Christmas is a pagan holiday
Religions borrow from one another, and Christianity is no different. Let's look at the pagan roots of Christmas in this article.
Intro
With Christmas approaching, I figured it’d be a good time to finally expand on some prior remarks I’ve made about Christianity, and its traditions more generally.
This post will be part of a series breaking down various traditions of the modern day, particularly with Christianity, and see how they tie back to older, pagan traditions. Yes, that’s right – paganism is deeply embedded in Christianity and modern religions.
This series isn’t meant to degrade anyone or their beliefs, but is simply meant to shed light on the pagan influence of Christianity and, more broadly, all religions at a later time (but all religions share certain themes, characters, and traditions). It’s also to show how we’ve been lied to and that it’s important to understand the deeper meaning of what’s going on in the world.
Historically, and even currently to a large degree, religion has been used as the means to control the masses. It’s one of the ultimate forms of control – the fear of ‘hell’ and ‘eternal punishment’ can trick young boys into not masturbating because ‘God is watching’. That’s some powerful doctrine!
One aim of my writing is to help break the mind control and various methodologies that are used on people. I’m not saying I have all of the answers, but I’ve studied this stuff for years and think others need to know of it as well. Religion is one that I want to write about more as it’s historically been the most powerful. One could argue that mass media is more powerful now, but I’m not sure it’s there yet. Foundational concepts governing one’s behavior – as well as ethics, values, morals – are provided by religion still to this day. Social media plays a part in that but it’s not quite there, in my opinion.
I think religion does both good and bad for the world. My issue is with organized religion and their grand power structures. Structures and doctrine that preach that one can’t have a direct connection with God, but need to get through an ‘appointed’ member. Then there’s the blatant cover-ups of pedophilia. But the point being, if religion helps one live a better life, as long as it’s in line with natural law and they don’t push it on others, I have no qualms about that.
And contrary to popular belief, the US was not founded as a Christian nation. Many Founding Fathers were Masons and also despised Christianity, and for some, all religions in general. I raise this so that others see through the lip service of modern politicians that play to their constituents by pretending to be ‘Christian’. The new boss is the same as the old boss - they just care about power and control.
All religions borrow from each other
The savior figure certainly didn’t begin with Jesus Christ. There are several figures before him that have extremely similar stories. As I pointed out in my prior article the historical record has figures that were ‘born’ on December 25th from miraculous circumstances, then went on to perform miracles themselves, had stars point to their birthplaces, were crucified, and much more. To think Christianity is the first to have such a figure is ignorant of the historical record in this regard.
The traditions themselves are direct copies as well. They all tie back to these older, pagan religions. From this article we get this excerpt,
Within the Catholic tradition, one would be remiss to deny the pagan elements of a Catholic mass. The ritual of taking communion, with the round wafer (or bread), is an ancient practice of worshiping sun gods such as Ba’al and Osiris. The round wafer was a representation of the sun itself. When one ate the round bread or wafer, one was taking the sun into oneself. This tradition seemingly carried over into Christianity as the holy communion and taking the “Son” of God into oneself in celebration of him giving his life. Not to mention the “monstrance” used to hold the blessed sacrament is often gold and resembles the sun.
There’s a lot to unpack there so let’s expand on these points. The ‘sun’ and ‘son’ of God are critical to understand. I’ll go into this in detail further but keep in mind this concept in mind as this series continues. Solar worship (the SUN of God instead of the SON of God) is a key aspect regarding the pagan roots in Christianity, and its continued worship to the modern day in various forms.
Was Jesus born on December 25th?
There’s no historical record that actually points to a December 25th birth. Research shows that, based on star alignments and other references in the Bible that it was more likely in September. Others say summer, some say a bit earlier. But December 25th is ‘fake news’. From the same article referenced above,
To make a clear connection between ancient pagan festivals and Christmas, we visit the ancient cult of Mithraism where the sun-god Mithras was born on December 25th. There is no historical evidence to confirm Jesus’ actual birth in the month of December, and scholars believe it was some time in the summer months rather than the winter.
