Christmas means many things to many different people. It isn’t only a holiday for Christians to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, but it’s also a holiday for non-Christians to celebrate family, give gifts and just enjoy each other’s company. But there are a few dark secrets of Christmas past that many don’t know about.

The date of Christmas, while it is celebrated as the birthday of Jesus Christ, is not the actual date of birth. Biblical scholars put Jesus being born in the spring months. So how did Dec. 25 become the date of choice? Dec. 25 was the last day of the Roman Pagan festival of Saturnalia. Saturnalia was a time when the Roman magistrates would not enforce the law and allow citizens to eat, drink and be merry. There would be some looting, orgies and, on the last day, they sacrificed two individuals in order to keep the evil spirits at bay. Saturnalia was a time of lawlessness, which the Roman government felt would allow the citizens to get everything out of their system.

“What is interesting about Saturnalia, is that there were role reversals. Masters would serve slaves on Saturnalia, and slaves would act like masters,” said Bryan Butler, who is the professor of classics at ULM. “Saturnalia was just a time for the Romans to cut loose,” Butler said.

When the Catholic Church began to form and the empire converted to Christianity, the Church Fathers could not kill the old holiday. People still celebrated Saturnalia just as they had before. So in an effort to stop the madness, and convert more pagans to Christianity, the Church “Christianized” the holiday. They made the final day of Saturnalia the official birth date of Jesus and allowed citizens to celebrate under the premise that they had to stop the immorality. They were allowed to continue having the feast, and their rambunctious behavior started targeting the Jews instead.

In 1466, under the rule of PopePaul II, Jews were forced to race naked through Rome for the entertainment of its citizens. Even into the 18th and 19th centuries Jewish Rabbis were forced to dress as clowns and march the streets of Rome while the citizens pelted them with an assortment of projectiles. This continued until recently in history.

Christmas today is far different from the Christmas of our ancestors. We now view Christmas as a season of love, care and joy, which is far better than what it used to be. So to those who say we need to get back to the true meaning of Christmas, rephrase that. Because the true meaning of Christmas is not one many are familiar with and definitely not something in which they’d show an interest in celebrating