Customs and celebrations

There are a large number of Christmas customs, including secular, religious, national, and Christmas related. There are great differences between countries. Even the Christmas symbols and activities that most people are familiar with, such as Christmas turkey, Christmas wood, holly, mistletoe, Christmas wreath, and exchange of gifts, are all absorbed by Christian missionaries from the early Asatru pagan winter solstice holiday Yule. It is basically the pagan customs of European tradition. The celebration of the winter solstice was widely held there before Christianity arrived in Northern Europe, and today the term Christmas is still pagan jul (or yule) in Scandinavian. The Christmas tree is not Christian either. It is thought that it was first invented in Germany (when Germany was still a divided city-state), and was later used in various places in festivals.

Because Pope Gregory I did not try to ban popular pagan festivals, but allowed Christian priests to reinterpret the meaning they gave to Christianity, so many gods and pagan objects and symbols were allowed in Christmas. He allowed most of the customs to continue, only slightly modified, or even kept as they were2. The transactions between religious and government authorities and celebrators allowed Christmas to continue. In areas where Christian theocratic rule is prosperous, such as England under Cromwell and the early New England colonies, celebrations are forbidden3. After the Russian Revolution, the Christmas celebration was banned by the Soviet Communist Party for 75 years. Even the fundamentalists and Puritan organizations in some Christian denominations, as well as some new Christian religions such as Jehovah's Witnesses, still regard Christmas as a pagan holiday that is not recognized by the Bible and refuse to celebrate it.