Do Pagans Celebrate Christmas?

Pagans celebrate Yule, a holiday that takes place during the Winter Solstice, usually just a few days before Christians celebrate Christmas. The two holidays have similarities since Christmas is rooted in both the Germanic Yule, as well as the Roman Saturnalia.

Many modern Christmas traditions are based on pagan Yuletide celebrations. For example, pagans would traditionally decorate an evergreen tree to celebrate the winter solstice. This influenced the decorating of Christmas trees.

We have a great article Introduction to Paganism if you are new to paganism.

Do Pagans Celebrate Christmas?

Pagans do not celebrate Christmas, they celebrate Yule. Winter Solstice celebrations occurred in many cultures all over the world.

They predate Christmas.

Winter Solstice celebrations have been observed as early as the Neolithic period (the end of the Stone Age), beginning at around 10,200 BC. Neolithic monuments, such as; Newgrange in Ireland and Maeshowe in Scotland, align with the sunrise on the Winter Solstice.

The Winter Solstice was celebrated in a variety of cultures across the globe – taking on many forms. For example; the birth of Sun Gods such as Mithra (worshipped in the Roman Empire) and Horus (worshipped in Egypt) was celebrated around the Winter Solstice.

Romans, Celtics, Norse, Druids, in Europe, influenced early Christmas traditions and all celebrated the winter solstice.

Pagans in this part of the world were farmers and hunter/gatherers. These seasonal celebrations were based upon the natural cycles of the moon and sun.

You can read more about Yule and learn some great ideas to celebrate the holiday in our blog.

Are Christmas and Yule the Same Thing?

There’s a misconception that ‘Christmas’ and ‘Yule’ are synonymous. However, this isn’t true at all! While these two holidays overlap in terms of when they take place annually – and even some of their traditions – they are not the same!

Christmas is the newer of the two. This reflects the fact that this modern holiday incorporated many elements from pagan customs and traditions. In fact, the name Yuletide stems from the Old Norse Jōl, which is a midwinter pagan festival that always took place in December.

The Pagan Origins of Christmas Traditions

Early Christians and pagans experienced some conflicts but they were not always enemies. Early Christians often had pagan family members or ancestors. They often understood these pagan holidays and probably participated in them.

Furthermore, the conquering Christians wanted to convert their “heathen” brethren. So they incorporated many pagan traditions into the Christian religion.

Here are some examples of pagan elements that became popular for Christmas.

• Feasts

• Giving gifts and hanging stockings

• Santa Claus

• Christmas caroling

• Decorating trees

• Mistletoe

Feasting and Gifting

If you were to ask someone to describe Christmas festivities, they’d likely mention all the delicious food that’s prepared for the Christmas feast and all the gifts that are given.

The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year. In northern Europe, this was also a time of cold weather and a time when crops couldn’t be grown. Celebrating with a feast gave people a time to rejoice during this dark time of the year.

The notion of giving gifts was believed to bless the following year’s harvest.

In ancient Rome, pagans celebrated Saturnalia which honored Saturn, the god of agriculture. People had a holiday from work and feasts were planned. People brought gifts and sacrifices to offer Saturn.

This evolved into the Romans giving each other small tokens. Candles were a popular gift to symbolize the recurrence of the light.

Leaving Cookies for Santa and Christmas Stockings

Another common Christmas tradition in this day and age is leaving milk and cookies out for Santa. This tradition actually finds its origin in another pagan tradition. Norse and Germanic pagans worship a deity named Odin.

Odin, a large man with a flowing grey beard looked like the modern image we have of Santa Claus. He was often portrayed as being pulled through the sky by an eight-legged horse called Sleipnir. This, of course, can be likened to Santa traveling via reindeer.

A tradition began in Norse communities where pagan children would fill their boots with carrots and straw and leave the treat for Sleipnir.

The children believed that Odin would pass by in the night, feeding Sleipnir with the straw and carrots, leaving small gifts in them afterward.

This, in turn, would inspire modern notions of Christmas stockings. 

Christmas Caroling

Singing song during the holidays comes from the pagan tradition called wassailing.

Wassailers would roam through their villages in small groups, singing loudly with the aim of banishing evil spirits and wishing good health to those around them.

No wassailing group was complete without their traditional drink on hand – made from mulled ale, curdled cream, roasted apples, eggs, spices, and sugar.

In the 13th century, St. Francis took inspiration from these happy choirs and started the tradition of Christmas caroling.

Decorating Evergreen Trees

As pagans, we have a close connection to nature. During Yule, many pagans would bring in branches and evergreen trees to remind them of the coming spring. I imagine they also enjoyed the sweet smell.

