Reason’s Greeting: Who stole Christmas?

Many religious commentators are waging war on what they perceive to be the 'theft' of Christmas by big business and non-believers. In reality, however, is the story somewhat different? Was it in fact Christians who 'stole' an existing winter festival and claimed it as their own?

On this day also the Birthday of Christ was lately fixed at Rome in order that while the heathen were busy with their profane ceremonies, the Christians might perform their sacred rites undisturbed. They call this the Birthday of the Invincible One; but who is so invincible as the Lord? They call it the Birthday of the Solar Disk, but Christ is the Sun of Righteousness. — John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople circa 347-407, explaining why the early church chose December 25 as the birthday of Jesus; the Invincible One refers to Mithras

Many of the traditions that we associate with Christmas are actually pagan in origin, stemming from areas where the Germanic peoples were Christianized, retaining elements of their indigenous traditions, such as Santa Claus, who owes more to the pagan god Odin than he does the Christian saint Nicholas.

Yuletide was a midwinter festival involving a sacrificial feast that was absorbed into Christmas. The pagan Germanic peoples celebrated Yule from late December to early January on a date determined by the lunar calendar. The term is still used to refer to Christmas. Customs such as the Yule log, Yule goat, Yule boar, Yule singing, and others stem from Yuletide.

Despite being associated with a Christian festival, the Christmas tree's origins are pre-Christian, originating in ancient Germanic history of Europe. Germanic Tribes lighted trees, called tannenbaum, and celebrated the festival of light around the shortest day of the year, December 21.

The US Supreme Court has been consistent and clear that, under the Constitution's First Amendment, once government admits one religious display or viewpoint onto public property, it may not discriminate against the content of other displays, including the viewpoints of nonbelievers. — The Governor and State Attorney General's Office

Merry Christmas, everybody! Yes, I do call it that. And why? Because it's convenient, and I don't want to be odd for the sake of a word. We don't believe Thor is about on Thursdays, or Woden on Wednesdays, when we use the names of the days to, well, to name the days. We've been using the term Christmas culturally for hundreds of years. So it makes sense not to kick up too much of a stink about it. If you're not a believer, you don't need to do the mojo. Just enjoy the season for good cheer, family get-togethers, meetings of friends, exchanging of gifts, any or all of these things — whatever floats your boat. I'd just feel a bit odd saying "Merry Yule" or "Happy Holidays"! But, whatever you say, enjoy yours. — Pink Triangle

Discuss this article and read about the origins of Easter on the blog…

Recommended items…

The Atheist's Guide to Christmas
Last year, Guardian journalist Ariane Sherine launched the Atheist Bus Campaign and ended up raising over GBP150,000, enough to place the advert 'There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life' on 800 UK buses in January 2009. Now Ariane and dozens of other atheist writers, comedians and scientists are joining together to raise money for a very different cause. The Atheist's Guide to Christmas is a funny, thoughtful handbook all about enjoying Christmas, from 42 of the world's most entertaining atheists. It features everything from an atheist Christmas miracle to a guide to the best Christmas pop hits, and contributors include Richard Dawkins, Charlie Brooker, Ben Goldacre, Jenny Colgan, David Baddiel, Simon Singh, AC Grayling, Brian Cox and Richard Herring. The full book advance and all royalties will go to the HIV charity Terrence Higgins Trust.

USA UK Canada Germany France

The Greatest Show on Earth: Richard Dawkins
Dawkins begins with a short history of his writing career. He explains that all of his previous books have naïvely assumed the fact of evolution, which meant that he never got around to laying out the evidence that it [evolution] is true. This shouldn't be too surprising: science is an edifice of tested assumptions, and just as physicists must assume the truth of gravity before moving on to quantum mechanics, so do biologists depend on the reality of evolution. It's the theory that makes every other theory possible.Yet Dawkins also came to realize that a disturbingly large percentage of the American and British public didn't share his enthusiasm for evolution.

USA UK Canada Germany France

The God Delusion: Richard Dawkins
The antireligion wars started by Daniel Dennett and Sam Harris were heated up even more with this salvo from celebrated Oxford biologist Dawkins. For a scientist who criticizes religion for its intolerance, Dawkins has written a surprisingly intolerant book, full of scorn for religion and those who believe. But Dawkins, who gave us the selfish gene, anticipates this criticism. He says it's the scientist and humanist in him that makes him hostile to religions — fundamentalist Christianity and Islam come in for the most opprobrium — that close people's minds to scientific truth, oppress women and abuse children psychologically with the notion of eternal damnation.

USA UK Canada Germany France

On other pages…

The Greatest Show on Earth
People who reject the theory of evolution should be placed on a level with Holocaust deniers, argues Richard Dawkins in his new book.
Read more…

The bible tells me so?
Can the love between two people ever be an abomination? Is the chasm separating gays and lesbians and Christianity too wide to cross? Is the Bible an excuse to hate?
Read more…