by Stefani Andrews

Created on: June 05, 2009   Last Updated: June 13, 2009

I fail to see how Christians can "reclaim" something that didn't belong to them in the first place? Christians did not invent the holiday and name it a holy day. In reality, Christmas has existed in one form or another for over 4,000 years, which is much longer than Christianity has existed. If anyone has a claim to the day, it's the Pagans. It is widely accepted and believed that they were the first to call this day a holy day.

Isaac Newton theorized, in the early eighteenth century, that the Christians had intentionally set the day of Christmas on December 25th to coincide with the winter solstice. The solstice is still celebrated on or around the 25th of December today and had been for many centuries before Christ was ever born. Then in 1743, a German by the name of Paul Ernst Jablonski made the argument that the day was chosen to coincide with the Roman holiday of Dies Natalis Solis Invicti. These are just a few of the hypotheses about why the Roman Catholic Church chose the date of Christmas.

The fact however remains that Pagans all over the world celebrated (and continue to celebrate) the holiday of Yule to celebrate the winter solstice. This was a time to celebrate the end of the harvest season and prepare for the winter. It was usually a night long festival to honor the Divine Mother and thank her for the bounty of the summer and fall. Toasts were made and bonfires burned. Yule is a time of celebration and to recognize the solstice. The solstice is when the earth's axis tilts away from the sun in the northern hemisphere, which means that celebrating the sun was a large part of Yule celebrations. Candles, bonfires, and lanterns could be found everywhere.

When the Roman Catholic Church was named the official church in Britain, the Church officials quickly realized they had a problem. Most of the residents within their domain were still practicing the Pagan traditions they had been taught all their lives. It was going to be impossible to go in and demand that they stop worshiping a Goddess and accept Christ as the Son of God and the only way to salvation. Rather than do this, the church decided to try and incorporate as much of the Pagan traditions into the Christian tradition as possible in order to make the transition easier. So instead of a Goddess there was much more emphasis on the Virgin Mary and her importance in the Church. Instead of the other Pagan gods and goddesses, emphasis was placed on the Catholic Saints instead. Churches were built on Pagan holy sites and Pagan holidays suddenly became Christian holy days. This is true of not only Christmas but Easter as well. Instead of gathering mistletoe and pine branches for the Goddess, Christmas trees and mistletoe were displayed in the home to remind one of the nativity story.

The church's decision worked better than they could have imagined and helped to mold the Catholic Church into what it is today. But the fact remains that Christians never had a claim to Christmas as a holy day. They elected to make it a holy day to ease the minds of their Pagan converts. You cannot claim something that you borrowed to begin with.

Learn more about this author, Stefani Andrews.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.