Many people look at pagan religions and think that they were devil worshipers or just plain crazy people, but did you know that most Christmas traditions come from these pagan religions and that the pentacle was not a sign of the devil, but a sign of something mystical and magical. Now don’t take that the wrong way. It’s a good symbol, not a bad one.

What Christmas traditions do we get from these pagan religions:

• The Christmas tree- There was an ancient Middle Eastern practice of cutting down trees, bringing them into the home and decorating them. During the Roman celebration of the feast of Saturnalia, Pagans did decorate their houses with clippings of evergreen shrubs.
• Giving gifts and Santa Clause-  Gifts were given during the winter solstice for good luck. In addition the Norse traditions of Odin’s gift and punishment. They gave gifts throughout the winter, which evolved into St. Nicholas and Kris Kringle presents for children.
• Christmas Day- Guess what day the winter Solstice was on, yes Christmas December 25.  December 25th was also considered the birth of the Persian sun god Mithras. So the church choose December 25 to make it easer to convert the pagans.
• Yule logs- The men of ancient religions would go out and find the largest log  they could to bring home for the winter solstice or Yule festival.
• Twelve Days of Christmas- Yule logs were burned, and they were supposed to be large enough that they burned for twelve days. This was the foundation of the twelve days of Christmas after Christianity was introduced.

Of course there are many more traditions that I have not covered here. It’s interesting to see how different religions are so similar.

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