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 considered to be the end of Christmas. There had existed in Roman society a festival called the Amburbium, which took place at the beginning of February and consisted of a procession around the city of Rome with lighted candles to purify it. Candles or other lights were also placed in graves with dead bodies, the thought being that they would have light in the next world! This was displaced by Pope Liberius in the fourth century with Candlemas. Candles were blessed in church and then taken on procession as a symbol of Christ as a light to lighten the Gentiles. As with all of these “Christian” holy days concocted by the papacy, with the passage of time there was assimilation with the pagan myths and practices which the church festivals were intended to displace.
It was commonplace in some areas to remove the winter evergreens such as holly and ivy on Candlemas Eve, replacing them with spring plants such as snowdrops. Miraculous powers came to be associated with the candles, so that they would be lit and kept burning during times of storms or illnesses or at a death. Candlemas was believed by some to be the lighting of a partially burned stick from the Yule log of Christmas, therefore considered to be the last farewell to Christmas. Linked with this was Mary’s forty days of purification after she gave birth (Lev. 12:1–8) before she could offer a sacrifice in the Temple in Jerusalem, therefore with the assumption that the Lord was born on December 25, forty days later brings us to February 2–3 (Candlemas).
When it came to Christianising the pagan festivals, the church encountered a particular problem with New Year and the varied forms of paganism which evolved from the Romans Kalends celebrations. Their attempts to change it proved less successful, as we shall see in a subsequent chapter on New Year. The earliest Christmas holidays were celebrated by drinking, sexual indulgence, singing naked in the streets (a precursor of modern carolling), etc. We conclude this section with a quote from an American historian. Stephen Nissenbaum, history professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, writes,
In