Some believe that Christians in the early church changed the celebration of the Roman holiday Saturnalia into Christmas. Saturnalia occurred in late December and it became a festival celebrating the release of the god Saturn. People dressed up, ate at banquets and exchanged gifts. Sometimes there were orgies.

There’s no definitive evidence to point one way or the other whether Christians specifically chose Saturnalia as the date to undermine the pagan holiday. It seems suspicious that of all the dates on the calendar, the placement of Christmas is curiously near the date of Saturnalia, but there were other pagan holidays on other dates too.

Christmas is only pagan if we choose to celebrate it that way. If we make it a selfish holiday, filled with lots of drinking and revelry and pleasure, then it will be pagan. Christmas is a “holy-day” if we turn our focus to the holy one, thanking God for sending His son to the earth.

Some feel we should not celebrate Christmas because the Bible doesn’t tell us to. The Bible does tell us to celebrate Pentecost and the Feast of the Tabernacles and others found in Leviticus 23. Why aren’t we celebrating those? If Christians want God to get the attention one or two days a year, what can be wrong with that as long as we give God the glory and not change Christmas into a selfish celebration.