Be Merrie All: Medieval Christmas Celebrations

Just as with the appropriation of Pagan sacred sites by Christian authorities, as recommended by Pope Gregory I to St Augustine in the late sixth century, there was a natural tendency in the late Antique and early medieval Christian world to convert previously well-observed Pagan festivals to newly designated religious observances. This usually took the form of imposing Saints’ Days on established festivals, such as the celebration of the apostles Philip and James at the Spring festival of Beltane (May 1) or constructing feast days to mark incidents in the gospels such as The Presentation of Christ and the Purification of the Virgin Mary at the time of Imbolc (February 1), which was a Pagan festival associated with the goddess Brigid (later converted into St Brigid).

Feast at the French Royal Court (14th century) (Erica Guilane-Nachez/Adobe Stock)

Pagan Festivities And Cristes Maesse

This allowed for a smooth socio-cultural transition, where ingrained calendrical rituals could be maintained, whilst the meanings of those rituals could be transformed.  A clear example of this in Celtic and Germanic countries is the transformation of Samhain (October 31) into All Hallow’s Eve and All Saints’ Day on November 1. Samhain was a European-wide, pre-Christian celebration and commemoration of ancestors, but by the eighth century the Church had requisitioned the date to mark its own special ancestors - the martyred saints.