Growing up in a home full of German traditions, I was told that live fur trees were brought into the homes around yule to: 1-cut down on the yucky smells that being in a closed house could sometimes bring. 2-Symbolize the cycles of life and the eternal soul. 3-Encourage fertility for the young couples of the family. There is really nothing "Christian" about the Christmas tree. Wreaths traditionally were fashioned in the shape of the "circle cross" symbol, and were made of natural/green materials to encourage Sunna's return...nothing "Christian" about that either. Wassail vs Caroling is the same difference as "Trick or Treating" at homes and "Truck or Treating" at churches...a captured and tweaked tradition. Santa Claus is a mix of St. Nick and Odin. I have many statue depictions of Santa that look FAR MORE like Odin than the American version of Santa. I grew up hearing NOTHING about Santa, but did hear about Krampus! I was threatened that Krampus would come and take me away if I wasn't good. LOL! The date of Christmas was 100% because of Pagan celebrations that took place at that time of the year...especially in the North! People used the Sun to determine everything they did, and they waited anxiously to see that Sunna was turning back from the south to the north, and when she did, they partied like rock stars! Great video!!!!! ❤ HAPPY YULE!!!! 🎄🕯
I was trying to think of where Christians got the idea of Christmas 🎄 tree is a Christian thing . Maybe a mix of yule log , and Moses burning 🔥 bush and that the Christians stolen everything from the Pagans and druids .
@@Kim-J312 I think they grasped onto the "everlasting life" part of the Pagan ideology, and added the lights to symbolize God's light in the darkness. Moses' burning bush is a good thought too tho. I didn't think of that! ❤
@@TheWisdomOfOdin I got dumber listening to this 😂. You should actually do some research instead of hitting up Wikipedia. Maybe go to Roman catholic church and an Orthodox Church and learn the tradition and history, the different calendars, the specific appeals to tradition and which traditions. You've literally presupposed a fallacy about Christmas, and built an entire tarded video about it. Because pagans celebrating the winter solstice before Christ had absolutely anything to do with the canonization of any Christian tradition in the ancient Church.
I agree with your rating. Though the Christmas tree I also suspect is pagan in origin. My family always says Jesus is the reason for the season and my MIL in particular gets a birthday cake every Christmas for Jesus. So I’m really hoping baby #2 is born on their due date, Dec 25th. Happy holidays Jacob, see you soon!
As another comment already said, Nickolaus (Saint Nicolas) in Germany arrives on the 6th of December. Furthermore, in German Santa Claus is called "Weihnachstmann" which can be translated as Holy night's man. I don't know if Santa Claus and Saint Nicolas are connected in any way in their origin but in Germany at least there's a clear distinction between the two. Basically, they celebrate Saint Nicolas on his death day
Hi Jacob, Odin is one of your spirit guides, he walks with you and he wants you to create an altar for him and a separate altar for your Norse & Celtic ancestors. He is proud of what you are teaching on this channel. He is with me as we watch your videos. I am tapped into the spirit realm and receive messages from spirit. Odin wanted me to deliver this message to you. Thank you for providing this information for many who don’t know or understand the proper history in Paganism, Celtic and Norse culture.
Wassailing was to give thanks to the Apple Trees, it just became about ppl getting drunk. The trees are still honoured in many places here & buttered toast left for the birds. The Veiled one of Wind & Wilderness, Queen of Winter should also be honoured at this time.
My view on this will always be that it's more Pagan than the average Christian thinks and less Pagan than the average Pagan (that thinks about this topic at all) or Antitheist thinks
Having come from a country that is mostly Christian/Catholic, it's sad not many would know the pagan origins of Christmas. This is why I can celebrate Yule like it is here with family, fun, feasts and other festivities taking place. Sure, we're not Scandinavian, but that doesn't mean we or I can't celebrate it like it is with the spirit of Yule. That being said, from Philippines by someone fascinated by Norse Paganism, I greet you Skal and a merry, blessed Yule.
The pagan origin of Christmas? Christmas existed in the first two centuries as can be historically seen and documented. This is 700 or more years before any Christians came into contact with any Scandinavians.
With regards to Christmas trees, according to numerous Roman and Greek sources - including Julius Caesar himself - Celts would take the entrails, heads, and hands of their fallen enemies to their sacred groves and decorate their trees. So the next time you put garland or ribbon on your tree, just remember that you are echoing stringing, the intestines of a fallen foe across the sacred tree.
How daft are you? Have you read Jeremiah 10? It literally is explicitly stated in the text that what is being discussed is the creation of wooden idols.
I would have said 100%. "Ancestral Worship" predates Christianity by some 10,000 years - going from the last big "reset". We have known - and acknowledged - the changing of the seasons, the solstices, and the equinoxes for millennium.
I heard someone say something about an Evergreen tree (Pine, Fir, Cedar etc) being a pagan fertility symbol because they represented life, even in the Winter months when most other tree's are dormant, or maybe they used to believe dead. Someone correct me on this if I'm wrong.
“Tree worship, common among pagan Europeans, survived after their conversion to Christianity in the Scandinavian customs of decorating the house and barn with evergreens at the New Year to scare away the Devil and of setting up a tree for the birds during Christmastime.” (The New Encyclopedia Britannica)
Hey Jakob, I wish you a happy Yule and I like your videos use it so interesting about North paganism. I am huge interested in North paganism and you make wonderful contents about contacting Odin and North gods. I hope we will meet some someday lovely greetings from your best fan. Andrew from Switzerland and happy Yule❤❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤
Hey Brother. I love your content and this video as well but it’s so freaking funny when you try to speak Dutch (Zwarte Piet). I will never forget when we tried to teach you the G in Dutch at the first Gathering here in the Netherlands😅🤣. Keep up the good work miss you a lot man, hope to see you see soon 🙏🏻
I thought about this yesterday. Basically, if you want to have a truly Christian Christmas that takes away all the pagan stuff... you can have your hymns (which, I do think the best Christmas/yule songs are the older ones, definitely not the modern trashy ones), your baby Jesus, I suppose your star at the top... but no tree to put it in. No feasting, no food, no gifts. In the end, it would be a tame religious thing that no one wants to do. And who knows what day it would be on, since even that is just borrowed?
”For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.“ Jeremiah 10:3-4 KJV Christmas has pagan roots & we shouldn’t do those if we want to inherit the kingdom
Crashing a Christian event to talk about the pagan roots of Christmas, and attracting the ire of the guard. I feel like the audacity here would make Tyr proud. Am I wrong? I may be wrong. Maybe he'd at least think it was funny. I think it's funny. Good job, sir.
Biblically, the only tradition that can possibly be attributed to the birth of Christ is the star. But everything else done to celebrate Christmas, including celebrating Christmas, is non biblical in origin, which means they originally came from pagan beliefs and practices.
That's a complete and utter non-sequitur. "If it's not explicitly in the bible, it must mean that it comes from paganism". The conclusion doesn't follow the premise.
@@caseycardenas1668 Ok, let me put it another way. Most of the traditional Christmas celebrations are non biblical in origin, including the belief that Christ was born December 25th, which ancient people celebrated as the Yuletide/solstice holiday. The Christian church took many non Christian holidays and ‘christianized’ them so the people, who were literally being forced to convert to Christianity, would be more accepting. Christ was not born in the middle of winter. He most likely was born in the spring, during lambing time and that’s why the shephards were in the fields, to assist with the birth of lambs.
