What are the pagan origins of Christmas? Let's learn!
Santa, European paganism, magic mushrooms and the real ancient world.
Christmas is celebrated on December 25th every year, a time of great celebration in the Western Hemisphere and the time in the year that people look forward to the most in the West. Considered the birth of Jesus, it is considered a major holiday.
Yet the concept of ‘Holy-days’ is not new - it is very rooted in the ancient world.
Not the heavy consumerism and indulgence that ‘holidays’ are associated with in the modern world, but a time to tap into the cycles of nature and harness spiritual power.
A time to worship the sacred, celebrate and take rest. A time to attune to to the cycles of nature and the cosmos which used to hold intrinsic significance to our health because we are nature - something still part of the Vedic civilisation which is the last ancient living civilisation on earth that hasn’t been wiped out by religious colonisation.
So - what are the pagan origins of Christmas and what is the spiritual meaning?
Before the advent of Christianity, Islam and Abrahamic religion - the entire world was ancient pagan and indigenous cultures. From the Mayan civilisation, Inca civilisation, Kemetic civilisation in ancient Egypt, Vedic Hindu civilisation what we know as Sanatan Dharma which once encompassed what is known as ‘Akhand Bharat’.
The time of Christmas coincides with Winter Solstice in the western hemisphere. It was termed as ‘Yule’ which was celebrated by the ancient Germanic people, Celtic druids and European pagans. It celebrates the birth of light after the darkness of winter.
This is the first point to understand in terms of adjusting the timeline from the Gregorian calendar to the ancient cyclical one. European pagans just like Hindus had a cyclical view of time called the ‘wheel of they year’ split into different segments - of which Samhain was converted and distorted into ‘Halloween’ and what is now celebrated now Christmas was termed ‘Yule.’
The time of Yule was to welcome the onset of the summer month, which pagans understood through that tale of the Oak King and Holly King who were said to be the deities of those seasons, very similar to Sanskrit Uttarayana and Dakshinaya periods.
The spiritual meaning of Yule was therefore rooted in reverence to nature and not consumerism. The reason we are in an ecological crisis is BECAUSE WE HAVE SHIFTED FROM OUR ANCIENT TIMELINE and forgotten the cyclical nature of time and the rituals associated with nature’s cycles. This directly translates to the disconnection that women have with their womb and their own moon cycles.
Nature is FEMININE in essence. In Hindu cosmology we understand the world as a creation of Prakriti and Purusha, of Shiva and Shakti. Yet along with the religious colonisation of the world came a complete destruction of worship of the feminine and spiritual understanding of nature - from the burning of the witches to the destruction of temples which continues to this day in various forms.
How was Yule originally celebrated?
Yule was celebrated for 12 days by the ancient Norse people in Europe, during which time they would decorate a Yule tree and Yule logs. A boar was made as an offering to their Gods - which is important to note because even in Hindu culture, goats are offered as Bali to certain deities and meat was never consumed without offering it first to deities. There was a ritual known as Mōdraniht, or “mothers’ night,” during which a boar was sacrificed to the god of virility Freyr and his twin sister Freyja, the goddess of fertility.
The significance of Mistletoe according to Celtic Druids is that it was meant to ward of evil and generate peace and harmony. The filling of stockings with gifts was done as an offering to the Norse God Odin. Odic was the Germanic God of the wind and of the dead, with a long beard and revered as an ancestral spirit, rising an eight-legged horse across the sky. He has parallels with the Hindu deity of the rain Indra.
The Yule tree is a symbol of fertility, prosperity, renewal and abundance. Trees have been worshipped across ancient civilisations for example Tulsi Vivah is celebrated in Vedic culture, and Peepal trees are worshipped too. These trees were decorated to bring auspiciousness. The evergreen nature of the tree represents everlasting life.
Fires were lit to keep warmth in the Western Hemisphere and also to ward away evil spirits, it was also to honour the Scandinavian God Thor, and to welcome the Sun God back after the winter.
Winter Solstice is the the day that the Earth is farthest away from the sun and the darkest night of the year which is why pagan traditions celebrated the sun on this day ‘son’ of spirit - similar to Makar Sankranti in the Hindu calendar.
In Celtic traditions, the festival of Alban Arthan was celebrated during this time for the rebirth of the sun, the rebirth of light and lengthening of the days after Winter Solstice.
In Slavic traditions, this festival was known as Koliada celebrated as the shorted day of the year, involving people going house to house to share food and decorating their homes. Ancient Kemetic (Egyptian) people also celebrated the rebirth of the Sun God Ra during Winter Solstice. These traditions were erased and colonised by modern religions yet as we decolonise we remember our ancient origins as a civilisation.
Was Santa Claus actually a mushroom?
The history of Santa Claus is often linked to St Nicholas, but the origin of this archetype goes way back to shamanism. Santa Claus is depicted as a red and white creature, similar to the colours of the Amanita Muscaria mushroom. He is depicted riding flying reindeer, the excretion of the reindeer coincidentally grows these mushrooms.
During the Winter Solstice, the indigenous pagans and especially the Koryak peoples of Siberia would host a ceremony, guided by the shamans who would collect the Amanita Muscaria mushroom. This has been outlined by the enthomycologist Robert Gordon Wasson. As the toxicity of this mushroom is very high, it would be left to dry on the branches of pine trees, and also put in socks - which is very similar to how Christmas decorations are done today. In fact, since the reindeer consumed these mushrooms they would drink the urine of the reindeer which was considered sacred (similar to how Hindus consider the urine of their sacred animal cow to be auspicious on a medicinal and spiritual front), explore their consciousness and share their gifts of knowledge with their community. The shamans made their entrance through the highest part of the house which is similar to the way Santa has been made to appear through the chimney.
You can read the full article on Santa Claus and shamanism over here!
The Church decided to celebrate Christmas at the same time as the winter solstice to increase the chances of it being embraced by the masses and convert the indigenous pagan population to Christianity. This is why we see some Hindus resistant to celebrating Christmas because the rural poor population are easily influenced to then convert, a major form of religious colonisation of indigenous Hindus who have been persecuted by these foreign religions for 1000+ years.
It is important for us to acknowledge the pagan origins of the world not just for educational purposes as we were never taught the real history of the world in school - but because reclaiming our ancient pagan traditions and natural wisdom helps us shift our own timeline.
There is a deep spiritual significance for the ancient rituals associated with nature, depending on the geography you are in.
As we can see, worship of the sacred is the core component of ancient civilisations worldwide which helps us remain in balance, brings blessings into our life and connects us to the power of creation within ourselves and the spiritual intelligence of the cosmos.
The modern world has pushed us into unconscious consumerism and unbalanced lifestyles, which we have the choice to change any time that we wish.
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Love, light and blessings
Jai Shri Krishna