Is Christmas Pagan?
One of the cornerstone theological positions of the Independent Messianic movement has been that Christmas is pagan, or at least has pagan origins. One of the first changes Messianic believers make when they start out on this walk is to stop celebrating Christmas. We then go around sharing with anyone who will listen, a laundry list of information we have gotten from various sources as to why we have made this decision.
If you are a Sunday-going Christian reading this article some of the information you will see presented in this article might be the first time you have ever been made aware of this. We have spent years studying, compiling, and attempting to draft this article from an objective position. It is true, as the authors, that we do not and have not celebrated Christmas in over 20 years.
For our fellow Messianic believers reading this article, we know this topic is extremely sensitive. We know there are hundreds of resources out there, and we know of many books and teachings that have been watched or read by many Messianic believers. We know there are books dedicated to this very topic, and there have been many statements put forth as facts. We have watched those DVDs, we have read those books, and those resources were included as source material for this article. We have, however, come to different conclusions on certain elements, and we will be laying out that evidence in this article.
We humbly ask that you read this article with an open mind and a prayerful spirit. The goal of this article is not to sway a person one way or another, and it is not to promote for or against a person celebrating Christmas. The goal is to take an objective look at history, the Bible, and facts that are backed up with sources that can be verified. Hundreds of hours of listening, watching, reading, and studying has been done. Hours upon hours of dialogue with individuals on both sides of the spectrum of belief have been held. This article is being written to inform only.
Is the Event of Christmas Biblical?
The word Christmas, the elements currently involved in the modern celebration, and the concept behind the day are never commanded in the Bible. To be fair, neither are the words Yom Teruah or Rosh Hashanah. The only concept still associated with Christmas that is even mentioned in the Bible is the story of the birth of Jesus/Yeshua. There is no reference to a specific day, Christmas trees, decorating the trees, Saint Nick, Santa Claus, going into massive debt for tons of presents, or the many other traditions that have become synonymous with the current Christmas gatherings in the United States. This reason alone is why many have chosen to denounce the celebration and label it as a pagan celebration. It is one thing to not celebrate something, but it is another to label it as pagan.
What Does the Word Pagan Mean?
Words mean things. The Bible was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic. The modern Hebrew language is different from the biblical Hebrew used to write the earliest texts of the Bible. This is a universal truth of languages in general, as we see evidenced in the many different metamorphoses of the English language. We have seen many words get new definitions and be accepted in a completely different context from the original meaning. We will define pagan before we even go forward because how one defines terms can completely color how something is perceived. If a word has held different definitions and one does not define terms, arguments can form very easily, and both parties could be using different measuring sticks. The word pagan itself has had three different primary definitions in the English language alone over the last 100 years. Most of the disagreements come from this very issue. The way people define the word, if different, can lead to a different conclusion. For the sake of this article, we will be using the following definition:
Pa-gan [adjective]: not acknowledging the God of Christianity and Judaism and Islam.
This definition comes from Vocabulary.com. It is important for us to also point out that Merriam-Webster, Dictionary.com, and Collins Dictionary all have a variation of this definition and by using any of those variations you could end up with a different weight of measure.
Is Christmas Celebrating “Sol Invictus” or “Saturnalia”?
We have watched, read, and heard numerous claims that December 25th was chosen by Emperor Constantine to blend the Christian celebration of the birth of Messiah with the worship of the Sun or the Sun God by other cultures. Is that historically accurate, though?
Dies Nat Aalis Sol Invicti (Birth of the Invincible Sun) was not placed on December 25th until 354 AD, when the Philocalian Calendar records this. At that time, they did not specify any festivals with regard to sun worship. Prior to 354 AD and the Philocalian Calendar, the Julio-Claudian Fasti inscriptions record that sun festivals were on August 8th, 9th, 28th, December 11th, and maybe October 19th. The Philocalian Calendar says Emperor Aurelian honored the sun with chariot races every four years on October 19th-22nd.
Saturnalia, the worship of the Roman god Saturn, was never held on December 25th. Macrobius wrote that Saturnalia started 14 days (about 2 weeks) before January, which would put the celebration of Saturnalia on December 17th (Saturnalia 1.10.1-23), according to Roman calendrical dates. Macrobius also states it lasted for 3 days. According to the Fasti inscriptions, during the days of the Republic, it lasted until the 24th of December.
