Ubenedictus:


this is what your source said:

The Romans, too, maintained the worship of the sun after Heliogabalus had introduced it and had built a temple to, Sol. "



i believe you can read that it clearly says that heliogabalus also called elagabalus introduced the worship of the sun god to rome.

That was not you said earlier. You said my source said "heliolatry came back to Rome under Elagabalus, the older cult of Sol had died down". Where did my source say that?

the emperor who adopted the name of his god an brought the cult of elagabal to rome lived over 200yrs after christ, he was born abt 203 AD, that shows he only began existing some 200yrs after Christ.

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus (c.203 – March 11, 222), commonly known as Elagabalus (pronounced elaGABalus) or Heliogabalus, was Roman Emperor from 218 to 222.

Nawa to you o. Jesus died in 33 AD na. It's not up to 200 years na, not to talk of being "over". But I think I understand where you are going.

Ubenedictus:
actually wiki gives the reason. Saturnalia starts on 17th december, the roman governments was adding or subtrating, the highest it came was in the later republic i.e between 70BC and 29BC when 7 days were added, after the republic ended the emperial house started and throughout the emperial day, ie throughout the christian times only 5 days were added which means saturnalia ended on the 22nd. So the christians didn't steal the day of saturn because saturnalia was ended when christmas started.

My point has been that the activities performed in the Xmas were copied from the Saturnalia. The birth of Mithra on Dec 25th was also a copy from sun god worship, ie Mithra.

JMAN05:


That was not you said earlier. You said my source said "heliolatry came back to Rome under Elagabalus, the older cult of Sol had died down". Where did my source say that?

i never said i was quoting your source verbatim, your source say elagabalus introduced the sun god to rome. I simply took that part.

Nawa to you o. Jesus died in 33 AD na. It's not up to 200 years na, not to talk of being "over". But I think I understand where you are going.

actually history is supposed to be counted after Jesus birth not after his death.

JMAN05:


My point has been that the activities performed in the Xmas were copied from the Saturnalia. The birth of Mithra on Dec 25th was also a copy from sun god worship, ie Mithra.

so you agree that saturnalia was never on the 25th?

All you have to do is show me the historic source that reports that mithra was celebrated on the 25th of dec in ancient rome.

dolphinheart:
@ubenedictus , still waiting for answers to my question o!

i'll get right on them.

dolphinheart:


Haba sir, accurately but not perfectly ? That statement needs explanation o!

yeah, the present calender has an accuracy of 0.000... Which means it is pretty accurate. That doesn't mean it is perfect.

If the date was derived from the hebrew calender, then what's the date on the hebrew calender that it was derived from . Pls, pls , pls tell us that date! .

this question is harder, by 70AD the jerusalem temple had been burnt down, the christian converted all their dates to the julian calender except easter, so it is pretty hard to match the two calenders.

After some research it seems 25 dec in the julian calender usually falls around 25 of the month of kislev and 10 of tebet in the hebrew calender.

In the year 3BC which i believe to be the year of Christ birth 25 of dec in the julian calendar is 8/9 tebet of the hebrew calender.

I believe it is 8/9th tebet of 3 bc.

Ubenedictus:
The Mithraic Mysteries were a mystery religion practiced in the Roman Empire from about the 1st to 4th centuries AD.
The name of the Persian god Mithra (proto-Indo-Iranian Mitra), adapted into Greek as Mithras, was linked to a new and
distinctive imagery. Writers of the Roman Empire period referred to this mystery religion by phrases which can be anglicized as Mysteries of Mithras or Mysteries of the Persians;[1][2] modern historians refer to it as Mithraism,[1] or sometimes Roman Mithraism.[3][4






and incase you don't know what a mystery religion is, then read...


Mystery religions, sacred mysteries or simply mysteries, were religious schools of the Greco-Roman world for which participation was reserved to initiates (mystai).[1] The main characterization of this religion is the secrecy associated with the particulars of the initiation and the ritual practice, which may not be revealed to outsiders. The most famous mysteries of Greco-Roman antiquity were the Eleusinian Mysteries, which were of considerable antiquity and predated the Greek Dark Ages. The mystery schools flourished in Late Antiquity; Julian the Apostate in the mid 4th century is known
to have been initiated into three distinct mystery schools — most notably the Mithraic Mysteries.



So you have it, the belief of mithras and their rituals and mysteries were only revealed to initiates. If mithra had a festival only initiates will know because the cult was heavily secretive.

