What history, archaeology, and actual ancient texts really show
Every year, articles, memes, podcasts, and YouTube voices claim that Christmas is rooted in pagan holidays. The claims sound convincing at first — until you look at primary sources and modern scholarship.
Here are the seven biggest myths about “pagan Christmas,” along with the historical truth behind each one.
1. “Christmas comes from Saturnalia.”
The Myth:
The early church copied Saturnalia — Rome’s festival of feasting, gift-giving, role reversal, and misrule — and turned it into Christmas.
The Truth:
Saturnalia never took place on December 25.
Not once.
It always ran December 17–23, and no ancient writer connects it to Christmas.[1]
- Dates don’t overlap
- Practices don’t match
- No Church Father, Roman historian, or pagan critic makes the claim
The idea that Saturnalia influenced Christmas comes from 19th-century comparative religion, not ancient history.
Verdict: Historically false.
2. “Christmas stole December 25 from Sol Invictus.”
The Myth:
Romans celebrated the “birthday of the Unconquered Sun” on December 25 long before Jesus.
The Truth:
The earliest possible reference to a Dec. 25 Sol Invictus festival appears in the Chronography of 354, written more than 150 years after Christians were already using December 25.[2]
Before that:
- No pagan calendar lists a festival for Sol on Dec. 25
- Sol’s festivals occurred in August and October
- No ancient author links Sol Invictus to December 25 before the late 4th century[3]
Christians used the date first.
Pagan Rome adopted it later — likely as a rival.
Verdict: Historically backward.
3. “Decorating with trees and greenery came from pagan worship or Saturnalia.”
The Myth:
Evergreens, wreaths, and winter greenery have pagan ritual origins connected to Saturnalia or sun worship.
The Truth:
No ancient Roman source ever mentions evergreens or tree decoration as part of Saturnalia or any December festival.
Greenery in Rome was used for:
- Kalends (New Year)
- weddings
- civic celebrations
- military triumphs
…but not Saturnalia.[4]
The claim that Saturnalia involved evergreens appears nowhere in the works of Macrobius, Martial, Cicero, Seneca, or Pliny.
Verdict: Modern invention (Victorian-era myth).
4. “Christmas gift-giving came from Saturnalia.”
The Myth:
Romans exchanged gifts at Saturnalia; therefore, Christians copied this custom.
The Truth:
Saturnalia gifts were:
- cheap wax candles (cerei)
- clay figurines (sigillaria)
- occasionally humorous or risqué items[5]
These have no connection to Christian practices.
Christian gift-giving arose from:
- The Magi giving gifts to Jesus (Matthew 2:11)
- The generosity of St. Nicholas in the 4th century
- Christian almsgiving during Advent[6]
Verdict: No evidence of borrowing.
5. “Christians picked December 25 to ‘Christianize’ a pagan festival.”
The Myth:
Early Christians chose December 25 to counter or replace a pagan holiday.
The Truth:
Early Christian writers (2nd–3rd centuries) selected December 25 for theological reasons, not to imitate paganism.
They used a Jewish concept known as the “Integral Age”:
- Jesus was believed to have been conceived on March 25 (the same day as His crucifixion)
- Add 9 months → December 25
This logic appears in Christian writings 100+ years before the first pagan reference to Dec. 25.[7]
Verdict: Christian origin, not pagan.
6. “Constantine created Christmas on December 25.”
The Myth:
Constantine merged Christianity with Sol Invictus and invented Christmas on Dec. 25 for political unity.
The Truth:
Not a single document from Constantine — nor the Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) — mentions December 25 at all.
Christians had already been associating Jesus’ birth with December 25 for more than a century by this point.[8]
Constantine did not change the calendar, create Christmas, or merge it with a pagan festival.
Verdict: No ancient evidence.
7. “Christmas traditions like candles, trees, and holly are pagan.”
The Myth:
Christian symbols are disguised forms of pagan rituals.
The Truth:
Most Christmas symbols come from:
- Medieval Christian liturgy
- European winter folklore
- Christian art and symbolism
- Practical winter customs
Examples:
- Candles: Derived from Christian imagery of Christ as the “Light of the World” (John 8:12).
- Evergreen trees: First documented in Christian Germany, representing eternal life.[9]
- Holly: In medieval Christianity, it symbolized the crown of thorns.
No ancient Roman, Greek, or Norse source ties these customs to the adoption of religious rituals by Christians.
Verdict: Mostly medieval Christian practices — not ancient pagan worship.
Conclusion: The Myths Are Pagan — Not Christmas
The more you study:
- Roman calendars
- early Christian writings
- ancient pagan critiques
- archaeological evidence
- modern academic research
…the clearer it becomes:
✔️ Christians did not borrow Saturnalia
✔️ Christians did not borrow Sol Invictus
✔️ Christians did not borrow pagan trees or greenery
✔️ Christians did not borrow pagan gift customs
✔️ Christians did not “Christianize” a pagan date
✔️ December 25 was chosen because of Christian theology
✔️ Christmas is a Christian celebration of Christ’s birth
The myths persist because they are sensational, not because they are true.
Footnotes
[1] Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.10; H. H. Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic (Cornell University Press, 1981), 205–213.
[2] Michele Renee Salzman, On Roman Time: The Chronology of the Chronography of 354 (University of California Press, 1990).
[3] Steven Hijmans, “Sol Invictus and the Origins of Christmas,” Mouseion 3 (2003).
[4] Pliny the Younger, Letters 8.16; Beard, North & Price, Religions of Rome, Vol. 1.
[5] Martial, Epigrams 14.1–5.
[6] Adam C. English, The Saint Who Would Be Santa Claus (Baylor University Press, 2012).
[7] Thomas Talley, The Origins of the Liturgical Year (Liturgical Press, 1991), 88–90.
[8] Hippolytus, Commentary on Daniel 4.23.
[9] Joseph F. Kelly, The Origins of Christmas (Liturgical Press, 2004).
Sources for Further Study
Primary Sources
- Macrobius, Saturnalia
- Roman Fasti
- Pliny the Younger, Letters
- Hippolytus, Commentary on Daniel
- Martial, Epigrams
Modern Scholarship
- Steven Hijmans, Sol: The Sun in the Art and Religions of Rome
- Andrew McGowan, “How December 25 Became Christmas”
- Thomas Talley, The Origins of the Liturgical Year
- Joseph Kelly, The Origins of Christmas
- H. H. Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic
Leave a Reply