I am interested in the origins and development of Christmas and its associated traditions. It is impossible to research this on the internet due to hundreds of dodgy-looking new-age sites claiming its all pagan and Christians just renamed it. And its such a big subject I don't know where to start.
The Scandinavian festival of Yule is often claimed as a precursor to Christmas, yet as far as I know there is no historical evidence for what Yule even was, beyond the name, and a later Christian source describing it as a midwinter blood-sacrifice.
Odin is often claimed as a precursor for Santa Claus, yet again, there is often no evidence presented for this. I think the Christian origins for most of Christmas tradition is more likely, but is there strong evidence or solid scholarship on this? Is there anyone who can disentangle this subject and provide clarity on any aspect of it.
Note that I am not particularly interested in American traditions, or the post-Clement Clarke Moore development of Santa Claus. I think this is pretty well known already.
I, too, am interested in this question. I'd agree with you that a lot of the information we get tends to come from dodgy New Age pop-Neopagan websites. I also think it's best to avoid them unless they can provide textual or archaeological evidence for their claims.
In regards to Santa Claus and Father Christmas (originally two distinct figures combined into one in more recent times), their origins are distinctly Christian. Santa Claus is (as you probably already know) from the Dutch Sinterklaas or Sint-Niklaas, meaning St. Nicholas of Myra - a Christian saint associated with children. Since his feast day falls on December 6th, he's associated with the season of Advent and Christmastide. Father Christmas, on the other hand, finds his origins in Medieval personifications of the Christmas holiday itself. Here is a carol from the 15th century (attributed to Richard Smart, a rector):
Nowel, Nowel, Nowel, Nowel, Who is there, that singeth so Nowel Nowel, Nowel?
I am here, Sir Christmas Welcome, my lord Sir Christmas, Welcome to all both more and less; Come near Nowel.
God be with you, Sir, tidings I you bring, A maid hath born a child full young, The which causeth me to sing. Nowel.
Christ is now born of a pure maid, In an ox stall he is laid, Wherefore sing we all at abraid, Nowel.
Drink you all right heartily, Make good cheer and be right merry, And sing with us now joyfully, Nowel.
The personification of Christmas in this carol is called 'Sir Christmas' rather than 'Father', and he's more like a jolly medieval lord putting on a show, going from village to village and proclaiming the good news of Christmas while telling everyone to rejoice and celebrate with holiday cheer.
During the 17th century, Christmas fell under attack by radical Protestants (such as the Puritans). In England, it was even banned for a while. After the Restoration of the Monarchy under King Charles II, Christmas was re-instated as a national holiday. In many people's minds, though, there was something quite nostalgic about this holiday - after all, it had been banned for several years. After all those Christmas-free years, the merry old holiday spirit became associated with more elderly and venerable qualities as befits a figure effectively exiled from England and only just returning after a long banishment. He was addressed as 'Father Christmas', associated with the glory days of old before the outlawing of the holiday season, and began to take on many of the attributes that we're used to seeing in him today.
For instance, here's a 1686 depiction of Father Christmas from Josiah King's The Trial of Father Christmas : http://www.tiragraffi.it/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Father-Christmas-1686.jpg
Note the white beard.
As time went on, Father Christmas became associated with St. Nicholas, syncretised into the same figure. Many cultures in Europe have a variation on Father Christmas or the Christmas Man, as a personification of the holiday. Due to Europe's Christian heritage, there's also St. Nicholas (and in some cultures, a Christ-child who accompanies him, the Christkindl or Kriss Kringle). So that's the origins of Santa.
Now onto the alleged 'pagan' associations: I'm with you in that I'm just not seeing them here. As much as some will try and associate Santa with Odin, I've yet to see much serious scholarship or hard evidence that connects them at all. The two actually seem worlds apart - while Santa is a jolly and festive figure associated with fun and gift-giving, Odin is a grim and morose deity who leads a host of dark spirits into hunts and into battle. There's not really any evidence to connect Father Christmas with anything 'Odinic' that I can see - he seems to find his origins among Christian revelers of the later Middle Ages as a personification of Christmas cheer.
This is a great question and a great contribution from Unicorn1234 above. I'm also interested in this topic. I have read, though I forget where, that Yule was a Saxon festival that was celebrated around the time of winter solstice and that when Christianity came over to Britain, the Christians appropriated the festival and placed Christmas over the top of it as a way of easing in the Saxons. In other words, suggesting that they were already correctly celebrating a Christian tradition, but that their interpretation needed adjustment.
I would be interested to hear if there is anything to properly substantiate this. If Yule is scandinavian as suggested by the OP, that seems to support the idea that it was a Saxon tradition in Britain before Christianity came along.