According to historian Snorri Sturluson in his book Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway, Yule, a Germanic festival celebrating the god Odin, was placed on December 25th by King Haakon the Good in the 10th century AD. That was 1000 years after the year Messiah was born. Before this, Sturluson tells us, “Yule was celebrated on a midwinter night, and for the duration of 3 nights.” (p106). He found no specific dates, but St. Bede tells us in The Reckoning of Time that Northmen calculated their seasons according to the cycles of the moon. (Section 329). Therefore, the date of Yule changed every year and was not static. Pliny the Elder (a Roman author, naturalist, philosopher, military commander, and friend of Emperor Vespasian, wrote and author of the encyclopedic Naturalis Historia) also writes that the Gallic tribes calculated their months according to the moon (Nat. His. 16.95.250). Chronicler, and the Danes all sacrificed to other gods in January after the 6th.
The Winter Solstice has no historical significance regarding ancient Roman festivals. There were no celebrations planned for the date and they disagreed on when and how to celebrate it. The Julian Calendar does say December 25th but that was not until 354 AD, and Pliny the Elder put the Solstice on the 16th of December (Nat. His. 18.59.221), while Columella says December 23rd (De Re Rustica 9.14.12.)
If there are not any historical ties to Sol Invictus, Saturnalia, Yule, or the Winter Solstice, how did Christianity adopt the date of December 25th? If it was not Constantine’s influence, what influenced them to choose the date that has become one of the most celebrated days for all of Christianity? Dionysius Exiguus, (a sixth-century monk, born c. 470 and died c.544) and Hippolytus (a second-third-century Christian theologian, born c.170 and died c. 235) believed Jesus/Yeshua was conceived on the same day that He died, namely on March 25th. They then counted forward nine months and arrived on the birth being December 25th. It is also important to mention that March 25th was chosen because it was believed to have been the date of Passover that year. However, the Eastern Orthodox Church did not celebrate the Passover on March 25th that year and chose to place a nativity out on January 6th of that same year. Jewish tradition during the time of Dionysius and Hippolytus also held that a person died on the day they were conceived. This was not taken from a pagan tradition or Roman tradition, but a Jewish one.
Did Jeremiah 10 Foretell the Christmas Tree?
Hear the word that the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord: “Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens, because the nations are dismayed at them, for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, or they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.” Jeremiah 10: 1-5
Here we see the commandment to not learn the way of the nations. We are not to be dismayed by things in the heavens like others, and not to learn the customs of the nations because they are vain (or worthless to their walk with God). Christmas could be considered a custom. It certainly is not a commandment. Or at the very least, elements of the celebration of Christmas are customs adapted from other celebrations. There is no mention of a tree being used to signify the birth of Messiah. There is no mention of Santa Claus, stockings, Saint Nick, or the many other customs in the biblical text. They are not implied, nor would they be culturally relevant as an adapted custom shortly after the birth of Messiah. For the sake of this conversation, let us say that Christmas is no different than Purim, Hanukkah, Israel’s Independence Day, Memorial Day, or Labor Day. Using Jeremiah’s words, we should be skeptical of adapting the customs of the nations that lead us to vanity. We should also not be upset or distressed by them. We have encountered many who are upset over the Christmas tree. If we are equally applying Jeremiah’s text here, we should not be distressed by a tree or the ingredients of its celebration any more than over the celebration of Memorial Day. We must find a balance in how we judge matters before us.
A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, or they cannot walk. Jeremiah 10:3-5a
This passage has been the most used biblical text to justify why one should not have a Christmas tree in their home. Yet the Christmas tree only dates to the 16th century in eastern Europe. The Alsace Ordinance in 1561 is the first recorded mention of what we call Christmas trees. There is no historical evidence of any early pagan religions using or promoting evergreen trees as sacred, let alone associated with December 25th. The Germanic tribes believed that oak trees were sacred (Pliny, Nat. His. 16.95). Maximus of Tyre said, “The Celts indeed worship Zeus, but they honor Him in the form of a lofty oak” (Dissertation VIII, section 8).
