History of Christmas

The history of Christmas dates back over 4000 years. It is widely believed that many of our Christmas traditions were celebrated long before Christ was born; the 12 days of Christmas, the bright fires, the yule log, the giving of gifts, carolers who sing while going from house to house, the holiday feasts and the church processions can all be traced back to the early Mesopotamians (5000 to 1800 BC) who populated large areas of modern day Turkey and Iraq.

The Mesopotamians believed in many gods, with their chief god being Marduk. Each year as winter arrived it was believed that Marduk would do battle with the monsters of chaos, to assist Marduk in his struggle the Mesopotamians held a 12 day long festival called Zagmuk.

During this festival, the Mesopotamian king would return to the temple of Marduk and swear his faithfulness to the god. The traditions called for the king to die at the end of the year and to return with Marduk to battle at his side. To spare their king, the Mesopotamians chose a criminal who was dressed in royal clothes and was given all the respect and privileges of a real king. At the end of the celebration this "mock" king was stripped of the royal clothes and slain.

Early Europeans (5000 to 1000 BC) believed in evil spirits, witches, ghosts and trolls. As the Winter Solstice approached, with its long cold nights and short days, many people feared the sun would not return. Special rituals and celebrations were held to welcome back the sun.

The Persians and the Babylonians (1800 to 479 BC) celebrated a similar festival called the Sacaea. Part of that celebration included the exchanging of places, the slaves would become the masters and the masters were to obey.

The ancient Greeks (1100 to 146 BC) held a festival similar to that of the Zagmuk and Sacaea to assist their god Kronos who would battle the god Zeus and his Titans. The Romans (753 BC to 1453 AD) celebrated their god Saturn. Their festival was called Saturnalia which began in the middle of December and ended on 1st January. With cries of "Jo Saturnalia!" the celebration would include masquerades in the streets, big festive meals, visiting friends, the exchange of good-luck gifts called Strenae (lucky fruits) and decking their halls with garlands of laurel and green trees lit with candles. This Saturnalia festival has a close similarity with today's Christmas celebrations and hence the history of Christmas is heavily linked to this ancient Saturnalia.

The early Christians (30 to 325 AD) refused to honour the pagan Roman god Saturn and wanted to keep the birthday of their Christ child a solemn and religious holiday, not one of cheer and merriment as was the pagan Saturnalia.

In Scandinavia during the winter months the sun disappears for many days. Around the time of the early Christians, after thirty-five days scouts would be sent to the mountain tops to look for the return of the sun. When the first light was seen the scouts would return with the good news. A great festival would be held, called the Yuletide, and a special feast would be served around a fire burning with the Yule log. Great bonfires would also be lit to celebrate the return of the sun. None would send Christmas cards just yet. In some areas people would tie apples to branches of trees to remind themselves that spring and summer would return.

As Christianity spread the followers were alarmed by the continuing celebration of pagan customs and Saturnalia among their converts. At first the Church forbade this kind of celebration. But it was to no avail. Eventually it was decided that the celebration would be tamed and made into a celebration fit for the Christian Son of God.

Some legends claim that the Christian "Christmas" celebration was invented to compete against the pagan celebrations of December. The 25th December was not only sacred to the Romans but also the Persians whose religion, Mithraism, was one of Christianity's main rivals at that time. The Church eventually was successful in taking the merriment, lights, and gifts from the Saturnalia festival and bringing them to the celebration of Christmas.

The exact day of the Christ child's birth has never been pinpointed but we continue to celebrate the occasion on 25th December, the date which was chosen by a Bishop of Rome, Julius I, as the date to observe Christmas.

Today, Christmas feels incomplete without those decorations of tinsel and streamers, the lights and candles, the piping hot turkey with pies around, the decked halls, the mistletoe on the doorway, the holly, and the stockings over the fireplace, the bells on the Christmas tree and the colourful greetings and gifts, traditions for which we should thank our ancestors.