Thread by @RayneyDaze

I'm going to go out on a limb here and probably upset some people. A thread.

If you're telling people that "Jesus is the reason for the season," I can't tell you to stop, but I can tell you that you're wrong. The Christian "Christmas" was co-opted from pagan traditions.
1/11

It only became about Jesus later, at least 400 years after his birth - but it had been celebrated in many places for a very long time before that as the winter solstice. Yes, the pagans had Christmas before the Christians did.
2/11

The ancient Romans celebrated Saturnalia with gift giving, candle lighting, singing, and decorating houses.

Who can you thank Christmas trees for? Pagans who celebrated the evergreen tree as a symbol of the return of life and light as daylight hours started getting longer.
3/11

Your ornaments on those Christmas trees? Thank the pagans for hanging red apples on them. In fact, thank them for "red and green" being the colors of Christmas.

In fact, if I said "Light & life are coming back into the world," would you say that started with the Christians?
4/11

I wouldn't. Because that may be something Christians co-opted, but the pagans were celebrating the return of life and light into the world long before the Christians were.

How about mistletoe? Well that was the druids, who believed it had all-powerful healing properties.
5/11

Churches in England actually banned the use of mistletoe (a symbol of peace) for a time.

Let's not forget the "war on Christmas." Now that is a Christian original. That was the Puritans who banned Christmas for 20 years because they knew the pagan roots & didn't like it.
6/11

So why did the Christians co-opt the winter solstice and turn it into celebration of a single entity instead of a celebration of the change of seasons?

The Roman emperor Constantine believed that Christ & the Roman sun god, Sol, were the same.
7/11

Emperor Aurelian had decreed Sol's birthday to be December 25 (even before Julius Caesar's calendar reforms, that was the fixed date of the solstice celebration), so Constantine found this convenient.
8/11

Hence, the Christian Christmas was born, taking the celebrated date of the winter solstice, even though it was known that this wasn't Christ's date of birth.

We have little idea when Jesus was actually born. Dates in January, March, and November have all been floated.
9/11

Now if you're looking for a truly Christian Christmas tradition, look no further than Santa Claus. Saint Nicholas was a Christian Monk born in third century Turkey who gave away all of his inherited wealth in order to help the poor and sick.
10/11

For all the Christians who speak against Santa as a secular celebration and remind everyone that Jesus is the reason for the season, history does not back this up.

History says the reason for the season is the change of seasons, & the one true Christian tradition is Santa.
11/11

@threadreaderapp unroll please and thank you.

@Stephie2010 This above tweet. March was what I found, I don't doubt April has been postulated too, though.