Information Related to "Where Did Christmas Symbols Originate?"

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Where Did Christmas Symbols Originate?

"A

n enormous number of traditions we now associate with Christmas have their roots in pre-Christian pagan religious traditions. Some of these have social, sexual, or cosmological connotations that might lead educated, culturally sensitive moderns to discard the traditions once they have understood their roots more clearly ...

"The pre-Christian elements of Christmas hail primarily from Europe ... From southern Europe come such familiar pagan traditions as feasting, fertility rituals, tree worship, and the exchange of gifts. From the harsher lands of northern Europe come the ancient conventions we identify with the term 'Yule.' The Yule log tradition, now almost forgotten, rose from this stream. So too are many of the details of holiday feasting, the ritual use of candles, and the earliest forerunners of Santa Claus ...

"Here is a brief review of the pre-Christian sources from which some of our best-loved holiday traditions sprang.

"Evergreens symbolize immortality and the continuity of life ... The Romans, too, decorated their homes and public places with evergreens near the time of the winter solstice. Among the forerunners of today's holiday gifts were strenae, tree branches presented to political and military leaders as tokens of loyalty ...

Read the full article at www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn31/christmas_symbols.htm

Related Information on UCG Sites:

Sidebar to Christmas Before Christ? The Surprising Story
Table of Contents that includes "Where Did Christmas Symbols Originate?"

Christmas:

• _Crucial Questions
• _Christmas: The Untold Story
• _God's Days of Worship
• _Why Jesus Christ Wasn't Born on Dec. 25
• _How Christmas Grew
• _Christmas vs. the Bible
• _Was Jesus Born on December 25?
• _Christmas Reconsidered
• _Are the Biblical Holy Days for New Testament Christians?
• _Does God Allow Us to Choose Our Own Religious Holidays?
• _When Was Jesus Christ Born?
• _Christmas Before Christ? The Surprising Story
• _Letters From Our Readers - Jan/Feb 2001
• _Was Christ Born on Christmas Day?
• _Letters From Our Readers - Jan/Feb 2003
• _Letters From Our Readers - May/Jun 2003
• _4,000 Years of Christmas
• _Biblical Evidence Shows Jesus Christ Wasn't Born on Dec. 25
• _Christmas: The Curious Origins of a Popular Holiday
• _Letters From Our Readers - Nov/Dec 2004
• _Christians Who Don't Celebrate Christmas: Here's Why
• _Why Some Christians Don't Celebrate Christmas
• _Questions and Answers - Jan/Feb 2006
• _The Top 10 Reasons Why I Don't Celebrate Christmas
• _Questions and Answers - Jan/Feb 2007
• _What's Behind the Magnetic Pull of the Christmas Season?
• _How the Christmas Date Was Set
• _The Real Nativity Story: Surprising Truths You May Not Know!
• _"You Don't Keep Christmas?" Experiences
• _Questions and Answers - Oct/Dec 2004
• _Four Thousand Years of Christmas
• _Christmas--Why Not?
• _Was Christ Really Born on Christmas?
• _Christmas Before Christ: The Surprising Truth!
• _Shocked by the Bible