@@SeaTurtle515 there's literally zero academic or scholastic evidence of that assertion. Each Christian holiday is uniquely Christian in origin in terms of what it fundamentally represents. Christians in the first two centuries were celebrating the birth of Christ on what would be December 25th. The claim is not that he explicitly was or was not born on that day. Ironically, all the holidays of the Christian calendar existed prior to the mass spread of the religion itself. "Being forced to convert to Christianity" like whom? Be historically consistent, who was being forced to convert? It's quite obvious you have no basis in history, if you did you would see there was no practice in the ancient church used to swoon converts by repackaging their holidays, since the Christian holiday already existed. Many practices of the church are not explicitly in the bible because the church predates the complication of scriptures.
The Christmas tree is indeed of Pagan origin. The church always viewed decorated trees as a "Heathen symbol" until Martin Luther changed that view and declared it to be a symbol for the birth of Christ.
@@Weda01 thought so, that's historically falsifiable information. Martin Luther didn't change that view, how could he when he was excommunicated and reviled? Deservingly so, mind you. Look up the history of paradise trees and you will see that the church had approved and partaken in this for hundreds of years before Martin Luther was even born.
In the Old Testament, the Book of Jeremiah 10:3-4: Deity is lamenting that His people have cut trees from the forest and deck them with gold and silver and fasten it with nails and hammer so it stands upright. Besides there are some bible scholars that believe that the Christ child was actually born in the spring and if the Christians are correct that he died in the spring then a cycle was completed.
Go and actually read Jeremiah 10 and some scholastic excerpts on the topic before you make a fool of yourself on social media. Jeremiah 10 explicitly talks about the creation of wooden idols.
@@caseycardenas1668I have read Jeremiah 10; however my "religious" background seeks towards symbolism and looking beyond the written word. I thank you for offering further learning; I just pray that you will work on your delivery because it causes more ill than good.
Imagine that, pagans... loved to raid and pillage and they turned into the gifters of presents, santa without a clause err I mean cause. I call that flipping and reversing. It's a good thing and should be celebrated. You see what we just did there? I thought one wrong turn made you burn? Now it gets you presents? You naughty little pagan. You don't like magic? Merlins a magician. He has powers but you wouldn't listen. I'm trying to tell you this is how he goes fishin, nobodies ever truly went missin.
Let them get mad about you being there talking about pagan stuff. I went there with a friend around the time it first opened. I still identified as agnostic back then but I DEFINITELY didn’t get any closer to Christianity afterward because good gods, they actually used the word “stupid” to talk about people who didn’t believe what they believed… after that I openly spoke my feelings about how ridiculous it was and it kind of upset my friend… I didn’t want to upset her but also I didn’t like being called “stupid”.
Jeremiah 10:3-4 on the trees ..trees were use even a palm tree .,also God speak about putting trees in the pulpit or altars Deuteronomy 16:21 Sin is not 50 or 90 with all respect SIN IS SIN …CHRISTMAS IS TOALLY PAGAN IN EVERYTHING..THAT WAT THE HOLY SPIRIT OF TRUTH TOTAL ME..if ur hear go to Jim Standly he has a great introduction of the traditions of Christmas he made a video Christmas and tradition please see it .there more verse in the holy scriptures in Israel following other nation idol ways ..we as Yahweh Children mustn’t follow this tradition of pagan it behind curse to us n our generation to come..wake up Not America but you as a child of the most HOLY GOD YEHOVAH AS HIS SON YESHUA HAMASHIACH…GOD LOVES US TO MUST TO SEE US LOSE OUR SALVATION BCZ IT LOOKS PRETTY OR IT FOR GOD YOU SAY…FOR HIM ITS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS STUDY THE FEAST OF ELOHIM UR GOD PLEASE…N WALK IN Holy righteousnes!!! Ur sister in Chirst our Lord…
A complete ignorance to Christian tradition and history 😂. The annunciation was the 25th of March as early as the 3rd century after Christ's death. 9 months later is Dec 25th. This was solidified by Constantine, who appealed to history, namely the cleansing of the Jewish temple by Judah Macabees being seen as an icon of Christ's birth which was and still is Hannukah and the days leading up to it. Keep in mind the updating of the Justinian calendar to the New Justinian calendar over the years to make up for the difference in time, compared to the Gregorian calendar which celebrates it Jan 7th, and we kept it Dec 25th as an appeal to tradition. Pagans celebrated literally every solstice, every season change, and every degenerate belief they held, and to attribute it to Christian tradition because it coincided with the dates we chose is incredibly stupid 😂. I actually lost braincells listening to this nonsense.
I Am Happy You Mentioned The Name Of Mitra The Vedic God Guardian Of Oath And Friendship (Mitra=Friend In Sanskrit) Is Celebrated In Vedic Time's And Also In Greece Rome And Persia Because He Was The God Of Winter Solstice Thank You For This Video It Is Really Great To Watch And Learn New Thing's About Indo-European Cultures.
I’m so grateful for this channel. I actually learn so much legitimate, useful Pagan information lost in the mix of all the trendy ‘witchy’ crap these days. I love learning all of this history 🎄
hello from Friborg in Switzerland for us the Yule log is a real log which burns during the twelve days preceding Christmas or jøl Yule and we make blessings for the harvests or for the health of the inhabitants of the house at home it is a ancestral tradition which dates back to pagan Celtic and Germanic times.... best regards from Friborg Switzerland 🙏👍
I agree very much with everything. I don't feel like there is a lot that is original to Christianity in a whole. Thank you for all your videos. I have loved every one.
What?? You mean the tradition of bringing an evergreen tree into the house and decorating it with holly berries possibly didn't come from the middle eastern desert? I don't believe it.
Yes - I agree that Christmas is mostly Pagan with a little bland Christian seasoning. I also agree that we should 100% bring back Wassailing (I particularly like how the Welsh do it with the Mari Lwyd). And as someone who lives in the buckle of the Bible Belt, my petty little pagan heart giggles that you made this video in the location that you did. Side Note: After reciprocating that bird's mating dance, I think you are now officially its boyfriend.
Other than that date, and the fact that celebration concided with festivals that time. Christmas tree, Santa claus( created by Dutch immigrant), meeting with your families, and above all nativity plays are 100% christians.
I love the information provided here… I learned a couple of things today, including the proper pronunciation of “wassailing”. I also guess I didn’t realize that the Yule Log was burned potentially for divination. That’s kind of amazing; I found myself staring into the coals at Ohio Fall in the early hours with Logan and a couple others and seeing things that took my breath and made my stomach flip so I can believe it. I just never considered it to be a possible form of divination.
Jacob, Happy Yule and congrats on how you've grown your channel. I stumbled upon your channel last summer after seeing (and really enjoying) The Northman and going on youtube to learn more about it. I am not a pagan myself but am a fan of history and generally have an open mind. I feel like "pagan" history does not get much mainstream attention in the US and you do an excellent job of breaking it down. It has also been fascinating to learn more about paganism from your perspective, many aspects of which I can get down with such as maintaining a strong connection with nature. I look forward to seeing where things go from here.
Winter Solstice Pagan Mother's Night 24th Dec Pagan. Is a Pagan festive era which the Christian took on when they took over in our countries. So the aprox 80-84 per cent pretty spot on 🙂👍 And folk song "Wassail wassail all over the land" sung in this period - "Wassail" exists in English/British folk traditions
Really makes me wonder what the hell this Goatman/ Krampus thing was before Christianity. Christmas Eve, in some cultures, he brings up the people dressed as Krampus going door to door and being sent away by offering schnapps. That should line up with Mother's Night, then. And Krampus punishes the bad kids on Christmas, instead of giving gifts.
