The Christian Church disapproved the ancient pagan celebrations of Deus Sol Invictus and co-opted the holidays by declaring Dec 25 as Jesus’ birthday.
Pope Julius I, the bishop of Rome, originally proclaimed December 25 the official celebration day for Jesus’ birthday back in 350 AD.
The city of Riga, Latvia holds the claim as home to history’s first decorated Christmas tree, back in 1510.
The midwinter festival of Yule has been celebrated by the Germanic peoples since at least the 4th century. Yule, which is also called Winter Solstice, is the longest night of the year and the time of greatest darkness.
Some scholars believe the word yule means “revolution” or “wheel,” symbolizing the cyclical return of the sun. King Haakon I of Norway rescheduled the date of Yule to coincide with Christian celebrations held at the time.
According to old English folk tales, the Devil died when Jesus was born. So, some towns developed a tradition of ringing the church bells near midnight on Christmas Eve to announce the Devil’s demise. In England this custom was called tolling or ringing “the Devil’s knell.”
