Why Pagan Festival?
If you will dig up the history of Christmas, you’ll find out that Christmas couldn’t be traced to the time of the Apostles. The Catholic Encyclopedia admits: Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church. Irenaeus and Tertullian omit it from their lists of feasts; Origen, glancing perhaps at the discreditable imperial Natalitia, asserts (in Lev. Hom. viii in Migne, P.G., XII, 495) that in the Scriptures sinners alone, not saints, celebrate their birthday; Arnobius (VII, 32 in P.L., V, 1264) can still ridicule the “birthdays” of the gods. (source) Christmas actually originated from a pagan Roman festival, Dies Natalis Solis Invicti. Dies Natalis Solis Invicti means “Birthday of the Unconquered Sun God” and was celebrated yearly on December 25. And just like what the Catholic Church did to the Filipino pagan festivals like Sinulog, Ati-atihan, Igorot “Tengao” Pagan festival, etc., the Roman Catholic Church simply adopted the Roman pagan festival “Dies Natalis Solis Invicti
