Pagan background of Christmas

Saturnalia was a festival held between 17th and 24th December, which began in the days of the Roman Empire. This was a week of feasting, gift-giving and an excuse for an orgy during the Northern Hemisphere's winter solstice. The objective of the debauchery and dancing around (carol¹) was to give the Sun a nudge and send a message to Mother Earth to begin reproducing for the Spring. This seemed to work quite well because sure enough, in Spring things started growing again.

Which burns longer; a green candle or a red candle?

Neither. They both burn shorter!

The traditional Christmas colours of red and green, being complementary colours², represent the fertility of the male and incubation by the female. Pagan decorations still seen around Christmas include the red berries and green leaves of holly, mistletoe and wreaths. Yule festivities are a mixture of customs and beliefs going back thousands of years.

Celebrating the winter solstice was forbidden by the early church, but customs survived anyway and it didn't take much to tempt Christians to join in the solstice feast in honour of the Pagan god Mithra. So the church provided an alternative with a festival in honour of the birth of Christ and celebrations were definitely in order.

In the 2nd century, the winter solstice was 6th January and Christians celebrated both the birth and the appearance of God's Son on that day, Epiphany Day.

By the 4th century, the date for the winter solstice was moved to 25th December and Pope Julius I declared that Jesus' birthday celebrations would also be on that day. (The appearance of Jesus to the Magi continued to be celebrated on 6th January.) This effectively transformed the Pagan occasion into a Christian holy day (holiday).

This was not, however, merely a convenient way to 'Christianize' a Pagan celebration. There is no historical evidence to prove what date Jesus was born on, or the season³, or even the year. The important thing for Christians is to celebrate the birth of Jesus because that showed God's love for us. It doesn't really matter a hoot when the birth is celebrated; the important thing is to celebrate it. So since the 'why' is much more important than the 'when', 25th December has been good enough for Christians ever since. (See Meaning of the Cross.)

Nine months before the birth of Jesus, Christians acknowledge the Feast of the Annunciation (the conception of Jesus) and this is set as March 25th. Consequently, this day is known as Lady Day (after the Blessed Virgin Mary) and until 1752 in England, this day was the first day of the calendar year. (When the Julian Calendar changed to the Gregorian Calendar in 1752, January 1st was recognised as New Year's Day.) Lady Day, or the date adjusted for lost days of the calendar change, April 6th, was the traditional day for starting new work contracts or tenancies. For this reason, the fiscal year began on April 6th and is still the start of the tax year in the UK.

The work schedule of today's UK accountants was largely determined in the 4th Century by Pope Julius.

Children are taught that Santa Claus evolved from the good Saint Nicholas, and most people are happy to leave the story there. But followers of Paganism know a bit more about our Jolly Santa.



A tough old Pagan god named Odin⁴, was imagined as a paunchy white-bearded old man in a long cloak. A mixture of the characterisations of both St. Nicholas and Odin is thought to result in Father Christmas, whom for the past eighty years or so has sported the Coca Cola colours⁵.

When we are young children, we are told about Santa's existence. Later, when we're about seven years old (or maybe seventeen!) we find out that he's really just a fictional character. And then we learn that, OK, he doesn't exist now, but he used to. Childhood can be very confusing.

Even though St. Nicholas is our inspiration for creating Santa Claus, the St. Nicholas Cross is not known as Santa's Cross. The closest we might find to a Santa Cross is in a story from Japan; a story that is as mythical as Santa himself:

Even though the predominant religion is Buddhism, Christmas in Japan is celebrated with as much, if not more, glitz than you see in Western shopping malls. They have Christmas trees, ridiculous numbers of twinkling lights covering people's homes, and piped carol music in just about every pedestrian walkway. They do, however, lack traditional door-to-door carol singing, Christmas cards and school Nativity plays. This is because, according to a Gallup poll in 2006, only around six percent of Japanese profess to be Christian and consequently most Japanese generally have little interest in learning about the meaning of Christmas.

Santa's Cross
Santa is very cross!

Christmas Cross

It comes as no surprise therefore, that when the manager of a famous department store in Tokyo's fashionable Ginza district instructed his staff to decorate the window in a 'Christian' Christmas style, the window dressers didn't have a clue what to do. Because of the phonetic confusion between the 'l' and 'r' in Japanese, Santa Claus is pronounced Santa Craus, and somebody said Craus really means Cross. Hence a Santa-suited mannequin was attached to a cross and displayed in the shop window.

We have no proof this Santa crucifixion was actually displayed; it's just one of those many urban legends. Many people believe that Jesus' crucifixion is also an urban legend, but the two stories do have some things in common. First, Santa's crucifixion was done in full view of the public. So was Jesus'. The crucifixion of Jesus has symbolism - that our sins have been washed away by His sacrifice. Santa's crucifixion also has symbolism - that Jesus has been washed away by Santa.

Then there are those who believe that Santa is an anagram for Satan. You know... breaking into houses late at night, dodgy preference for small children, wearing long kinky boots, and psychotic reindeer with militaristic nicknames. Nicholas = 'Old Nick'; at home in the flaming fireplace. And Santa's little helpers - those elves? They must be fallen angels in green tights and Spock-ears. Elves. Evil. Devil. See the connection?

Christmas 2005
Kentucky Fried Chicken
Japan

Well, we agree that the Devil is a master of disguise, but come on... Why the devil should he appear as a paunchy geriatric troll with a raucous laugh? Hardly blends in with the crowd now does he?

Finger lickin' good



Looks like this snowman is giving the shop girl the cold shoulder.

(If you find this mannequin a little too scary, maybe you're suffering from claustrophobia!)

We believe there is no link between Santa (who doesn't exist), and Satan (who does). So we'll leave that connection theory with the pile of pine needles and head off for Christmas dinner.

No, chicken is not the traditional Christmas Dinner in Japan but that doesn't stop Kentucky Fried Chicken from cashing in on the theme. At KFC the Colonel is shown in his Santa costume, which helps educate school children that Santa loves children, Santa loves KFC, and Santa is American.

We've seen him at Tokyo Disneyland, so he must be American.

Not all Japanese Santas are like the one shown on the right. Here, in a Tokyo Disney store, we find a Santa who is a skeletal snowman⁶. (Q: Why couldn't the skeleton go to the Christmas Party? A: Because he had no body to go with!)

The famous and perky Peko-chan, suitably dressed for the shopper's rush to buy festive chocolates. Even though her company was disgraced somewhat by dubious business practices revealed by over-zealous press in January 2007, Peko-chan still steals our hearts.

Chapel Christmas Love Hotel, Japan, with a rather large candle in the car park.

And finally, a candidate for the ultimate Christian profanity in Japan is perhaps the so-called 'love hotel' named Chapel Christmas. Rooms can be rented in tacky places like these by the hour, for a quick passionate encounter. No malice intended by the operators of course; they don't care whether the customer's pleasure is carnal or spiritual. They are just capitalising on Christmas as other businesses do.