"History of Christmas - It's Hidden, Secret Origins and Mystery Religion"
The Christmas
Connection








By  J. R. Terrier






Christmas is celebrated throughout most parts of the world.  Where did the
celebration of this winter festival originate?  Even though many people
believe that the origins of Christmas are found in the Bible, this simply is
not true.  If the God of the Bible is not the One Who told us to celebrate
Christmas, how did we come up with the celebration?

And what about Santa Claus?  Where did Santa come from?  Is Santa
based on myth or reality?  Is Santa based on a character from the Bible?  
How did Santa come to be such an important part - for many, the most
important aspect - of the Christmas tradition / holiday?   

The festival of Christmas was celebrated by pagan societies many centuries
before the birth of Christ.  When the sun began its northward trek in the
sky and days began to grow longer again, pagans celebrated the Winter
Solstice by burning the Yule log.  Since the sun had reversed itself and was
now rising in the sky, ancient pagans believed this was a sign that the
human sacrifices carried out at Samhain (Halloween) had been accepted by
the gods.     

The nearer aspects of the Christmas tradition have their roots in Roman
custom and religion.  The earliest reference to Christmas as being observed
on December 25 comes from the second century after Jesus’ birth (note
the word century - this means nearly 200 years after His birth).  It is likely
that the first Christmas celebrations were in reaction to the Saturnalia - a
Roman harvest festival that marked the winter solstice - the return of the
sun - and in honor of Saturn, the god of sowing and agriculture.  Saturnalia
was a rowdy festival.  It is believed that Christmas developed as a means of
replacing worship of the sun with worship of the Son.   At the Saturnalia,
all classes of people exchanged gifts, the commonest being waxed tapers
(candles) and clay dolls.  These dolls represented original sacrifices of
human beings.

In The Catholic Encyclopedia’s article entitled “Christmas” we learn that
“Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church.  Irenaeus
and Tertullian omit it from their lists of feasts.... Concerning the date of
Christ’s birth, the Gospels give no help; upon their data contradictory
arguments are based.  The census (see Luke 2) would have been
impossible in winter; a whole population could not then be put in motion.....
The well-known solar feast of Natalis Invicti, celebrated on 25 December
has a strong claim on the responsibility for our December date (for Jesus’
birth).  For the history of the solar cult, its position in the Roman Empire
and syncretism with Mitraism has collected the evidence for the feast which
reached its climax of popularity under Aurelian in 274.”  

There is absolutely no record in the Bible of anyone observing Christmas.  
There is not even a hint of a Christmas celebration or anything remotely
like it.  When we consider the customs associated with Christmas we have
to ask ourselves just what do decorated evergreen trees, holly, mistletoe,
Yule logs, a jolly plump man in a red suit, sleighs, and flying reindeer have
to do with the birth of Jesus Christ?  The answer is nothing - absolutely
nothing.  However, these things do have a lot to do with ancient pagan
festivals.  How did the date of December 25 come to be assigned as the
date of the birth of Jesus?  Although it is difficult to determine the first time
anyone actually celebrated December 25 as “Christmas”, historians
generally agree that it was sometime during the fourth century - some 300
years after Christ’s death.  And then a contrived date was chosen because
it was already a popular pagan holiday for celebrating the birth of the sun
god.  Virtually all the customs associated with Christmas are recycled from
ancient pagan festivals which honored other gods.   

Christmas is a very popular holiday tradition and is celebrated by some 2
billion people worldwide.  In fact, people in nations with little or no
Christian culture or tradition are celebrating this holiday in increasing
numbers.  The celebration of the holiday is so big that it plays a key role in
the economies of many nations.  In the US retail industry, the day after
Thanksgiving is commonly known as “Black Friday.”  It is the start of the
Christmas shopping season and stores that have been “in the red”
(operating at a loss) all year suddenly see their sales shoot up so fast they
are now operating “in the black” (at a profit) for the remain der of the
year.  Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year due to its
traditional Christmas sales.  In short, “Christmas” is driven by
commercialism.   

In view of centuries of criticism of the commercialization of Christmas, it is
worth noting that the holiday’s secular - and not its religious aspect - has
been most responsible for its popularity.  In the United States, retailers
have come to count on Yuletide sales for up to 50 percent of their annual
profits.   

The word “Christmas” came into use through the medieval custom of the
Roman Church celebrating Mass at midnight on the eve of December 25 -
the only time in the year when this was permitted.  Because of the
opposition to the traces of paganism surviving in the Christmas customs,
the Church of Rome created special masses to be performed at midnight,
daybreak, and morning - and hence the word “Christmas.”   

When we examine Christ-mass thorough the looking glass of history and
measure it by the yardstick of Scripture, it becomes very clear that the
rituals practiced and the customs followed today are simply variations of
the ceremonies invented by Nimrod and Semiramis and practiced by the
ancient pagans many years ago.  Nimrod encouraged idolatry to such an
extent that the very word Babylon became synonymous with false
worship.   

Semiramis’ son Tammuz was born at the winter solstice around December
25.  Tammuz became a god in the eyes of the people.  The Christ-mass
tree and the Yule log used today were first used to celebrate the birth of
Tammuz, in what became an annual religious festival in ancient pagan
Babylon.  The celebration of the birthday of Tammuz was always a wild
drunken orgy and was a favorite festival among the pagans.

