The ancient roots of Christmas

Most people, including Christians, believe the origin of Christmas is the pagan feasts to worship the solar god Sol Invictus , Saturn’s god Saturnalia , or the Persian solar god adopted by the Romans, Mithras .

Academically, this view is also known as historical religions theory . The theory suggests the Catholic Church in Rome, Italy, began celebrating Christmas on December 25 in 336 CE to replace the pagan celebrations.