Does Christmas have pagan roots?

Do Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25 because that was the day when the Romans celebrated the feast of Sol Invictus, the “unconquered sun,” as the winter days began to get longer again? Or perhaps because that date aligns with the festival of Yule in Scandinavian cultures? Are Christmas trees a part of seasonal festivities because some pre-Christian cultures worshiped trees as deities?

Every December, it seems, people commemorate the holiday season with heated debates on these and other topics pertaining to the origins of Christmas. Some like to argue that Christmas is almost exclusively rooted in non-Christian or pre-Christian customs. Others are appalled at the notion that any of our beloved holiday rituals were once also beloved by people of other religions. So what’s the truth of the matter?

Our guest on this episode discusses about the origins of the Christmas celebration, some of our most popular holiday rituals, and whether it really matters where these customs originated. Pastor and educator Kenneth McIntosh has degrees in English and theology, and has written extensively on Celtic spiritualities. He is the coauthor, along with Lilly Weichberger, of Brigid’s Mantle: A Celtic Dialogue Between Christian & Pagan (Anamchara Books) and the author of Water from an Ancient Well: Celtic Spirituality for Modern Life and Oak and Lotus: Celtic Christian Spirituality in the Light of Eastern Wisdom (both from Anamchara Books).

Read more about this topic in these links:

“Do Christmas trees have pagan roots?” by Don Beaulieu
https://uscatholic.org/articles/202011/do-christmas-trees-have-pagan-roots/

“Who invented Advent?” by Victoria M. Tufano
https://uscatholic.org/articles/201212/who-invented-advent/

“Happy New Year, it’s Advent,” by Thomas Reese
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/happy-new-year-its-advent

“Christmas: December 25 or January 6?” by Michael Peppard
https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/christmas-december-25-or-january-6

“What Is Yule? What Is a Yule Log?” by Catherine Boeckmann
https://www.almanac.com/content/what-yule-log-christmas-traditions

“Sol Invictus and Christmas”
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/calendar/invictus.html#anchor5371

Glad You Asked is sponsored by the Claretian Missionaries.
https://www.claretiansusa.org/