Christmas History

A guide to the evolution of the classic holiday

Early pagan celebrations

Hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus, Europeans celebrated the winter solstice as a time of light and rebirth. In early Rome, the god Saturn was celebrated with a festival called Saturnalia, which began in the middle of December and ended on the first of January. The raucous celebration included garlands, green trees covered in candles, and days of dancing in the streets and feasting on good food and drink.

The spread of Christianity

The Roman celebration of Saturnalia alarmed early Christians. They considered it an abomination to celebrate a pagan god in such a manner. With the spread of Christianity throughout Rome, Christians eventually combined Saturnalia with their own holiday- the birth of the Christ child- and created a single celebration for their own uses.

The actual date of birth of the Christ child is not known. The date of December 25th was chosen by Pope Julius I. It seemed to be a convenient choice, since Saturnalia as well as all winter solstice festivals fell around this same time. Church leaders believed that holding Christmas around the same dates as these traditional pagan festivals would make it easier to spread the holiday and dictate its celebration.

Originally named the Feast of the Nativity, Christmas had spread throughout Egypt and England by the end of the 6th century.

Christmas comes to America

In the early days of America, the Puritans didn't observe Christmas as a holiday. In fact, the celebration was outlawed by orthodox Bostonians from 1659 to 1681. Not until after the American Revolution was Christmas accepted in the new country. It did not become an official holiday until 1870.

The 1900s saw a change. Class conflicts and general unrest in the 18th century, including a riot by the poor on Christmas Day in the streets of New York, catalyzed an overall attitude change about the holiday. It was around this time that Charles Dickens wrote his classic:  A Christmas Carol, which preached a message of goodwill and tolerance to humankind. A new era for Christmas had begun.

Over the next century, Christmas history from the old country was unearthed and became a part of the holiday all over again. Gift giving, holiday decorations, and Christmas cards all became parts of the ritual around this time. People began looking to the churches for advice on how Christmas should be celebrated, and peace and goodwill became the ideals of the season, combined with the original message of the birth of Christ. These traditions, reinvented in the 19th century, have survived and are a major part of the Christmas celebration today.

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