Pagan November holidays refer to various celebrations and observances that originated in ancient pagan traditions and are still commemorated to this day. These holidays typically take place during the month of November and are deeply rooted in nature and seasonal changes. One prominent November pagan holiday is Samhain, a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. Samhain, which falls on October 31st or November 1st, is considered a time when the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead is thin, allowing for communication with ancestors and spirits. It is often associated with honoring departed loved ones and reflecting on the cycle of life and death. Another notable pagan holiday in November is Wiccan Wheel of the Year, which includes Sabbats such as Yule or Winter Solstice.
Let’s take a moment to consider: What does it mean to be pagan? After all, people today use that word rather carelessly. In fact, there is a growing movement of “neo-paganism,” which Dr. Douglas S. Winnail discussed in detail in his Tomorrow’s World magazine article “The Rise of Modern Paganism” (November–December 2019); you can read it online at TomorrowsWorld.org.
Many lament the commercialism that has come to dominate so much of the Christmas season, feeling it is crowding out what they believe is the real meaning of Christmas that God sent His Son to be the Savior of mankind. If nothing else, as McGowan observes, these early Christians were borrowing from an ancient Jewish tradition that said that the most important events of creation and redemption occurred at the same time of the year.
Another notable pagan holiday in November is Wiccan Wheel of the Year, which includes Sabbats such as Yule or Winter Solstice. Yule, observed around December 21st, celebrates the rebirth of the sun following the darkest day of the year. This holiday symbolizes hope and new beginnings as the days slowly start to lengthen again.
Is Christmas a Pagan Rip-off?
We’ve heard it so many times that it’s practically part of the Christmas story itself.
The Romans celebrated their seven-day winter festival, Saturnalia, starting on December 17. It was a thoroughly pagan affair full of debauchery and the worship of the god Saturn. To mark the end of the winter solstice, the Roman emperor established December 25 as a feast to Sol Invictus (the Unconquered Sun). Wanting to make Christianity more palatable to the Romans and more popular with the people, the church co-opted these pagan festivals and put the celebration of the birth of their Savior on December 25. For whatever the Christmas holiday has become today, it started as a copycat of well-established pagan holidays. If you like Christmas, you have Saturnalia and Sol Invictus to thank.
That’s the story, and everyone from liberal Christians to conservative Christians to non-Christians seem to agree that it’s true.
Except that it isn’t.
For starters, we should distinguish between roots that suggest a rip-off and roots that suggest a rebuke. The presence of some connection between a Christian celebration and a pagan celebration could imply a synchronistic copy-cat (“Hey, let’s Christianize this popular pagan holiday so as to make our celebration more palatable”), or it could mean a deliberate rejection (“Hey, this pagan holiday is horrible, so let’s put something distinctively Christian in its place”). After the conversion of Constantine in the fourth century, Christians did sometimes adapt and Christianize pagan festivals. Whether they did so wisely and effectively is open to historical debate, but the motivation was to transform the paganism of the Roman world rather than raze it to the ground. Even if Christmas was plopped down on December 25 because of Saturnalia and Sol Invictus, that by itself does not entail that the Christian celebration of Christ’s birth really began as a pagan festival.
But in the case of Christmas, there is good evidence that December 25 was not chosen because of any pagan winter holidays. This is the argument Andrew McGowan, of Yale Divinity School, makes in his article “How December 25 Became Christmas” (first published in Bible Review in 2002). Let me try to distill McGowan’s fine historical work by addressing three questions.
When did Christians first start celebrating the birth of Jesus on December 25?
Unlike Easter, which developed as a Christian holiday much earlier, there is no mention of birth celebrations from the earliest church fathers. Christian writers like Irenaeus (130-200) and Tertullian (160-225) say nothing about a festival in honor of Christ’s birth, and Origen (165-264) even mocks Roman celebrations of birth anniversaries as pagan practices. This is a pretty good indication that Christmas was not yet on the ecclesiastical calendar (or at least not widespread), and that if it were, it would not have been tied to a similar Roman holiday.
