Christmas, although called by different names, was originally a pagan holiday celebrated on December 21st or thereabouts, according to the solstice. The Roman Catholic Church came in and desperately wanted to get rid of all pagan influences so at the request of the Westminster Assembly of the English Parliament in 1644, an act was passed forbidding the observance of Christmas, calling it a heathen holiday. In an appendix to their "Directory for the Public Worship of God" the Westminster divines said: "There is no day commanded in scripture to be kept holy under the gospel but the Lord's day, which is the Christian Sabbath. Festival days, vulgarly called 'Holy-days', having no warrant in the word of God, are not to be continued." (See also, James Bannerman, The Church of Christ, Vol. i, pages 406-420). This outlawed the holiday, not only for pagans but for christians as well for a time, although most pagans still continued to observe it in quiet.

It was even outlawed in America almost from the beginning. When the Puritans came over, similar laws were laid down by them. Even years later, the General Court of Massachusetts decreed punishment for those who observed the season: "...anyone who is found observing, by abstinence from labor, feasting, or any other way, any such days as Christmas Day, shall pay for every such offense five shillings."

As late as 1900, Christmas services were not allowed in Southern Presbyterian churches. The pcus General Assembly of 1899 stated: "There is no warrant in Scripture for the observance of Christmas and Easter as holydays, rather the contrary (see Gal. 4:9-11; Col. 2:16-21), and such observance is contrary to the principles of the Reformed faith, conducive to will-worship, and not in harmony with the simplicity of the gospel of Jesus Christ."

Now let's look at the date of Christmas, December 25. This is awfully close to the Winter Solstice Celebration (Dec 21 or close) which, obviously is pagan and as you are probably aware, no one really knows the actual date or time of Christ's birth. Any record of the date of birth of Yeshua Ben Nazareth (later known as Jesus Christ) has been lost now for centuries, but there is sufficient evidence in the Gospels to show that Yeshua was born in autumn and not winter, but this seems to have been unknown to early Christians. December 25 is just a highly unlikely time. Why then did they choose December 25 to celebrate the Christ Child's birth?

Well, instead of losing people to paganism, the church decided to remain safe and combine the two days, the birth of Jesus and the Solstice, the birth of the Sun God. They had hopes of winning some of the pagans over to Christianity. They were too afraid to force the people to make a choice between the two, because many would have gone back to what they were used to: Celebrating the Winter Solstice.

So the actual transition from celebrating the birth of the sun god to a celebration for the Son of God occurred sometime in the fourth century. Unable to eradicate the pagan celebrations, the Church of Rome, at sometime before 336 A.D., designated a Feast of the Nativity to be held.

In ancient times, the Babylonians celebrated the victory of their sun god at this time of year, when the days began to lengthen once more. In Babylon, Yule was the Babylonian name for "infant", and Yule Day was celebrated on December 25th, long before the birth of Christ . They worshipped the sun god and the birth of the sun god took place at the winter solstice. The druids called this day Alban Arthuan in honor of the king's birth, while the Roman custom was called Saturnalia, the feast of the birth of Sol, with Sol meaning "Sun". For centuries, the celebration had been a tradition of pagan merriment and revelry.

The Church, once deciding to allow the people to hold their festivities, decreed that it would now be called the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Thus, they changed the name to "Christ Mass".

Does anyone know why we, as pagans, have trees in our homes at the time of the Solstice? Because our ancestors worshipped nature and especially the trees and they played an important role in their lives. Celts, Saxons and Norsemen, used trees to ward off evil spirits. In Rome the fir tree was their symbol of the holidays. Isn't the tree also a christian custom? No, it is not. It was taken from the ancient pagan holidays, as I have noted. If you will read the Bible, you will find that this is what is said about the custom of putting a tree into your house. Jeremiah warning the people of God: "Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with hammers, that it move not" (Jer. 10:2-4).

Nearly every recorded form of pagan worship has descended from the Babylonian "mysteries". Pagans worship the mother goddess and the birth of her child on this sacred pagan holiday. At this time of year, many of the olde religion would offer up carvings from the sacred trees of the Oak King or Sun God. So even the nativity scene, which some regard as the most "Christian" symbol of Christmas, is from the pagan practices of the ancients. Christians were not allowed "graven images' or "idols", yet they still clung to some of the olde pagan customs and attempted to make them their own.

Is this holiday Pagan or Christian? I guess that's really up to you and what you make of it. To me, we are all just celebrating the birth of the new child of the gods. Does it really matter so very much if we all celebrate together. I don't think so.