From Winter Solstice Festivals to Christmas

 

From Winter Solstice Festivals to Christmas

 

The Winter Solstice:

We all know that December is Holiday month and are several celebrations, all people waiting all year for them. Contrary to some mentalities, Christmas it belongs to Jesus Christ as the name actually tells us. On 24 December it is the Christmas Eve and between 25-27 December it is Christmas. Since the cultures predate Christianity, indeed are Pagan Winter Solstice rituals and celebrations which match the Christmas date. But this does not make Christmas of Pagan origin and neither having any association with such category of feasts.

The winter solstice represents the shortest day and longest night of the year. After the winter solstice the days are longer. Humans are aware of this phenomenon since Neolithic period. Therefore, in honour of receiving back the sun, the civilizations created festivals as gratefulness. The most common during Winter Solstice festivals were the use of fire and light with traditional symbols.

There are several pagan cults around the world which they honour the idols and spirits but I will focus on 2 of them which are directly connected with Christmas in history: The Nordic Yule Festival and the Roman Festival Saturnalia.

 

Festival Saturnalia:

The Roman Holiday Saturnalia, dedicated to God Saturn, Patron of Agriculture, was a celebration during the winter solstice. This feast was meant to be upside down and libertine, similar to the Medieval Festival of Fools. For 1 month, slaves and servants were seen as equal with their masters and were even allowed to scold them. Everyone was in vacation so that they all could enjoy this festival. Also during this period was another festival dedicated Juvenalia for honoring the children in Rome. In this feast people were allowed to gamble, make pranks, they consumed a lot of alcohol and food. It was even selected a king to create more chaos and entertainment and people had to obey him during this festival, no matter how absurd his demands were. They exchanged gifts during this feast, in most cases between adults were prank gifts but also just like how we receive today: food, clothes, objects, even weapons, while the children received toys. Mithra, a Persian deity which arrived in Roman culture, had his birthday by the upper class.

 

Inca Festival:

Inty Raymi is the Inca Empire Pagan feast for Winter Solstice. It lasted for 3 days, before the solstice, dedicated to the Sun God Tayta Inty (Father Sun). Waiting for the sunrise, they drank Chica from golden cups (a sacred beer made from fermented corn). Animals were sacrificed during this ceremony, including llamas (they were animals used for several purposes such as wool, meat and milk). The Inca people used a mirror for the sun rays and to catch up a fire. After the Spanish invasion and conquer of the lands this festival was banned but revived in the 20th Century, but with simulation sacrifices instead.

 

Yule Festival:

Yule festival, one of the oldest celebrations within Winter Solstice period, it has Scandinavian origins, later being adopted by all Nordic and Germanic regions. Were assimilated customs in the Christmas Holiday in West Christianity. The customs from this feast were mostly drinking, dancing and singing carols. Other rituals include: bonfires, holly decorations, mistletoe, bringing branches of evergreen trees, animal sacrifices and offering presents. Many if these customs were later adopted during Christmas.

Now is mostly practised by Neo-Pagans. Neo-Paganism it is a revival of the Ancient idol cults, mostly from Europe and Orient. The rituals include also magic and witchcraft and is a combination between the recreation of what was once in that time with personal religious practices and beliefs.

Oldest source for Yule existence is from the English monk and historian Bede which wrote in 8th Century. After 9th Century, Haakon Haraldsson, king of Norway, went to travel in England and he decided to convert to Christianity. After he returned he took the decision to celebrate Yule in same time with Christmas. Shortly after, Christmas owned the period and little by little the pagan feast was almost vanished.

The celebration included fire, meal feasts, animal sacrifices. During winter due to resource scarce the cattle was sacrificed either for the local deities or for the plates. One of the most important rituals was burning one side of the log and let it burn for 12 days, for people to keep warm and also keep the festival alive. The ashes from the log would be used for plants. In present times it is made a cake with a Yule log shape similar to a roulade. Another tradition is the Yule Goat, it is traced back to God Thor which had a chariot pulled by goats.

During the 12 day event, the people took part in the ale drinking. Different kinds of livestock was also sacrificed just not the cattle. One of the type of animals was the horse and its blood was used as sacrificial blood, used to sprinkle it like how Christians do with holy water) smeared on all idol statues, the temple walls both in exterior and interior, the men present at the action. Toasts were present and in the name of Idol Gods. Another myth associated with the feast was the last parcel of grain harvested was considered to be the spirit of the harvest and that saved the Yule celebrations.

The goat is a symbol to the Yule festival. This feast marks the Sun's annual return, so for this a baby goat was sacrificed in honour of the Gods. In the 19th Century the goat's attributes were replaced by Santa Claus and a modern ritual would be to create goats made of straws and use them as Christmas decor. Traditions associated with the goat vary a lot between regions and periods. Another popular activity was the hunting for the Yule Boar which was a symbol for the recognition of the hunt.

In Scandinavia, group of men were dressed in costumes and performing songs and pranks from house to house. After Christianity they added the goat element too, which is a creepy creature. The group was rewarded with candy and seasonal treats similar to the Halloween celebration.

 

The Christmas:

In the mentality of Western Christians was the fact that if they would establish the date of Christmas during Winter Solstice to overlap the Yule Festival and Saturnalia people would forget the pagan old habits and beliefs. Unfortunately it is not like this, the date of Christmas it was established then because it is the date of The Annunciation on 25 March, calculated with 9 months would be December. It was only a coincidence that it was overlapping the pagan festivals. Indeed by the Medieval period the Christian religion replaced the pagan ones.