This does not mean, however, that no one was interested in the date of Christ’s birth. By the late second century, there was considerable interest in dating the birth of Jesus, with Clement of Alexandria (150-215) noting several different proposals, none of which was December 25. The first mention of December 25 as Jesus’s birthday comes from a mid-fourth-century almanac called the Philocalian Calendar. A few decades later, around AD 400, Augustine would indicate that the Donatists kept Christmas festivals on December 25 but refused to celebrate Epiphany on January 6 because they thought the latter date was a recent invention. Since the Donatists, who arose during the persecution under Diocletian in 312, were stubbornly opposed to any compromise with their Roman oppressors, we can be quite certain they did not consider the celebration of Christmas, or the date of December 25, to be pagan in origin. McGowan concludes that there must have been an older North African tradition that the Donatists were steeped in and, therefore, the earliest celebrations of Christmas (we know about) can be dated to the second half of the third century. This is well before Constantine and during a time period when Christians were trying to steadfastly avoid any connections to pagan religion.
When was it first suggested that Christmas grew out of pagan origins?
None of the church fathers in the first centuries of the church makes any reference to a supposed connection between Christmas and Saturnalia or Sol Invictus. You might think, Well of course they didn’t. That would have been embarrassing. But if the whole point of basing your Christian birth holiday on an existing pagan birth holiday is to make your religion more popular or more understandable, surely someone would say something. Besides, as McGowan points out, it’s not like future Christian leaders shied away from making these connections. Gregory the Great, writing in 601, urged Christian missionaries to turn pagan temples into churches and to repurpose pagan festivals into feast days for Christian martyrs.
There is no suggestion that the birth of Jesus was set at the time of pagan holidays until the 12th century, when Dionysius bar-Salibi stated that Christmas was moved from January 6 to December 25 to correspond with Sol Invictus. Centuries later, post-Enlightenment scholars of comparative religions began popularizing the idea that the early Christians retrofitted winter solstice festivals for their own purposes. For the first millennium of the church’s history, no one made that connection.
Why do we celebrate Christmas on December 25?
The first answer to the question is that some Christians don’t. In the Eastern branch of the church, Christmas is celebrated on January 6, probably for the same reasons—according to a different calculation—that Christmas came to be celebrated on December 25 in the West. Although we can’t be positive, there is good reason to think that December 25 became the date for Christmas because of its connection to the (presumed) date of Jesus’s death and to the date of Jesus’s conception.
There are three dates at play in this calculation. Let’s start with the date of Jesus’s death.
Around AD 200, Tertullian of Carthage noted that Jesus died on the 14th day of Nisan, which was equivalent to March 25 in the Roman solar calendar. In the East, they made their calculation using the 14th day of the first spring month in their local Greek calendar. In the Roman calendar, this was April 6. So depending on who you asked, Jesus died on either March 25 or April 6.
In both the West and the East, there developed the same tradition that Jesus died on the same date he was conceived. An anonymous Christian treatise from fourth-century North Africa stated that March 25 was “the day of the passion of the Lord and of his conception. For on that day he was conceived on the same he suffered.” Augustine in On the Trinity mentioned that same calculation. Similarly, in the East, the fourth-century bishop Epiphanius of Salamis maintained that on April 6 Christ took away the sins of the world and on the same date was “shut up in the spotless womb of the holy virgin.” The fact that this curious tradition existed in two different parts of the world suggests it may have been rooted in more than mere speculation. If nothing else, as McGowan observes, these early Christians were borrowing from an ancient Jewish tradition that said that the most important events of creation and redemption occurred at the same time of the year.
From the date of Christ’s death, to the (same) date of his conception, we can easily see where the date of Christmas could have come from. If Jesus was conceived on March 25, then the best date to celebrate his birth must be nine months later on December 25 (or, in the East, January 6). While we can’t know for certain that this is where December 25 came from—and we certainly can’t be dogmatic about the historicity of the date—there is much better ancient evidence to suggest that our date for Christmas is tied to Christ’s death and conception than tied to the pagan celebrations of Saturnalia and Sol Invictus.
