It's often claimed that many of today's Christmas traditions derive from the pre-Christian observances of pagan cults suppressed by Roman authorities. The story goes that, after Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire in the fourth century, zealous imperial authorities sought to impose the new faith on the empire's millions of inhabitants by co-opting their established pagan traditions — including the date when a new festival was celebrated.
But it seems that the pagan influence on some Christmas traditions may have been overstated. Here is a look at seven Christmas traditions and their origins.
