The birth of the Christian savior, Jesus Christ, marks the holiday we’ve grown to love as Christmas, or that’s just what we were taught to believe. Though many believe that Jesus was born with the snow, the bible, unfortunately, does not mention a date.

The date was actually adopted from Pope Julius I who chose Dec. 25 in an effort to adopt and absorb the traditions of the pagan holiday of the Saturnalia festival. The pagan holiday was in honor of Saturn, or the god of agriculture.

Saturnalia was a day where delicious food was abundant and traditional Roman roles were turned upside down. Like the common practice now, schools and businesses were closed so everyone could participate in the holiday’s joyful, fun festivals.

The holiday was also in line with the solstice. It would begin in early December and end a month later. After the solstice, the later Roman Empire celebrated the birthday of Mithra, or the god of the unconquerable sun, on Dec. 25. For most Romans, this day was the most sacred day of the year.

Nordic countries would celebrate Yule-Tide for the god Odin and the pagan Anglo-Saxon Mōdraniht, which was celebrated from late November to mid-January. Many Nordic people were afraid of Odin as they believed he made flights through the night to observe his people to decide who would prosper or perish.

For this reason, most people stayed inside. The traditional Yule holiday originally stemmed from the original pagan Yule, however, it is used in traditional Christmas celebrations now. By holding Christmas at the same time as the winter solstice, Christian leaders increased their chance of Christmas being embraced. As leaders were baptized and converted, they shifted their traditional celebrations to those of the Christians. Because of this, by the Middle Ages, Christianity had mostly replaced the pagan holiday.

Though the holiday has shifted towards Christian roots, there are still many Christmas traditions that are from the pagans. The most known green, lively symbol of Christmas has pagan roots, the evergreen Christmas tree. Evergreen trees signaled the “return of life” and “light” as the winter solstice indicated that the days were starting to get longer.

The red-wearing, gift bearing man Santa Claus resembles Sinterklaas the Dutch figure or Odin the Norse god, but he is based on a monk named St. Nicholas who gave up his wealth to live in the countryside to help the poor and the sick. His most popular story is saving three daughters from slavery or prostitution by giving them a dowery to be married. For this, he became the protector of children.

The German and the Swiss people believe that Christkind or Kris Kringle would deliver gifts to good children. Christkind was an angel-like figure who often accompanied St. Nicholas on his holiday missions.

The green and red Christmas lights surrounding the pagan origin holiday, has never dulled the holiday spirit with family in the winter wonderland.