The time has arrived to prepare for the celebration of the winter festivals: of course, the most commercial of them all (and so perhaps one of the most widely celebrated) being Christmas; but, also at this time of year, and predating Christmas by great scores of years (several hundred to several thousands of years before the birth of Jesus), other traditions and celebrations existed.

 

I’ll start, though, with a modern day minister named Thomas Martincic. He is exacting and literal in his reverence to the teachings of the Bible. Being a very devout Christian, his website (at this time of year) denounces Christmas and everything related to it. He quotes scripture after scripture, using them to explain why Christmas should not be celebrated by Christians: the least of them being that Jesus’ birth was not in December. He tics off the pagan rituals in Rome, Germany, Ireland and other sites around the world that were adopted by the new Christians to create continuity and acceptance of their newer faith. Martincic does a fair amount of Bible thumping as he chastises Christians for copying paganism; going so far as to quote verses that (seemingly) say NOT to celebrate Jesus’ birth. Martincic (as well as other ministers that I’ve read about) points out that Jesus’ birth date would have been precisely recorded if God meant it to be celebrated. Martincic makes the point that Christians weakened their faith by adopting pagan holidays and decorations to blend in and convert the pagans. He questions, "Who has converted whom?” He and many others like him call for an end to the holiday of Christmas!

 

That said – let me highlight some of the traditions from other more ancient December festivals now used for the Christmas holiday.

· One of the stories of the use of a TREE (among MANY other celebrations and beliefs) comes from around 2100 BC, when it was believed that the son of the Babylonian Goddess Simiramis, Nimrod (later known as Baal and sometimes…wait for it…Santa), returned after his death to leave a present for his wife at a tree stump in the woods. Now, Nimrod, like many pagan gods, was reported to have been born on December 25th. After he visited the stump, his wife said that a new evergreen instantly grew to full size out of the dead tree roots – after which people began leaving presents in evergreen groves for Nimrod on his birthday.

· DECEMBER 25th was the birthday and rebirth date of many gods around the ancient world. Solstice being the 21st and the 25th being the first noticeable day of longer daylight. The recognition of the birth of the gods on that day was a celebration of the ancient one’s faith that the gods were also bringing rebirth to the earth.

· The YULE log was burned throughout Europe to celebrate the birth of another pagan god (on December 25th). At the time of winter solstice, the log would be lit. It was such a large log that it would take 12 days to burn. This Yuletime was the start of the 12 Days of Christmas.

· RED and GREEN comes from a pagan Celtic celebration of life. Red for blood and the cycle of life in women, and green for vegetation. The evergreen was used to represent eternal life and the promise of the return of food-baring plants in the spring.

· HOLLY was considered a male plant…a protector…it was used in ancient times to adorn windows because of its sharp and prickly leaves. It was used to ward off evil spirits that may try to sneak into a house through the windows. The barriers are poisonous, too, and so would poison anything that stopped at the window and ate the midwinter "fruit.”

· MISTLETOE was considered to be a magical plant. It grows on the air between the bark and the wood of a tree. Magic was believed to reside in "the in between” spaces where ‘nothingness’ is. Nature cannot have a void, and so, where one thing stops and another thing starts the void is filled with god-power or magic. Since mistletoe grows in those spaces, it holds the essence of magic within itself. Kissing under that magic of mistletoe, then, casts a love spell on the couple.

· IVY is the pagan female counterpart of holly. Ivy needs to cling to something to grow and survive. It showed the woman’s need for a mate. [Interestingly, during Solstice, whichever plant, the holly or the ivy, was brought into the house first determined whether the man or the woman would rule the house that year. – Can you imagine that race….to be the first to bring your plant in on that day?]

· SANTA CLAUS is actually a Pagan Godform. Today's Santa has multicultural roots. He embodies characteristics of Saturn (Roman agricultural god), Cronos (Greek god, also known as Father Time), the Holly King (Celtic god of the dying year), Father Ice/Grandfather Frost (Russian winter god), Thor (Norse sky god who rides the sky in a chariot drawn by goats), Odin/Wotan (Scandinavian/Teutonic All-Father who rides the sky on an eight-legged horse), Frey (Norse fertility god), and the Tomte (a Norse Land Spirit known for giving gifts to children at this time of year).

· The LAUREL WREATH was used to adorn the heads of the winners of ancient Olympics. It signified triumph – and in the winter holidays it spoke of the winning out over the winter darkness and the return of longer, warmer days. Today it signifies the triumph of God over the devil through salvation by the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus.

· POINSETTIA was a flower used by the ancient Aztecs to make purple dye (the color of royalty) and medicine. In 1825, John Poinsett discovered and introduced the flower to Northern America. People thought it might resemble the way the star of Bethlehem must have looked to the Magi.

 

And so on…traditions from across the ages and around the world have been adapted and adopted to decorate for today’s Christmas holiday. Celebrate as you will - just know whence it came and why.