Christmas: The Unwrapped Story 

Catherine Rivera

Christmas day is fast approaching. Families start to build Christmas trees with ornaments hanging and lights flashing. Christmas shopping and gift wrappings are also springing. But have you ever asked yourself how and when did Christmas start? Where did it originate? What does history say about Christmas Day?

We have all heard the Biblical story of Christmas, but did you know that several events are already celebrated way before the birth of Jesus Christ? During the mid-winter or known by the term Winter Solstice, different pagan traditions and festivities took place. 

The Romans celebrated a festival of food and drink named Saturnalia; This is to honor the god of agriculture - Saturn, and the Sun - Mithra. During this festival, they gambled singing and practiced gift-giving. To them, this is the holiest time of the year.

As for the Germanic people, during this time, they celebrated a 12-day festival called Yule to honor their god, Odin. They celebrate the festivity with a great feast, gift-giving, bonfires, ritual sacrifices, and mistletoes. Families also started to practice putting an evergreen tree indoors as it symbolized life. 

These celebrations are similar to how we celebrate Christmas today.

These pagan traditions and festivities are disputed as Christianity emerged. Since the Romans used the 25th of December as the day their god was born, the Christians theoretically adopted this date to be the birthday of Jesus Christ as the Bible did not state the exact date of Christ's birth.

Some of the traditions practiced by the pagan festivals were passed down and modified. The church made it official and named it the Feast of Nativity- later on, called Christmas; and as the popular song says, It's the most wonderful time of the year.