Medieval Origins of Christmas
The History of Some Christmas Traditions from the Middle Ages
On this darkest night of the year, let's discuss where Christmas originated.
Christmas ("Christ's Mass") is frequently seen as a Christian holiday; the name itself dates to 1038 in Old English. But in fact, it is one of the best examples of a holiday where Christian traditions were deliberately used to replace older pagan traditions, or even older Christian traditions that were no longer appropriate or needed in a process called "syncretism". This process is quite old and has been going on for most of the Church's 2000-year history.
Advent, for example, celebrates the "advent" of Christ's conception and the conception and birth of John the Baptist in the four Sundays preceding Christmas and has been doing so since the eight or ninth centuries C.E. However, it existed prior to that with a different meaning. It was originally celebrated as a festival anticipating the advent of the Apocalypse and Second Coming of Christ foretold in the final book of the New Testament, "Revelations".
The celebration of Christ's birthday on December 25 is quite old, going back to at least 336 C.E. and the Depositio Martyrum (a list of martyrs and their feast days dating to 354 C.E.). As far back as 200 C.E., it had been celebrated in the spring. In its new date, it appears to have replaced a celebration of the warrior deity Mithras as the sun god who brings back the light after the darkness of the winter solstice. But it was also probably connected to the celebrations of the solstice itself, like the Germanic/Scandinavian Yuletide. Numerous legends and celebrations during December (like the Roman Saturnalia, December 1-23) contributed to the necessity for placing an extremely important liturgical feast during this period, comparable to Easter.
One of the most famous mythological figures of Christmas, Santa Claus, has at least three origins, two of them pagan or secular. The original Santa Claus was a third century saint, Bishop Nicholas of Myra (d. 343 C.E.). Nicholas was noted for his kindness to the poor, including secretly giving gifts to those who most needed them (the original "Secret Santa"). He is still venerated as "Sinterklaas" in the Netherlands and as a major saint in the Eastern Orthodox calendar. His feast days are December 6 and 19 and may have superseded local pagan celebrations to Diana.
The two pagan models are less well known. During the early Middle Ages in Germanic areas, new converts combined winter traditions venerating the Norse god Odin with the worship of Christ. Some enthusiastic converts in the 6th century C.E. went straight from sacrificing bulls to Odin to sacrificing bulls to Christ, sparking a sharp reproof from the local Christian authorities.
Another source was the English "Father Christmas". He was an old man who appeared dressed in green in medieval Christmas plays. It's possible that he originally represented a pagan Saxon figure named "King Christmas", but the jolly figure we see today may actually have been created to protest the Puritan suppression of Christmas celebrations in the early 17th century.
