In ancient Babylon, the feast of the Son of Isis (Goddess of Nature) was celebrated on December 25. Raucous partying, gluttonous eating and drinking, and gift-giving were traditions of this feast.
In Rome, the Winter Solstice was celebrated many years before the birth of Christ. The Romans called their winter holiday Saturnalia, honoring Saturn, the God of Agriculture. In January, they observed the Kalends of January, which represented the triumph of life over death. This whole season was called Dies Natalis Invicti Solis, the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun. The festival season was marked by much merrymaking. It is in ancient Rome that the tradition of the Mummers was born. The Mummers were groups of costumed singers and dancers who traveled from house to house entertaining their neighbors. From this, the Christmas tradition of caroling was born.
The pagans of northern Europe celebrated the their own winter solstice, known as Yule. Yule was symbolic of the pagan Sun God, Mithras, being born, and was observed on the shortest day of the year. As the Sun God grew and matured, the days became longer and warmer. It was customary to light a candle to encourage Mithras, and the sun, to reappear next year.
Huge Yule logs were burned in honor of the sun. The word Yule itself means “wheel,” the wheel being a pagan symbol for the sun. Mistletoe was considered a sacred plant, and the custom of kissing under the mistletoe began as a fertility ritual. Hollyberries were thought to be a food of the gods.
The tree is the one symbol that unites almost all the northern European winter solstices. Live evergreen trees were often brought into homes during the harsh winters as a reminder to inhabitants that soon their crops would grow again. Evergreen boughs were sometimes carried as totems of good luck and were often present at weddings, representing fertility. The Druids used the tree as a religious symbol, holding their sacred ceremonies while surrounding and worshipping huge trees.
In 350, Pope Julius I declared that Christ’s birth would be celebrated on December 25. There is little doubt that he was trying to make it as painless as possible for pagan Romans (who remained a majority at that time) to convert to Christianity. The new religion went down a bit easier, knowing that their feasts would not be taken away from them.
Christmas (Christ-Mass) as we know it today, most historians agree, began in Germany, though Catholics and Lutherans still disagree about which church celebrated it first. The earliest record of an evergreen being decorated in a Christian celebration was in 1521 in the Alsace region of Germany. A prominent Lutheran minister of the day cried blasphemy: “Better that they should look to the true tree of life, Christ.”
http://de.essortment.com/christmaspagan_rece.htmIn Greek mythology, Chronos was born from Uranus, god of the sky, and Gaia, goddess of the earth. Gaia, seeking vengeance against Uranus for his mistreatment of their children, armed Chronos with a sickle, with which he castrated his father.... In usurping his father, Chronos was now lord of the earth. But his dying parents prophesied that history would repeat itself, and that one of Chronos’ sons would dethrone him. Because of this prophecy, Chronos swallowed his children as soon as his wife Rhea gave birth to them. When Zeus was born, however, she deceived Chronos, and instead of giving him the child, gave him a stone wrapped in clothes. Zeus grew up and sought to usurp his father, giving him a poisoned potion that forced Chronos to vomit up all his children - Hades, Posiedon, Hestia, Hera and Demeter - unharmed, and also the stone. Zeus then overthrew Chronos...
The Chronos story represents an origin-myth because it tells both of the birth of the Olympian gods, and of the birth of time - of the "chronology" derived from Chronos. However, if this myth ushers in time, it does so because it defies categories. As such, it is a complex, deeply layered and disturbing myth, encompassing both stark cruelty and utopian blessing. Chronos presides over a time both of child cannibalism, gender inversion and violent disorder, and of a time outside time; a mythical golden age of bliss and plenty. When Chronos is finally vanquished, he presides over the Elysian Fields, the home of the dead, the Greek version of heaven.
Ancient cult sites dedicated to Chronos date back to at least circa 600 BCE. In some cases - at Rhodes, for example - Kronian rituals were associated with human sacrifice. In others, as at Attica, the festival appears to have been joyous and peaceful.
Perhaps most significantly, the Greek rituals dedicated to Chronos were practiced on a seasonal basis. Kronia rituals were associated with the harvest. The Athenian Kronia in particular took place in the first months of the year, and seems to have been a sort of New Year celebration. The rituals involved carnivalesque feasts of exultation, abundance and role reversal: their special feature was that masters and slaves ate together; and in some cases masters even served their slaves. While these practices echoed elements of the mythological story, it was perhaps their seasonal structure that had real significance in defining the festival as a sacred time - a redemptive period set apart from ordinary life, in which relationships were re-made and deep meaning in the world rediscovered.
http://www.science-spirit.org/article_detail.php?article_id=171Because the festive aspects of the German-American Christmas, including the tree, were considered pagan, the Puritans in New England shunned them until about 1875. They were not entirely wrong!
It is generally acknowledged that the Christmas tree is of German origin. In the pre-Christian era the oak was the sacred tree for the Germanic peoples. Legend has it that the missionary to the Germans, St. Boniface, in order to stop sacrifices at their sacred Donar Oak near Geismar, chopped the tree down <725 A.D.>. He is said to have replaced the oak by a fir tree, adorned in tribute to the new-born Christ. Ironically, the evergreen tree has been ascribed magical power by the Germanic peoples as a representation of fertility. Today, the fir and its next of kin enjoy the highest degree of popularity. The Christmas tree custom has spread across large parts of the world.
http://www.serve.com/shea/germusa/pagan.htmYule Log - A special log was chosen on the eve of Yule, for the holiday fire. A small piece from last year's log is used to light the fire. The lighting of the fire was a festive family event, to hurry the return of the sun. Charred pieces from the fire would be kept to protect the house through the coming year. The woods most often sought for the Yule log were birch, oak willow or holly. Today, the Yule log is sometimes represented as a log cake instead. Or a small log is decorated with candles. The burning of the Yule log is a well-known tradition, but it's not often done outside of the Pagan community anymore.
Kissing Under Mistletoe - The roots of this habit are unknown, but is likely tied with the fertility aspects of mistletoe and that it was viewed as a bringer of peace by the Druids. Mistletoe was also a powerful healing herb. Mistletoe and kissing are also seen in one of the Norse myths: Frigga is the Norse Goddess of love, marriage and fertility. Her son, Balder was slain by Loki with an arrrow made from mistletoe. When Balder was restored to life, Frigga blessed the mistletoe and gave a kiss to anyone who passed under it. Some later versions of this tradition say to remove one berry with each kiss. When there are no more berries on the sprig of mistletoe, no more kisses.
Tree Decorating - There is some debate on the origin of this tradition. Druids (and some other ancient cultures) saw evergreen trees as symbols of everlasting life, because they seemed to live through the winter undaunted by the cold. So using evergreen branches as decorations symbolized the undying strength of the Sun. Decorating the trees may have come from the ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia (see below for more on Saturnlia).
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In Rome, the god most explicitly identified with Chronos was Saturn, and the Saturnalia was recognised as a festival almost identical to the Kronia of Classical Athens. The Saturnalia formed the heart of a set of winter rituals that were celebrated across the winter solstice and into the New Year. The Saturnalia itself began on December 17, and lasted for a week. It was widely recognized as the most popular festival of the Roman year. Cattalus described the Saturnalia as "the merriest festival of the year," "the best of days." Like the Kronia, the Saturnalia was a ritual typified above all by role reversal, in which slaves were given temporary liberty to do as they liked, and dined before their masters, and a mock king was enthroned who presided over feasts and amusements. Gifts were also exchanged between friends and family, and the time was spent eating, drinking and playing games.
http://paganwiccan.about.com/cs/aboutyule/a/paganxmas.htm
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