Did Jeremiah use this opportunity to address a practice that would come along some 2,000 years after his death in Egypt? It seems unlikely, and it is far more logical for us to look at the practices of ancient religions using Asherah poles and other carved idols. It was a customary practice for the Canaanite people and other religious groups to carve poles into monuments and tribal tributes to their gods. Most of the time, these poles stood near the outskirts of their cities’ gatherings to ward off evil and to let other groups know who they worshipped. They believed these monuments would be pleasing to their gods and would provide protection against others who meant them harm. If Jeremiah was referencing a very real practice in his time in the many cultures he recognized, the Christmas tree cannot be condemned using this verse. If you continue reading Jeremiah, you will see that he is clearly referencing the process of manufacturing a wooden city idol such as a Marduk as described in the Epic of Erra.
Back to the present, while we have not celebrated Christmas in over 30 years, and although our family and friends turned their homes into the Hallmark channel’s ideal Christmas home, we have never once experienced a family worshipping the Christmas tree. Never once have we witnessed any person giving the tree power, believing it would ward off evil, protect them, or have any type of power. In fact, they would throw the tree to the curb just as quickly as they bought it. Sacred trees in ancient times were living trees. Unless a priest performed a ceremony to imbue it with a spirit, the tree was no longer sacred after being cut down. Cutting down a Christmas tree would have made it common, not sacred.
The most likely explanation for the Christmas tree is that it morphed from the paradise trees. The Menorah was a golden representation of a tree. Adam and Eve’s festival day is December 24th in eastern Europe, North Africa, and other portions of the Middle East. The festival was to be honored with a play showing Adam and Eve being expelled from the garden. In Europe, in the dead of winter, there were not a lot of trees with leaves that were available, so they would find a pine tree and decorate it with fruits and cakes. After the play was over, they could then take the fruits and cakes and eat them. This is what then morphed into what we now call Christmas trees. Prior to this time, we have no record of Christmas trees.
It is a stretch for us to take the words of Jeremiah and apply them to the Christmas tree. A Christmas tree is a custom that has no historical pagan roots, and trees in and of themselves are not bad. Trees were associated with the Temple and many other times throughout Scripture for positive use.
Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.” Jeremiah 10:5b
If you choose to believe that Christmas trees are pagan and Jeremiah warned us about them, then you must also heed his other counsel. They are not evil, and they are not good. We are not to be afraid of them. We are not to be dismayed by them, and we certainly do not need to give them powers that they were never given.
Santa Claus - Friend or Foe?
We have not met a single person (adult) in our collective lifetimes across any belief that believes Santa Claus is real. We have not met a single person who believes Santa Claus has anything to do with the Bible. We have met a lot of Christians who lie to their children every year after slaving to find gifts only to tell them an imaginary man brought those gifts to them. The Bible clearly tells us we are not to lie. If we lie to our children about an oversized, white man who brings them gifts if they are good, it is logical that our children will question the merit of other assertions we have made. If Christmas is about the celebration of the birth of Messiah, why cheapen it with glorifying rewards from someone who has nothing to do with Messiah? If you truly feel that you need to practice gift-giving like the ones that were brought to Messiah, why not bring small meaningful gifts to someone who has nothing? Give food to a homeless person or pay a bill for a single mother. Or even giving a gift to a ministry you believe is doing the work of the LORD would be honorable. The gifts brought to Messiah would appear to be more in line with the mentality that you did not come before the LORD empty-handed. Is it possible the account in Matthew’s gospel was harkening back to the gifts brought to the LORD in the Temple?
The earliest historical record of Santa Claus dates to the early 1800s, so not that long ago., and it originated from Dutch immigrants in New York who continued it from the Dutch Sinterklaas, who is more commonly known as St. Nicolas. The day they originally celebrated Sinterklaas was on the 6th of December, until in the 1800s when they moved it to December 25th to make Christmas more of a family holiday. It was widely promoted in newspapers, and they encouraged others to give gifts on Christmas rather than New Year’s, as was the previous custom. At that time, Sinterklaas was rebranded from a Catholic priest to look more like a cultural Dutchman from that time. This included the big red suit we are all familiar with today. Some good marketing companies capitalized on a product. After the early 1800s, the brand of Santa was exported all over the world and each culture adopted different elements of Santa. Stockings were also promoted around this period and can be traced back to Clement C. Moore’s A Visit from St. Nicholas. In Finland in 1927, a radio broadcaster by the name of Markus Rautio then morphed Joulupukki, a pagan deity, into a Santa-like figure. History shows us that Santa changed the pagan deity Joulupukki, not the other way around.
