The Pagan Celebration of the Rebirth of the Sun 

In Rome, the Winter Solstice was celebrated for many years before the birth of Jesus.  This winter holiday was called Saturnalia, honoring Saturn, the God of Agriculture. It was a public festival; originally celebrated for a day, on December 17th.  Its popularity extended it into a week-long extravaganza, ending on the 23th of December. It was an occasion for celebration, visits to friends, and the presentation of gifts, particularly wax candles, perhaps to signify the returning light after the solstice.

During this holiday, restrictions were relaxed and the social order inverted. Gambling was allowed in public.  Slaves were permitted to use dice and did not have to work.  Instead of the toga, less formal dinner clothes (synthesis) were permitted, as was the pileus, a felt cap normally worn by the manumitted slave that symbolized the freedom of the season.  Slaves were treated as equals, allowed to wear their masters' clothing, and be waited on at meal time in remembrance of an earlier golden age thought to have been ushered in by the god.

The Saturnalia festival has an astronomical character, referring to the completion of the sun's yearly course, and the commencement of a new cycle.  The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradually lengthening nights and shortening days.  Depending on the shift of the calendar, the winter solstice occurs some time between December 20 and December 23 each year in the northern hemisphere.

The word solstice derives from Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still).  The sun is at its lowest aspect at the winter solstice. The earth is cold, most plants are dead, and it was believed that the sun might also be approaching death. Saturnalia celebrated the sun overcoming the power of Winter, with hope of Spring when life would be renewed.

Worldwide, interpretation of the event has varied from culture to culture, but most cultures have held recognition of rebirth, involving holidays, festivals, gatherings, rituals or other celebrations around that time.  In ancient Babylon, the feast of the Son of Isis (Goddess of Nature) was celebrated on December 25. Raucous partying, gluttonous eating and drinking, and gift-giving were traditions of this feast.

The largest pagan religious cult which fostered sun worship in the Greek and Roman worlds on December 25 was the cult of Mithraism. They called it "the Nativity of the Sun." Mithras, the sun-god, was supposed to have been born at this time, but so were Osiris, Horus, Tammuz, Hercules, Bacchus, Adonis, Jupiter -- all the pagan Messiahs! This fact alone would seem to indicate that all these pagan sun-gods and deities trace their roots back to the original sun-god of ancient Babylon -- Nimrod!

Dies Natalis Solis Invicti means "the birthday of the unconquered Sun." The use of the title Sol Invictus allowed several solar deities to be worshipped collectively, including Elah-Gabal, a Syrian sun god; Sol, the god of Emperor Aurelian; and Mithras, a soldiers' god of Persian origin.  Emperor Elagabalus (218–222) introduced the festival, and it reached the height of its popularity under Aurelian, who promoted it as an empire-wide holiday. This day had held no significance in the Roman festive calendar until it was introduced in the third century.  The festival was placed on the date of the solstice because this was on this day that the Sun reversed its southward retreat and proved itself to be "unconquered."

December 25 was the date after the winter solstice, with the first detectable lengthening of daylight hours.  December 25 is 4 days after the winter solstice (from latin solstitium, "the sun stays still"), and in this period, with the days starting to become visibly longer and the nights shorter, December 25 would have been a logical date to choose as the day of the rebirth of the sun, imagery then utilized by the Christian community.  Some Christians accept the idea that Sol Invictus may be behind the date of Christmas, with the idea that the early church "baptized" the holiday by imbuing it with a new, Christian meaning.

In 350, Pope Julius I declared that Christ’s birth would be celebrated on December 25. There is little doubt that he was trying to make it as painless as possible for pagan Romans (who remained a majority at that time) to convert to Christianity.  The new religion went down a bit easier, knowing that their feasts would not be taken away from them.

We read in Werner Keller's book The Bible as History the following admission:  "December 25 is referred to in documents as Christmas Day in A.D. 324 for the first time. Under the Roman emperor Justinian [A.D. 527-565] it was recognized as an official holiday. An old Roman festival played a major part in the choice of this particular day. December 25 in ancient Rome was the 'Dies Natali Invictus,' 'the birthday of the unconquered,' the day of the winter solstice and at the same time, in Rome, the last day of the Saturnalia, which had long since degenerated into a week of unbridled carnival . . ." (p.331).

Keller goes on:  "Meteorologists as well as historians and astronomers have something of importance to contribute to this question of fixing the date of the birth of Jesus. According to St. Luke: 'And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night' (Luke 2:8).

"Meteorologists have made exact recordings of the temperature at Hebron. This spot in the southern highlands of Judah exhibits the same climatic conditions as Bethlehem, which is not far distant. The temperature readings show over a period of three months that the incidence of frost is as follows: December -- 2.8 degrees; January -- 1.6 degrees; February ---0.1 degrees. The first two months have also the greatest rainfall in the year: approximately 6 inches in December, and nearly 8 inches in January. According to all existing information the climate of Palestine has not changed appreciably in the last 2,000 years, consequently modern meteorological observations can be taken as a basis.

"At Christmas-time Bethlehem is in the grip of frost, and in the Promised Land no cattle would have been in the fields in that temperature. This fact is born out by a remark in the Talmud to the effect that in that neighborhood the flocks were put out to grass in March and brought in again at the beginning of November. They remained out in the open for almost eight months.

"Around Christmas-time nowadays both animals and shepherds are under cover in Palestine.

"What St. Luke tells us points therefore to the birth of Jesus having taken place BEFORE the onset of winter . . ." (p.331-332).

Even though Saturnalia is not celebrated anymore its effects on Western culture and the celebration of Christmas remain.  Wreaths, feasts, and the lighting of candles all continue the Saturnalia of the ancient Romans, although the modern reasons are far removed from the Pagans of the Classical World. 

The "Christ-mass" therefore is nothing more than the celebration of the birth of the "sun-god" himself, the False Messiah, the False "Saviour" of the world! "Christ-mass" is proved to be PAGAN to the core!