Christmas wasn’t always a Christian thing!

By Edgar Louis de Garcia

As we all know, Christmas has been celebrated all over the world for centuries. For modern-day Christians, it has morphed into both a cultural tradition as much as it is a religious one: they use it not only to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ but also the annual “arrival” of Santa Claus. But did you know Christmas wasn’t always like that?

Apart from the divine birth, many Christmas traditions did not come from Christians but rather from pagans. In fact, not even historians can truly say that Jesus was born on December 25; we celebrate it on that day because the Church designated it centuries ago. As with many historical traditions, we’ve just come to take it for granted.

You could say that Christmas came from the (pre-Catholic) Romans first. Saturnalia, as it was originally known in ancient Rome, had been celebrated for centuries. It was held annually on December 17 of the Julian Calendar before being later expanded with festivities through to December 23. After Christianity swept over Rome, Church leaders wanted a similar festival to commemorate the birth of Christ but had no idea on what direction it would take. Apparently lacking in originality, the Christians co-opted the customs and ceremonies not only of Saturnalia but also that of several pagan groups to create Christmas. Among other things, this led to the mistletoe and the Christmas tree (as well as the act of adorning it with ornaments) becoming Christmas iconography.

Funnily enough, Christians don’t like to admit that Christmas essentially evolved from pagan traditions. Despite being well-aware of the “spiritual dangers of Paganism,” the early Church Fathers were nevertheless interested in their celebrations and had no problem adopting them.

Filipinos especially are into Christmas: malls play Christmas songs as early as September and some shops start decorating for the season in November. Come Christmas season, Filipinos regularly participate in the ‘Simbang Gabi‘ (a nine-day series of masses that commence on Christmas Eve) and ‘Misa de Gallo‘; it is said that if you successfully attend the former from start to finish, your wish will be granted. This is followed by a feast called the ‘Noche Buena‘, a big open-house celebration involving family, friends, and neighbors. Filipinos are essentially crazy for Christmas, with the country being known to celebrate the longest Christmas in the world! True to their Catholic beliefs though, “Filipino Christmas” is more centered on Jesus Christ rather than Santa Claus.

As we move deeper into the holiday season, let it be known that there’s nothing wrong with having fun during Filipino Christmas. After all, the real spirit of the holidays involves sharing love and happiness with everyone around us who deserves it. But don’t clown yourself by saying the Christians did it first, as history says otherwise.