there was an obsession with the cult of the dead. The pagan idea, widespread among many peoples, was that on one day or night of the year the souls of the dead return to their old homes and must be entertained. These and other superstitions marked this period up to and beyond the winter solstice. The number and regional variety of pagan folk customs and myths around Europe, based upon this time of year are too many to mention. As the Roman Catholic Church spread, there occurred a great medieval synthesis of paganism and Christianity. The church played a double role, at times an antagonistic one, forcing heathen customs into the shade and at other times one of adaptation, baptizing them into Christ, granting the pagan customs a Christian name and interpretation while often modifying their form. The church attempted to displace the pagan folk festivals with Saints days, in which the Mass was central. As a consequence of all of this, the pagans in the now apostate church could worship the queen of heaven and observe the birth of her son Tammuz, while the untaught, unsuspecting believers thought they were honoring Christ in the same ritual.
One may be forgiven for imagining that the gold statue (illustrated), is from a Hindu temple in India. However, this golden child is found in the Vatican treasury and like so many other images of the child in Roman Catholic churches, is reminiscent of the ancient worship of Tammuz as a child. Born on December 25, he represented the rebirth of the sun. In Europe alone, thousands of local female divinities transmogrified into the Virgin Mary, a fact that explains why even today she is represented in such conspicuously different ways in different areas of Italy, Spain, and Portugal.
We learn from Bede’s “Historia Ecclesiastica” of a letter addressed in 601 by Pope Gregory I (the Great) to Abbot Mellitus, giving him instructions to be handed on to Augustine of Canterbury, which sheds a vivid light on the process by which heathen sacrificial feasts were turned into Christian festivals. This Pope opined of the Anglo-Saxons,
Because they are wont to slay many oxen in sacrifices to demons, some solemnity should be put in the place of this, so that on the day of the dedication of the churches, or the nativities of the holy martyrs whose relics are placed there, they may make for themselves tabernacles of branches of trees around those churches which have been changed from heathen temples, and may celebrate the solemnity with religious feasting. Nor let them now sacrifice animals to the Devil, but to the praise of God kill animals for their own eating, and render thanks to the Giver of all for their abundance; so that while some outward joys are retained for them, they may more readily respond to inward joys. For from obdurate minds it is undoubtedly impossible to cut off everything at once, because he who strives to ascend to the highest place rises by degrees or steps and not by leaps.13
We see here very plainly the mind of the ecclesiastical compromiser. Direct sacrifice to heathen gods the church, of course, could not dream of tolerating—it had been the very center of her attack since the Apostolic era and refusal to take part in it had cost the martyrs their lives. Yet the festivity and merrymaking to which it gave occasion were to be left to the people, a policy which had clear advantages in making the church and therefore the church’s form of Christianity popular. What we find is many pagan practices concealed beneath a superficial Christianity, often under the mantle of some saint, yet side by side with these are many practices obviously identical with heathen customs. With respect to the believer’s attitude to the remnants of pagan idolatry, the biblical imperative is annihilation, not syncretism/incorporation! (see e.g., Deut 12:24, 30–31).
Roman emperors expected to undergo apotheosis and become gods when they died, therefore they were not too keen to learn that, according to Christian teaching, their fate was otherwise. To make Christianity more palatable, a compromise was achieved, by which newly expired Christian emperors became saints. Constantine thus became St. Constantine. Not taking any chances, the Senate recorded their gratitude after his death for the “divine” memory of Constantine, as they were to do for a string of subsequent Christian emperors. Constantine was a sun-god worshipper. He began in 309 his vast homogenous series of coinages inscribed “Soli Invicto Comiti.”
These coins had Constantine’s image on one side, and on the reverse “Soli Invicto Comiti,” meaning “Sol (Sun), Invincible, Comrade (of Constantine).” Sol Invictus is depicted as the sun-god with a rayed solar crown. One hand gives a blessing and the other holds a globe. Note the cross on his right, another indication of syncretism with Christianity. Constantine’s coinage to honor Sol Invictus was a huge scale operation, unmistakably intended to implant an idea in the minds of the population of the empire.14
Incidentally, compare the scudo from 1698 of Pope Innocent XII, which depicts a very similar image of Sol Invictus as Christ—with a rayed solar crown, one hand giving a blessing and the other holding a globe!
All Saints Day, (“All Hallows” in old English) on November 1, was certainly observed in England, France, and Germany in the eighth century. Pope Gregory III (731–741) moved All Saints Day (originally celebrated on the first Sunday after Pentecost, signalling the official end of Easter) from May to November 1. The day, which involved a vigil kept the night before (October 31) was set aside to commemorate all saints too numerous to be given their own feast day and was observed in Rome, before being extended by Gregory IV to the rest of the church a century later. It coincided with the Celtic New Year, “Samhain,” when pagans believed the boundary between this life and the next could be more easily crossed. However, there exists no evidence that either Pope had any knowledge of Samhain.
Note that the ‘occult’ aspects of modern Halloween (all-hallows-eve) have their roots firmly in Roman Catholic belief, not in ancient paganism! Both the vigil and day remain Roman Catholic holy days of obligation. It would seem that the people needed something more tangible for their own dead and therefore All Souls’ Day, on November 2, with its solemn Mass and prayers for the departed was introduced to supply this need. The special liturgical features of the church’s celebration are the Vespers, Matins, and Lauds of the Dead on the evening of November 1, and the solemn Requiem Mass on November 2. Throughout Europe various customs continue to prevail, from making meals for the dead to eat in the night, to baking “soul-cakes,” given originally to the living as a reward for their prayers for the dead in purgatory.
St. Hubert’s Day, was concocted for November 3; St. Martin’s Day or Martinmas was concocted for November 11 by Pope Martin I (649–654); St. Clement’s Day for November 23; St. Catherine’s Day for November 25; St. Andrew’s Day for November 30; St. Nicholas’s for December 6; St. Lucia for December 13; and St. Thomas the Apostle for December 21. The three saints’ days immediately following Christmas are St. Stephen’s for December 26; St. John the Evangelist’s for December 27; and the Holy Innocents’ for December 28.
The number of fantastic superstitions which built up around those days, part pagan and part Roman Catholic in origin, not to mention those associated with Christmas Eve and the twelve days thereafter, are legion in number. In light of all of the Saints Days established, we can understand how the feature of Advent evolved, with a few churches commencing it the sixth Sunday before Christmas Day but most on the fourth Sunday before. While Advent was ratified at the Council of Tours in 567, it is attested to have been in existence since 480.
From our historical review, it can be gathered that while we associate Christmas with December 25, on its pagan side it cannot be separated from the folk-feasts of November and December. In the Hampton court of Charles I (d. 1649), Christmas was reckoned to commence on All Hallow Tide, (All Saints Day) on November 1.15 As November 1 was considered by many to be the start of Christmas, so Candlemas on February 2 was
