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Harvest festivals are typically celebrated later in warmer countries. Thanksgiving is celebrated in October in Canada, in
November in the United States and was celebrated in December in ancient Rome. Saturn was the Roman god of agriculture, after
whom Saturday is named. Saturnalia was the most popular of Roman holidays, with "Mardi-Gras"-like street celebrations.
Originally it began with a celebration on December 17th (birthday of Saturn), but this was later extended to a week (December
17 to 23), and finally extended to end with feasting on December 25th (Sol Invictus). Halls were decked with evergreens.
There was an exchange of gifts, principally wax candles and little clay dolls. Authority figures, however, were given tribute
in the form of urns, jewelry, coins or gold. Romans parading in the streets wearing masks and animal skins during Saturnalia
began a tradition which continued later in Europe in the form of "mummers".
Similar celebrations were held at Kalends, the Roman new year festival held January 1st to January 5th. People stayed up on
Kalend's Eve to celebrate the new year with drinking and singing. Gambling was normally illegal in Rome, but was permitted
and enthusiastically practiced during these festivals. People spent lavishly on gifts for others as well as for
self-indulgence. Slaves were relieved of their duties and partied as equals with their masters. Social inversions ("mock
rulers") were part of the entertainment, inspired by earlier Mesopotamian traditions.
In 64 AD the Roman emperor Nero is believed to have started a fire in Rome, which conveniently cleared ground for the
expansion of his palaces. Nero blamed the Christians for the fire, beginning a Roman policy of persecution that lasted more
than two centuries. To avoid persecution the Christians decked their homes with holly and the second bishop of Rome (circa
130 AD) declared that the Nativity of Christ should be celebrated during the Saturnalia period. (It was a "movable feast", a
single day was not specified.)
The ancient polytheistic religions of Egypt, Persia, Babylonia and eventually Rome increasingly consolidated their pantheons
of deities under a single primary god, usually a Sun-god. The Egyptians believed in a transubstantiation of their Sun-god Ra
into a disk-shaped wafer that could be eaten in a sacred ritual. The Persian Mithra (Roman Mithras) held special prominence
as god of day (light) and the only son of the God of Heaven. But some time before the 5th century B.C. the Persian prophet
Zoroaster (Zarathustra) taught a dualism based on the conflict between the God of Heaven and the God of Evil. Humans could
choose between good (light) or evil (darkness) and on judgment day be sent to Heaven or Hell based on their choices. Mithras
was identified as the redeemer prophesied by Zoroaster: the sun-god who would appear as a human being at the end of time.
Mithras was a divine being borne of a human virgin on December 25th (the Winter Solstice by the Roman Julian calendar), his
birth watched and worshipped by shepherds. As an adult, Mithras healed the sick, made the lame walk, gave sight to the blind
and raised the dead. Before returning to heaven at the Spring Equinox Mithras had a last supper with 12 disciples
(representing the 12 signs of the Zodiac). Mithraism included Zoroastrian beliefs in the struggle between good & evil,
symbolized as light & darkness. This militaristic black-and-white morality (including a final judgment affecting an afterlife
of heaven or hell) probably accounted for the popularity of Mithraism among Roman soldiers. Mithraism was like an ancient
fraternity: a mystery cult open only to men which had seven degrees of initiation — including the ritual of baptism and a
sacred meal of bread & wine representing the body & blood of Mithras. Late in the second century AD Commodus became the first
Roman emperor to be initiated into Mithraism. The priests of Mithraism were called Father — Christians at the time were
forbidden to use "Rabbi" or "Father" in reference to church leaders based on the admonition in Matthew 23:8-9.
Around 220 AD the unpopular Syrian-born Roman emperor Elagabalus attempted to replace Jupiter with Sol invictus
("unconquerable Sun") as the head of the Roman pantheon. In 270 AD a professional army officer named Aurelian rose to be
emperor and was able to reunite the Roman Empire through military might. In 274 AD he attempted to unite the religions of the
empire under the state cult of Sol invictus. Aurelian's new temple enshrined the Sun gods of Babylonia (Baal, Bel or Marduk).
Although Mithras was not formally acknowledged, Natalis solis invicti ("birth of the unconquered sun") was, nonetheless, on
December 25th. By the time of the reign of the military despot Diocletian (284-305 AD) ten percent of the Roman Empire was
Christian. The attempts by Diocletian to impose the state religion on everyone led to the last and most terrible of all
persecutions. But many people saw the state as a greater enemy than the Christians, who were respected for their willingness
to die for their beliefs. Slaves & upper-class women (who were excluded from other religions) were drawn to a god with a
human face who espoused justice & love.
