The Pagan Roots of Christmas

I’m spiritually torn – I’m decidedly not a Christian (no offence intended if you are), but I’m absolutely in love with Christmas. I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m an atheist - I just don’t like any of the options I’ve been presented with so far. I’ve witnessed, for lack of a better term, the “miracle” of birth twice, and with each new arrival I’ve slowly come around to the notion that maybe there’s something, maybe even a “higher intelligence,” behind the intricate wonder of creation. Let’s face it - if homo sapiens is the most powerful intellect ever, the universe has thus far been a terrible waste of space.

Sometimes I feel like a bit of a hypocrite to be riding on the coattails of a religious celebration when I don’t subscribe to that particular religion, but recent research has shown me that, if anything, what we know today as a Christian holiday is pretty much a hodge-podge of icons and symbols borrowed from several pagan traditions, some of which could possibly predate Christ himself. According to the Wikipedia Christmas page, just about everything comes from somewhere else. For instance, the Christmas tree was borrowed from an ancient Germanic pagan ritual. When the Romans decided it was time to start listening to Christians (as opposed their previous tradition of feeding them to the lions) and decided Jesus was the way and the light, they decided to take what was already a well established celebration of the winter solstice turned it into a birthday party for their newfound savior.

As a proud yet sometimes resentful Canadian, I for one can really appreciate the winter solstice, that magical time of year when the days finally start to get longer. Even now, in early December, I have to have my headlights on when it’s time to pick my girl up from school in the afternoon if the skies are the least bit overcast. You can bet I’m waiting for the sun to return. If that’s the true meaning of Christmas, count me in.

What we partake in at the end of each December is not the remembrance of some guy who got nailed up for having the audacity to suggest we start being nice to each other (we should, by the way). It’s a celebration of what it means to be members of the human race and while some people will bemoan the fact that Christmas is becoming secularized (not to mention the nut-jobs who warn against Santa Claus being a code for Satan’s Claws), I embrace it. What’s wrong with taking a day or two off work to spend time with friends and loved ones? Shouldn’t everyone have a special time set aside once a year to tell the people that matter most to them that they’re the people that matter most to them?

Thanks to the wage-labour economic system we’ve all been duped into working for, most of us spend the vast majority of our time to trying to please people we don’t actually like (honestly, this is your boss we’re talking about). All I’m saying is that everyone should invest a little time enjoying the company of loved ones. I choose to do this while everyone else is telling me that Christ is the Reason for the Season (and more power to him if he is for you), but for me I get to gather my friends and family around the tree, consume a little egg nog, listen to some cheesy music (Nat King Cole singing the Christmas Song is enough to restore my faith in humanity every time), exchange a few gifts, and let the people that matter most to me know that in the darkest days of the year there’s no one else I’d rather be with.