Think Christmas has always been wholesome and holy? Think again.
In A Very Pagan Christmas, we rip the halo off the holiday and dive headfirst into its messier origins — from the boozy chaos of Saturnalia, to bonfires, goat symbolism, and the general “let’s survive winter” vibes of Yule. We even take a detour into the nightmare fuel that is Perchtenlauf — because nothing says seasonal cheer like demon masks and public terror.

We unpack how Christianity quietly rebranded all of this into Christmas, why the joy-killing Puritans literally banned the holiday, and how the Victorian era dragged it back from the dead, added mistletoe, and told us all to behave.

It’s festive. It’s forbidden. It’s historically unhinged — and it’ll make you question everything you were taught about Christmas.

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SOURCES:

🎄 Pagan & Pre-Christian Traditions

Saturnalia

• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Saturnalia-Roman-festival

• https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-rome/saturnalia

• https://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/calendar/saturnalia.html

Yule

• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Yule

• https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/why-winter-solstice-was-feared-by-ancient-cultures

• https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-christmas

Perchtenlauf

• https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/perchtenlauf

• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Perchta

• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/perchtenlauf-alpine-winter-festival-180979394/

• https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-christmas

• https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/holydays/christmas.shtml

• https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/christmas-history-pagan-origins

• https://www.history.com/news/when-christmas-was-banned

• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/when-christmas-was-banned-boston-180973403/

• https://www.massmoments.org/moment-details/christmas-is-banned-in-boston.html

• https://www.bl.uk/victorian-britain/articles/christmas-in-victorian-britain

• https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-christmas-trees

• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christmas/Victorian-revival

• https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/christmas_01.shtml