People all over the world celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25th. But why is the Nativity marked by gift giving, and was He really born on that day? And just where did the Christmas tree come from? Take an enchanting tour through the history of this beloved holiday and trace the origins of its enduring traditions. Journey back to the earliest celebrations when the infant religion embraced pagan solstice festivals like the Roman Saturnalia and turned them into a commemoration of Jesus’ birth. Learn how Prince Albert introduced the Christmas tree to the English-speaking world in 1841, and discover how British settlers in the New World transformed the patron saint of children into jolly old St. Nick. This documentary explores the origin of Christmas and how it came to be the way we know it today. The documentary also incites the thought as to how Christmas is on one hand a result of social, cultural, and political influences (hence somewhat obscuring the apparent purpose of the festival: Christ’s Mass), and on the other hand a influence over people’s lives (particularly consumerism).
Thanks for sharing.
Certainly says a lot about those hypocrites that keep talking about a “christian” holiday and the “christian” foundations of America, which now seem to be little more than the vain crowing of a bunch of self-important assholes who think they have the right to tell everyone else how to live.
LOL
who cares. i have one friday a week, but don’t sacrifice to the goddess freya. i hvae 31 days of january when i never think of the god janos at all. if i want to celebrate christmas without giving a fig about christ, then i can and will.
Actually, Easter isn’t a holiday that was rendered to the death and resurrection, it was originally a pagan fertility festival too that took place during the spring equinox. People got naked and chased a bunny rabbit around.
I refues to celebrate Christmas and instead replace it with an updated version of the pagan holiday “Yuletide” where we dont celelbrate fictional charectors that a cult leader created so they could scare people into giving them thier money.
But hey some people are stupid and will belive any bullsh*t story they are told when they are scared or tricked into believing lies. THERE LIES!!!!!! YOU LIEING CHRISTIAN BASTURDS!!!! Shame on all of you!! You make me sick!!
awesome. i used to have one of those spring rocking horses at 3:54, and some of those killer footed red jammies.
Merry Xmas!
Thank you!
Are you referring to the Passover?
Yasha (Jeshuah, or Jesus) was our Passover Lamb.
Jophn the Baptist said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes awy the sins of the world!”
Okay, jaca1. You can tell Him that when He arrives. It won’t be long now.
opinions are like assholes everybody has one. if you wanna celebrate christmas FINE! clebrate it. if you dont want to celebrate christmas FINE!
Lol he thinks god wrote the bible lol dumb ass there is no god lol
Christianity captured the original pagan festivals. And then commercial America captured ‘Christmas’.
As a non-American ‘atheist’ from the tropics, where that time of year means monsoonal weather and cyclones, I enjoy the party in December.
My kids love it. too.
Research Cyclone Tracy.
Where was your god on that particular evening?
I just LOVE your comment. I’m with you on this!!!!!!:)
You must realize that the Winter Solstice is merely an astrological event. In the same aspect that the Summer Solstice, Vernal (or Spring) Equinox and the Autumnal Equinox. They are all different positions ov the sun. I wouldn’t exactly call the ‘holiday’ Winter Solstice, that’s simply the event that occurs.
If you want to please Christ then you do better to not celebrate Christmas period. Had God wanted us to celebrate his birth, he would have given us the exact day of this birth, but he did not. Further, Jesus would have directed us to do so. He did not. He did however direct us to commemorate his death. “Do this in remembrance of me.” This is the only real Holy day to be celebrated. All others are pagan celebration days falsley labeled as Holy days. My name is Eric. May God bless you.
Christmas is falsely labeled a Holy day. Had God wanted us to celebrate Christs birth, he would have told us to in the bible. There is only one Holy day to be celebrated and it is the celebration and commemoration of Christ’s death and resurrection. In my opinion, every day should be about happiness and joy, and spending quality time with family and friends, and reflecting on warm memories as you have said. Maybe we would naturally alot more times for this if we had not picked out one day.
groan! No that’s not how wars start, after this phony togetherness passes people will goback to hating each other. I believe in loving my neighbor as myself, that’s christian and has no seasonal application, it’s year round, that’s in the book, wars start over the love of material things that is so exalted this time of year secular folks like to see religion instead of mans inbred greed as the cause of the world’s ills, almost all wars have to do with money.real love knows no season
Wow, the true meaning of christmas is undermined by celebrating Christ?! What are this first 6 letters in christmas. Bible tells us not to be unequally yoked believer with unbeliever, christ never called for this type of togetherness, and christ is our Lord so pleasing him on CHRISTmas is more important than a vain show of togetherness. Christian love isn’t bound by a season while this fake christmas spirit has nothing to do with christ at all.
The holiday wasn’t called “Christmas” before the Roman Catholic Church coined the term. It was called “Winter Solstice”, or “Yule” or “Saturnalia” (All pagan worship). The Roman Catholic Church incorporated “Christ” into the holiday, not to lure pagans, but it incorporated pagan traditions into the church. AND THEY HAVE SUCCEEDED IN THEIR CORRUPTION OF THE CHIRSTIAN WORLD.
yeah igy. christians are the only ones allowed to rename something and worship it as their own. i forgot.
Looks like some need to see the whole program and just enjoy the history. Sheesh.
They didn’t get it wrong, per se, they just didn’t tell the whole story.
But yeah, I wish this program was longer and went into more detail.
They’re probly afraid of the Roman Catholics, though.
That was one of my criticisms of the program that I was going to write about. You did not hear properly, the doc claims correctly that the winter solstice was celebrated long before Christianity, but it was not called Christmas then. After Constantine adopted Christianity he also adopted the pagan celebration of the solstice, renaming it Christ’s birthday. The actual name Christmas developed much later after the Catholic mass, “Christ’s Mass.” History Channel is not the finest source of history.