3 ms·

Christmas absorbed pagan celebration, so this isn't really a transformation, just a return to the original celebration (winter solstice).

• watwut 5y ago
  Imo, it is something new and different. We are not celebrating winter solstice. Most people dont even know there is winter solstice and dont care. And I doubt pagans did tree, santa claus, snowman and gifts.
  • jbay808 5y ago
    I bet that the pagans did do a tree and gifts, probably did snowmen too (which is more of a winter thing than a Christmas thing anyway), and they probably did have an associated folk character of some sort, even though it probably wasn't Santa Claus.
  • handrous 5y ago
    Most people barely even experience seasonality now that nearly everything's available in the grocery store year-round (thanks to international shipping) and we have excellent central heating and cooling in our houses and offices. Plus extremely cheap lighting, for that matter, which strongly affects our experience of the Winter months. No smells of burning oil, no rationing the candles carefully, no fires to tend through the night.