It *is* a repurposed pagan festival, at least around here.
It is. Christians adopted the traditions and slapped a name on it...in Rome it was a feast called Saturnalia that celebrated the solstice.
Then you have Yuletide, which is the pre-Christian Germanic Midwinter celebration.
http://thepaganjourney.weebly.com/yule.html"The evergreen trees signaled the "return of life" and "light" as the winter solstice meant the days were starting to get longer."
Mistletoe...was started by the Druids, who believed it was an all-powerful healing item from the sacred oak tree.
"If you met someone in the forest you gave them the sign of peace under the mistletoe so people started to hang mistletoe above their doorways as a symbol of peace. This was such a powerful symbol of paganism that English churches actually banned the use of it,"
"Holly is sacred to Holle, the Germanic underworld goddess, and symbolizes everlasting life, goodwill and potent life energy."
Not really into it this year...Yule, Christmas, whatever. Meh. Boy will be spending it with girlfriend, and no visitors with covid this year. Hung some lights this year around the house, but that's about it...no tree. I spend 95% of my time pulling the cats out of it anyway.