As a Swede, I honestly thought the yule log was more of an American thing... I've never heard it mentioned in Swedish, I wouldn't even know how to translate it. 😅
you should check out Religion for Breakfast's video he posted today- much of what Pagans claim as appropriated material turns out to maybe not have been theirs in the first place
I’ve been enjoying all the (good natured) jokes online about specifically how pagan Christmas is. We bring a tree into our homes and ritualize decorating it with the whole family, top it with a star or a mythical creature (Angel) and according to pop culture, dance around it. Then we set out a food offering on a special plate (alter) for the spirit that magically enters our home to bring us special gifts. There’s several others but it all just makes me grin.
Bible verse about so called 'Christmas trees.' Jeremiah 10: 1-5 Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: 2 Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. 3 For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. 4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. 5 They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good. So according to Christians, Yule Trees are 100% Pagan (Heathen).
Neither is it in them to do good? See that's exactly the kind of attitude that starts wars. Why couldn't you have picked one of the things he said about loving each other and being kind? I mean ffs, it's Christmas.
@@whotakesallmynames Its 'Yule.' And why couldnt I pick another? Because he specifically asked for this specific verse to be found and posted in the comments. Christians and their hatred towards pagans runs deep. Its rooted in their faith. Their history of violent acts against heathens only make the relationship between Christian and pagan worse. Christians stole much of our ancestral practices and branded them as their own against the will of YHWH, the God of Abraham. Its this attitude that starts wars and creates many issues we see in todays world. Bringing light to truth is how we grow and learn. I did not post this for u to like or dislike. I posted for u to learn. How u receive it has nothing to do with me.
@@Drengr-Wulf it turns out that how I receive it has quite a lot to do with your intentions. Thank you for your reply and for adding context to the verse. I thought you were one of them come to show me how awful I am because the Bible says so
How daft are you to read that and not realize it is referencing wooden idols and not Christmas trees? For future reference you should actually read scholastic sources from academia before sharing an uninformed opinion.
@@caseycardenas1668 at first I thought, there's probably a nicer way to phrase that. But then I did a little homework and no, I think you have the right idea lol. Context matters and there's a lot missing here. It's rather important if this is supposed to be part of the foundation for this guy's video. Thanks
Another great vid bud. Wassailing still happens here in the uk. Used to wake the spirits in the orchards for the hopes of a good Harvest later in the year,
Thank you for the grate video! As a Hungarian/German I found the tree thing interesting. My family only decorated the tree with lights. I never really questioned why. That was our family heritage and I just respected it. And I still remember that the tree for our family was always so important. That was the representation of the circle of life and my grandmother always said that the fresh tree smell and the lights are helping us to start a good and healthy year. They said if you don’t have a tree you’re going to have a bad luck. So interesting to see how long a tradition can stay alive.
1.) Yule Log: The origin of the folk custom is unclear, like other traditions associated with Yule. The first mention of a log burned around Christmas comes from Robert Herrick's poetry collection of 1648 where it is called a "Christmas log". It is not referred to as a "Yule log" until John Aubrey's work from 1686. Prior to that century, there has been no evidence of Yule logs let alone evidence that can be traced back to the holiday of Yule. 2.) Christmas Trees: Is there any sources that connect a ''pagan'' tree worship to the Christmas Tree? What would be the definition of tree worship? Jacob says of the evergreens: ''This is something that POSSIBLY...'' but he doesn't say it is. Many pictures depicting the Roman celebration of Saturnalia show evergreen decorations. This may be very possible, but no ancient sources describe how they decorated for the festival. And thus the question, so what if they did? Many of the accounts of tree worship center around groves, which is not a Christmas Tree. Roman senator Tacitus in his first century CE work Annals, the Frisians dismembered 900 Roman soldiers in a ''grove'' dedicated to the goddess in 28 CE. - Sacred pillar-like objects, perhaps tree stumps, held sacred by the pagan Saxons, -The sacred tree at Uppsala was a sacred tree located at the Temple at Uppsala, Sweden, in the second half of the 11th century. It is not known what species it was. It is even more sparsely documented than the famous temple by which it stood. 3.) Santa Claus: Sinterklaas, there's not enough information to conclude that he's Odin. Jason again says it's ''possible.'' which can be construed as ''not probable.'' One thing that can be agreed is Santa has been integrated with a lot of secularistic virtues and god like powers. 4.) Saturnalia was a one day agricultural festival, then extended to three days, then to seven, Dec. 17-23 base on the Julian Calendar and not the Gregorian Calendar which is what is used today. There is no evidence that the early church fathers rebranded this festival and called it Christmas.
So the only things I've found to be Christian in origin with Christmas are the candy cane, stockings, and Rudolph. For Santa you forgot that one name of Odin is Yule Father, aka Father Christmas. And of course Sleipnir is an 8 legged horse, and prior to a Chicago store inventing Rudolph, Santa was pulled by 8 reindeer. Reindeer are key to the Sami people, where the Norse went for help with magic and religion.
An increasing number of Christians have come to believe that Christmas is derived from paganism. They’ve heard that the timing of Christmas may have been borrowed from Roman sun god worship. Or that Christmas trees come from German paganism. Or that the star on top of the Christmas tree comes from astrological worship. But these myths are all so wrong. Christmas-the celebration of the Nativity of our Lord-is a thoroughly Christians celebration. Here’s why.
Religion for breakfast has just done a great video on the origins of the Christmas tree. Spoiler alert, it likely originated due to 15th century forestry regulations in the Rhineland. Yes, really.
Tree decorating goes all the way back to Zoroastrian celebration of the Solstice called Yalda - decorations are for wishes asking Mother Earth to grant them.
Santa certainly seems to be an amalgamation of multiple figures both historical and mythical. We’ve even added new aspects to his myth pretty recently with the red suit, the reigndeer, and rudolf specifically being all created out of pop culture.
The Bible says "take not the trees of the forest and adorn them with gold and silver as the Pagans do". I'm quoting this from memory, so I might be slightly off.
You should go and read the Bible first to come to the realization that the verse, which you misquoted, is not referencing the decorating of trees whatsoever. It's in Jeremiah 10 and it's in reference to the creation of wooden idols.
I would recommend you check out Religion for Breakfast's most recent video- he's gonna upset a a lot of Pagans with it. And while I am a practicing Christian, I have always taught my children what I thought was the "true" roots of much of what is Christmas tradition. Turns out I was wrong, just like I was with Easter...
To stay close to nature during the winter it was common to bring a tree into ones home and the smell would liven up the place. Gift giving is also a common practice in paganism, giving food, toys, and stories, the idea was to share your hospitality with your neighbors during the cold months. Krampus is also said to be Loki in different forms creating mischief amongst men and women and to ward him off people would fill their socks with goodies and leave it at their doorsteps. Happy Yule!
I highly agree with Santa being a representation of Odin. Eight reign deer/eight legged horse... Knows if you're sleeping, or awake. Knows if you've been bad or good/ the two ravens, thought and memory, flying around and reporting back to Odin.
Well done video, this integrated perfectly with my own research as I’ve been digging into this topic as a Christian for the last couple years. Appreciate you being cordial and honest about your conclusions and I tend to agree very much with you, I’d have scored it much higher on the ranking of how pagan it is. Practically 💯
There's plenty of proff of Christmas being pagan in the Bible just Google Christmas tree in the Bible God was talking about it since the old testament before Christ was even born. Ester is in there too.
If you want to get a feeling for south German, especially alpine Christmas traditions and potentially pagan influences I recommend a movie from 1934: Der verlorene Sohn / The prodigal son by Luis Trenker about 64 minutes in when the protagonist returns to his south Tyrolian homeland from America. The movie is on TH-cam but I only found the German version. I think this part of the movie is right up your alley!
