Some of us go through the motions during Christmas completely unaware of the origins of many of our traditions. We decorate our Christmas tree, light a fire in the fireplace, hang wreaths of fir on our doors, and maybe even drink mulled wine and go caroling. It may be a surprise to some of you that many of these traditions originated in pagan celebrations of the winter solstice, celebrations which have been around for as many as 10,000 years! As the days grew shorter in what is now called December, countless cultures held festivals to encourage their sun god to return, and the solstice itself marked the day (and moment) when the sun hit its lowest point and was again on an upward trajectory toward another warm spring.
Anyway, I'm tired and my writing is probably hard to follow, so I'll link a wonderful website explaining the history of mankind's solstice celebrations.
Ancient origins: Solstice
So remember, Christians hijacked pagan holidays, and not the other way around.
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Christian leaders of the time endeavored to attract pagans to their faith by adding Christian meaning to the existing festivals. They gave a new meaning to the existing celebration of the "birth of the sun" (Son).
~Ash
I wonder what Christians will call Halloween in, say, 50 years.
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