The word “Christmas” comes from the old English “Cristes maesse”, or the mass of Christ. It is probably that the Christmas date of December 25 was chosen to offset the Pagan celebrations of Saturnalia and Natalis Invicti. It may also be that the celebration of the birth of the “true light of the world” was set at the time of the December solstice because this is when the days in the northern hemisphere began to have more hours of sunlight. Christmas holiday customs derive from various cultures, including Teutonic, Celtic, Roman, West Asian and Christian.