Christians celebrate Christmas as the day of Jesus Christ’s birth. On December 25th, people around the world celebrate the festival by gifting their loved ones, eating meals together and having merry good time. Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year and has always been right ?
Once I waited for half an hour under the mistletoe in neighborhood party so that I could get a chance kiss my crush. Who doesn’t have sweet memories like this? Although I didn’t get the chance to kiss her, the memories of that day will live forever.
What if I told you, many cultures celebrated Christmas long before Jesus was born. Throughout millennia, many cultures have celebrated their own version of Christmas-like festivals.
Yule
Did you know that people in Scandinavia celebrated Christmas long before Jesus walked the Earth? Every year on December 20-25, the Norse people came together to celebrate ‘Yule’.
During winter solstice the local denizens celebrated Yule, which is also shortest day of the year. Yule was celebrated by Vikings, Scandinavians and Norse people.
On this day, people gathered and sacrificed animals like horses and boars to please Gods. The Vikings and Scandinavians decorated evergreen trees by carving faces of their gods. They believed that evil spirits would go away and good spirits would come by decorating the trees. On top, they burnt wooden logs in darkness of the night to keep warm.
Saturnalia
Saturnalia was an ancient Roman festival celebrated in mid-December that was dedicated to Saturn – God of Wealth, Agriculture, Renewal and Time. On this holy-day people of Rome performed various religious rites.
You might be surprised to hear that Romans celebrated Saturnalia for total of 1-3 days and sometimes up to 1 week. Roman’s spent their time gambling, drinking, dancing and socializing with loved ones. Romans closed all governmental institutions and workplaces during the duration of the festival.
Roman civilization were notorious for living luxurious lifestyles, having slaves and treating them harshly. But on this occasion, slaves were given freedom to speak on equal terms and enjoy with their masters.
Shab-e Chelleh (Yalda)
During every winter solstice at December 21, Iranians celebrate Yalda. Yalda marks the beginning of longest day and short nights. It is believed that ancient Iranians have been celebrating this festival since 5000 years.
People get together on this special night with their family to eat a nice meal, drink, have good time and recite poetry (especially Hafez). It is customary to eat pomegranate or watermelon as it signifies the dawn.
Iranians eat nuts (ajil), and dried fruit (khoshkbar) on Yalda night. The special foods prepared for this night changes from family to family. People of Iran, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia and other countries still celebrate Yalda to this day.
Did Christmas come from Yule and Saturnalia?
Well the answer is complicated as both of these festivals are different compared. But they are also similar with Christmas as both
Modern Christmas came from many other sources as well. But Yule and Saturnalia have the most influence on Christmas.
Since ancient times many traditions celebrate Christmas in the middle of winter. This is also a psychological need as people need to release their pent up emotions.
As to why Christmas became so popular is unclear. According to historical records, in December 25, 336 AD Christians celebrated Christmas in Rome even though Romans celebrated Saturnalia on that specific day.
We believe that early Christian leaders wanted an equal-footing festival of their own to compete with Yule and Saturnalia. Christmas does resembles Saturnalia in regards of gifting, and Yule in decoration of trees and hanging ornamental.
Why is Christmas on December 25?
We all know that Christianity wasn’t a strong religion back in the early centuries. Roman empire heavily persecuted early Christians.
Though Christians celebrate December 25 as the birth date of Jesus Christ, there is no mention in Bible about Jesus Christ being born on that day. So early Christians did not celebrate his birth on December 25th. Only in 313 CE, the Roman emperor Edict of Milan legalized Christianity and thus it started flourishing.
Some other churches like modern Armenian church enjoy Christmas on 6th January every year.
Early Christians believed that prophets like Jesus died on the date of their birth. So they did a lot of digging by going through lots of historical records to pin the death of Jesus on March 25th.
So why don’t we celebrate Christmas on March 25th? The answer is still unclear as nobody knows for sure.
Conclusion
Nobody knows for sure why people celebrate Christmas on December 25th and have been doing so since millennia. But we know that Christmas has lots of similarity to Yule and Saturnalia.
Never the less, Christmas brings family and friends together bringing joy to everyone. No wonder Andy Williams sings that “it’s the most wonderful time of the year. “
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