Father Christmas pre-dates Santa Claus, yet there is no historical evidence that he had anything to do with any pagan deities. Father Christmas was a medieval personification of Christmas, and Richard Smart of Plymtree, England was the first to write about him. He referred to him as Sir Christmas, and Sir Christmas’ task was to go and announce the birth of Christ.
Can Decorations be Pagan?
The title of this section is a trick question. Are candles on your table pagan? No. Is the cat at the Chinese restaurant you walk by pagan? Yes. Why would we start this section this way? Decorations in and of themselves are not pagan. What we use them for and what status we give them can raise them to idol status. We used the Chinese restaurant as an example because the common joke today is that Jews celebrate Chinese food day on Christmas because it is one of the only restaurants that is open. We point that out because in the previous section we mentioned that many are upset over Christmas trees but little is said about the idols staring you in the face when you walk into any Chinese restaurant. We must use equal weights when judging matters.
Let us now look at the mistletoe. The first writings we have of mistletoe being used with Christmas decorations are from Robert Herrick in Hesperides Poetry Collection. (pg. 892, 980). We then see that William Coles mentions it as a decoration in The Art of Simpling from the 1600s. In the 18th century, we see the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe in Britain.
Yule Logs, despite the name, have no historical roots in paganism. Yule is also an old English word meaning “mid-winter period.” The first record of Yule logs also ties to Robert Herrick in Hesperides Poetry Collection. (pg. 784). It is also worthy noting that he refers to it as a Christmas log at this time. In 1686, we see that the Christmas log is now referred to as a Yule Log in Aubrey’s iIn the West-Riding of Yorkshire on Christmas Eve. (p. 134. Published in 1686).
The most biblical of decorations would be the nativity scene. We do know that Messiah was born in a similar structure surrounded by livestock. So, if you chose to celebrate the birth of Messiah, having a decoration that would resemble what the scene would have looked like makes sense. Yet it was St. Francis who is credited for the first nativity in 1223 AD, in Greccio, Italy. His followers then promoted its use during Christmas. (Source: Life of Saint Francis of Assisi – Saint Bonaventure. Chapter 10.7)
This is the common question. Using the definition above, no it is not. It is very much a part of one of the world’s main religions, but we are not sure we should keep asking that question. We believe that question is an incomplete question that does not really get to the heart of what people really want. Is it ok to celebrate? Is it biblical? These might be better questions. These questions must lead us to truly search out the matter.
The birth of the Messiah is biblical. The announcement from Heaven is biblical. The men who came to bring gifts are biblical. There is no commandment to memorialize the birth of the Messiah. We believe there needs to be more emphasis on this very event. Yet, that leads us to another whole conversation. The Bible does not tell us when Messiah was born, and this is an enthusiastic debate amongst many. Some believe He was born during the spring, others during the fall, and a growing number of scholars are toying with the idea of a December birth being a possibility. The Bible does not explicitly tell us. We would like to see more emphasis on the birth of Messiah at Tabernacles, but we cannot use history or the Bible to prove that He was born then.
Santa Claus, Mistletoe, Christmas Trees - none of these things are biblical. We cannot prove with facts that they are pagan. So, one must decide whether Christmas, which has now become not much more than a secular holiday, is something they choose to celebrate. As we stated earlier, we do not celebrate Christmas, and we do not promote it. We promote the Feasts of the Lord that were and are commanded. Yet, we would not be upholding our roles as spiritual leaders if we continued to allow lies and falsehoods to be used to justify a position to debate. One could simply not celebrate because we have no instruction to do so. That alone should be sufficient, but we cannot also continue to perpetuate the false narrative that someone who does celebrate is operating in idolatry.
Is it okay to celebrate Christmas? The Bible does not give us the authority over your home to make this call. You can very easily make an argument that the celebration of Christmas is very much like other national holidays that we do celebrate without the worry of idolatry. You can also very easily make an argument that the celebration of Christmas does nothing to enhance your walk with God. This does, however, lead me to another point that is valid in this conversation.
