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The Mesopotamians celebrated New Years. This is how many of the traditions originated. The Mesopotamians believed in many gods, and as their chief god, Marduk. And every year when winter arrived it was said that..... Marduk would do battle with the monsters of chaos. Assisting Marduk with his battle the Mesopotamians would hold a festival for New Year. This was Zagmuk, the New Year's festival that lasted for 12 days.
Returning to the Marduk temple the Mesopotamian king would swear his faithfulness to the god. The tradition has it that at the end of the year the king would die and to return with Marduk to battle at his side.
In order to spare their king, the Mesopotamians had the idea of using a “fake" king. This would be a criminal that was chosen and would be dressed in royal clothes. The fake king was given all the respect and privileges that the real king would have. But at the end of the celebration the "fake" king was stripped of the royal clothes and killed, thus sparing the life of the real king.
The Persians and the Babylonians celebrated a similar festival called Sacaea. Part of this celebration included the exchanging of places, where the slaves would become the masters and the masters were to obey.
Because the early Europeans, believed in evil spirits, witches, ghosts and trolls. They thought that as the Winter Solstice approached, which brought its long cold nights and short days, some of the people feared that the sun would not return. So to bring back the sun they performed special rituals and celebrations.
In the winter months in Scandinavia the sun would disappear for many days. After thirty-five days scouts would be sent to the mountaintops to look for the return of the sun. When the scouts saw the first light they would return with the good news. After which a festival would be held, this was called Yuletide, and a special feast would be served around a fire burning with the Yule log. Also for this festival, great bonfires would also be lit to celebrate the return of the sun. In many areas people would tie apples to branches of trees just as a reminder that spring and summer would return.
The ancient Greeks held a festival that was similar to the Zagmuk/Sacaea festivals this would help their, god Kronos who would battle the god Zeus and his Titans. The Roman's would celebrate their god Saturn. This festival was called Saturnalia and would commence in the middle of December and would end on January 1st. When the celebrations ended the people would sing out "Jo Saturnalia!” Whilst celebrating they would have masquerades in the streets, big festive meals, visiting friends, and the exchange of good-luck gifts called Strenae (lucky fruits).
The Romans would decorate their halls with garlands of laurel and green trees that were lit with candles. And also the masters and slaves would exchange places, as in the other festivals.
Even though the "Jo Saturnalia!" was a fun and festive time for the Romans, the Christians thought it was an abomination to worship the pagan god. The early Christians wanted to keep the birthday of their Christ child a solemn and religious holiday. Not like the Roman festival of the pagan Saturnalia that was, of cheer and merriment.
As Christianity continued to spread, they were becoming more disturbed by the continuation to celebrate the pagan customs and Saturnalia among their converts. But first off the Church prohibited this kind of celebration. But the church did not succeed in its quest. Finally this celebration was to be made into a celebration that was fit for the Christian Son of God.
The Christian “Christmas” celebration was said in many legends that it was only invented to challenge against the pagan celebrations of December.
To the Roman and Persians the 25th was sacred as the religion Mithraism was one of Christianity's main rivals during this time. In the end the Church was successful in taking this joyful time, lights, and gifts of the Saturnalia festival and brought them to the celebration of Christmas.
Even though the Christ child’s precise day of birth has never been found. The many traditions claim that it has been celebrated since the year 98 AD. In 137 AD the Christ child’s celebration was ordered to be a dignified feast by the Bishop of Rome. Then in 350 AD the observance of Christmas was to be December 25th, which was chosen by another Bishop of Rome, Julius I.
