How the Freakazoids Stole Christmas

As Governor Beshear continues his unconstitutional and despicable promotion of an un-American Bronze Age myth, it's a good time to review the unprosecuted theft of the pagan midwinter festival by desperate early xians.

Overview:

Although nominally a Christian holiday, Christmas is also widely celebrated by many non-Christians, and many of its popular celebratory customs have pre-Christian or secular themes and origins. Popular modern customs of the holiday include gift-giving, music, an exchange of greeting cards, church celebrations, a special meal, and the display of various decorations; including Christmas trees, lights, garlands, mistletoe, nativity scenes, and holly. In addition, several similar mythological figures, known as Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas and Santa Claus among other names, are associated with bringing gifts to children during the Christmas season.

Yes, early church fathers took long-standing winter solstice festivals and just slapped a new name on them.

A winter festival was the most popular festival of the year in many cultures. Reasons included the fact that less agricultural work needs to be done during the winter, as well as an expectation of better weather as spring approached. Modern Christmas customs include: gift-giving and merrymaking from Roman Saturnalia; greenery, lights, and charity from the Roman New Year; and Yule logs and various foods from Germanic feasts. Pagan Scandinavia celebrated a winter festival called Yule, held in the late December to early January period. As Northern Europe was the last part to Christianize, its pagan traditions had a major influence on Christmas.Scandinavians still call Christmas Jul. In English, the word Yule is synonymous with Christmas, a usage first recorded in 900.

SNIP

The practice of putting up special decorations at Christmas has a long history. From pre-Christian times, people in the Roman Empire brought branches from evergreen plants indoors in the winter. Decorating with greenery was also part of Jewish tradition ...

The Christmas tree is often explained as a Christianisation of pagan tradition and ritual surrounding the Winter Solstice, which included the use of evergreen boughs, and an adaptation of pagan tree worship.

More information here.

The one part of modern Christmas that may be accurately attributed to christianity is the music, although I can't imagine that pagans never sang at Winter Solstice, nor Romans at Saturnalia.

So to all the "war on christmas" whiners, I say you can keep your music. But get your mythological mitts off my Winter Solstice evergreens, lights and decorations; your death-worship wizard away from my Saturnalia gifts and feasting, and your ludicrous "nativity scenes" out of my government buildings.