In my opinion,yes,they most certainly did.
Did Christians Steal Christmas?
Did Christians Steal Christmas? is a 32 page 2007 booklet written by Robert Stovold[1] and published by the National Secular Society (ISBN 978-0-903752-05-3). It describes similarities between the traditional Christmas story and earlier paganones, and concludes that Christians did indeed “steal Christmas”.
Synopsis
The booklet is divided into three sections.
Part 1: “The timing of Christmas” notes that not all churches today celebrate Christmas on 25 December, that most scholars only attempt an approximate date for the year of Jesus’ birth, and that the Christmas celebrations superseded similar pagan festivities.
Part 2: “The Christmas Story” analyses aspects of the Christmas story itself (the Virgin Birth, the Star of Bethlehem, theThree Kings, the Stable at Bethlehem and the Massacre of the Innocents) by reference to earlier pagan myths. It also looks critically at the attempts of Christian apologists to explain these differences away.
Part 3: “Christmas Customs” notes that “In addition to shaping key elements of the Christmas narrative itself, paganismalso influenced some of the more secular Christmas traditions” [Footnote: p. 21]. Stovold outlines several such customs (the Pantomime, the Boar’s Head, the Christmas Turkey, and Christmas Evergreens).
The booklet had its origins in a 1974 work by R.J. Condon entitled Our Pagan Christmas [Footnote: p. 9] but Stovold's 2007 booklet contains additional material, an extensive bibliography and (in many cases) hyperlinks enabling readers to access the cited material for themselves.
Christmas' Pagan Origins
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Few people realize that the origins of a form of Christmas was pagan & celebrated in Europe long before anyone there had heard of Jesus Christ.
No one knows what day Jesus Christ was born on. From the biblical description, most historians believe that his birth probably occurred in September, approximately six months after Passover. One thing they agree on is that it is very unlikely that Jesus was born in December, since the bible records shepherds tending their sheep in the fields on that night. This is quite unlikely to have happened during a cold Judean winter. So why do we celebrate Christ's birthday as Christmas, on December the 25th?
The answer lies in the pagan origins of Christmas. In ancient Babylon, the feast of the Son of Isis (Goddess of Nature) was celebrated on December 25. Raucous partying, gluttonous eating and drinking, and gift-giving were traditions of this feast.
In Rome, the Winter Solstice was celebrated many years before the birth of Christ. The Romans called their winter holiday Saturnalia, honoring Saturn, the God of Agriculture. In January, they observed the Kalends of January, which represented the triumph of life over death. This whole season was called Dies Natalis Invicti Solis, the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun. The festival season was marked by much merrymaking. It is in ancient Rome that the tradition of the Mummers was born. The Mummers were groups of costumed singers and dancers who traveled from house to house entertaining their neighbors. From this, the Christmas tradition of caroling was born.
In northern Europe, many other traditions that we now consider part of Christian worship were begun long before the participants had ever heard of Christ. The pagans of northern Europe celebrated the their own winter solstice, known as Yule. Yule was symbolic of the pagan Sun God, Mithras, being born, and was observed on the shortest day of the year. As the Sun God grew and matured, the days became longer and warmer. It was customary to light a candle to encourage Mithras, and the sun, to reappear next year.
Huge Yule logs were burned in honor of the sun. The word Yule itself means "wheel," the wheel being a pagan symbol for the sun. Mistletoe was considered a sacred plant, and the custom of kissing under the mistletoe began as a fertility ritual. Hollyberries were thought to be a food of the gods.
The tree is the one symbol that unites almost all the northern European winter solstices. Live evergreen trees were often brought into homes during the harsh winters as a reminder to inhabitants that soon their crops would grow again. Evergreen boughs were sometimes carried as totems of good luck and were often present at weddings, representing fertility. The Druids used the tree as a religious symbol, holding their sacred ceremonies while surrounding and worshipping huge trees.
In 350, Pope Julius I declared that Christ's birth would be celebrated on December 25. There is little doubt that he was trying to make it as painless as possible for pagan Romans (who remained a majority at that time) to convert to Christianity. The new religion went down a bit easier, knowing that their feasts would not be taken away from them.
Christmas (Christ-Mass) as we know it today, most historians agree, began in Germany, though Catholics and Lutherans still disagree about which church celebrated it first. The earliest record of an evergreen being decorated in a Christian celebration was in 1521 in the Alsace region of Germany. A prominent Lutheran minister of the day cried blasphemy: "Better that they should look to the true tree of life, Christ."
The controversy continues even today in some fundamentalist sects.
Related: http://www.essortment.com/christmas-pagan-origins-42543.html
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