PEOPLE often complain about the expense of Christmas (“The true meaning of Christmas is lost amid the greed”, Catriona Stewart, The Herald, December 9). Cards, presents, postage, food, drink, decorations: the bills mount up higher every year.

So it is perhaps worth noting that cost has been a factor for centuries. We owe our traditional Christmas festival to the Romans. During the fourth century CE (meaning the same as AD), the Roman empire gradually changed from being pagan to being Christian.

During that transition, pagan festivals were held alongside Christian ones. As Christianity gained power, the old pagan festivals were assimilated and renamed.

The advance of Christianity was, according to Enlightenment historian Edward Gibbon, a major factor in the decline and fall of the Roman Empire.

He thought that pagan Rome had better relations with subject peoples while it practised its polytheistic religion: when the Romans themselves had many gods to choose from, other gods could be condoned and tolerated.

However, when Rome became monotheistic, other gods were denounced as false gods, relations soured and the empire found itself with more enemies than friends.

Christmas has always been expensive – it cost the Romans their Empire!

Les Reid,

28 Morton Street,

Edinburgh.

CATRIONA Stewart is quite right. Furthermore, with everybody stuffing their faces with mince pies since early November, our ears being assailed by schmaltzy versions of carols for the past three weeks and children daily gorging upon chocolates from Advent calendars, the only certainty is that, come Christmas Eve, everybody will be scunnered by the whole thing and, as there will be nothing special left for Christmas Day, December 25 itself is bound to be a disappointment.

Unless, of course, one cares to go to church.

Jane Ann Liston,

5 Whitehill Terrace,

Largo Road,

St Andrews.