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It's getting close to that time of the year. Since it is I thought I'd prepare an info dump addressing a topic that I'm sure is going to come up.

Is Christmas a stolen pagan holiday?

No it's not. Christmas is a mass that celebrates of the incarnation of Christ into the world. Other than Resurrection Day, it is probably the 2nd oldest holiday of the religion. If you can show me what celebrating the incarnation of Christ has to do with any pagan religion I'll gladly concede this point.

Christmas is a ripoff of Saternalia.

I find that one a bit of stretch for a number of reasons.
1. Saternalia was celebrated December 17th to December 23th to celebrate the God, Saturn.
2. The giving of gifts, feasting, and market sales are common elements of any sort of community celebration. To say this these things are exclusively pagan is nonsensical and would make everything pagan.
3. If Saternalia was stolen holiday, why place Christmas 2 days AFTER all the festivities were over with? Why not place it on the same day or even the same time period?

Christmas is a ripoff of Sol Invictus.

This one is debatable and there's evidence to suggest that Sol Inviticus was created specifically to convert Christians back to being pagans. Considering the political threat Christianity cause, it wouldn't be a big surprise.

Dies Natalis Solis Invict was a holiday to celebrate the birth of the sun god Sol Invict. While we know that the cult was set up 274 CE, we don't know when Dies Natalis Solis Invic was actually celebrated. The earliest reference we have of this holiday being celebrated on Dec 25 is by Julian the Philosopher in 363 CE. The Chronography of 354, one of the earliest calanders commissioned by a wealthy Roman Christian, lists a holiday called Natalis Invicti (Birth of the unconquered) on Dec 25 but it is unclear if who this holiday is about. Finally we have Chronographai published in 221, suggesting that Jesus was born on Dec 25. This date was determined by calculating 9 months from the Feast of Annunciation, March 25, the day Jesus was believed to have been conceived. If Dies Natalis Solis Invict was stolen, why is there talks of Jesus being born on Dec 25 pre-dating the founding of the cult of Sol Invictus?

Christmas is a rip off of Yule.

Christmas had long been established in Christianity by the time Christians came in contact with Germanic people. While traditions from Yule were incorporated into Christmas celebrations, it's stretch to say that these traditions were stolen. In Germanic traditions, culture and religion are almost completely inseparable. Even if the religion was to go away, the practices would still continue. You had Germanic people doing the same things they would have been doing during the time Christmas was celebrating. These festivities slowly became part of Christmas traditions for Germanic people as Christianity became common place.

Christmas is a ripoff of Mithra's birth.

This is speculation at best. We know very little about Mithra's cult. The only thing we know is that Mithra's birth was celebrated on Dec 25 and was popular among soldiers. That's about it.

Jesus' birthday wasn't on Dec 25 and aren't birthdays pagan?

No s**t. The date is arbitrary since it is unknown when he was actually born. The tradition of celebrating his birth on Dec 25 stems from when he was believed to have been conceived, March 25. March 25 is the Feast of Annunciation, when Mary was told she was pregnant with Jesus. This date is calculated from the day that Jesus is believed too have died and the Hebrew tradition of Prophets dying on the same day as their conception. Add 9 months to this and we get... Dec 25. As for birthdays being pagan, there were pagans that celebrated their births and the births of others for religious reasons. The pagan religious reasons behind such celebrations have been either removed or reinterpreted. Since birthdays are largely secular, there's no prohibition on celebrating them except by a few branches of Christianity.

Christmas was created to convert the pagans.

Again this is a stretch. Again, Early Christianity was very syncretic. Christian converts could take elements of their culture into the religion and reinterpret their cultural elements to fit into their new religion. It's quite possible that Bishops could have reinterpreted these cultural elements but to do so would require extensive knowledge of the culture they were dealing with. In the case of Early Christianity since many of the Bishops came from such cultures, if they did, such reinterpretations would be ethical. In the case of post-Fall of Rome Christianity, there were little to no centers of formal education, especially concerning culture outside of Rome. The likely hood of a Bishop from outside of a Germanic culture being familiar enough with Germanic symbols to successfully do this seems rather slim. Also these supposedly stolen elements are only garnishes to Christmas and could still be celebrated without a Christmas tree, mistletoe, or .

If there are any more big points I should address or clarify please share them with me and I will add them to this guide.

Now there's no denying that there was some syncreticism going on, but to attribute it to stolen holidays or dirty tactics is quite a stretch.

You have to realize, when some people point out that Christmas (or even Easter) has pagan roots, it's usually when someone says that non-Christians shouldn't celebrate the holiday.

That is why Jehovah Witnesses don't partake, if I remember correctly? Reading that holidays have roots in "false religions"?

Part of me feels as though there's no real denying that Christmas has pagan origins. The Christmas tree is considered by some as Christianisation of pagan tradition and ritual surrounding the Winter Solstice, which included the use of evergreen boughs, and an adaptation of pagan tree worship.

Many popular customs associated with Christmas developed independently of the commemoration of Jesus' birth, with certain elements having origins in pre-Christian festivals that were celebrated around the winter solstice by pagan populations. These elements, including the Yule log from Yule and gift giving from Saturnalia, became syncretized into Christmas over the centuries.

So I wouldn't necessarily say "stolen", but I would say some elements were "borrowed".

I think it's mostly just...I don't even remember what I was trying to say anymore. lol I think something with the beginning of my first post.

I've never really heard or seen a Pagan say that Christians "stole their holiday". I've only seen non-Christians point out that Christmas isn't original, that most of the holiday practices originate from Pagan holidays, and that the only reason Christmas is celebrated on the 25th was the Church's way to draw people to Christianity...away from celebrating the birth of Mithra, I think, like you said?

I can't really say if Christmas is a "stolen" holiday from Paganism, like you said, it could be a stretch. But as I said before, any of the points you have made in your OP, I've only heard when a Christian would take a jab at a non-Christian for participating in the holiday. So in some ways, they could just be incendiary remarks to make Christians mad.

ive always pictured it like easter and just a few pagan and christian traditions and beliefs smooshed together to make one holiday to make it easier for people to convert or something along those lines.

my father in law's church is very anti christmas because it has pagan traditions. in my house i prefer to keep religion out of my holidays.

After 4th century CE, you have a case. Prior, not so much since there are holes that the "convert the pagans" argument doesn't answer.

I'm familiar with their stance, I was more of just questioning the rationale that's all. Like cooking and festivities and families are all practiced by those so called "false religions" yet there is no prohibition against any of those.

Sounds good to me. Happy Advent.