Origins of Christmas (Yule & St. Nicholas).

Greetings truth seeker, welcome to your Majesties Prototypical Christianity! I’m not your majesty but The Most High God of the prophets who wrote the Biblical text for his glory is. The Highest God is very peculiar about having fun. He likes it when people are having righteous fun, or fun without any evil in it. The pagan holidays are just one of those evil/good fun people enjoy having. Especially Christmas being the most beloved holiday for Americans, Europeans and other Europeanized civilizations. Everyone gets hyped up for decorating a tree, spending family time, singing holiday music and giving gifts. 

Christmas is popularized by mainstream media and taught to children. It’s common to believe that there is some guy named Saint Nicholas, Santa Clause who had reindeer and a sled and lived in the north pole. He had hundreds of tiny elf helpers that created these gifts. At the end of the year Santa knew the good and bad deeds of every child around the world. He gave good children gifts and bad children col. On the other side of Christmas there’s a convenient Christmas story about Christ’s birth. Christians believe that Christ was born on December 25 and the three wise men came to give the baby Christ gifts to celebrate. Apparently the star on the tree represents the star that guided the wise men to Christ. 

All of the above are exaggerated truths with made up stories and correlations. Although Saint Nicolas is a real person, he wasn’t originally for Christmas. And Christ was never born on December 25. In fact Christmas is a very old pagan religious winter solstice celebration. The true origins and meanings behind popular decorations is rooted in paganism. And how Christmas became a Christian celebration is a miss interpretation of scripture

Yule

The first original celebration of Christmas comes from an age-old pagan holiday. Yule is a European type of winter solstice holiday which celebrates the death and rebirth of the sun. There were two European groups that contributed to the solstice traditions, the Celtic Druids and the Keltelvens. The druids called this time of the year Alban Arthuan which took place on December 21-22. Modern witches still celebrate Alban Athuan as part of the “wheel of the year”, a winter solstice celebration and worship of the sun. 

Now the Keltelvens celebrated Nerthusmas type of mystical journey of the sun which took 13 days to complete. This is the original 13 days of Christmas, December 26-Jan 6. It’s actually called the pilgrimage of yule. It is customary to decorate the home with evergreens and ivory. There is feasting and gift giving during this time. 

Celtic and Keltelven Gods:

There are four winter solstice gods that make the traditions of modern Christmas. The gift-giving stag god Cernunnos is often recognized at this time of year. He represented knowledge, fertility and nature. He also represents growth and prosperity. Around the winter solstice he would go around giving gifts to every household. The keltelvens worshiped Nerthus, a yuletide goddess who rides a wagon and delivers gifts to the needy. 

“Nerthus is the elder-mother of the two other goddesses- Brighid and Coventina,…” (The Fires of Yule. 33) Nerthus watches over humanity as either a gray wolf or an Owl. Brighid is a healer and protects humanity from evil spirits. Coventina is apparently a water and spring goddess who helps cleanse the soul. 

Saint Nicholas:

I came across this one book “The True Saint Nicholas’ by William J Bennett, He provides a full historical account of a man named Saint Nicholas who’s character eventually would reshape how the original “yule’ ‘ is celebrated. Saint Nicholas grew up in Italy and was orphaned in his early teen years. As he grew older he was dedicated to keeping the word of The Highest God. He emphasized the practice of anonymous gift giving and being kind to the children. He is most known for anonymously giving three young women money to pay for their dowry. As the story goes, an older man was struggling to marry off his three daughters because he didn’t have enough money. Therefore Saint Nicholas randomly threw coins in their window one day. Over time, Nicholas gave them enough money for all three daughters to get married. 

Saint Nicholas eventually became Bishop of Myra on the Lycian coast for his devotion to the Church and the word of Christ. His reign as Bishop wasn’t all that great because during his ruler-ship the Roman Emperor Diocletian (284 A.D.) hated the fact that the early Christians were not worshiping their gods with animal sacrifices. He declared to persecute all Christians who went against this rule 303 A.D. Saint Nicholas was arrested and tortured also. He was finally released when Emperor Constantine took over Rome. Nicholas was then a part of the Council of Nicaea 325 A.D. In his later years he taught children and gave them gifts. He died on December 6th making that day an everlasting memorial for Some European countries. December 6 is the time when gifts are exchanged and feasting with family is required.

Christ:

Our beloved Christ world savior, according to many christians was born on December 25th at the turn of the century. This assumption couldn’t be any more wrong. According to the nativity story he was most likely born during the spring rather than the winter. In order for Marry to give birth to christ outside in a barn the weather would be warm. 

Luke 2:4-8 

4. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

5. To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

6. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

7. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and warped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger’ because there was no room for them in the inn.

8. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the fields keeping watch over their flock by night.”

 

It would be a health hazard for Mary to give birth to christ outside during the winter. And shepherds don’t stay out at night during the winter. According to the passage here christ would be born during a warm season at least. 

Furthermore the unfortunate tie of christ birth to the date of December 25th made him “the reason for the season”. Then the tale of the three wise men giving baby christ presents was tied to the date. Now christians could celebrate Christmas.

Conclusion

As you can see the fairy tale of what we are taught in school about Christmas is mingled together with reality and beloved religion and multiple gods. The traditions and gods of Yule came first. Next came the lovely personality of Saint Nicholas who have gave us who we know as Santa Claus. Lastly Christ nativity story was wrongly associated with the pagan traditions and eventually became “the reason for the season”. 

The whole idea of a gift giving Santa clause who rides in a slay pulled by reign deer derives from the pagan gods and the real saint Nicholas character. Christmas isn’t just a childrens holiday and its definitely not a christian holiday. It is still firmly rooted in Celtic paganism.

Works cited

 Bennett, William J.. The True Saint Nicholas: Why He Matters to Christmas. United Kingdom, Howard Books, 2009.

Leave a Reply

Up ↑

%d bloggers like this: