25 Days of Christmas - Day 10: Christmas is Too "Pagan"?

Yes, there are people that still concern themselves with the "evils" of Paganism. I sh*t you not. Of all the holidays these so-called Christians would love (or so you would think) is Christmas. It's the birth of our Savior, right? All those decorations were purely sentimental and nothing religious can be attached to them, right? Well, not according to Pagan beliefs.

The very fact that Christmas is tinged with so many Pagan elements makes it difficult for some hard-line Christians to take it seriously as a purely "Christian" holiday. Features such as the Christmas tree, holly, the Yule log, the wreath, mistletoe, etc. all have their origins in Pagan customs. Christmas Day itself was originally the start of the Winter Solstice and it was also... yeah, you guessed it: a Pagan holiday! I completely understand why Puritans were against Christmas. I imagine, for them, it was kind of difficult to put so much faith in a holiday that was born from a religious ideology that goes against grain of everything you believe in. On the flip side of this argument, I have a big problem with Puritans who insisted on still using the Christmas holiday as a vehicle to celebrate the birth of Christ without all the Pagan trappings that comes with it, all while refusing to acknowledge that even the date of his birth is not a coincidence but an offshoot from Paganism. You can't have your cake and eat it too, Puritans. In fact, Christians only started accepting December 25th as J.C.'s birthday at some point in the 4th century with only circumstantial evidence to back up such a claim.

This isn't a debate of monotheism versus polytheism nor am I trying to disprove the veracity of Jesus Christ's birth by pointing out glaring similarities between his story and aforementioned Pagan events. Regardless of where our Christmas celebrations come from, I'm still hanging a wreath. I'm still enjoying the pretty lights on my boyfriend's Christmas tree. I'm still putting out my mom's Nativity scene with the baby Jesus she painted brown years ago. There is no reason we can't celebrate Jesus' birth while also recognizing Christmas for the Pagan holiday it is. If certain fringe elements continue to ignore the influence Paganism had on ALL holidays and other important dates in Christianity, then they will only prove their own ignorance.