So here we have it, elegabalus was a god borrowed from syria and was brought to rome by a priest who adopted the gods name.

Sol invinctus gained tranction with aurelius and only at the time of Julian the apostate did it begin to celebrate on the 25.

Mithra was a secretive religion and i'll like to hear the original historic source where u hear any of its festival. Because romans who weren't initiate didn't celebrate the mysteries of mithra because it was highly secretive.

Mithra religion may not have been secretive as thought.
Some new finds at Tienen show evidence of large scale feasting and the mystery religion may not have been as secretive as was generally believed.[65] Check wiki under Mithras.

As for the celebration of the birth of Mithra, this festival has been a part and passel of that religion, it cant be during the Rule of Julian in the 4th century AD.

Catholic encyclopedia reports:

the birth of Christ was assigned the date of the winter solstice (December 25 in the Julian calendar, January 6 in the Egyptian), because on this day, as the sun began its return to northern skies, the pagan devotees of Mithra celebrated the dies natalis Solis Invicti (birthday of the invincible sun). On Dec. 25, 274, Aurelian had proclaimed the sun-god principal patron of the empire and dedicated a temple to him in the Campus Martius. Christmas originated at a time when the cult of the sun was particularly strong at Rome.”—(1967), Vol. III, p. 656.

The above shows that the celebration had been in place before the Rule of Julian.

Ubenedictus:


Mithra was secretive, sol wasn't, their sybolism and practices were also different. Sol didn't reserve their teachings initiates only.
actually there is no historical record that the mithraics came out of their underground temple to join sol worshippers, infact it seems you produced the joint celebration out of thin air!

There is also no historical record that the mithraics celebrated any festival on the 25th of december.

I ve advised you against pontificating when you spew error. The Catholic source I gave will help in this area of Mithra and celebration. See more:

MITHRA

The most important of his many festivals was his birthday, celebrated on the 25th of December, the day subsequently fixed — against all evidence — as the birthday of Christ. In the early days of the Church it was not an uncommon occurrence to find an apologist of the inspired teacher laying undue stress on some points of resemblance between Mithraism and Christianity, and thus the triumphant march of the latter was much retarded. (from McClintock and Strong Encyclopedia).

Note the bold face and italics.

Ubenedictus:
i never said i was quoting your source verbatim, your source say elagabalus introduced the sun god to rome. I simply took that part.

Better.

actually history is supposed to be counted after Jesus birth not after his death.

Even at that, is it over 200 years?

Ubenedictus:
so you agree that saturnalia was never on the 25th?

All you have to do is show me the historic source that reports that mithra was celebrated on the 25th of dec in ancient rome.

The World Book Encyclopedia states: “This celebration [Christmas] was probably influenced by pagan (unchristian) festivals held at that time. The ancient Romans held year-end celebrations to honor Saturn, their harvest god; and Mithras [the sun god].”

It thus appears Saturnalia ended on 23/24th while Mithra did their's on 25th.

This however, does not perforce mean that Mithra worshipers never celebrated this birth day on their own. I ve not seen any reason against that.

Ubenedictus:


this is what my source said.


The cult statue was brought to Rome by the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, who before his accession was the hereditary high priest at Emesa and is commonly called Elagabalus after the deity.

Oga that your source also said:

"The cult of the deity spread to other
parts of the Roman Empire in the
[size=15]second century[/size]. For example, a
dedication has been found as far
away as Woerden".

this one is simple, after the death of the emperor, the god elegabalus was demoted from the roman pantheon of god, the cult naturally diminished in rome and it adherent were later part of the newly elevated cult of sol invinctus which the new emperor inaugurated.

Oga if you read down your source on Elagabalus, you will find this as relates the assimilation.

" The god was later imported and
assimilated with the Roman sun god known as Sol Indiges in
republican times and as Sol Invictus during the 2nd and 3rd
centuries CE."

not necessarily.

The new cult of Sol invinctus asimilated the adherents of Elagabalus in rome and some scholars argue that it also took some of it rites, but this was only so in rome.

In syria elagabalus was a god on its own.

Ubenedictus:
yeah, the present calender has an accuracy of 0.000... Which means it is pretty accurate. That doesn't mean it is perfect.

this question is harder, by 70AD the jerusalem temple had been burnt down, the christian converted all their dates to the julian calender except easter, so it is pretty hard to match the two calenders.

