Druids were among the Teutonic and Germanic peoples of Europe whose heathen customs were added to the Roman Saturnalia festivities during the Middle Ages. Their rites contributed to the New Year's celebrations, including the Yule log and mistletoe. The Yule log is a carry-over from the bonfires of sun-worship, and mistletoe, a parasite, was used in Druid rites as a symbol of sex-worship. As these Teutonic customs were incorporated, the date of New Year's celebrations was temporarily moved to March 25 to coincide with the Germanic spring rites of fertility. Pope Gregory later reinstated the ancient pagan Roman date of January 1 and imposed it on the Western world through the Gregorian calendar reforms of 1582. Roman Catholic countries accepted the change at once, but Sweden, Germany, Denmark, and England, the strongholds of Druid customs, finally yielded to Rome only in the 1700s. This layering of Druid practices onto Roman ones shows that New Year's is pagan to its core and belongs to the ways of the heathen that God forbids His people to learn.

The ancient Druids used mistletoe for its supposed mystical powers to ward off evil spirits and bring good luck. In Norse mythology mistletoe symbolized love and friendship, and the custom of kissing under it is a later blending of Druidic practice with the sexual license of Saturnalia. It is one example of how Christmas trappings were imported directly from paganism through syncretism, which makes the practice something that cannot be sanctified simply by attaching Christ's name to it.