An Atheist Xmas

I’m sorry God, but I don’t believe Christmas is really a Christian day.  It is a pagan festival that has been hijacked by Western Christianity to be about baby Jesus. The irony is there are many pagan symbols used by Christians during Christmas, occurring at the same time Christians criticise atheists for their celebration of a religious day. That’s even before we mention the mass deception of children with the Santa Claus myth.

As I’m an outspoken atheist, there are many times I’ve been chastised by Christians because I celebrate Christmas. Truthfully, I’m more likely to be compared with The Grinch, but I don’t want to deter good debate. I couldn’t honestly say I’m celebrating Christmas; in reality I’m celebrating a public holiday whilst eating heaps of food and drinking summer cocktails with my family. What’s not to celebrate in that?

I don’t mention baby Jesus to my family and if Christians were honest with themselves, they’d potentially reconsider it on that date too. This date was chosen due to the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and the pagan festival of Saturnalia. These festivals involved banquets, drunkenness and merriment so perhaps my celebrations are more in keeping with the traditions of the season than I’d thought. There is also the festival of Dies Natalis Solis Invicti that was celebrated in Constantine’s era who was the first Christian Emperor. This Roman festival literally means “the birthday of the unconquered sun”.  It’s an easy fix, then, to alter the subject matter slightly and you’ve got yourself a new Christian festival with an already established fan base. Ta-da! Christmas is now the new festival on December 25th. 

Part of the winter solstice festivals incorporated the evergreen fir tree in their celebrations to remind of the spring to come. Its tree image is now synonymous with the modern Christmas of Western Christians, being virtually omnipresent in December. That pagan symbol is present today in the home of most Christians as well, without too much thought given to its origins. Of course it is now lovingly decorated with the Bethlehem star in a religious bid to decry its heathen orthodoxy.  

It’s a similar story with mistletoe, which was part of the pagan religion, the Druids in Britain, who believed mistletoe was a miraculous plant and held the soul of its host tree. During the festivals of the winter solstice the druids would ceremoniously cut down the boughs of mistletoe, ensuring the branches never touched the ground and be contaminated. Smaller sprigs from the boughs would be distributed to people believing the plant protected them from evil spirits and storms.  There is also a Viking tale of Frigga, whose tears turned into the white berries and she kissed everyone who passed underneath the bush after the resurrection of her poisoned son whose death occurred at the hands of Loki, the God of Evil. Mistletoe is still hung in the homes of Christians during the Christmas period, again, without regard to its pagan origins. 

Christians, in their preservation of Christmas as a religious holiday, should perhaps ignore the commercial trappings of the day. I would expect a Christian to dispense with the food and alcohol excesses, gift-giving, trees, candy canes, Santa Claus deception and focus only on their “true meaning” of Christmas: Jesus Christ. Until Christians are honest with their own acceptance of paganism on December 25th, ease up on the criticism of an atheist’s acceptance of Christianity into what was once a pagan festival.