Sadly the Occidental Christians wouldn't celebrate properly but with drunken, carnival/fair like way, similar of present celebration of Mardi Gras. Odin, depicted with white beard, was considered to be first Father Christmas and he visited homes to join the feast. Children left their shoes or dogs out in the Solstice Eve waiting for Odin to show up with his 8 legged horse. He was then merged with Saint Nicholas and later replaced with Santa Claus.

The origins of the Christmas Tree belongs to the Scandinavian which decorated the evergreen trees with gifts such as food for its spirit to encourage to return in the spring. The current version of the Christmas tree dates back to Germany in Medieval period, most likely a new version of the Scandinavian origin of tree honoring.

Mistletoe belongs to a Scandinavian story, this plant combined with the tear of the mother resurrected her son, the God of Light. In the Celtic Mythology, the mistletoe was a healing plant and would also chase evil spirits.

Modern elements into the Christmas celebration were added with 19^th Century. The advent calendars appeared with early versions in 1903 in Germany. Elf on the shelf is an American story made in 2005 where parents hide an elf from Thanksgiving to Christmas. The Christmas pickle ornament was attached to the tree near other tree decorations and the 1st child which finds this gets to open first the presents in the morning. The gingerbread house originates in the story of Hansel and Gretel. The Nutcracker originated in Russia. The door wreaths mainly come from the Ancient Roman-Greek lands but it was converted as Christian symbol for Jesus Christ crown of thorns.

 

The Christian Perspective over These Celebrations:

 

            In Christian religion, but mostly in Orthodox Christian, which is the oldest branch of this religion, the association with anything pagan, especially Idol worshipping it is forbidden. Therefore it is encouraged to not practice pagan celebrations no matter how interesting they may be.

The most important aspect of Winter Holiday is the birth of Our Saviour Jesus Christ. On 25 December we celebrate in Orthodoxy “The Nativity of Jesus”. This should be the most important aspect that we have in mind because without him being born we wouldn’t be saved. But just like at Easter period, Christmas is suffering too by being overthrown Jesus Christ from his own celebration. Before the Grand Date of 25 December we have a previous important holiday on 6 December, the commemoration of Saint Nicholas. He was a very devoted Christian and with huge faith in God also being a bishop and helped several people, he is known for his generosity. He offers the best example of what a Christian should behave. Lamentably he was converted into Santa Claus which is a combination between the Saint, Pagan Gods and the commercial new story invented as family celebration also for gaining different benefits. For more details I wrote a separate article for this topic.

Orthodox Icon of The Annunciation 25 March

Coming back to 25 December, on 25 March it was The Annunciation date where Archangel Gabriel comes to Virgin Mary and announces her that she is pregnant. After 9 months arrives the most important date. Virgin Mary is giving birth in a cave destined for animals, without any pain and Our Saviour is welcomed in this world by angels. By ignoring this important event and God while putting accent on a fantasy story with Santa Claus or the pagan festivals it is a very big sin.

Orthodox Icon of Nativity of Jesus 25 December

Another reason why it is a major sin to follow pagan festivals is that majority of them are dedicated to the false Idols and by going towards this is an act which defies God along with the several Saints which dedicated and lost their life so that people understand that this is not the path to follow.

Majority of Idol festivals include a lot of violence and sacrifices in a very evil and sadistic way, mostly to animals but sometimes humans are also targeted. Jesus Christ sacrificed for us so that nobody will suffer anymore neither humans or animals from such evil rituals in the name of deities. To take a look at this specific Yule celebration, a young baby goat has life taken for a legend of Thor which nobody can even confirm if the character actually ever existed, so for a fantasy a baby animal, or better said more animals, since was practised in all Nordic region, lost chance every year to see reach adulthood and enjoy the life given by God.

Another major issue is with the blood from these sacrifices. The life stands inside the blood, therefore it is a sin actually in all 3 religions: Christian, Muslim, Jewish to consume meat with blood and especially waste it, the other 2 religions might offer a different explanation but it is still forbidden at them too. Horses died in a lot of pain during Yule festival, maybe other type of animals as well, so that the people would engage in a ritual to waste that blood on painting themselves, buildings and statues. So this first of all an insult to God’s creation because the animals were not given to us humans to exploit and torture them for our pleasure, they were offered to take care of them and also “use” them in a way that it can make our life easier but without harming or mistreating them. Another direct sin is taking the life of the animal and using the blood, which is supposed to be sacred, to paint people and buildings with it, especially being dedicated to false Idols, another major sin. Regarding the Saturnalia festival, the libertine life along with Idol worshipping is another sin.

As a conclusion, even if the festivals might have changed in rituals, the base it is still has evil and with pagan origins so it may be masked as being a good thing or harmless thing but it is not, by practising any of these rituals you still revive what happened long ago. Pagan elements which entered in the Christmas celebration such as mistletoe, wreath, tree, gingerbread have no negative background so is not a problem to keep them. Caroling and Santa Claus aspects are too deep into our consciousness so eliminating them completely it is almost impossible as individuals or collective minds, but we should keep them as last priority just to make a nice atmosphere in the house, more details I offered in the article with Santa Claus. The most important that we should celebrate is the Nativity of Christ not anything else. Dressing and singing at people’s houses with mythological creatures mostly it is another sin. The advent calendar it is pointless in the Orthodox perspective and the elf toy is another useless new tradition from our perspective. While the green pickle is honestly a child discrimination from several points of view: every child should have the right to open presents the next day when he desires, by creating sibling rivalry (or any type of child rivalry if are not siblings) is completely wrong and can affect relationships between people both as children or adults, by winning the child becomes proud and cocky, an act that is not encouraged in Christianity, if he loses he will have different negative thoughts and feelings such as depression, hate, envy and other because he was not capable to be the first one which found the ornament. Plus it is useless and not very pretty ornament too.