Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 305, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 December 1915 — HISTORY OF CHRISTMAS [ARTICLE]

HISTORY OF CHRISTMAS

Christmas, originally Cristes masse (“the mass or church festival of Christ”), is - the English name for the season in which the birth of Christ is commemorated. It .is apparent, however, that a festival was celebrated at this season long before it was held sacred as the birthday of Jesus of Nazareth. The Saturnalia of the Romans and the winter festival of the heathen Britons were both celebrated about December 25; and later, the Roman festival in honor of the sun god, Mithra* (instituted 273 A. D.) From the latter the day became to be known as the “Birthday of the Unconquered Sun;” and after its adoption by the Christian church in the fourth century as the anniversary of Christ’s birth, this name was given a symbolic interpretation. A study of the customs associated with this period also reveals a heathen, if not invariably a solar, origin. The lighting of the Yulte log (la buche de Noel) on Christmas eve, once a widespread European custom, is or was a function of such predominant importance among the Lithuanians and Letts that their words for Christmas eve literally signify "Log evening.” The sports of the “Lords of Misrule" in England are thought to be an inheritance from the Saturnalia. The decoration of churches with the once sacred mistletoe and holly is a pagan survival