Episode 3609: Dark Enigma - Real Story of Christmas and the History Behind Some Dark Traditions

Please be aware the stories, theories, re-enactments and language in this podcast are of an adult nature and can be considered disturbing, frightening and in some cases even offensive.  Listener Discretion is therefore advised. 

Welcome heathens welcome to the world of the weird and unexplained.  I’m your host, Nicole Delacroix and together, we will be investigating stories about the things that go bump in the night, monsters lurking under your bed or deep in the forest, that unknown creature lurking just out of sight and frighteningly imagined creatures, ghosts, supernatural beings and even some unsolved mysteries.  So, sit back, grab your favorite drink, and prepare to be transported to today's dark Enigma.... 

And on today’s Dark enigma well, we have a special Christmas episode!  So, with that said, we will still be playing our drinking game and as you know, the drinking game is only for those of us that are at home and have nowhere else to go tonight.  The choice of libation, as always my darlings, is yours, so choose your poison accordingly… Alright, now for the game part how about every time I say Holiday that will be a single shot and every time I say Jesus, that will be a double shot.  Now that the business end is out of the way we can jump headfirst into today’s dark enigma… so don that bulky Santa suit, your very best ugly sweater as we jump into the Real Story of Christmas and the History Behind Some Dark Traditions…

History doesn’t record when the first Christmas was celebrated, but it was probably sometime in the fourth century CE, in the Roman Empire. What's sure is that the first historic record of the holiday is a calendar dating from 354 CE, belonging to a rich Roman Christian named Philocalus. That calendar tells us that on the same date - December 25 - another holiday was celebrated, marking the birth of Sol Invictus, “the Unconquered Sun.” That was a new pagan cult, worshiping a new sun deity.  Both these holidays coincided with the Roman festival of Saturnalia, which had been celebrated from December 17 to December 24th. That was a festival celebrating the god Saturn, which – as we will see - contributed heavily to latter-day Christmas traditions.