Where Christmas came from
A Roman date, a Middle English word, a Puritan ban and a Victorian comeback. Here’s the story in six parts, with every fact sourced.
Jump to: The word | The date | Saturnalia | Advent | The ban | The comeback
The word
The word Christmas means “Christ’s mass”. It comes from the Middle English Christemasse, which came from the Old English Cristes mæsse. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Christmas
The older word Yule may come from the Germanic jōl or the Anglo-Saxon geōl, words for the midwinter feast. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Christmas Navidad (Spanish), Natale (Italian) and Noël (French) all probably mean “nativity”. The German Weihnachten means “hallowed night”. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Christmas
Why 25 December?
The church in Rome began formally celebrating Christmas on 25 December in 336, in the reign of the emperor Constantine. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Christmas
In the 3rd century, the Roman Christian historian Sextus Julius Africanus dated the conception of Jesus to 25 March, which would give a birth date nine months later, on 25 December. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Christmas
Eastern Orthodox churches that still use the old Julian calendar keep Christmas on the day that is 7 January in our calendar. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Christmas The Armenian Apostolic Church keeps Christmas on 6 January, and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church on 7 January. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Christmas
The Roman winter party
The Roman winter festival of Saturnalia was first held on 17 December, and later stretched to seven days. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Saturnalia At Saturnalia, work and business stopped and a mock king was chosen. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Saturnalia
Near the end of Saturnalia, Romans gave presents of candles, wax models of fruit and small wax figures. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Saturnalia
Britannica describes Saturnalia; it doesn’t say Christmas was copied from it, and neither do we.
Advent, wreaths and calendars
Advent comes from the Latin adventus, “coming”. In Western churches it begins on the Sunday nearest to 30 November, St Andrew’s Day. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Advent
The Advent wreath began in the 19th century. It first had 24 candles, one for each day from 1 December, but that was awkward, so it shrank to four. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Christmas
The story goes that the Advent calendar was invented in the 19th century by a Munich housewife who was tired of being asked when Christmas would come. The first printed calendars for sale were made in Germany in 1851. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Christmas
Gifts, carols and a ban
Giving gifts at Christmas goes back to the 15th century. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Christmas In most European and Latin American countries, presents are swapped on Christmas Eve. In North America, Christmas morning is the time. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Christmas
Puritans in England and in America opposed Christmas, and in both places succeeded in banning it for a time. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Christmas
Oliver Cromwell did not start the ban on Christmas himself. A 1644 Parliament ordinance confirmed the abolition of the feasts of Christmas, Easter and Whitsun, before his time as Lord Protector (1653–58). Historic England: Did Oliver Cromwell really ban Christmas?
From then until the Restoration in 1660, Christmas was officially illegal, and the ban was very unpopular. Historic England: Did Oliver Cromwell really ban Christmas? Under Cromwell, shops and markets were told to stay open on 25 December. Historic England: Did Oliver Cromwell really ban Christmas?
A carol revival began in the second half of the 18th century. Charles Wesley’s “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing” comes from that time. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Christmas
The comeback
At the start of the 19th century, Christmas was hardly celebrated in Britain, at least not in a way we would recognise. By the end of the century it was the biggest yearly celebration in the British calendar. V&A: Victorian Christmas traditions
Gift-giving used to be a New Year activity, but it moved to Christmas as Christmas became more important to the Victorians. V&A: Victorian Christmas traditions New railways meant people who had moved to cities for work could go home for Christmas. V&A: Victorian Christmas traditions
The Victorians made the tree popular and gave us the card and the cracker. Read the whole story on the Victorian Christmas.
Good sources don’t always tell the same story, and many Christmas customs have “the story goes” beginnings that nobody can prove. Each fact here links to who said it, and things that can change, like weather records, show the date we checked them. See when sources disagree for every difference side by side.
Next: the Christmas timeline →