After some research it seems 25 dec in the julian calender usually falls around 25 of the month of kislev and 10 of tebet in the hebrew calender.

In the year 3BC which i believe to be the year of Christ birth 25 of dec in the julian calendar is 8/9 tebet of the hebrew calender.

I believe it is 8/9th tebet of 3 bc.

Sir, which calender are we now using in celebrating the birth of jesus, the hebrew , the Julian or gregorian calender?.
Which calender is the 25th celebration that was just celebrated last year derived from ? I mean 25th Dec 2014, which calender is that?

Ur claim on accuracy of the Julian calender will be trashed later below.
But first ,I dnt like excuses cus excuses only shows that you have something to hide.
The excuse you are using now can be used for children, not for me .
Why ?
1. Record on jesus birth cannot be kept in the temple , the isrealites never kept such records of individuals.
2. The destruction of the temple did not stop the Jews from celebrating their festivals on the date it falls on in the hebrew calender centuries after the destruction.
3. The christians dnt worship, use or keep their records in the temple. In fact , christians where hunted down in Jerusalem during those periods , talk less of them going inside the temple!
3. christians never converted any date to the Julian calender
For example the events of Nissan 14 recorded in the bible was a hebrew calender date.
Up till this moment , christians remember, commemorate ,celebrate that date using the hebrew calender to calculate the day that date will fall on in the Julian and later in gregorian calender.
Every year that date is always different on our modern calender as it does not fall on the same date as the previous year. Then why does the christmass fall on the same date?
Therefore the question is not harder, but unexplainable due to the false method used in deriving that date.
Once something is false, anybody believing it will always be running around looking for ways to cover it up hence the use of some words like "pretty hard to match the two calenders" ,"it seems" and "usually falls".

Now let's go to the Calenders itself.

The Hebrew or Jewish calendar is a lunisolar calendar. The present Hebrew calendar is the product of evolution, including a Babylonian influence. Until the Tannaitic period
(approximately 10–220 CE) the calendar employed a new crescent moon, with an
additional month normally added every two or three years to correct for the difference
between twelve lunar months and the solar year. When to add it was based on observation of natural agriculture-related
events.
The Hebrew lunar year is about eleven days shorter than the solar cycle and uses the 19-year Metonic cycle to bring it into line with the solar cycle, with the addition of an intercalary month every two or three years, for a total of seven times per 19 years. Even with this intercalation, the average Hebrew calendar year is longer by about 6 minutes and 2525/57 seconds than the current mean solar year, so that every 224 years, the Hebrew calendar will fall a day behind the current mean solar year; and about every 231 years it will fall a day behind the Gregorian calendar year.



The Julian calendar, introduced by Julius
Caesar in 46 BC (708 AUC), was a reform of the Roman calendar.[1] It took effect in 45 BC (709 AUC), shortly after the Roman conquest of Egypt. It was the predominant calendar in the Roman world, most of Europe, and in European settlements in the Americas and elsewhere, until it was refined and superseded by the Gregorian calendar. The difference in the average length of the year between Julian (365.25 days) and Gregorian (365.2425 days) is
0.002%.(this shows that the Julian calender which the 25th date was based on was not perfect and if we are to further move the date unto the gregorian calender, then it must shift by 0.002% every year ,so by now that date should not be 25th any longer)
The Julian calendar has a regular year of 365 days .A leap day is added to February every four years. The Julian year is, therefore, on average 365.25 days long(showing you the fruitlesness of measuring days with year in a calender as it does not comform to how the earth moves round the sun , thus the calender is neither accurate nor perfect ).
It was intended to approximate the tropical (solar) year. Although Greek astronomers had known, at least since Hipparchus, a century before the Julian reform, that the tropical year was a few minutes shorter than 365.25 days, the calendar did not compensate for this difference. As a result, the calendar year gained about three days every four centuries compared to observed equinox times and the seasons. This discrepancy was corrected by the Gregorian reform of 1582.


With this explanations above, let us now go to the date u mentioned .

If jesus was born on 8/9 Tibet on 3BC, Jesus birth date will be 11 days shorter on the julian calender the next year , making it Dec 13/14th on his first birthday and dec 2/3rd on his second birthdate day .
Once thr circle is restored every 4 years , it must still be adjusted by a day every 224 years.
Let use bring this calculation to the present time and say 8/9 Tibet falls on 25 Dec 2014, in 2015 ,the date will fall on 12/13th Dec . But I can bet it that christmass will be celebrated on the 25th of 2015.
Do you now see the error of the Dec 25th.

