The Beginning of Christmas

Christmas, as far as we know, dates back over 4000 years. Some of our traditions were celebrated centuries before Christ was born. The 12 days of Christmas, the Yule Log, giving and receiving of gifts, carol singers and the feasts over the Christmas period all of which can be tracked back to the early Mesopotamians.

The Mesopotamians celebrated New Years. This is how many of the traditions originated. The Mesopotamians believed in many gods, and as their chief god, Marduk. And every year when winter arrived it was said that Marduk would do battle with the monsters of chaos. Assisting Marduk with his battle the Mesopotamians would hold a festival for New Year. This was Zagmuk, the New Year's festival that lasted for 12 days.

Returning to the Marduk temple the Mesopotamian king would swear his faithfulness to the god. The tradition has it that at the end of the year the king would die and to return with Marduk to battle at his side.
In order to spare their king, the Mesopotamians had the idea of using a “fake" king. This would be a criminal that was chosen and would be dressed in royal clothes. The fake king was given all the respect and privileges that the real king would have. But at the end of the celebration the "fake" king was stripped of the royal clothes and killed, thus sparing the life of the real king.

The Persians and the Babylonians celebrated a similar festival called Sacaea. Part of this celebration included the exchanging of places, where the slaves would become the masters and the masters were to obey.
Because the early Europeans, believed in evil spirits, witches, ghosts and trolls. They thought that as the Winter Solstice approached, which brought its long cold nights and short days, some of the people feared that the sun would not return. So to bring back the sun they performed special rituals and celebrations.

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