Christmas originaly involves a pagan holiday... Here is what I was able to dig up via wikipedia. Fastest way to get a religion accepted by a people is to work with base tennents of their belief and build upon that.
Pre-Christian winter festivals
A winter festival was traditionally the most popular festival of the year in many cultures, in part because there was less agricultural work to be done during the winter. From a religious point of view,
Easter was the most significant feast in the church calendar.
[6] Christmas was considered less significant, and the early church opposed the celebration of birthdays of church members.
[7] The prominence of Christmas in modern times may reflect the continuing influence of the winter festival tradition, including the following festivals:
Saturnalia
In
Roman times, the best-known winter festival was Saturnalia, which was popular throughout
Italy. Saturnalia was a time of general relaxation, feasting, merry-making, and a cessation of formal rules. It included the making and giving of small presents (
Saturnalia et Sigillaricia), including small dolls for children and candles for adults.
[8] During Saturnalia, business was postponed and even slaves feasted. There was drinking, gambling, and singing, and even public nudity. It was the "best of days," according to the poet
Catullus.
[9] Saturnalia honored the god Saturn and began on December 17. The festival gradually lengthened until the late Republican period, when it was seven days (December 17-24). In imperial times, Saturnalia was shortened to five days.
[10]
Natalis Solis Invicti
Main article: Sol Invictus
The Romans held a festival on December 25 called
Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, "the birthday of the unconquered sun." The use of the title
Sol Invictus allowed several solar deities to be worshipped collectively, including
Elah-Gabal, a Syrian sun god;
Sol, the god of Emperor
Aurelian (AD 270-274); and
Mithras, a soldiers' god of
Persian origin.
[11] Emperor
Elagabalus (218-222) introduced the festival, and it reached the height of its popularity under Aurelian, who promoted it as an empire-wide holiday.
[12]
December 25 was also considered to be the date of the
winter solstice, which the Romans called
bruma.[8] It was therefore the day the Sun proved itself to be "unconquered" despite the shortening of daylight hours. (When
Julius Caesar introduced the
Julian Calendar in 45 BC, December 25 was approximately the date of the solstice. In modern times, the solstice falls on December 21 or 22.) The Sol Invictus festival has a "strong claim on the responsibility" for the date of Christmas, according to the
Catholic Encyclopedia.[3] Several early Christian writers connected the rebirth of the sun to the birth of Jesus.
[13] "O, how wonderfully acted Providence that on that day on which that Sun was born . . . Christ should be born,"
Cyprian wrote.
[3]
Yule
Main article: Yule
Pagan Scandinavia celebrated a winter festival called Yule, held in the late December to early January period.
Yule logs were lit to honor
Thor, the god of thunder, with the belief that each spark from the fire represented a new pig or calf that would be born during the coming year. Feasting would continue until the log burned out, which could take as many as twelve days.
[14] In pagan
greater Germany, the equivalent holiday was called
Mitwinternacht (mid-winter night),
Wintersonnenwende (winter solstice) and there were twelve
Rauhnächte (harsh or wild nights), filled with eating, drinking and partying.
[15] As
Northern Europe was the last part to Christianize, its pagan celebrations had a major influence on Christmas. Scandinavians still call Christmas
Jul. In English, the Germanic word Yule is synonymous with Christmas,
[16] a usage first recorded in 900.
