The pagan origins of Christmas in Scotland
- Lucy Stewart
- Holiday, Interesting facts, Scotland, Winter holiday
- Christmas Scotland, Customs Scotland, New Year Scotland, Scotland events, Scotland Festivals
- 2 Comments
The pagan origins of Christmas in Scotland Christmas is just around the corner, which means it’s time for all the gorgeous decorations that come along with it. The Pagan origins of Christmas in Scotland is evident in just how many festivals we have throughout the year, stemming from as long ago as our Neolithic ancestors, who built some of the incredible stone circles found scattered all over the country, from Stenness in Orkney and the Callanish stones in Lewis, to Stonehenge in England. During certain festivals, much emphasis is put on fire in particular – have you ever wondered why that is? Most of the Christmas traditions we’re familiar with today, are actually pagan in origin – mistletoe and Christmas trees, for example. The Mistletoe has been a part of pagan culture for thousands of years; the ancient Celts would hang it in their homes as a means of warding off evil spirits (in much the same way as fire was intended to do) and in Norse mythology it was a symbol of love and friendship – this may be where the origin of kissing under the mistletoe originates. Christmas lights are pretty to look at but they have a deeper meaning connected to them, which can be traced back to Samhain, the Celtic New Year that we have come to know today as Halloween. Samhain marked the beginning of the longer, darker nights and, as a consequence, this meant to our ancestors, that the barrier between good and evil (light and dark) was much thinner, resulting in evil spirits or the dead being able to cross over from the otherworld (Celtic mythology) into the world of the living and ultimately causing much harm. As a precaution against the dead being able to enter this world, it was common practice