Futher more , to get the date of jesus birth,just in case he was born on 25th Dec , u must add 2 to 3 days more every 400 years on the Julian calender to maintain that day of jesus birth and Cover up for the innacuracies of the Julian calender, and this was not done throughout the celebration of that date during the Julian calender use which lasted from about 46BC to the 16 century. I can't calculate how many days that date should have been shifted now to comform to the real day jesus was born.
Final reason which makes the day useless is that the gregorian calender shifts 0.0002 percent every year. So even if the day was decided to be Dec 25th over 2000 years ago, that day would have shifted by now on the gregorian calender.

So my dear sir , that date is not the day jesus was born.

Any attempt by humans to fix a date for his birth , a date he never told us to remember will always be false dates.
The use of humans measuring time by years has never been accurate or perfect as humans need to add days to years every few years so that the date can come back into place in relation to earths movements.

JMAN05:


Better.



Even at that, is it over 200 years?

yes dear.

JMAN05:


The World Book Encyclopedia states: “This celebration [Christmas] was probably influenced by pagan (unchristian) festivals held at that time. The ancient Romans held year-end celebrations to honor Saturn, their harvest god; and Mithras [the sun god].”

It thus appears Saturnalia ended on 23/24th while Mithra did their's on 25th.

This however, does not perforce mean that Mithra worshipers never celebrated this birth day on their own. I ve not seen any reason against that.

so u have gone back to ur 24th date even though wiki was very clear that is only reach 24th during the latter republic?

Beside the encyclopedia isn't a historic source. You need to provide a historic source that say mithra celebrated on the 25th, that mean d quote should come from a work dated around the 2nd, 3rd and 4th cent, the time of mithra.

@dolphinheart,

i never said christians kept their records in the temple! You are making a strawman.

Those responsible for adding a 13th month periodically to the calender were the sahendrine, those fell from popularity when the temple fell, that is why the rabbi hellie had to twitch the calendar a little and automated it.

2ndly all christian dates where truly moved to the julian calendar, that is why the ancient churches still celebrate the annuciation of a fixed dates and the memorial of matyrs, the only date that was later spaired was easter. Christian didn't always celebrate easter together, the african church have fixed it around 25 march, the eastern church had their own date and the roman church had theirs. It was in the council of nicea that it was decided that the julian date shouldn't be used instead it should be conformed with the jewish passover.


As for your discuss on the calender, i do not have the time to argue with you that the present gregorian calender isn't 2000yrs old and thus hasn't shifted by up to a single day. I also do not have the time to tell you that the gregorian measured time more accurately than the ever shifting hebrew calendar. I'll prefer you learn that urself.
Thanks.

@jman05,

you may be wondering why i asked for historic source on your mithra claim....

I have been doing some reading and i found out that the earliest reference to Mithras being born on December 25, is in the anti-Catholic work of Paul Jablonski, an
18th century Protestant attempting to argue that the Catholic Church had become paganized, and that the date of Christmas was simply a heretical adoption of a pagan festivity, specifically the celebration of the
birth of Mithras. I am always skeptical of agenda driven claims, especially when they are accompanied by a complete lack of substantive evidence, as they were in Jablonski's case.
Ironically, later in the 18th century the same claim was made by the Catholic cleric Jean Hardouin, who asserted that the Catholic Church had rightly 'Christianized' the celebration of Mithras' birth. Like
Jablonski, his argument was without substantive evidence. This blunder was widely popularized in the 19th century literature by Hermann Usener, and has remained influential ever since.
However, Usener's lines of evidence were extremely tenuous, and modern scholarship specifically in the field of Roman
religion and Mithraic studies, has debunked his theory comprehensively.

That is why i still hold that unless you can link the so called mithra bithday to historic sources, you are simply walking on water.

Ubenedictus:
@dolphinheart,

i never said christians kept their records in the temple! You are making a strawman.

Those responsible for adding a 13th month periodically to the calender were the sahendrine, those fell from popularity when the temple fell, that is why the rabbi hellie had to twitch the calendar a little and automated it.

