History of Christmas

In Soviet Union we did not have Christmas. But we did have the fir tree, the festive lights, and the gifts for New Year's Eve. Does every human culture have some "festival of lights" to survive the darkest time of the year? Was Jesus really born on December 25th, or was his B-Day moved to coincide with old celebrations of light? Were many other deities allegedly born at that time? How does our brain suffer from lack of sunlight at that time?

The festivities in the week following the winter solstice (after which the days grow longer), today called Shab-e Yalda in Iran, are a remnant of the culture which celebrated the birth of the divinity of light on that day. Yalda literally means "The birth of sun".

Similarities between Mirtha and Jesus:

Mithra (Avestan Miθra, modern Persian مهر Mihr, Mehr, Meher) is an important deity or divine concept in Zoroastrianism and later Persian mythology and culture.
The reforms of Zoroaster retained the multitudes of pre-Zoroastrian divinities, reducing them in a complex hierarchy to "immortals" under the supremacy of the Creator Ahura Mazda. In this scheme, Mithra is a member of the triad, protectors of the order of the universe. Mithra is additionally the protector of truth and justice and the source of cosmic light.
Mithra is not present in the Gathas of Zarathustra (Zoroaster) but appears in the younger Yashts of the Avesta. There, Mithra comes to the fore among the created beings. In the Yashts, Mithra gains the title of "Judge of Souls" and is assigned the domain of human welfare (which he shares with the Creator). He is then the divine representative of the Creator on earth, and is directed to protect the righteous from the demonic forces. As the enemy of darkness and evil spirits, he protected souls, accompanying them to paradise, and was thus a redeemer.

While in older Zoroastrianism Mithra is seen as a creation of Ahura Mazda, in later Persian culture, Mithra evolved to be an incarnation of Ahura Mazda.
By at least the 3rd century BC, Mithra was identified as the progeny of Anahita, a mother-entity who is not mentioned in the Gathas of the very early Avesta texts. The largest temple with a Mithraic connection is the Seleucid temple at Kangavar in western Iran (c. 200 BC), which is dedicated to "Anahita, the Immaculate Virgin Mother of the Lord Mithras".

Mithra was born on December 25, of a virgin. His birth was witnessed by shepherds and magicians [magi]. Mithra raised the dead and healed the sick and cast out demons. He returned to heaven at the spring equinox and before doing so had a last supper with his 12 disciples (representing the 12 signs of the zodiac), eating mizd, a piece of bread marked with a cross (an almost universal symbol of the sun).
In America, Christmas was generally outlawed until the end of the last century. In Boston, up to 1870, anyone missing work on Christmas Day would be fired. Factory owners customarily required employees to come to work at 5 a.m. on Christmas -- to insure they wouldn't have time to go to church that day. And any student who failed to go to school on December 25 would be expelled. Only the arrival of large numbers of Irish and northern European immigrants brought acceptance of Christmas in this country.