Despite the intense persecutions of Christians in the Roman Empire, Christianity continued to win many converts from
paganism. Many of the former pagans were unwilling to relinquish their traditional winter solstice celebrations. When
Constantine replaced Diocletian as Emperor of the Western Roman Empire in 305 AD he ended all of the persecutions.
Constantine was said to have accepted Christianity in 312 AD on the eve of a battle when he had a vision of a cross of light
superimposed upon the sun. Persecution of Christians ended in both the Eastern & Western Empires in 313 AD when Constantine &
Licinius issued the Edict of Milan. Constantine sought to unify Sun-worship and Christianity into a single monotheistic state
religion. (Although Constantine was baptized on his deathbed, this was not an indication of his insincerity — it was a common
practice of early Christians to delay baptism so as to die without sin.)
Although the Bible sanctifies Saturday as the Sabbath, many Christians regarded Sunday (the day of the resurrection of
Christ) as the new holy day — especially because this distanced Christianity from Judaism. In 321 AD Constantine made Sunday
rather than Saturday (Saturn's Day) the weekly holiday of the state religion of Sun-worship. The revolt of the Jews & the
destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the rejection of the Hebrew calendar and the increasing pre-eminence of the bishop of Rome
were all part of the Romanization of Christianity which accompanied the Christianization of Rome.
Constantine regarded himself to be the supreme spiritual leader of both the Sun-cults and of Christianity. Constantine moved
the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Constantinople, a city he immodestly renamed after himself. Constantine called
himself "first of the apostles" and he did not recognize the papacy of the bishop of Rome. In 325 AD Constantine called the
first Council of Nicea (Nicaea) to resolve controversy and establish Christian orthodoxy. The Council established the Unity
of the Holy Trinity, the date of Easter and a doctrinal statement of Christian belief (the Nicene Creed). The Council of
Nicea was the first ecumenical conference of Christian bishops, the nucleus of the institution which was to become the
hierarchical Roman Catholic Church, dominated by celibate male priests. (Celibate priests had not been part of the teachings
of Jesus — many of his apostles, including Peter, were married.) The Council sanctioned the efforts of Irenaeus, Eusebius and
others who were establishing certain scriptures as the infallible canon of the New Testament, while declaring other
scriptures to be heresy — notably Gnostic Gospels such as the Gospel of Mary and the Gospel of Thomas, which support the idea
that Mary Magdalene was an apostle and that salvation is possible without a church. With orthodox Christianity incorporated
into the monolithic state religion Christian "heretics" were heavily persecuted.
Also in 325 Constantine declared December 25th to be an Immovable Feast for the whole Roman Empire. The bishop of Rome may
have accepted December 25th as the date of birth of Jesus Christ as early as 320 AD, but historical documents provide no
evidence for a date earlier than 336 AD. The Church was pushed by political forces and pulled by the desire to co-opt a
popular pagan holiday, despite a lack of evidence that Christ was born in December. Constantine built the Church of the
Nativity in Bethlehem, one of the oldest continually operating churches in the world (currently administered by a coalition
of Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox clerics).
In Egypt, January 6th was the birthday celebration of the child-god Aeon, borne of the virgin goddess Kore — celebrated in
the Temple of Kore at Alexandria. Egyptian Gnostic Christians celebrated January 6 as the date of Christ's baptism
("spiritual birth"). (Gnostics believed that spiritual is more important than physical, that the knowledge Christ brought to
the world is far more important than his physical birth or crucifixion and that direct personal experience of God is of
greater importance than churches or other institutions.) Later the Eastern Christian Churches celebrated January 6th as the
date of both the Nativity and the Epiphany (Greek for manifestation) — the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles (the wise
men) as well as Christ's baptism by John the Baptist. (The rebirth of the Greek god Dionysus had been celebrated on January
6th.)
In the 4th century, the Eastern Orthodox Churches began to accept December 25th as the date of Christ's birth and the Roman
Church began to introduce the January 6th feast of Epiphany. (Only the Armenian Orthodox Church refused to abandon January 6
as the date of the Nativity.) Epiphany for Western churches means the visit of the Magi, whereas for the Eastern churches
Epiphany is the anniversary of Christ's baptism. The 567 AD Council of Tours proclaimed the duty of Advent feast and
established the period between December 25th and January 6th as a 12-day holy festival — the Twelve Days of Christmas (if the
first day is the day after Christmas, the twelfth day of Christmas is Epiphany).