In addition to the date-match between Mithraism and Christianity for the birth of Christ, numerous pagan traditions were carried over into the Christmas season. This includes evergreens: holly, mistletoe, fir trees, ivy, yew, and poinsettias. Evergreens were brought into the homes by ancient Celts and Greeks (among others) to represent immortality and that Spring was around the corner. The tradition of gift-giving, decorating the tree, feasting, caroling, putting on plays, even Christmas lights are all rooted in pagan traditions from ancient European people and beyond.
And as I wrote in my last article,
When Constantine, as Roman Emperor, couldn’t hold back the rising tide of Christianity, he adopted the religion (under dubious circumstances) and made it an accepted religion of the day. What many don’t realize is that he was also a sun worshiper and was forced to integrate many pagan practices into Christianity in order to decrease the blowback from such a decision (mainly from the pagans).
Widely practiced in ancient Rome was Saturnalia, which again, was a pagan celebration of agriculture/fertility. From history.com this article outlines it well,
Saturnalia, held in mid-December, is an ancient Roman pagan festival honoring the agricultural god Saturn. Because of when the holiday occurred—near the winter solstice—Saturnalia celebrations are the source of many of the traditions we now associate with Christmas, such as wreaths, candles, feasting and gift-giving.
The article continues,
Saturnalia, the most popular holiday on the ancient Roman calendar, derived from older farming-related rituals of midwinter and the winter solstice, especially the practice of offering gifts or sacrifices to the gods during the winter sowing season.
The pagan celebration of Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture and time, began as a single day, but by the late Republic (133-31 B.C.) it had expanded to a weeklong festival beginning December 17. (On the Julian calendar, which the Romans used at the time, the winter solstice fell on December 25.)
Saturnalia also involved various sacrifices – some evidence points to the human variety but many others were animal (pigs mainly). It also involved exchanging gifts, lighting candles, singing, partying – being sober was the exception! These are all the hallmarks of what is celebrated around the world by countless people at year’s end in the modern age.
A great summary is provided in the same article:
Thanks to the Roman Empire’s conquests in Britain and the rest of Europe from the second century B.C. to the fourth century A.D.—and their suppression of older seasonal rites practiced by the Celts and other groups—today’s Western cultures derive many of their traditional celebrations of midwinter from Saturnalia.
The Christian holiday of Christmas, especially, owes many of its traditions to the ancient Roman festival, including the time of year Christmas is celebrated. The Bible does not give a date for Jesus’ birth; in fact, some theologians have concluded he was probably born in spring, as suggested by references to shepherds and sheep in the Nativity story.
But by the fourth century A.D., Western Christian churches settled on celebrating Christmas on December 25, which allowed them to incorporate the holiday with Saturnalia and other popular pagan midwinter traditions.
So as outlined above, the Christmas holiday is repackaged paganism but with Jesus as the central figure instead of other solar deities before him. It’s nothing unique to the Christian faith.
Christmas is a pagan tradition that was adapted to the changing Roman empire, and its traditions have stuck with the Western world since then. It ties into the cosmos and planetary bodies which have always been deified, and later personified (via Jesus and others) throughout history.
And given the inversion agenda of those in charge, they get the Christian masses to worship / give their energy towards a pagan holiday. It’s twisted.
Who’s this Santa guy, then?
Again, here we’ll see that the old white bearded man from the North Pole isn’t a new concept either. There are many parallels to other figures well before Christianity. From arcane-alchemy.com we get these excerpts,
The image of a jolly, chubby, grandfatherly face of Santa was largely popularized by two individuals from the 19th century: the political cartoonist Thomas Nast, and the book Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore. Book these works helped define much of the appearance & symbolism we associate with Santa today. My curiosity comes from trying to understand what religious and cultural traditions inspired Thomas Nast & Clement Moore to create our contemporary image of Santa.
The first character we’ll reference is Odin, prominent in Norse paganism.