Despite the number of times the Santa legend is told, the magical St.
Nicholas-to-Santa Claus fairy tale is simply not true.  So where did Santa
come from?  Many Santa researchers agree that some traits of Santa were
borrowed from Norse / Scandinavian mythology.  Some researchers
associate Santa with the Norse god Odin or Woden who was described as
riding through the sky on an eight-legged white horse named Sleipnir.  Odin
lived in Valhalla (the North) and had a long white beard.  Odin would fly
through the sky during the winter solstice (December 21-25), rewarding the
good children and punishing the naughty.  Another author traces Santa to
the Norse god Thor.  Thor was the god of the peasants and the common
people.  He was represented as an elderly man, jovial and friendly, of
heavy build, with a long white beard.  His element was the fire - his color
red.  The fireplace in every home was sacred to him, and he was said to
come down through the chimney into his element, the fire.   Thor was said
to drive in a chariot drawn by two white goats called Cracker and Gnasher.  
He fought the giants of ice and snow so he became known as the Yule-
god.  He was said to live in the Northland where he had his palace among
icebergs.   

There is a little-known truth in the life of the Santa legend that time and
tradition have purposely and silently erased.  Few people are aware that for
most of his life, St. Nicholas (aka Sinter Klaas, Christkind, and other
names) had an unusual helper or companion.  This mysterious, bizarre
sidekick had many names and aliases.  He was known as Knecht
Rupprecht, Pelznickle, Ru-Klas, Swarthy, Dark One, Dark Helper, Black
Peter, Hans Trapp, Krampus, Grampus, Zwarte Piets, Furry Nicholas,
Rough Nicholas, Julebuk.  He was also known by much darker names such
as demon, evil one, the devil, and Satan.   This fact is well documented.  
Most religious historians and experts in folklore believe that there is no valid
evidence to indicate that St. Nicholas ever existed as a human.  They can
find no evidence of him, like they do with other members of the clergy of
the time.  In fact, there are quite a few indicators that his life story was
simply recycled from those of pagan gods. ...The church leaders at that
time are responsible for a great fraud upon society, which has never been
corrected to this day, of both Christ’s birthday and the celebration of such,
and that of Santa Claus

The origins of many of our cherished customs come from Babylonian sun
worship and over the years, have been cleverly absorbed into Christianity.  
The Nimrod Tree - our Christmas tree - originated in Babylon .  Wreaths,
branches, boughs, and trees were used by the ancient pagans as emblems
of Nimrod because they were thought of as the re-birth of the sun.    Trees
were decorated during the winter solstice.  In Babylonian mythology, after
Nimrod’s death, he became the sun-god.  He was worshipped as Baal (the
Lord) Marduk, Mithras, Ahura, Mazda, Gott, Aton, and Dagon.   Pagans
were absorbed into Christianity along with their pagan religious festivals and
truth was cleverly mixed with abominations.  

December 25 was the very day and season on which the pagans for
centuries had celebrated the birth of the Sun-gods.... That the various sun
gods which were worshipped in different countries were all believed to
have been born at the same season would seem to indicate that they were
but different forms under different names of the original son of the Sun-
god: Tammuz of Babylon - the land from which sun worship originally
spread.  In Babylon, the birthday of Tammuz was celebrated at the time of
the winter solstice with great feasts, revelry, and drunkenness.  The nativity
worship of the sun-god, the hidden god Tammuz (also known as Nimrod),
was performed with carved idol images that were set up in chamber rooms
(manger scene sets) and prayed to.  The figures in the modern nativity sets
have been given “Christian names” such as Mary, Joseph, Three Wise
Men, shepherds, etc., but these are only an evolved corruption of the real
representation of Tammuz worship.  

Another part of the traditional Christmas celebration is the wreath.  
Following in the footsteps of ancient Rome, this emblem is hung on doors,
walls and even on radiator grills of semi trucks.  The wreath is alleged to be
a reference to - and a symbol of - the birth of Christ.  But like everything
else, the wreaths we use today are tied to and have their origins in worship
of the sun god.   What we know as the Christmas wreath comes from
ancient practices.  These wreaths were made from evergreens and were
most frequently round to symbolize the sun (just as do halos in most
religious art).  Hence, the round Christmas wreaths stand for an eternal
sun, a never-dying or self-renewing sun.  

The legends and myths of Santa Claus are steeped in the beliefs of pagan
witchcraft.  The elf is one of the traditions associated with Ole Nick that
can be traced back to Celtic roots.  Santa and his elves are the modern
version of the “nature folk” of pagan religions.  Nature folk were the sprites
that lived in the forest and possessed magical powers.  To the Druids, elves
were tree spirits or demons.   

This is just a short summary of the origins of the traditions associated with
Christmas.  There is much good information to be gleaned about the real
origins of the holiday.  For centuries we have been told that Christmas was
a celebration of the birth of Jesus.  However, the Bible does not tell us
when He was born - in fact, the Bible steers clear of the actual date.  The
one thing It does tell us is that shepherds were out in the fields watching
their flocks by night.  This - and the census that Mary and Joseph went to
Bethlehem to participate in - were not done in the winter months.