There are 2.382 billion Christians in the world, and Christmas is the cornerstone of Christian celebration. Some in the church joke that it is the Super Bowl of gatherings. It is akin to Passover and/or Yom Kippur in Judaism, the time when people who have not darkened the doorsteps of the church or synagogue come to make sure they are counted. Christmas and the birth of the Messiah are not listed biblically as cornerstones for our faith. Messiah alone is. Glorifying one element over the entire life of Messiah as a cornerstone seems a little out of balance. You cannot deny, though, that Christmas for Christians is a unifying time. Asking a Christian to not celebrate what they believe to be the birth of Messiah is an extremely hard hurdle for them to overcome. Is it possible we are missing a great witnessing tool to other Christians? Is it possible that we might be able to witness better if we did put more of an emphasis on the birth during a Feast like Tabernacles? There is no way of knowing if it would help ease the transition for certain Christians into celebrating the Feasts of the Lord, but it certainly could not hurt. It is not commanded, but neither is Hanukkah, and we see far more Gospel precedent for some acknowledgment of the birth than we do for latkes and donuts.
Conclusion
In all our years of countless hours of studying, all the videos and books that outline various truths verses various traditions, we cannot find any trustworthy historical evidence that anything associated with Christmas predates these referenced sources. There is no solid evidence that Christmas is pagan, as all such claims are circumstantial. Christmas, as celebrated today, has morphed into a cultural gathering sponsored by big box retailers and Hallmark. If we continue to hold the line that Christmas is idolatry, then we must hold ourselves accountable to that same line in celebrations like Purim, Hanukkah, Memorial Day, President’s Day, and all the other days that we celebrate historical and nationalistic gatherings. The Scripture commands us to use equal weights and measures when judging matters, and from what we have witnessed, we have failed to do so regarding Christmas. The birth of Messiah was a sign to the world that salvation had come. It was an event that foreshadowed a unifying message for all of Israel past, present, and future. It was a time when the heavens rejoiced with the earth. Yet, we have turned the birth of Messiah into one of the most divisive and damaging topics to our families, our friends, our churches, and our movement. That is the opposite of what Messiah came to do. He came to restore a way back to the Father.
We must recognize that we have hurt others and shared information that is not true. This impacts our witness and hurts our abilities to be used as ambassadors for the Kingdom of God. It is possible for us to teach the Feasts, Sabbath, and the Hebrew culture of our Messiah without continuing to use Christmas as a spear to drive straight through the heart of the very world we have been called to serve. As a people, we must learn how to balance our walk while keeping in line with the commandments and examples Messiah showed us.
If you choose to celebrate the birth of Messiah during the spring, fantastic. If you choose to celebrate the birth of Messiah during the fall, fantastic. If you choose to celebrate the birth of Messiah during any other time, fantastic. If you believe we do not need to celebrate it, fantastic. We cannot justify our teaching of truth through any spirit other than the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit shows us how to produce certain fruit, and that fruit is one we could do better with when it comes to the topic of Christmas.
Thank you for taking the time to read this far through the article. We pray that the information we shared with you will bless you and draw you closer to the Father. We once again want to reiterate that we are not in any way endorsing, promoting, or encouraging anyone to celebrate Christmas; we are simply attempting to bring some objective conversation and information to the ongoing dialogues about Christmas. Hopefully, a day is coming when the topic of Christmas no longer consumes as much conversation as it has, and we can fill that time that once was spent arguing over Christmas with promoting the Feasts and Festivals that are commanded for all of Israel. If you are in Messiah, you are heirs according to the promise, and the promises include the blessing of the Feasts.
Sources
(Source: Hijmans, Steven. 2003. “Sol Invictus, the Winter Solstice, and the Origins of Christmas,” by Steven Hijmans, and “Mouseion, Number 47/3:” (2003) pages 277-298) .
(Source: The Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg, Book 1.17)
(Source: Panati, Charles. Panati’s Extraordinary Origins of Ordinary Things. (Harpers, 1989))Harper & Row, 1989
(Source: Leick, Gwendolyn, ed. The Babylonian World. “Oshima, Takayoshi the Babylonian God Marduk.” (Chapter 24 of The Babylonian World, Gwendolyn Leick, ed) pp 355-356.New York: Routledge, 2009.)
(Source: Gulevich, Tanya. Encyclopedia of Christmas. Omnigraphics, Inc., January 1, 2000. 48-59, 165-171.“Christmas: A Candid History” by Bruce David Forbes, pp. 48-59; Encyclopedia of Christmas by Tanya Gulevich, pp. 165-171.)
(Source: Simpson, Jacqueline, and Steve Roud. A Dictionary of English Folklore,. Oxford University Press, 2000. section: Santa).
(Source: Dearmer, Percy, R. Vaughan Williams, and Martin Shaw. Oxford Book of Carols., no. 21, Oxford University Press, 1985. 41-43).