Every year, critics claim that Christmas was borrowed from the Roman festival Saturnalia. The idea sounds popular and persuasive — but it isn’t supported by ancient evidence.
Here’s a deeper look at what Saturnalia actually was, and why the Christmas–Saturnalia connection doesn’t hold up.
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1. Saturnalia Was Not Celebrated on December 25
Originally a one-day festival on December 17, Saturnalia later expanded to December 17–23.[1]
But even as it grew, Saturnalia never reached December 25.
No ancient Roman calendar or writer places Saturnalia — or any Saturn-related festival — on December 25.[2]
This matters because if Christians had been “Christianizing” Saturnalia, they would have chosen a date during the festival, not after it ended.
2. Saturnalia Was Completely Unrelated to Christian Worship
Saturnalia honored Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture.
Its practices included:
- public drunkenness
- heavy gambling
- loud parties
- social role reversals (slaves feasting like masters)[3]
- the wearing of the pileus freedom cap
- widespread revelry and misrule
Roman writers such as Seneca and Cicero complained about its excesses.[4]
The early church, however, focused on:
- holiness
- prayer
- Scripture
- fasting
- communion
- charity toward the poor[5]
These two celebrations — Saturnalia and Christian worship — have nothing in common.
3. Alleged Christmas Customs Do Not Match Saturnalia
Gift-Giving
Saturnalia included exchanging sigillaria (cheap clay figurines) and wax candles.[6]
These items were never adopted into Christian practice.
Christian gift traditions trace instead to:
- the gifts of the Magi
- the generosity of St. Nicholas in the 4th century[7]
Evergreens, Trees, and Decorations
Contrary to popular memes:
- Saturnalia did not involve decorated evergreen trees
- Saturnalia did not include wreaths as religious symbols
- Saturnalia did not include household tree decoration
Romans used greenery for New Year’s and other civic celebrations — but not Saturnalia specifically.[8]
The claim that Saturnalia included Christmas-like decorations originated with 19th-century writers (especially James Frazer and Alexander Hislop), not with ancient Roman sources.
Feasting
Yes, Saturnalia included feasting — but so did:
- Jewish festivals
- Greek festivals
- Roman imperial celebrations
- Nearly every culture’s holidays
Feasting is a universal human behavior, not evidence of borrowing.
4. No Ancient Writer Ever Links Saturnalia With Christmas
This is one of the most important points.
Not a single ancient source — Christian or pagan — ever says:
- Christmas replaced Saturnalia
- Christians borrowed Saturnalia customs
- December 25 was chosen to counter Saturnalia
- Saturnalia and Christmas were connected
Early Christian writers do discuss pagan festivals (and condemn them), yet:
- Tertullian never mentions a Saturnalia–Christmas connection
- Origen never mentions it
- Augustine never mentions it
- Chrysostom never mentions it
- No pagan critic mentions it
- No Roman historian mentions it
Total silence across the ancient world.
If early Christians had repurposed one of Rome’s most famous holidays, someone would have noticed.
No one did.
5. Modern Historians Reject the Saturnalia-Origin Theory
Experts across the field — including secular scholars — dismiss the idea.
Steven Hijmans (Roman religion scholar):
“There is no evidence Christmas was derived from Saturnalia.”[9]
Andrew McGowan (Yale/Princeton):
“The Saturnalia hypothesis collapses when examined carefully.”[10]
William Tighe (historian):
“The claim that Christmas originated from Saturnalia is a modern myth.”[11]
This is not Christian apologetics — it is the scholarly consensus.
6. Why Did Early Christians Choose December 25?
The date came from theological reasoning, not pagan imitation.
Early Christians believed:
- Jesus was crucified on March 25
- Therefore, He was conceived on March 25 (a Jewish concept called integral age)
- Nine months later → December 25[12]
And here is the key point:
This Christian use of the date predates Saturnalia’s connection to Christmas in modern writers’ accounts.[13]
The earliest Christian reference to December 25 appears in Hippolytus of Rome (A.D. 200–235), who explicitly identifies December 25 as the birth of Christ.
By contrast, the idea that Saturnalia influenced Christmas appears 1,500 years later in the works of James Frazer (The Golden Bough, 1890) and Alexander Hislop (The Two Babylons, 1853) — not in ancient history.
In other words, Christians used the date long before critics invented the Saturnalia theory.
Conclusion
Saturnalia was:
- on different dates
- devoted to different gods
- filled with immoral practices Christians rejected
- never connected to Christmas by ancient writers
The modern claim that Christmas comes from Saturnalia is a historical myth, not a documented fact.
The evidence clearly shows that Christmas did not originate from Saturnalia.
Footnotes
- [1] Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.10; H. H. Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic (Cornell, 1981), 205–213.
- [2] Roman Fasti (festival calendars); Beard, North & Price, Religions of Rome, Vol. 1.
- [3] Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.7–10.
- [4] Seneca, Epistles 18; Cicero, Letters to Atticus 7.14.
- [5] Justin Martyr, First Apology; Tertullian, On Idolatry.
- [6] Martial, Epigrams 14.1–5.
- [7] Adam C. English, The Saint Who Would Be Santa Claus (Baylor University Press, 2012).
- [8] Pliny the Younger, Letters 8.16; not tied specifically to Saturnalia.
- [9] Hijmans, “Sol Invictus and the Origins of Christmas,” Mouseion (2003).
- [10] McGowan, “How December 25 Became Christmas,” Biblical Archaeology Society.
- [11] William J. Tighe, “Calculating Christmas,” Touchstone Magazine.
- [12] Thomas Talley, The Origins of the Liturgical Year (Liturgical Press, 1991), 88–90.
- [13] Hippolytus, Commentary on Daniel 4.23; see also the late modern origins of the Saturnalia claim in James G. Frazer, The Golden Bough (1890), and Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons (1853).
Further Study
Primary Sources
- Macrobius, Saturnalia
- Martial, Epigrams
- Pliny the Younger, Letters
- Roman Fasti
- Justin Martyr, First Apology
- Tertullian, On Idolatry
Secondary Sources
- H. H. Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic
- Steven Hijmans, Sol: The Sun in the Art and Religions of Rome
- Andrew McGowan, Ancient Christian Worship
- Adam English, The Saint Who Would Be Santa Claus
- Thomas Talley, The Origins of the Liturgical Year
- Joseph F. Kelly, The Origins of Christmas
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