Is Christmas Pagan?
- Jane Orton
- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
In our last post, we looked at how the Christmas story has inspired philosophers, artists, dramatists and theologians throughout the ages. It seems like every year, there are debates about the origin of the Christmas festival in Europe—most notably whether the early Christians appropriated a pagan festival for their own religion. But things are not so straightforward, as Dr. Orton discovers!
A Level students will find this a useful summary of some of the background topics for your exams. For university-level scholars or independent researchers, we’ve included clickable links to useful literature and canonical scholarship you need to be acquainted with to get started. For everyone else, enjoy this introduction to the debate about the origins of Christmas!
A common but confusing argument in the history of religions concerns the Christian origins of Christmas. Some scholars argue that Christmas was originally a pagan festival, appropriated by Christians at a later date.
Theory of the History of Religions
The view that early Christians appropriated an established pagan festival is sometimes called the “History of Religions Theory.”
In terms of Roman paganism, the most common argument is that Christmas is a Christianised version of the celebration of Sol Invictus on the 25th of December. The celebration of Sol Invictus on the 25th of December would have been a nice extension of the Roman festival of Saturnalia. Fifth century Roman writer Macrobius describes discussions taking place at a Saturnalia in his book, Saturnalia. According to Macrobius, this fell on the 17th of December and lasted until the Sigillaria on the 23rd of December. It was limited to three days under Emperor Augustus, but then extended again to four days by Caligula. This work shows Saturnalia continuing to be celebrated in an increasingly Christianised Rome.
German philologist Hermann Usener argues that Christians substituted the birthday of Sol Invictus with the date of Christmas. The Calendar of Philocalus from the fourth century almanac Chronograph 354 lists the 25th of December as “N.INVICTI.CM.XXX.”—“thirty games ordered for the birthday of the unconquered one.” This is linked to the birth of Jesus by the fourth century sermon On the Solstices and the Equinoxes: “But who is invictus [unconquered] if not our Lord, who suffered death and then conquered it? Or when they call it ‘Birthday of the Sun’—well, Christ is the sun of righteousness that the prophet Malachi spoke of.”
Steven Hijmans points out that the problem with this is that Roman worship of Sol actually happened on the 8th-9th of August, the 28th of August, the 19th-22nd of October and the 11th of December.
Michele Salzman adds that the Emperor Aurelian chose the date of the 25th of December the Sol Invictus feast. Aurelian did this no earlier than 274 A.D., which is later than Christians had started using this day.
Some scholars argue that we should see early Christian and pagan beliefs as syncretic, at least in the first centuries of Christianity’s emergence in Europe. For instance, Christus helios, a ceiling mosaic in the Vatican Necropolis under St. Peter's Basilica shows a figure that is sometimes called “Christ-Sol” or “Christ as the Sun.” It is true that Christ is linked to the sun in early Christian thought. Early Christian apologist Justin Martyr’s First Apology does this by reference to Psalm 19:5-6.
Having said this, Steven Hijmans points out that it is not clear that Christus helios really does depict Jesus. Even if we could know this, it would not necessarily be evidence that Christians appropriated Sol Invictus for their Christmas festival.
Sol Invictus is associated with Mithras, a separate deity born from a rock and known for slaying a bull (“the tauroctony”). He then meets with the sun, who kneels to Mithras and banquets with him. The Cult of Mithras flourished between the 1st and the 4th Century A.D. and was popular with soldiers, so temples to Mithras were very common in frontier areas like Britain. There’s a temple of Mithras beneath the streets of London that was built in about 250 A.D.
Mithras is often presented as an alternative source of the Roman pagan inspiration for Christmas. As we only have archaeological, not written evidence for Mithras, it is difficult to pin down when he would have been celebrated.
The other option for Roman inspiration is Brumalia, a Roman festival that began on the 24th of November and went on for 24 days. The problem with this argument is that we don’t have evidence of when it started. Sixth century writer John Lydus claimed that it originated in earlier pagan festivals like Saturnalia and the earlier Bruma festival, which took place on a single day in November. Ancient History Lecturer Richard Flower says that animals were sacrificed to the god Bacchus and people would throw parties on the day of the month that corresponded to the first letter of their own name. We don’t have evidence of Brumalia from the pre-Christian era so it’s difficult to argue that it was the inspiration for Christmas.