I guess as Germany was along with England the first Germanic peoples to be christianized, a lot of pagan ideas were adapted and absorbed into the christian mainstream so they do not appear as pagan anymore. Frau Holle of the fairy tale, the equivalent of Berchta / Perchta of central Germany and the alpine area has a direct connection to winter: when you shake her pillows and bed covers fiercely enough until the feathers fly, it is snowing on earth. Arguably she also is Fria / Frigg and wife of Woden / Odin. Perchta and the perchten are clearly connected to Christmas customs, the Perchten or schiachen meant to scare away demons and devils running amok in the Rauhnachten, the lawless gap between the years, the gap between the solar and lunar calendars. Woden leading the wild hunt ie the winter storms was also active in that time, maybe that’s why Jakob Grimm thought he evolved into Father Christmas. The original German Weihnachtsmann/ Father Christmas had little to do with Santa: he wore a brown, later red furry coat with a big hood drawn into his face and he was a two-edged sword because he dished out both presents and also punishment, similar to Woden’s fickle nature.
As defined by Britannica, paganism is used to identify religions that DO NOT worship The God of Abraham. Christians esp. Catholics celebrate Christmas to commemorate the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ, whose Father is The God of Abraham. Celebrating Christmas is also our way of glorifying and thanking God for everything that He has done for us. I grew up looking forward to each Christmas celebrations because it gives me so much joy to see families gathered together sharing wonderful old memories and enjoying each other's company. Our food preparations do not mean anything except for the fact that we need food to consume since people are being gathered together. Usually, the food that we prepare are the ones that we love to eat as a family. We wait till 12 am before we touch our food preparations because we want to pay respect and to joyfully welcome Jesus in Spirit. Our gift giving is our way of showing love for each other. Now, tell me how is that being pagan? For those who do not believe in Christmas then why do you celebrate your birthdays? Who do you give glory to? Kindly explain.
I am a Christian, and wasn't aware until recently that worshipping the Norse gods was making a comeback. . . It's definitely not for me, but I guess we all have to observe what feels right. 🤷 Anyway, just wanted to say that from what little I know about paganism, the tree originally cut down and used as part of a Yule celebration was a yew tree, which I think was another name for an oak? You can look up the word "yew" and figure out for sure if you want, but I just don't remember for sure right now. But whichever kind of wood yew was, it was also used to make bows for shooting arrows, which is why men who carried a bow were often called "yewmen" or "yeomen" (it's pronounced the same). When Christianity came along, some priest in the Catholic church prayed to find a tree to replace for the yew in order to replace Yule with Christmas, and when he went with a group to cut down the Yule yew tree, they reportedly found an evergreen growing in the middle of the yew tree, so evergreens were chosen to represent Christ. So, absolutely, use trees in your Yule celebration, but if you want to be more traditional with it, you don't want to use an evergreen.👍
Dissapointing. Evergreen trees adorned with sun lights to mark the sun's return - they knew nothing of the Toba eruption over 70,000 year ago. The sun had returned and they didn't want it to go away again. The Shaman's gift of mushrooms in winter. How could you even doubt the most Pagan part of Christmas.
This is such a funny coincidence. My younger brother is Christian and I am from Australia. He coincidentally is at the Ark encounter right now (Has been for the past two few weeks to a month). I have tried talking to Christian family members about the origins of christmas and all except one have said stuff to the effect of 'why do people sing christmas carols if they're not christian?'. My one relative that is Christian and agrees it's not christian believes that it comes from coca cola and capitalism, which is something.
I was wondering about Father Christmas,( an English version of Santa.) Charles Dickens has the Ghost of Christmas past looking very like a typical Father Christmas. His name is very commercial and I think very recent.
My understanding (and it could be wrong) was the "Christmas" trees were an evolution of our ancient ancestors leaving edible pastry "decorations" out on special trees in the forest for the land wights. The Xtians didn't like this, and forced people to stop leaving these votive offerings to the forest. The pagans then cut the trees down instead, and brought them inside. They then added candles to light the way for the land wights to find the tasty offerings which were being left out for them. Seeing that this practice was going to continue, the Xtians adapted the custom into their Chrimmas (🤣) trees.
There is a misunderstanding about evergreen trees they were used in Solomon's temple and temple worship Evergreen trees are not a pagan symbol. in the Bible where it mentions the trees They Were trees that were carved into a preexisting Wooden idols. It has nothing to do with trees so don't let anybody shame you or say it's wrong to use a evergreen or Christmas tree that it has pagan roots that's their ignorance. The Evergreen Tree is a symbol of God's eternity his everlasting life We don't worship the tree we worship the One that created it.
Yes christmas trees are pagan cause the tree was the only thing that survived the winter. the bible says dont mark trees with like a knife. the north star is a whole other subject but yea dude shits cold people burn wood these arent specifically always pagan traditions. Their is still the tree of life in the bible and the tree of knowlege, burning bush... different arguments for different types of tree i suppose.
Well,all in all odin,krampus,and those other ones mentioned are not real,Jesus is real,he is the reason for the season to me,I'm a proud Catholic hail holy Mary mother of God! St.nicholas was the precursor to our Santa claus,a Catholic saint!
In the Nativity scene Baby Jesus is out side in the cold, while the Christmas Tree is inside next to the fireplace, adorned with lights and gifts, what's wrong with that concept
To me, Christmas is at least 90% pagan, if not close to 100%! Personally, I assume Christmas trees are of pagan origin and I like the idea of Odin being the first Santa Claus.
Growing up in a home full of German traditions, I was told that live fur trees were brought into the homes around yule to: 1-cut down on the yucky smells that being in a closed house could sometimes bring. 2-Symbolize the cycles of life and the eternal soul. 3-Encourage fertility for the young couples of the family. There is really nothing "Christian" about the Christmas tree. Wreaths traditionally were fashioned in the shape of the "circle cross" symbol, and were made of natural/green materials to encourage Sunna's return...nothing "Christian" about that either. Wassail vs Caroling is the same difference as "Trick or Treating" at homes and "Truck or Treating" at churches...a captured and tweaked tradition. Santa Claus is a mix of St. Nick and Odin. I have many statue depictions of Santa that look FAR MORE like Odin than the American version of Santa. I grew up hearing NOTHING about Santa, but did hear about Krampus! I was threatened that Krampus would come and take me away if I wasn't good. LOL! The date of Christmas was 100% because of Pagan celebrations that took place at that time of the year...especially in the North! People used the Sun to determine everything they did, and they waited anxiously to see that Sunna was turning back from the south to the north, and when she did, they partied like rock stars! Great video!!!!! ❤ HAPPY YULE!!!! 🎄🕯
I was trying to think of where Christians got the idea of Christmas 🎄 tree is a Christian thing . Maybe a mix of yule log , and Moses burning 🔥 bush and that the Christians stolen everything from the Pagans and druids .
I so agree with you I grew up on Germany
@@Kim-J312 I think they grasped onto the "everlasting life" part of the Pagan ideology, and added the lights to symbolize God's light in the darkness. Moses' burning bush is a good thought too tho. I didn't think of that! ❤
Happy yule! ❄️
also Nickolaus comes on the 6th
You absolute madlad, Odin approves of the sharing of knowledge, and Loki approves of the cheeky way you deliver it 😂
Mary and a Logan can confirm I was walking around like a very mischievous elf 😂
lol yes can confirm
@@TheWisdomOfOdin I got dumber listening to this 😂. You should actually do some research instead of hitting up Wikipedia. Maybe go to Roman catholic church and an Orthodox Church and learn the tradition and history, the different calendars, the specific appeals to tradition and which traditions.