Odin, one of the major gods in Norse paganism, shares many physical characteristics with the image of Santa Claus. The winter solstice, or Yule, was a time when Odin led a hunting party, known as the Wild Hunt, in the sky with his eight-legged horse named Sleipnir.
The 13th century Poetic Edda said the mythical horse could leap great distances -- a trait reindeer possess. Children would leave their boots by the chimney filled with carrots and hay to feed Sleipnir and legend has it that whenever Odin flew by he would leave gifts by their boots.
After Christianity took hold, this practice of gift giving was later adopted in relation to St. Nicholas. Children would leave their shoes on the windowsill or bedroom door for the Saint to reward them with nuts, fruits and sweets. With all these similar symbolic and physical traits it’s very likely that the tales of Odin inspired many of the characteristics we associated with our stories of Santa.
Next we’ll look at shamanic practices from Siberia.
The classic red & white color scheme of Santa possibly derives from a much older Slavic deity known as Father Winter. This red and white color scheme was chosen because it’s colors match a historically significant hallucinogenic mushroom, known as Amanita Muscaria.
This mushroom was integral to not just early Pagan civilizations, but also to early Christianity. I recommend the book The Sacred Mushroom & The Cross if you’re interested in learning more about the influence on this mushroom in early Christian society.
These mushrooms played a large role in Siberian village life, especially during the winter solstice festivities. During mid winter, the local shaman would collect enough mushrooms for everyone in the community. They would collect them in a large sack and deliver them to each house in the village. In Siberia, the snow would be really high at midwinter, making it unlikely that the Shaman would enter through the door. Instead, the Shaman would probably have to climb through the smoke hole of the hut and this may be the origin of the concept of Santa entering through the chimney.
The villagers would put the mushrooms in a sock and then hang them by the fireplace so that they would dry out. After they were dried the family would consume the mushrooms on the winter solstice, which would induce an altered state.
This specific mushroom also happens to grow beneath pine trees, the very same trees we decorate with today for Christmas & Yule. These mushrooms are also regularly consumed by reindeer in Siberia. So many reindeer at this time of year are ‘flying high’ if you get the idea.
The book referenced above contains an interesting theory that Jesus never actually existed, but, as part of early Christian traditions steeped in paganism, the use of psychedelic mushrooms enabled them to ‘perceive the mind of God’ and created the mythological figure of Jesus as a result. Pretty cool stuff. More recent discoveries, such as Brian Muraresku’s book The Immortality Key, provide credence to this theory through proven use of psychedelics as part of the earliest Christian traditions.
The Saturnalia tradition discussed earlier has parallels to Santa as well. Saturnalia was dedicated to the planetary body Saturn, which is also associated with Satan. Satan is an anagram (can be re-spelled) to Santa. Saturn was associated with evil, with the underworld. It’s associated with human sacrifice and many evil workings of the world. That’s a deep rabbit hole in which I won’t go into now, but it ties back to the inversion agenda at play as well.
But as we can see, there are direct parallels to other traditions that directly mirror Christianity and the Santa figure.
Conclusion
With all of the hype and energy put towards Christmas, I think it’s important to understand the real roots of its traditions. To break down the mind control and falsehoods we’re operating under. About how all religion use concepts and mythologies from one another. About how no one religion is the one and only truth, but is rather an amalgamation of many traditions.
It’s interesting to keep this in mind when one considers the wars and bloodshed that have resulted in followers believing their word is the one true word of God.
I’m writing this from a country in Latin America which goes all out with their Christmas traditions. I must admit my research over the years has not spoiled, but certainly changed how I interpret the various celebrations and festivities this time of year. I see the parallels as outlined in this article as well as the real meanings of the symbols. It’s almost an alien-like feeling (not just because I’m a foreigner…) because it seems that everyone else around me is stuck in a false reality.
But I digress – this is a time for celebration, for spending time with others, for drinking too much, and, most importantly, secretly celebrating the end-of-year agriculture rituals as pagans have done for thousands of years!
In future articles within this series I’ll discuss other Jesus-like figures, the pagan influences embedded within Easter, and more.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing and sharing!