As Miles asked, “Who can wonder that Christmas contains incongruous elements, for old things, loved by the people, cannot easily be uprooted?” These early celebrations kept growing throughout the Middle Ages and have continued until today. In fact, this phenomenon disproves a very common misconception about Christmas, that it was a quiet religious holiday with no secular overtones until nineteenth-century capitalists turned it into a secular holiday in order to make money. Christmas has always had a secular element, which can flourish alongside the religious element and add to the season.
