File:The Pagan Roots of Christmas

It’s Christmastime everyone, as you can tell from the name, it has a lot to do with Christ and Christianity, after all, Jesus was born on the 25th of December, right? Well, not quite. Most of what we do at Christmas time has little or nothing to do with Christianity and is rather rooted in the ancient pagan pasts of both Europe and other places. In this video I’m going to explore the aspects of Christmas that come form the traditions and beliefs of the Northern Europe Germanic or Nordic Pagans as this is what I know the most about and what interests me the most. This isn’t to say there are more explanations for where certain traditions come from or that there were other groups who contributed aspects of our modern Christmas celebrations. Things like Carol Singing, Christmas Trees, Christmas Lights, Yule Logs, Christmas Dinner, Santa Claus, the Elves, New Year’s Resolutions and Kissing under the Mistletoe can all be traced back to the pagan times of our forefathers and to various characters of Norse Myth and Legend like Odin, Freyja, Baldr and Thor.

Music Used: We Wish you a Merry Christmas – Kevin MacLeod Rites – Kevin MacLeod Teller of Tales – Kevin MacLeod Silent Night – Kevin MacLeod Deck the Halls – Kevin MacLeod Living Voyage – Kevin MacLeod “Living Voyage” - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

All images are from the Public Domain of Wikimedia Commons and Pixabay.

The Dutch Tradition of Sinterklaas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTGhUXYpwVg&t=25s

Zwarte Piet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhepTDg5H7w&t=25s

How did the Vikings Discover Iceland? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxZEr...

Irish/Gaelic Monks in Iceland, The Faroe Islands and the Scottish Isles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ5Y9...

How Vikings Names Work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73gqG...

Viking Raids - History Visualised: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b3pp...

The Great Heathen Army - History Visualised: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWMXv...

Norse and Anglo-Saxon Paganism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1jPj...

A Guide to Dark Age Irish Politics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akWnk...

A Guide to Dark Age British Politics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHNdQ...

Who Were the Anglo-Saxons? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP1eX...

Old English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw6dI...

Anglo-Saxon Shields: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXIzd...

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