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Lights also played an important part in most whiter solstice festivals. An obscure figure in the early mythologies of the East emerged as a sun god. From the 1st century B.C. this figure, Mithras, was adopted by an Increasing number of Roman soldiers and others. Mithras’ greatest festival was that of the winter solstice, the time when the god began to return to his worshippers.
In the 5th century the Western church ordered a feast celebrating the birth of the Savior to be observed on the day of the Mithraic rites of the birth of the sun and at the close of the Saturnalia.
Among the German and Celtic tribes the winter solstice was considered an important point of the year and to commemorate the return of the sun they held their chief festival of Yule, which, like other pagan celebrations, became adapted to Christmas. The Teutonic Yule feast also provided customs for the Christmas festivities, such as the Yule log and wassail bowl.
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