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Vestiges of the Saturnalia festivities may still be preserved in some of the traditions now associated with Christmas. [15] [118] The custom of gift-giving at Christmas time resembles the Roman tradition of giving sigillaria [118] and the lighting of Advent candles resembles the Roman tradition of lighting torches and wax tapers.
Mistletoe features prominently in European myth and folklore (for example, the legend of Baldr); it is an evergreen parasitic plant that grows on trees, especially apple and poplar, and turns golden when it is dried. It is customary to hang a sprig of mistletoe in the house at Christmas, and anyone standing underneath it may be kissed.
In The Golden Bough, James Frazer cites a Greek martyrology which claims that during Saturnalia in Durostorum on the Danube (modern Silistra), Roman soldiers would choose a man from among themselves to be a ceremonial "temporary king" for thirty days. At the end of that term, this soldier was to cut his own throat on the altar of Saturn.
Stacker compiled a list of 10 Christmas traditions that are no longer widely observed using various sources. ... This tradition originates from the Roman holiday Saturnalia in mid-December.
The history of Christmas, including why it was banned in Boston for a time. ... Pope Julius I chose December 25 "in an effort to adopt and absorb the traditions of the pagan Saturnalia festival."
The Christmas season [3] ... Saturnalia (1783) by Antoine ... states that it is a "myth that the holiday shopping season starts with Thanksgiving and ends with ...
Christmas is one of the most globally celebrated holidays in the world. But not everybody celebrates the same way—or even on the same day. While Christmas is, at its core, a Christian holiday ...
Yule is a winter festival historically observed by the Germanic peoples that was incorporated into Christmas during the Christianisation of the Germanic peoples.In present times adherents of some new religious movements (such as Modern Germanic paganism) celebrate Yule independently of the Christian festival.