I declared the birth and celebration of Jesus’ birthday as Christmas and chose December 25th because it coincided with the pagan traditions of Winter Solstice. The purpose was to replace the pagan celebrations with the Christian one.
Most Christmas customs, the decorating the evergreen “Christmas” tree, the hanging of mistletoe, gift exchanges, and Santa Claus, all came from pagan winter practices and secular traditions that were celebrated throughout Europe.
Christmas as we know it today, is not only a mix of ancient pagan practices and hundreds of years of adopting secular and religious traditions, it also has a Victorian period influence that affected the practice and acceptance of Christmas.
As early as the seventeenth century the celebration of Christmas was still regarded as a pagan festival that was not permitted in England and in many of the English colonies in America. It took almost 800 years for Christmas to become the important festival it is today. In the early seventeenth century, England’s colorful leader Oliver Cromwell, a Puritan who followed the Bible to the word, banned Christmas as a Pagan celebration. Christmas did not return as a Christian holiday in England until Charles II came to power.
During that period in history when the Puritans descended upon America, Christmas was not recognized as a Christian festivity.
Once the colonies became independent, English influence and practices declined and our forefathers restored Christmas.
Over time, as Christians adopted Christmas and attended Christmas Mass, it became a tradition at the end of Mass to enter into wild celebrations of drinking similar to the Mardi Gras