2ndly all christian dates where truly moved to the julian calendar, that is why the ancient churches still celebrate the annuciation of a fixed dates and the memorial of matyrs, the only date that was later spaired was easter. Christian didn't always celebrate easter together, the african church have fixed it around 25 march, the eastern church had their own date and the roman church had theirs. It was in the council of nicea that it was decided that the julian date shouldn't be used instead it should be conformed with the jewish passover.


As for your discuss on the calender, i do not have the time to argue with you that the present gregorian calender isn't 2000yrs old and thus hasn't shifted by up to a single day. I also do not have the time to tell you that the gregorian measured time more accurately than the ever shifting hebrew calendar. I'll prefer you learn that urself.
Thanks.

Now I know that no matter what I say, you will always try to twist away from accepting the truth.

Are you saying that the 13th month was added cus of the fall of the rabbis?

What year, either on the Julian or on the hebrew was the 13th month twitching done ?
Was it before 70ad or after ?

What are the Christian celebrations that where converted from jewish dates, are those dates mentioned in the bible ?

Why was the Nissan 14 date not converted , is it not an important date to christians?

Why does the jewish Passover not have a fixed date on the Julian calender , but other non existent date in the bible has.?

If you can fix 8/9 tenet ,a date not in the scriptures, why can't they fix nisssan 14, a date mentioned on the bible?

The Jews still use the hebrew calender up till date to get the date of some their celebration on the Julian and gregorian calender. It is never on the same date in the Julian calender year after year. The only date that was mentioned with the Passover of the night jesus died was nisssn 14, and it changes every year in other calenders. Wonder why 8/9 tenet does not change.

On the calender issue, pls find time to discuss the issues I raised .

Ubenedictus:
so u have gone back to ur 24th date even though wiki was very clear that is only reach 24th during the latter republic?

Beside the encyclopedia isn't a historic source. You need to provide a historic source that say mithra celebrated on the 25th, that mean d quote should come from a work dated around the 2nd, 3rd and 4th cent, the time of mithra.

You are still deceiving people with this your Oyibo festival that has no trace/root in the book of God. You cannot back your festival with scripture. Scripture never in any potion of the bible tagged Christ with a birthday. Not any of the prophets in the bible. You people will please God when you will only put in practice what He instructed you. Instead of Man traditions.

Ubenedictus:
so u have gone back to ur 24th date even though wiki was very clear that is only reach 24th during the latter republic?

Beside the encyclopedia isn't a historic source. You need to provide a historic source that say mithra celebrated on the 25th, that mean d quote should come from a work dated around the 2nd, 3rd and 4th cent, the time of mithra.

That statement is only hilarious.

Ubenedictus:
so u have gone back to ur 24th date even though wiki was very clear that is only reach 24th during the latter republic?

Beside the encyclopedia isn't a historic source. You need to provide a historic source that say mithra celebrated on the 25th, that mean d quote should come from a work dated around the 2nd, 3rd and 4th cent, the time of mithra.

That date is in history.

That Mithra celebrates Dec 25th as the birth of there god is a word of accuracy. You have to show me a document from the 2nd century that said it is not.

Ubenedictus:
@jman05,

you may be wondering why i asked for historic source on your mithra claim....

I have been doing some reading and i found out that the earliest reference to Mithras being born on December 25, is in the anti-Catholic work of Paul Jablonski, an
18th century Protestant attempting to argue that the Catholic Church had become paganized, and that the date of Christmas was simply a heretical adoption of a pagan festivity, specifically the celebration of the
birth of Mithras. I am always skeptical of agenda driven claims, especially when they are accompanied by a complete lack of substantive evidence, as they were in Jablonski's case.
Ironically, later in the 18th century the same claim was made by the Catholic cleric Jean Hardouin, who asserted that the Catholic Church had rightly 'Christianized' the celebration of Mithras' birth. Like
Jablonski, his argument was without substantive evidence. This blunder was widely popularized in the 19th century literature by Hermann Usener, and has remained influential ever since.
However, Usener's lines of evidence were extremely tenuous, and modern scholarship specifically in the field of Roman
religion and Mithraic studies, has debunked his theory comprehensively.

That is why i still hold that unless you can link the so called mithra bithday to historic sources, you are simply walking on water.

What I said was found a Catholic encyclopedia, a good reference work that the RCC has never disassociated itself from either publicly or through writing or even sued to Court. Encyclopedias of a religion are not just written any how.

