cookies pleasantly mingled and meshed in with the "true" meaning and I didn't mind a bit.

Christmas, in fact, was celebrated long before Christ was born. These pagan celebrations may not have been called Christmas but many of these ancient traditions resemble those that we still uphold today. In the Roman Empire, Saturnalia was a religious festival celebrated in Rome and the provinces between December 17 and 24. Honoring Saturn, the god of grain and agriculture, it was the festival of liberty. For one day, Roman slaves became the masters and their masters the slaves.

The cult of Mithras from Persia, which spread during the IIIrd and IVth centuries B.C., celebrated the "Invincible Sun" on December 25th - commemorating the birth of a young sun god who sprang from a cave in the form of a newborn infant. The festival of the Sigillaria, or terra-cotta seals, was a pagan Roman holiday celebrated at the end of December. Romans used to give gifts especially to children: rings, seals and tiny objects. This festival was the time for great feasts and houses were decorated with green plants.

Even though modern Christmas trees were introduced to the court of Queen Victoria by her husband, Prince Albert, as a custom from his native Germany, the tradition of decorating with evergreen trees and boughs originated from the ancient pagan cultures. The evergreen, one of few plants to remain green even in winter, was viewed as a symbol of life during the season of death. To decorate the evergreen was a way of celebrating eternal life during the Winter Solstice - the time of year when sunlight and the day are the shortest. Candles and our modern day and much safer string lights also resemble these ancient traditions as symbols of the sun's light. Candles were lit to celebrate the rebirth of the sun, as the Solstice marked the time when the days became progressively longer.