ghg

The First Centuries of Christianity At the beginning of the winter, when the days were short, the Teutons thought heavily of their sun God Odin. They asked for its assistance for defeating winter and winter death. They also tried to reconcile the Winterdaemonen by dancing around the fires, humming, sacrificing people under the large oaks and practiced many other religious customs. They also ate and drank a lot and decorated their houses with laurel, Mistel …

…the Roman God Saturn with large rejoicing after the style of the Germanic winter sun turning celebration. The Romans decorated their houses with laurel, branches of fir and candles, and drank and ate much. The Roman celebration Saturns was called Saturnalien. Another part of the Roman winter celebration was celebrating the new Roman year with sports, cheerful plays, drinking, loud music, giving of branches of fir as luck symbols and forecasts of the future