You've literally presupposed a fallacy about Christmas, and built an entire tarded video about it. Because pagans celebrating the winter solstice before Christ had absolutely anything to do with the canonization of any Christian tradition in the ancient Church.
I agree with your rating. Though the Christmas tree I also suspect is pagan in origin. My family always says Jesus is the reason for the season and my MIL in particular gets a birthday cake every Christmas for Jesus. So I’m really hoping baby #2 is born on their due date, Dec 25th. Happy holidays Jacob, see you soon!
Hey! Hope we can chat a little more at Yule. Congratulations on #2 so happy for you both ♥️
I'm pretty sure Saturn is the reason for the season lol, let's put Saturn back into Saturnalia.
I’m Catholic and enjoyed your video and learned some things. I have friends who are Wiccan and we get along fine.
We enjoyed this video as we do all of them. You are a great storyteller. And funny. We have your book. I'll start reading it tonight.
As another comment already said, Nickolaus (Saint Nicolas) in Germany arrives on the 6th of December.
Furthermore, in German Santa Claus is called "Weihnachstmann" which can be translated as Holy night's man. I don't know if Santa Claus and Saint Nicolas are connected in any way in their origin but in Germany at least there's a clear distinction between the two. Basically, they celebrate Saint Nicolas on his death day
Hi Jacob, Odin is one of your spirit guides, he walks with you and he wants you to create an altar for him and a separate altar for your Norse & Celtic ancestors. He is proud of what you are teaching on this channel. He is with me as we watch your videos. I am tapped into the spirit realm and receive messages from spirit. Odin wanted me to deliver this message to you. Thank you for providing this information for many who don’t know or understand the proper history in Paganism, Celtic and Norse culture.
Wassailing was to give thanks to the Apple Trees, it just became about ppl getting drunk.
The trees are still honoured in many places here & buttered toast left for the birds.
The Veiled one of Wind & Wilderness, Queen of Winter should also be honoured at this time.
Dude I love love your videos.. and ill be getting me that book
The winter solstice was closer to the 25th of December in Roman times due to the wobble of the earth’s rotation.
😂😂😂 what a location for the video! Must of gotten some looks from people hey? Happy Yule Jacob 🌲🪵❄️
My view on this will always be that it's more Pagan than the average Christian thinks and less Pagan than the average Pagan (that thinks about this topic at all) or Antitheist thinks
Like all “Christian” holidays, they’re 100% Copyrighted from the better more fun Religions
Having come from a country that is mostly Christian/Catholic, it's sad not many would know the pagan origins of Christmas. This is why I can celebrate Yule like it is here with family, fun, feasts and other festivities taking place. Sure, we're not Scandinavian, but that doesn't mean we or I can't celebrate it like it is with the spirit of Yule.
That being said, from Philippines by someone fascinated by Norse Paganism, I greet you Skal and a merry, blessed Yule.
The pagan origin of Christmas? Christmas existed in the first two centuries as can be historically seen and documented. This is 700 or more years before any Christians came into contact with any Scandinavians.
🎄greatings from Austria, great for pagen information: Wolf Dieter Storl ( books and youtube )💕 thanks for your work !
With regards to Christmas trees, according to numerous Roman and Greek sources - including Julius Caesar himself - Celts would take the entrails, heads, and hands of their fallen enemies to their sacred groves and decorate their trees. So the next time you put garland or ribbon on your tree, just remember that you are echoing stringing, the intestines of a fallen foe across the sacred tree.
Happy Yule 2 u as well, Christmas will always belong to what others call pagans. We witches know these awesome things, it's in our blood.🎄🤗❤️
Jeremiah 10 is about the heathen tree cut down and decorated now called xmas tree!!!!!
How daft are you? Have you read Jeremiah 10? It literally is explicitly stated in the text that what is being discussed is the creation of wooden idols.
@JacobToddson I’m loving what you are offering. I just bought your book but, Dude, the past tense of drag is dragged, not drugged.
I would have said 100%. "Ancestral Worship" predates Christianity by some 10,000 years - going from the last big "reset". We have known - and acknowledged - the changing of the seasons, the solstices, and the equinoxes for millennium.
I heard someone say something about an Evergreen tree (Pine, Fir, Cedar etc) being a pagan fertility symbol because they represented life, even in the Winter months when most other tree's are dormant, or maybe they used to believe dead. Someone correct me on this if I'm wrong.
“Tree worship, common among pagan Europeans, survived after their conversion to Christianity in the Scandinavian customs of decorating the house and barn with evergreens at the New Year to scare away the Devil and of setting up a tree for the birds during Christmastime.” (The New Encyclopedia Britannica)
Hey Jakob, I wish you a happy Yule and I like your videos use it so interesting about North paganism. I am huge interested in North paganism and you make wonderful contents about contacting Odin and North gods. I hope we will meet some someday lovely greetings from your best fan. Andrew from Switzerland and happy Yule❤❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤
Nice info, thanks.😊
Hey Brother. I love your content and this video as well but it’s so freaking funny when you try to speak Dutch (Zwarte Piet). I will never forget when we tried to teach you the G in Dutch at the first Gathering here in the Netherlands😅🤣. Keep up the good work miss you a lot man, hope to see you see soon 🙏🏻
I thought about this yesterday. Basically, if you want to have a truly Christian Christmas that takes away all the pagan stuff... you can have your hymns (which, I do think the best Christmas/yule songs are the older ones, definitely not the modern trashy ones), your baby Jesus, I suppose your star at the top... but no tree to put it in. No feasting, no food, no gifts. In the end, it would be a tame religious thing that no one wants to do. And who knows what day it would be on, since even that is just borrowed?
”For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.“
Jeremiah 10:3-4 KJV
Christmas has pagan roots & we shouldn’t do those if we want to inherit the kingdom
Crashing a Christian event to talk about the pagan roots of Christmas, and attracting the ire of the guard. I feel like the audacity here would make Tyr proud.
Am I wrong? I may be wrong. Maybe he'd at least think it was funny. I think it's funny. Good job, sir.
Biblically, the only tradition that can possibly be attributed to the birth of Christ is the star. But everything else done to celebrate Christmas, including celebrating Christmas, is non biblical in origin, which means they originally came from pagan beliefs and practices.
That's a complete and utter non-sequitur. "If it's not explicitly in the bible, it must mean that it comes from paganism". The conclusion doesn't follow the premise.
@@caseycardenas1668 Ok, let me put it another way. Most of the traditional Christmas celebrations are non biblical in origin, including the belief that Christ was born December 25th, which ancient people celebrated as the Yuletide/solstice holiday. The Christian church took many non Christian holidays and ‘christianized’ them so the people, who were literally being forced to convert to Christianity, would be more accepting. Christ was not born in the middle of winter. He most likely was born in the spring, during lambing time and that’s why the shephards were in the fields, to assist with the birth of lambs.
@@SeaTurtle515 there's literally zero academic or scholastic evidence of that assertion. Each Christian holiday is uniquely Christian in origin in terms of what it fundamentally represents.
Christians in the first two centuries were celebrating the birth of Christ on what would be December 25th. The claim is not that he explicitly was or was not born on that day. Ironically, all the holidays of the Christian calendar existed prior to the mass spread of the religion itself.
"Being forced to convert to Christianity" like whom? Be historically consistent, who was being forced to convert? It's quite obvious you have no basis in history, if you did you would see there was no practice in the ancient church used to swoon converts by repackaging their holidays, since the Christian holiday already existed.