Theory of Calculation
The alternative to the History of Religions Theory is called “Calculation Theory,” which holds that Jesus’ birthday of Christ was determined independently by Christians, who were trying to find chronological symmetry in the events of creation and salvation. Early Christians were inspired by Jewish scholars who argued that there must be significance in the dates of the creation of the world, the birth of Abraham and day of Israel’s redemption. Similarly, early Christian writers thought there was symmetry in history’s big events.
For example, third century Christian writer Hippolytus’ Chronicon (235 A.D.) dates Jesus’ birth exactly nine months after the 25th March—the anniversary of the creation of the world. Hippolytus’ Commentary on Daniel (c. 202-211 AD) also dates Jesus’ birth as the 25th December and his death as the 25th of March (although some scholars such as Susan Roll question the validity of this). The ‘Chronography of 354’, a compilation of histories and calendars compiled 354 A.D. also mentions this date.
As religious historian Thomas C. Schmidt points out, “We must remember that when analyzing the works of Christian chronologists, like Hippolytus…we find ourselves in a confusingly complex and unremittingly exact mathematical and astronomical world where chronologists debate not only about the year in which the earth was created, but on what day of the month, and even over what hour of which day the moon was created and in what phase.”
Thomas J. Talley is another scholar who makes this kind of argument.
Seventh-eighth century English Benedictine monk the Venerable Bede, also thought that the dates of things structured the universe. His The Reckoning of Time popularised the anno Domini (A.D.) calendar system.
In this work, Bede also says that the pagans divided the year according to the solar-lunar calendar and that the month of Giuli (Yule) was their midwinter festival: “Moon is called mona and the month monath. The first month, which the Latins call January, is Giuli…December, Giuli, the same name by which January is called. They began the year on the 8th kalends of January [25 December], when we celebrate the birth of the Lord. That very night, which we hold so sacred, they used to call by the heathen word Modranecht, that is, ‘‘mother’s night’’, because (we suspect) of the ceremonies they enacted all that night.”
Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica describes how Pope Gregory the Great instructed Augustine of Canterbury not to destroy pagan temples, but to rededicate them to the Christian faith, and to replace the custom of pagan sacrifices with Christian feast days: “If people are allowed some worldly pleasures in this way, they will more readily come to desire the joys of the spirit.”
Parallel Traditions
Historian C. P. E. Nothaft argues that “it will no longer do” simply juxtapose the “History of Religions” and “Calculation” theories: “Indeed, one of the most encouraging trends in recent research on Christmas’s history is its critical stance towards sweeping narratives and a readiness to consider explanations that are more multi-faceted and to accept a more diverse range of factors than has previously been the case.”
Nothaft points to Professor of Church History Martin Wallraff, who argues that we should not see Christmas as the appropriation of a pre-existing pagan tradition, but rather a parallel phenomenon.
My sense is that it is more illuminating to consider Christmas as a parallel tradition to the Roman festivals, with independent historical and theological reasons for being celebrated at this time of year. Certainly, Christians see the December date for Christmas as theologically significant, not just practical as a means of converting the pagans.
Fr. Hugh Barbour confirms that this is important for Christians: “…he was born when the days begin finally, gradually, to grow longer. You have the shortest day of the year, the 21st of December and then after that, every day is a little bit longer until it reaches its apex at the summer solstice. So, it’s a time of the increasing light, as the light increases. So, he’s born at that particular time...”
Fr. Barbour is echoing Bede’s sentiment in his Homilies on the Gospels, in which he says that Jesus was born in the month when the days begin to lengthen, showing that he came to bring light to a world immersed in darkness.
Of course, this blog post has only covered the argument with regard to the Roman winter festivals. Join us for our next post, in which we discover the Northern European festival of Yule!
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