Kevin DeYoung (PhD, University of Leicester) is senior pastor of Christ Covenant Church (PCA) in Matthews, North Carolina, and associate professor of systematic theology at Reformed Theological Seminary (Charlotte). He is the author of more than 20 books and a popular columnist, blogger, and podcaster. Kevin’s work can be found on clearlyreformed.org. Kevin and his wife, Trisha, have nine children.
There’s evidence that many Wiccans may be wising up. Starhawk has backed off her boldest assertions and now concedes that some part of her original historical matrix may not be true. The debatable notion that Hanukkah is also based on solstice celebrations has been floated but has not caught on, even among diehard Goddess worshippers. Both Starhawk and Carol Christ, another prominent Goddess evangelizer, told me they had no reason to believe the Hanukkah theory. Chastened by the attacks on their bad historiography, Wiccans are growing more likely to say that their faith is based on a love of Wiccan practices, rather than on particular historical claims. It’s a heartening development when religious belief isn’t dependent on the latest archaeological findings. Wiccans might no longer have to sacrifice intellectual rigor to get their spiritual sustenance. Become a fan of Slate on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.
In addition to these specific holidays, many pagans also celebrate the overall energy and spirit of November as a time of reflection, gratitude, and connection with the natural world. With the changing colors of the leaves and the sense of transition in the air, November is seen as an opportunity to embrace change, let go of what no longer serves us, and express gratitude for the abundance and growth experienced throughout the year. Pagan November holidays offer individuals the chance to reconnect with their ancestral roots, honor nature's cycles, and find meaning in the changing seasons. These celebrations can be practiced in various ways, depending on one's personal beliefs and traditions, but they often involve rituals, feasts, and gatherings with like-minded individuals. While these pagan holidays may have ancient origins, they continue to be celebrated and cherished by many individuals today as a way to honor the natural world, foster a deeper connection with spirituality, and find solace in the ever-changing cycle of life..
Reviews for "Pagan November Traditions for Honoring Animals and Nature Spirits"
1. John Smith - 2 out of 5 stars - I was incredibly disappointed with "Pagan November Holidays". The book seemed poorly researched and lacked depth. The author failed to provide any substantial information about the origins and practices of the pagan holidays in November. The writing was also confusing and hard to follow, with no clear structure or organization. Overall, I found this book to be a waste of time and would not recommend it to anyone seeking accurate and comprehensive information about pagan November holidays.
2. Emily Johnson - 1 out of 5 stars - This book was a complete letdown. I was expecting a detailed exploration of pagan November holidays, but instead, I found myself bored and uninterested. The author's writing style was dry and lacked any sort of engaging storytelling. The information provided was vague and didn't go into enough depth to satisfy my curiosity. I ended up putting the book down halfway through as it just couldn't hold my attention. I would recommend looking for other resources if you're genuinely interested in learning about pagan November traditions.
3. Mark Thompson - 2 out of 5 stars - As someone who wanted to delve into the world of pagan November holidays, this book fell short of my expectations. The content felt surface-level and lacked the necessary depth to truly understand the significance of these traditions. Additionally, the author's writing style was convoluted and difficult to follow. It felt like they were trying to sound intellectual but ended up confusing the reader instead. I would advise seeking alternative resources if you're looking for a comprehensive exploration of pagan November holidays.
4. Sarah Williams - 3 out of 5 stars - While "Pagan November Holidays" provided some interesting information, I found it to be somewhat lacking in terms of explanation and clarity. The author seemed to assume prior knowledge on the subject, which left me feeling confused and lost at times. I appreciated that they touched upon a variety of holidays, but I wish they had gone into more detail. Overall, it was an average read, but not something I would highly recommend to others seeking a better understanding of pagan November traditions.
5. Michael Davis - 2 out of 5 stars - I was quite disappointed by "Pagan November Holidays". The book seemed disorganized and lacked a cohesive narrative. The author jumped from one topic to another without proper transitions, making it challenging to follow the flow of information. I also felt that the author's bias and personal opinions overshadowed the objective exploration of pagan November holidays. Overall, the book left me unsatisfied and wanting more substantial content.