December 25 was “a heathen, if not a solar origin. . . . The Saturnalia of the Romans preceded it” (Nelson’s Encyclopedia).
“On the old Roman feast of Sol [celebrating the birth of the Sun-god]” (Americana Encyclopedia).
“The Saturnalia (a feast of unbridled joy). . . . The Nativity was fixed at the same epoch” (M. de Beugnot’s History, Vol. 2, page 265).
“The church . . . going back to heathenism . . . would have festivals, and they tacked on Christian names to heathen ones. . . . Christmas having been the worst of heathen festivals . . . they put Christ’s birth there. . . . [That day] was the expression of one of the worst principles of heathenism —the reproductive power of nature. . . . The church has Christian festivals, so-called, to replace the heathen ones . . . paganizing Christianity . . . to keep their fleshly minds contented” (J.N.D. Collected Writings, Vol. 29).
Augustine recounts that so determined were the people to have feasts that the clergy winked as it!