An enormous number of traditions we now associate with Christmas
have their roots in pre-Christian pagan religious traditions. Some
of these have social, sexual, or cosmological connotations that
might lead educated, culturally sensitive moderns to discard the
traditions once they have understood their roots more clearly
...
"The pre-Christian elements of Christmas hail primarily from Europe
... From southern Europe come such familiar pagan traditions as
feasting, fertility rituals, tree worship, and the exchange of
gifts. From the harsher lands of northern Europe come the ancient
conventions we identify with the term 'Yule.' The Yule log
tradition, now almost forgotten, rose from this stream. So too are
many of the details of holiday feasting, the ritual use of candles,
and the earliest forerunners of Santa Claus ...
"Here is a brief review of the pre-Christian sources from which
some of our best-loved holiday traditions sprang.
"Evergreens symbolize immortality and the continuity of life ...
The Romans, too, decorated their homes and public places with
evergreens near the time of the winter solstice. Among the
forerunners of today's holiday gifts were strenae, tree branches
presented to political and military leaders as tokens of loyalty
...
"The holiday's most conspicuous smaller plant is mistletoe ...
Historically, mistletoe has long been associated with both magic
and fertility. Sprigs of mistletoe were once fastened over the
conjugal bed on the wedding night. Our modern use of mistletoe as a
social aphrodisiac is clearly related.
"Nineteenth-century German immigrants to the United States were
among the first to use a recognizable Christmas tree in this
country, so it is often assumed that the Christmas tree hails from
the traditions of northern Europe. In fact, it is more
authentically a product of much older southern traditions. Ancient
Egyptians viewed the evergreen tree as a fertility symbol. During
the winter solstice they decorated their homes with palm fronds,
using them as Romans would later use boughs of fir ...
"Gift giving is an inescapable part of Christmas. Christian legend
assumes that the tradition began when the Magi presented gifts to
the baby Jesus ... To believe that you have to pitch centuries of
history out behind the manger. Long before New Testament times, the
Romans were exchanging gifts" (Tom Flynn, The Trouble With
Christmas, 1993, pp. 19, 37-40, emphasis in original). GN