These trees were often decorated with apples, nuts, and dried flowers. This was done both to symbolically honor the evergreen tree and to represent the shift from winter to spring.

You can read more about our relationship with trees in my blog Paganism and Trees.

A wreath I made from local plants. Photo Ame Vanorio

Meeting Under the Mistletoe

Back in the day, mistletoe featured commonly in several pagan rituals and is considered by many pagans to be a sacred plant. Mistletoe was often used to honor the god Saturn, with fertility rituals being performed beneath the mistletoe.

Mistletoe wasn’t the only sacred plant for pagans. Holly was another holy plant connected with the god Saturn. During the Saturnalia holiday, Romans made holly wreaths to exchange as gifts for good luck.

For many people celebrating Christmas, mistletoe is often hung as a decoration in the home. If you were to find yourself under the mistletoe with someone today, you’d likely just share a kiss!

How do Pagans Celebrate Yule Today?

Many pagans continue to celebrate the holidays honoring traditions that our ancestors began. Some pagan families celebrate a variety of winter holidays and develop their own traditions.

Building a Yule Altar

Building your own Yule alter is a perfect way to both honor and celebrate the winter season. The purpose of the altar is to honor the return of the sun – following the ‘re-birth.’ celebrations of the holiday.

At the center of your altar should be a candle that symbolizes the sun. After all, the altar’s purpose is to honor and celebrate the sun’s return. You can complete your altar by including winter symbols, like pinecones and evergreen wreaths. 

Check out our article on Altars: A Beginners Guide.

Decorate Using Nature

As discussed earlier, decorating an evergreen tree has long been a pagan tradition. You can even use a living tree that is outdoors! Pagans traditionally use ornaments on their evergreen trees to symbolize elements of nature, like the sun, stars, and moon.

If you don’t have a tree to decorate for the winter solstice, you can always create your own evergreen wreath to celebrate the Yule season. Making your own wreath can be a great way to honor the season.

My cat Gidget under our Norfolk pine Yule tree. Photo by Ame Vanorio

Burn a Yule Log

It has long been a tradition for pagans to burn a Yule log. Historically, a whole tree would be brought into one’s home to burn during the winter season. In modern times, this could be quite impractical.

Using smaller logs, in a backyard fire pit, however, keeps this tradition alive today!

Pagans and Their Traditions

Paganism is a religious movement that finds its roots in pre-Christian religions, incorporating various beliefs and practices from non-Christian or pre-Christian religions. Our pagan communities place emphasis on unity and diversity, which is why our traditions are so important to us.

All of our pagan holidays correspond to nature and the seasons. After all, nature is sacred to us and is one of the many expressions of divinity. Generally, those with paganistic belief systems see themselves as part of nature, one with the animals and trees.

What Are The Origins Of Christmas?

Ironically Christmas did not appear till about 400 years after Christ’s death. Early church leaders were not thrilled with the holiday and in fact, the Puritans banned it in early America.

Christmas only became a major Christian holiday in the 9th century, but its origin as a Christian holiday was rocky. As mentioned above, the Winter Solstice was a celebration of re-birth and the birth of sun Gods.

However, Church Fathers disapproved of the Pagan custom of celebrating birthdays due to the belief that saints and martyrs should be honored on the days of their martyrdom.

This, in combination with the Church’s desire to put an end to Pagan practices, led them to incorporate the holiday of Yule into their own practice. To further their efforts, they named December 25th to be the birthday of Jesus Christ – despite biblical evidence that Jesus was born in the fall – playing into the Pagan custom of celebrating birthdays.

Through creating a new holiday with numerous similarities to Yule, the Church was able to begin separating the people from their Pagan beliefs, replacing them with those of the Roman Catholic Church.

The Church’s methodology suggests an indifferent eagerness to appropriate Pagan festivals, despite the Church’s intent on distancing itself from Pagan beliefs, and, ideally, eradicating them.

Over the years the celebration of Christmas has drawn inspiration from many different traditions, growing into what we see in the modern-day. An example of their influence would be adapting the symbolism of a tree; the use of fir trees has to do with their triangular shape, which represents the trinity of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit.

Take Away

In some ways, I feel sorry for the Christians at Christmas. Early Christians were banned from the holiday because the reformist’s denominations were worried about the bawdy drunkenness and dancing that filled the pagan holiday.

Todays Christians must deal with the lavish gift-giving and secularism of the holiday. Possibly one reason so many of them insist on saying Merry Christmas versus happy holidays.

I’m thankful to be a pagan and enjoy the happy Yule celebration.

Author, Ame Vanorio, is a lifelong pagan, environmental educator, and mother of two humans, two cats, two turtles, and a horse who thinks he’s a dog.

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