History of “Merry Christmas”

Discover the origins of Christmas and the phrase “Merry Christmas”: where the holiday began, why December 25 was chosen, how pagan and Christian traditions merged, and how the greeting “Merry Christmas” developed over the centuries.

Introduction 

No single modern country started “Christmas” as we know it today. The holiday developed over many centuries through a mixture of early Christian practice, Roman and Germanic winter festivals, and later cultural revivals across Europe. The church in Rome formally celebrated the birth of Jesus on December 25 by the 4th century, but many customs (feasting, gift-giving, decorations) come from older pagan festivals such as Saturnalia and Yule. The seasonal greeting “Merry Christmas” appears in English records as early as the 16th century.

1. Where did Christmas come from? A short timeline

• Ancient winter festivals (pre-Christian): Long before Christianity, peoples around the Mediterranean and Northern Europe marked the winter solstice with festivals — for Romans, Saturnalia in mid-December; for Germanic and Norse peoples, Yule in late December/early January. These festivals involved feasting, gift-giving, light, and community gatherings.

• Early Christianity (1st–3rd centuries): Early Christians commemorated Jesus’ life and ministry, but did not universally celebrate a birth date. Various local communities remembered Jesus’ birth on different days (or not at all).

• 4th century — December 25 fixed in Rome: By 336 CE there is evidence the church in Rome observed the birth of Christ on December 25. Scholars give multiple reasons for the date: linking it to Roman solar festivals (like the “Birthday of Sol Invictus”), aligning with Jewish calendrical calculations, or providing a Christian alternative to pagan celebrations. The decision was gradual and complex, not a single “founding” event by a modern nation.

• Middle Ages: Christmas took on religious, civic, and folk meanings across Europe. Local saints’ days, harvest traditions, and regional rituals blended with Christian liturgy.

• 16th–17th centuries: The greeting “Merry Christmas” appears in English documents; meanwhile some Protestant groups (e.g., English Puritans) rejected traditional Christmas celebrations as too pagan or disorderly.

• 19th century revival and globalization: The Victorian era (notably Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol) reshaped Christmas into a family-centered holiday with charity, decorations, and a focus on children — elements that helped export an Anglo-American style of Christmas globally.

2. Why December 25? Church, sun cults, or calculation?

There is no single uncontested explanation, but the main theories are:

• Replacement theory: December 25 was chosen to provide a Christian alternative to Roman midwinter festivals (Saturnalia) or the birthday of the sun god (Sol Invictus), making it easier for converts to keep a familiar festival while Christianizing its meaning.

• Calculation theory: Early Christian scholars sometimes tied the date of Jesus’s conception to March 25 (an ancient date associated with the spring equinox and other Christian calculations). Adding nine months yields December 25.

• Practical/liturgical reasons: As Christianity became Rome’s dominant religion under Constantine and later emperors, establishing a fixed date may have helped standardize liturgy across the empire.

All these played a role; the choice is best seen as the result of theological reasoning, local practice, and political-cultural pragmatism in Late Antiquity rather than a single “country” decree.

3. Pagan roots and surviving customs

Many of the familiar trimmings of Christmas — greenery, lights, feasting, role reversals, and gift exchanges — have parallels in older, non-Christian midwinter festivals:

• Saturnalia (Rome): Public feasts, gift-giving, role reversals (masters and slaves switching roles), and general merrymaking in mid- to late-December. These customs survived in adapted forms within Christian celebrations.

• Yule (Germanic/Norse): Burning a yule log, feasting, drinking, and rituals connected to the return of the sun and longer days. Elements of Yule influenced folklore and later Christmas practices in Northern Europe.

Christian leaders and communities gradually absorbed, reframed, or discouraged different popular customs depending on place and era. In some regions medieval church authorities attempted to regulate exuberant festivities; in others, church and popular practice blended fully.

4. When did people start saying “Merry Christmas”?

The exact origin of the phrase “Merry Christmas” in English is traceable in textual records to the 16th century. A notable early occurrence is a 1534 letter by Bishop John Fisher (imprisoned during Henry VIII’s reign) that contains the phrase “wishes him a merry Christmas,” showing the greeting was already in circulation in Tudor England. The Christmas carol tradition (e.g., “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”) also dates back to the later medieval and early modern periods. Over time “merry” was the common adjective in English-language greetings, while “Happy Christmas” became associated more with British royal usage in later centuries.

5. How the holiday evolved into its modern, global form

• Reformation and reaction: The Protestant Reformation and later Puritan movements challenged or curtailed Christmas in some places (notably in 17th-century England and colonial New England), leading to bans or strictures because celebrations were seen as too papist, pagan, or disorderly.

• Victorian reinvention: The 19th century brought a major transformation: Christmas was reframed around home, family, charity, children, and the sanitized customs of gift-giving, caroling, evergreens, and festive meals. Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (1843) strongly influenced the holiday’s modern emotional and moral tone. This Victorian package was exported widely through literature, print media, and later mass media.

• Commercialization and globalization (20th–21st centuries): The industrial and consumer ages, plus global media, spread a recognizable Christmas iconography (Santa Claus, decorated trees, gift industries) across much of the world — sometimes blended with local traditions and sometimes secularized.

6. So which country “started” Christmas?

If the question is read strictly (which modern nation “started” Christmas), the answer is: none. Christmas emerged out of late-Roman/early-Christian practice centered in the Mediterranean (notably Rome) and from many earlier and later cultural strands across Europe and the Near East. So while the Roman church played a central role in fixing December 25 and shaping formal liturgy, the holiday’s customs and evolution are pan-European and trans-cultural. In short, Christmas is a composite festival shaped by many peoples and eras rather than a national invention.

7. Why do we still say “Merry Christmas” — and what about “Happy Christmas”?

“Merry” historically suggested festive cheer, high spirits, and good will; “Merry Christmas” became the conventional seasonal salutation in early modern English. Over time regional preferences emerged: “Merry Christmas” is common in the United States and much of the Anglosphere, while “Happy Christmas” has sometimes been preferred in British royal usage and among those who wish a slightly less raucous nuance than “merry.” Both expressions are used interchangeably today, and modern multilingual societies add many other seasonal greetings.

8. What to remember

• Christmas as a holiday is the product of many cultures and centuries, not a single country.

• Rome played a crucial institutional role in fixing December 25 as the official date by the 4th century, but many customs came from earlier pagan midwinter festivals (Saturnalia, Yule) and later folk practices.

• The phrase “Merry Christmas” is attested in English from the 16th century, and the modern family-centered, charitable, and commercial form of Christmas was largely shaped in the 19th century and spread globally.

9. FAQ

Q: When was Christmas first celebrated on December 25?
A: Evidence shows Rome observed Christmas on December 25 by 336 CE, with the date becoming widespread during the 4th century.

Q: Did Christmas replace a pagan festival?
A: Theories say December 25 was chosen partly to Christianize popular midwinter festivals (e.g., Saturnalia, Sol Invictus), though other theological calculations were also influential.

Q: When does “Merry Christmas” first appear in records?
A: The phrase appears in English documents by the 1530s and features in carols and seasonal greetings thereafter.

Q: Why do some churches celebrate Christmas in January?
A: Some Orthodox churches follow the Julian calendar for liturgical dates; their December 25 corresponds to January 7 on the modern Gregorian calendar.