The internet New Catholic encyclopedia I quoted previously never mentioned Usener, but holds that the pagan festivities has a strong claim for the present Xmas you guys celebrate.

ogawisdom:
Jesus birth shld b celebrated as he is d saviour of mankind dts d most impt thing

Sharrap jorr!!!! Saviour from what

I say he is the father of tithe and slavery.

PAGAN9JA:


Sharrap jorr!!!! Saviour from what

I say he is the father of tithe and slavery.

U pathological fooooool, r u a muslim too bad

ogawisdom:


U pathological fooooool, r u a muslim too bad

Im not a muslim u monkey!

PAGAN9JA:


Im not a muslim u monkey!

U r a good example of a complete I.diot no wonder u r a member of ocultic religion islam. U can go n die ie if u r still alive

ogawisdom:


U r a good example of a complete I.diot no wonder u r a member of ocultic religion islam. U can go n die ie if u r still alive

U r a madman! U no dey sabi english abi?

JMAN05:


What I said was found a Catholic encyclopedia, a good reference work that the RCC has never disassociated itself from either publicly or through writing or even sued to Court. Encyclopedias of a religion are not just written any how.

The internet New Catholic encyclopedia I quoted previously never mentioned Usener, but holds that the pagan festivities has a strong claim for the present Xmas you guys celebrate.

hehehe,

if the date is so correct all you need to do is show me an historic source that says so!

JMAN05:


That date is in history.

That Mithra celebrates Dec 25th as the birth of there god is a word of accuracy. You have to show me a document from the 2nd century that said it is not.

simple logic,
the burden of proof lies with the person making the claim,

the burden of proof lies with you! Show historic proof that says mithra celebrated is birthday on the 25 of dec

plappville:


You are still deceiving people with this your Oyibo festival that has no trace/root in the book of God. You cannot back your festival with scripture. Scripture never in any potion of the bible tagged Christ with a birthday. Not any of the prophets in the bible. You people will please God when you will only put in practice what He instructed you. Instead of Man traditions.

oh, you are still clinging to a rebuted objection.

Ubenedictus:


simple logic,
the burden of proof lies with the person making the claim,

the burden of proof lies with you! Show historic proof that says mithra celebrated is birthday on the 25 of dec

I have never said i dont have that burden. Habah! I have given a proof for my claim with trusted and valid reference materials. Dont you see them?

You said you need a source from 2nd to 4th century. That is no longer a valid rebuttal to my point. First, you should substantially tell me why my source is wrong with VALID proof, not word of mouth. You ve not done so, neither is there any reason to believe that Catholic is at odds with Usener, neither have I given a proof with Usener as my source. Have I?

So produce a proof for ur claim that only 2nd to 4th century source is the only correct reference material. Show why my proof is wrong. Shikena!

Again, I present a proof from ur catholic internet encyclopedia:

[size=15]The 25 December was observed as his birthday, the
natalis invicti, the rebirth of the winter-sun, unconquered by
the rigours of the season.[/size]

If you doubt that one, go and request a 2nd century document from Catholic Scholars who penned the encyclopedia. Better still, I should ask you for the document since they are your brothers who claim they present your real doctrine. None of you have validly challenged that claim. So where is the document for that statement? If what they said is wrong, O boy, then we know the type of scholars your theological schools produce.

Ubenedictus:


simple logic,
the burden of proof lies with the person making the claim,

the burden of proof lies with you! Show historic proof that says mithra celebrated is birthday on the 25 of dec

No, you made the clain that only 2nd to 4th century document is the only valid evidence. Prove that assertion and also tell us why ur encyclopedia is wrong. Waiting...

JMAN05:


No, you made the clain that only 2nd to 4th century document is the only valid evidence. Prove that assertion and also tell us why ur encyclopedia is wrong. Waiting...

It is not a claim, it is a request based on observation, you presented ref sources that claims christmas is related to pagan celebration, i countered by addressing each festival individually, i also came across ref sources that claims this connection have no basis, you quoted encyclopedia britanica, but the same enclyclopedia was updated recently and repudated that claim.

This is what it say

This view presumes—as does the view associating the origin of Christmas on December 25 with pagan celebrations of the winter equinox—that Christians appropriated pagan names and holidays for their highest festivals.
Given the determination with which Christians combated all forms of paganism, this appears a rather dubious presumption.


as you can see britanica rejected what is previously claimed.

Why will an encyclopedia be wrong?

The answer it simple, it previous source was dubious.