Many practices of the church are not explicitly in the bible because the church predates the complication of scriptures.
And there he sat the fan watches the video and immediately collapses on the ground from a seizure 0:11
The Christmas tree is indeed of Pagan origin. The church always viewed decorated trees as a "Heathen symbol" until Martin Luther changed that view and declared it to be a symbol for the birth of Christ.
Sources?
@@caseycardenas1668 Enne Koops who is a Dutch historian and also an author for a Dutch history magazine called Historiek wrote about it.
@@Weda01 thought so, that's historically falsifiable information. Martin Luther didn't change that view, how could he when he was excommunicated and reviled? Deservingly so, mind you. Look up the history of paradise trees and you will see that the church had approved and partaken in this for hundreds of years before Martin Luther was even born.
Bear made farms is a pretty good spot that I went to a couple weeks ago, strongly recommend checking them out Jacob
In the Old Testament, the Book of Jeremiah 10:3-4: Deity is lamenting that His people have cut trees from the forest and deck them with gold and silver and fasten it with nails and hammer so it stands upright.
Besides there are some bible scholars that believe that the Christ child was actually born in the spring and if the Christians are correct that he died in the spring then a cycle was completed.
Go and actually read Jeremiah 10 and some scholastic excerpts on the topic before you make a fool of yourself on social media. Jeremiah 10 explicitly talks about the creation of wooden idols.
@@caseycardenas1668I have read Jeremiah 10; however my "religious" background seeks towards symbolism and looking beyond the written word.
I thank you for offering further learning; I just pray that you will work on your delivery because it causes more ill than good.
Imagine that, pagans... loved to raid and pillage and they turned into the gifters of presents, santa without a clause err I mean cause. I call that flipping and reversing. It's a good thing and should be celebrated. You see what we just did there? I thought one wrong turn made you burn? Now it gets you presents? You naughty little pagan. You don't like magic? Merlins a magician. He has powers but you wouldn't listen. I'm trying to tell you this is how he goes fishin, nobodies ever truly went missin.
Wassell! Drink ale!
Corinthians 11:23-25: “J
Im Christian and I do not celebrate christmas.😊
Let them get mad about you being there talking about pagan stuff. I went there with a friend around the time it first opened. I still identified as agnostic back then but I DEFINITELY didn’t get any closer to Christianity afterward because good gods, they actually used the word “stupid” to talk about people who didn’t believe what they believed… after that I openly spoke my feelings about how ridiculous it was and it kind of upset my friend… I didn’t want to upset her but also I didn’t like being called “stupid”.
Jeremiah 10:3-4 on the trees ..trees were use even a palm tree .,also God speak about putting trees in the pulpit or altars Deuteronomy 16:21 Sin is not 50 or 90 with all respect SIN IS SIN …CHRISTMAS IS TOALLY PAGAN IN EVERYTHING..THAT WAT THE HOLY SPIRIT OF TRUTH TOTAL ME..if ur hear go to Jim Standly he has a great introduction of the traditions of Christmas he made a video Christmas and tradition please see it .there more verse in the holy scriptures in Israel following other nation idol ways ..we as Yahweh Children mustn’t follow this tradition of pagan it behind curse to us n our generation to come..wake up Not America but you as a child of the most HOLY GOD YEHOVAH AS HIS SON YESHUA HAMASHIACH…GOD LOVES US TO MUST TO SEE US LOSE OUR SALVATION BCZ IT LOOKS PRETTY OR IT FOR GOD YOU SAY…FOR HIM ITS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS STUDY THE FEAST OF ELOHIM UR GOD PLEASE…N WALK IN Holy righteousnes!!! Ur sister in Chirst our Lord…
A complete ignorance to Christian tradition and history 😂. The annunciation was the 25th of March as early as the 3rd century after Christ's death. 9 months later is Dec 25th. This was solidified by Constantine, who appealed to history, namely the cleansing of the Jewish temple by Judah Macabees being seen as an icon of Christ's birth which was and still is Hannukah and the days leading up to it. Keep in mind the updating of the Justinian calendar to the New Justinian calendar over the years to make up for the difference in time, compared to the Gregorian calendar which celebrates it Jan 7th, and we kept it Dec 25th as an appeal to tradition.
Pagans celebrated literally every solstice, every season change, and every degenerate belief they held, and to attribute it to Christian tradition because it coincided with the dates we chose is incredibly stupid 😂. I actually lost braincells listening to this nonsense.
You forgot about mistletoe! One of the easiest "Christmas traditions" to trace back to pagan origins
I Am Happy You Mentioned The Name Of Mitra The Vedic God Guardian Of Oath And Friendship (Mitra=Friend In Sanskrit) Is Celebrated In Vedic Time's And Also In Greece Rome And Persia Because He Was The God Of Winter Solstice Thank You For This Video It Is Really Great To Watch And Learn New Thing's About Indo-European Cultures.
I’m so grateful for this channel. I actually learn so much legitimate, useful Pagan information lost in the mix of all the trendy ‘witchy’ crap these days. I love learning all of this history 🎄
Thank you 🙏 Glad I have been able to maintain the balance of useful modern practices and historical traditional ones
hello from Friborg in Switzerland for us the Yule log is a real log which burns during the twelve days preceding Christmas or jøl Yule and we make blessings for the harvests or for the health of the inhabitants of the house at home it is a ancestral tradition which dates back to pagan Celtic and Germanic times.... best regards from Friborg Switzerland 🙏👍
I agree very much with everything. I don't feel like there is a lot that is original to Christianity in a whole. Thank you for all your videos. I have loved every one.
Absolutely love your channel. Thanks for all that you do.
What?? You mean the tradition of bringing an evergreen tree into the house and decorating it with holly berries possibly didn't come from the middle eastern desert? I don't believe it.
Yes - I agree that Christmas is mostly Pagan with a little bland Christian seasoning. I also agree that we should 100% bring back Wassailing (I particularly like how the Welsh do it with the Mari Lwyd). And as someone who lives in the buckle of the Bible Belt, my petty little pagan heart giggles that you made this video in the location that you did.
Side Note: After reciprocating that bird's mating dance, I think you are now officially its boyfriend.
Other than that date, and the fact that celebration concided with festivals that time.
Christmas tree, Santa claus( created by Dutch immigrant), meeting with your families, and above all nativity plays are 100% christians.
We've inherited beautiful traditions with deep roots!
I love the information provided here… I learned a couple of things today, including the proper pronunciation of “wassailing”. I also guess I didn’t realize that the Yule Log was burned potentially for divination. That’s kind of amazing; I found myself staring into the coals at Ohio Fall in the early hours with Logan and a couple others and seeing things that took my breath and made my stomach flip so I can believe it. I just never considered it to be a possible form of divination.
Jacob, Happy Yule and congrats on how you've grown your channel. I stumbled upon your channel last summer after seeing (and really enjoying) The Northman and going on youtube to learn more about it. I am not a pagan myself but am a fan of history and generally have an open mind. I feel like "pagan" history does not get much mainstream attention in the US and you do an excellent job of breaking it down. It has also been fascinating to learn more about paganism from your perspective, many aspects of which I can get down with such as maintaining a strong connection with nature. I look forward to seeing where things go from here.
Winter Solstice Pagan Mother's Night 24th Dec Pagan. Is a Pagan festive era which the Christian took on when they took over in our countries. So the aprox 80-84 per cent pretty spot on 🙂👍 And folk song "Wassail wassail all over the land" sung in this period - "Wassail" exists in English/British folk traditions
Really makes me wonder what the hell this Goatman/ Krampus thing was before Christianity. Christmas Eve, in some cultures, he brings up the people dressed as Krampus going door to door and being sent away by offering schnapps. That should line up with Mother's Night, then. And Krampus punishes the bad kids on Christmas, instead of giving gifts.
As a Swede, I honestly thought the yule log was more of an American thing... I've never heard it mentioned in Swedish, I wouldn't even know how to translate it. 😅
you should check out Religion for Breakfast's video he posted today- much of what Pagans claim as appropriated material turns out to maybe not have been theirs in the first place
I’ve been enjoying all the (good natured) jokes online about specifically how pagan Christmas is.
We bring a tree into our homes and ritualize decorating it with the whole family, top it with a star or a mythical creature (Angel) and according to pop culture, dance around it.
Then we set out a food offering on a special plate (alter) for the spirit that magically enters our home to bring us special gifts.
There’s several others but it all just makes me grin.
Jacob the Yule goblin infiltrates the Ark😂 Hey we love pretty lights too! Enjoyed this. 🎄
I bought and am almost done “A Yule Story”. It’s a really fun read that has brought some of the magic of the season back for me. Thanks!
Thank you for this video loved the lighting and subject I believe Christmas 🎄 trees are also pagan and Christmas is pagan. ❤
Bible verse about so called 'Christmas trees.'
Jeremiah 10: 1-5
Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:
2 Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
3 For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
5 They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.
So according to Christians, Yule Trees are 100% Pagan (Heathen).
Neither is it in them to do good? See that's exactly the kind of attitude that starts wars. Why couldn't you have picked one of the things he said about loving each other and being kind? I mean ffs, it's Christmas.
@@whotakesallmynames Its 'Yule.'
And why couldnt I pick another? Because he specifically asked for this specific verse to be found and posted in the comments. Christians and their hatred towards pagans runs deep. Its rooted in their faith. Their history of violent acts against heathens only make the relationship between Christian and pagan worse. Christians stole much of our ancestral practices and branded them as their own against the will of YHWH, the God of Abraham. Its this attitude that starts wars and creates many issues we see in todays world. Bringing light to truth is how we grow and learn.
I did not post this for u to like or dislike. I posted for u to learn. How u receive it has nothing to do with me.
@@Drengr-Wulf it turns out that how I receive it has quite a lot to do with your intentions. Thank you for your reply and for adding context to the verse. I thought you were one of them come to show me how awful I am because the Bible says so
How daft are you to read that and not realize it is referencing wooden idols and not Christmas trees?
For future reference you should actually read scholastic sources from academia before sharing an uninformed opinion.
@@caseycardenas1668 at first I thought, there's probably a nicer way to phrase that. But then I did a little homework and no, I think you have the right idea lol. Context matters and there's a lot missing here. It's rather important if this is supposed to be part of the foundation for this guy's video. Thanks
Another great vid bud. Wassailing still happens here in the uk. Used to wake the spirits in the orchards for the hopes of a good Harvest later in the year,
Happy Yule... blessings
I like to say thank you for your guidance! You've been a great help to me and inspiration on continuing my pagan path!
Thank you for the grate video! As a Hungarian/German I found the tree thing interesting.
My family only decorated the tree with lights. I never really questioned why. That was our family heritage and I just respected it. And I still remember that the tree for our family was always so important. That was the representation of the circle of life and my grandmother always said that the fresh tree smell and the lights are helping us to start a good and healthy year. They said if you don’t have a tree you’re going to have a bad luck. So interesting to see how long a tradition can stay alive.
1.) Yule Log: The origin of the folk custom is unclear, like other traditions associated with Yule. The first mention of a log burned around Christmas comes from Robert Herrick's poetry collection of 1648 where it is called a "Christmas log". It is not referred to as a "Yule log" until John Aubrey's work from 1686. Prior to that century, there has been no evidence of Yule logs let alone evidence that can be traced back to the holiday of Yule.
2.) Christmas Trees: Is there any sources that connect a ''pagan'' tree worship to the Christmas Tree? What would be the definition of tree worship? Jacob says of the evergreens: ''This is something that POSSIBLY...'' but he doesn't say it is. Many pictures depicting the Roman celebration of Saturnalia show evergreen decorations. This may be very possible, but no ancient sources describe how they decorated for the festival. And thus the question, so what if they did?
Many of the accounts of tree worship center around groves, which is not a Christmas Tree. Roman senator Tacitus in his first century CE work Annals, the Frisians dismembered 900 Roman soldiers in a ''grove'' dedicated to the goddess in 28 CE. - Sacred pillar-like objects, perhaps tree stumps, held sacred by the pagan Saxons, -The sacred tree at Uppsala was a sacred tree located at the Temple at Uppsala, Sweden, in the second half of the 11th century. It is not known what species it was. It is even more sparsely documented than the famous temple by which it stood.
3.) Santa Claus: Sinterklaas, there's not enough information to conclude that he's Odin. Jason again says it's ''possible.'' which can be construed as ''not probable.'' One thing that can be agreed is Santa has been integrated with a lot of secularistic virtues and god like powers.
4.) Saturnalia was a one day agricultural festival, then extended to three days, then to seven, Dec. 17-23 base on the Julian Calendar and not the Gregorian Calendar which is what is used today. There is no evidence that the early church fathers rebranded this festival and called it Christmas.
So the only things I've found to be Christian in origin with Christmas are the candy cane, stockings, and Rudolph.
For Santa you forgot that one name of Odin is Yule Father, aka Father Christmas. And of course Sleipnir is an 8 legged horse, and prior to a Chicago store inventing Rudolph, Santa was pulled by 8 reindeer. Reindeer are key to the Sami people, where the Norse went for help with magic and religion.
A Chicago store invented Rudolph?? I have never heard that before! I’ve gotta look that up now
An increasing number of Christians have come to believe that Christmas is derived from paganism. They’ve heard that the timing of Christmas may have been borrowed from Roman sun god worship. Or that Christmas trees come from German paganism. Or that the star on top of the Christmas tree comes from astrological worship. But these myths are all so wrong. Christmas-the celebration of the Nativity of our Lord-is a thoroughly Christians celebration. Here’s why.
Religion for breakfast has just done a great video on the origins of the Christmas tree. Spoiler alert, it likely originated due to 15th century forestry regulations in the Rhineland. Yes, really.
You cannot celebrate God's BIRTHday. If God has a beginning, he's not God. God is eternal.
Tree decorating goes all the way back to Zoroastrian celebration of the Solstice called Yalda - decorations are for wishes asking Mother Earth to grant them.
Santa certainly seems to be an amalgamation of multiple figures both historical and mythical. We’ve even added new aspects to his myth pretty recently with the red suit, the reigndeer, and rudolf specifically being all created out of pop culture.
Christianity took a lot of pagan traditions and molded them in their perspective. Blessed Be to all pagans!
Santa's sleigh may come from Thor's chariot pulled by goats(??)
Happy Yule everyone. For me is Christmas 100 % pagan.
The Bible says "take not the trees of the forest and adorn them with gold and silver as the Pagans do".
I'm quoting this from memory, so I might be slightly off.
You should go and read the Bible first to come to the realization that the verse, which you misquoted, is not referencing the decorating of trees whatsoever. It's in Jeremiah 10 and it's in reference to the creation of wooden idols.
I would recommend you check out Religion for Breakfast's most recent video- he's gonna upset a a lot of Pagans with it. And while I am a practicing Christian, I have always taught my children what I thought was the "true" roots of much of what is Christmas tradition. Turns out I was wrong, just like I was with Easter...
Christmas tree is found in the bible, Jeremiah 10, vs 2 to 5. Read it, what other than the Christmas tree could it be?
Yes, definitely the Christmas tree
Happy Yuletide Everypagan!
Always a treat Jacob ❤
Hope the security guards didn't give you too much trouble. Glad you're getting over that cold. Blessings 😊
To stay close to nature during the winter it was common to bring a tree into ones home and the smell would liven up the place.
Gift giving is also a common practice in paganism, giving food, toys, and stories, the idea was to share your hospitality with your neighbors during the cold months.
Krampus is also said to be Loki in different forms creating mischief amongst men and women and to ward him off people would fill their socks with goodies and leave it at their doorsteps.
Happy Yule!
I've been saying we need to bring Wassailing back for a while now.
I highly agree with Santa being a representation of Odin.
Eight reign deer/eight legged horse...
Knows if you're sleeping, or awake. Knows if you've been bad or good/ the two ravens, thought and memory, flying around and reporting back to Odin.
Merry Yule and Blessed Be!
Not pagan enough! Hail!
Wonderful video. Obsessed with the font you used for the titles.
Its the Font I used for my Yule Book cover :)
Lol i love this one 🤣
You were one of the co-stars after all 😂
Well done video, this integrated perfectly with my own research as I’ve been digging into this topic as a Christian for the last couple years.
Appreciate you being cordial and honest about your conclusions and I tend to agree very much with you, I’d have scored it much higher on the ranking of how pagan it is. Practically 💯
There's plenty of proff of Christmas being pagan in the Bible just Google Christmas tree in the Bible God was talking about it since the old testament before Christ was even born. Ester is in there too.
If you want to get a feeling for south German, especially alpine Christmas traditions and potentially pagan influences I recommend a movie from 1934: Der verlorene Sohn / The prodigal son by Luis Trenker about 64 minutes in when the protagonist returns to his south Tyrolian homeland from America. The movie is on TH-cam but I only found the German version. I think this part of the movie is right up your alley!
I guess as Germany was along with England the first Germanic peoples to be christianized, a lot of pagan ideas were adapted and absorbed into the christian mainstream so they do not appear as pagan anymore. Frau Holle of the fairy tale, the equivalent of Berchta / Perchta of central Germany and the alpine area has a direct connection to winter: when you shake her pillows and bed covers fiercely enough until the feathers fly, it is snowing on earth. Arguably she also is Fria / Frigg and wife of Woden / Odin. Perchta and the perchten are clearly connected to Christmas customs, the Perchten or schiachen meant to scare away demons and devils running amok in the Rauhnachten, the lawless gap between the years, the gap between the solar and lunar calendars. Woden leading the wild hunt ie the winter storms was also active in that time, maybe that’s why Jakob Grimm thought he evolved into Father Christmas. The original German Weihnachtsmann/ Father Christmas had little to do with Santa: he wore a brown, later red furry coat with a big hood drawn into his face and he was a two-edged sword because he dished out both presents and also punishment, similar to Woden’s fickle nature.
As defined by Britannica, paganism is used to identify religions that DO NOT worship The God of Abraham. Christians esp. Catholics celebrate Christmas to commemorate the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ, whose Father is The God of Abraham. Celebrating Christmas is also our way of glorifying and thanking God for everything that He has done for us. I grew up looking forward to each Christmas celebrations because it gives me so much joy to see families gathered together sharing wonderful old memories and enjoying each other's company. Our food preparations do not mean anything except for the fact that we need food to consume since people are being gathered together. Usually, the food that we prepare are the ones that we love to eat as a family. We wait till 12 am before we touch our food preparations because we want to pay respect and to joyfully welcome Jesus in Spirit. Our gift giving is our way of showing love for each other. Now, tell me how is that being pagan? For those who do not believe in Christmas then why do you celebrate your birthdays? Who do you give glory to? Kindly explain.
I am a Christian, and wasn't aware until recently that worshipping the Norse gods was making a comeback. . . It's definitely not for me, but I guess we all have to observe what feels right. 🤷 Anyway, just wanted to say that from what little I know about paganism, the tree originally cut down and used as part of a Yule celebration was a yew tree, which I think was another name for an oak? You can look up the word "yew" and figure out for sure if you want, but I just don't remember for sure right now. But whichever kind of wood yew was, it was also used to make bows for shooting arrows, which is why men who carried a bow were often called "yewmen" or "yeomen" (it's pronounced the same). When Christianity came along, some priest in the Catholic church prayed to find a tree to replace for the yew in order to replace Yule with Christmas, and when he went with a group to cut down the Yule yew tree, they reportedly found an evergreen growing in the middle of the yew tree, so evergreens were chosen to represent Christ. So, absolutely, use trees in your Yule celebration, but if you want to be more traditional with it, you don't want to use an evergreen.👍
Dissapointing. Evergreen trees adorned with sun lights to mark the sun's return - they knew nothing of the Toba eruption over 70,000 year ago. The sun had returned and they didn't want it to go away again. The Shaman's gift of mushrooms in winter. How could you even doubt the most Pagan part of Christmas.
This is such a funny coincidence. My younger brother is Christian and I am from Australia. He coincidentally is at the Ark encounter right now (Has been for the past two few weeks to a month). I have tried talking to Christian family members about the origins of christmas and all except one have said stuff to the effect of 'why do people sing christmas carols if they're not christian?'.
My one relative that is Christian and agrees it's not christian believes that it comes from coca cola and capitalism, which is something.
I was wondering about Father Christmas,( an English version of Santa.) Charles Dickens has the Ghost of Christmas past looking very like a typical Father Christmas. His name is very commercial and I think very recent.
My understanding (and it could be wrong) was the "Christmas" trees were an evolution of our ancient ancestors leaving edible pastry "decorations" out on special trees in the forest for the land wights. The Xtians didn't like this, and forced people to stop leaving these votive offerings to the forest. The pagans then cut the trees down instead, and brought them inside. They then added candles to light the way for the land wights to find the tasty offerings which were being left out for them. Seeing that this practice was going to continue, the Xtians adapted the custom into their Chrimmas (🤣) trees.
That was so nice! Beautiful lighting, good location choice, fun birds... Happy Yule season!
There is a misunderstanding about evergreen trees they were used in Solomon's temple and temple worship Evergreen trees are not a pagan symbol. in the Bible where it mentions the trees They Were trees that were carved into a preexisting Wooden idols. It has nothing to do with trees so don't let anybody shame you or say it's wrong to use a evergreen or Christmas tree that it has pagan roots that's their ignorance. The Evergreen Tree is a symbol of God's eternity his everlasting life We don't worship the tree we worship the One that created it.
Yes christmas trees are pagan cause the tree was the only thing that survived the winter. the bible says dont mark trees with like a knife. the north star is a whole other subject but yea dude shits cold people burn wood these arent specifically always pagan traditions. Their is still the tree of life in the bible and the tree of knowlege, burning bush... different arguments for different types of tree i suppose.
Well,all in all odin,krampus,and those other ones mentioned are not real,Jesus is real,he is the reason for the season to me,I'm a proud Catholic hail holy Mary mother of God! St.nicholas was the precursor to our Santa claus,a Catholic saint!
In the Nativity scene Baby Jesus is out side in the cold, while the Christmas Tree is inside next to the fireplace, adorned with lights and gifts, what's wrong with that concept
To me, Christmas is at least 90% pagan, if not close to 100%! Personally, I assume Christmas trees are of pagan origin and I like the idea of Odin being the first Santa Claus.
I have to say, I never understood Christmas caroling. Wassling makes WAY more sense and honestly would be more enjoyable.