The Date of Christmas



No one knows the real birthday of Jesus! No date is given in the Bible, so why do we celebrate it on the 25th December? The early Christians certainly had many arguments as to when it should be celebrated! Also, the birth of Jesus probably didn’t happen in the year 1 but slightly earlier, somewhere between 2 BCE/BC and 7 BCE/BC, possibly in 4 BCE/BC (there isn’t a 0 – the years go from 1 BC/BCE to 1!).

The first recorded date of Christmas being celebrated on December 25th was in 336, during the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine (he was the first Christian Roman Emperor). A few years later, Pope Julius I officially declared that the birth of Jesus would be celebrated on the 25th December.

However, there are many different traditions and theories as to why Christmas is celebrated on December 25th.



A very early Christian tradition said that the day when Mary was told that she would have a very special baby, Jesus (called the Annunciation) was on March 25th – and it’s still celebrated today on the 25th March. Nine months after the 25th March is the 25th December! March 25th was also the day some early Christians thought the world had been made, and also the day that Jesus died on when he was an adult. The date of March 25th was chosen because people had calculated that was the day on which Jesus died as an adult (the 14th of Nisan in the Jewish calendar) and they thought that Jesus was born and had died on the same day of the year.

Some people also think that December 25th might have also been chosen because the Winter Solstice and the ancient pagan Roman midwinter festivals called ‘Saturnalia’ and ‘Dies Natalis Solis Invicti’ took place in December around this date – so it was a time when people already celebrated things.



The Winter Solstice is the day where there is the shortest time between the sun rising and the sun setting. It happens on December 21st or 22nd. To pagans this meant that the winter was over and spring was coming and they had a festival to celebrate it and worshipped the sun for winning over the darkness of winter. In Scandinavia, and some other parts of northern Europe, the Winter Solstice is known as Yule and is where we get Yule Logs from. In Eastern Europe the mid-winter festival is called Koleda.

The Roman Festival of Saturnalia took place between December 17th and 23rd and honoured the Roman god Saturn. Dies Natalis Solis Invicti means ‘birthday of the unconquered sun’ and was held on December 25th (when the Romans thought the Winter Solstice took place) and was the ‘birthday’ of the Pagan Sun god Mithra. In the pagan religion of Mithraism, the holy day was Sunday and is where get that word from!



The Roman emperor Aurelian created ‘Sol Invictus’ in 274. But there are records of early Christians connecting 14th Nisan to 25th March and so the 25th December go back to around 200!

The Jewish festival of Lights, Hanukkah starts on the 25th of Kislev (the month in the Jewish calendar that occurs at about the same time as December). Hanukkah celebrates when the Jewish people were able to re-dedicate and worship in their Temple, in Jerusalem, again following many years of not being allowed to practice their religion.



Jesus was a Jew, so this could be another reason that helped the early Church choose December the 25th for the date of Christmas!

Christmas had also been celebrated by the early Church on January 6th, when they also celebrated the Epiphany(which means the revelation that Jesus was God’s son) and the Baptism of Jesus. Now Epiphany mainly celebrates the visit of the Wise Men to the baby Jesus, but back then it celebrated both things! Jesus’s Baptism was originally seen as more important than his birth, as this was when he started his ministry. But soon people wanted a separate day to celebrate his birth.



Most of the world uses the ‘Gregorian Calendar’ implemented by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. Before that the ‘Roman’ or Julian Calendar was used (named after Julius Caesar). The Gregorian calendar is more accurate that the Roman calendar which had too many days in a year! When the switch was made 10 days were lost, so that the day that followed the 4th October 1582 was 15th October 1582. In the UK the change of calendars was made in 1752. The day after 2nd September 1752 was 14th September 1752.

Many Orthodox and Coptic Churches still use the Julian Calendar and so celebrate Christmas on the 7th January (which is when December 25th would have been on the Julian calendar). And the Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates it on the 6th January! In some part of the UK, January 6th is still called ‘Old Christmas’ as this would have been the day that Christmas would have celebrated on, if the calendar hadn’t been changed. Some people didn’t want to use the new calendar as they thought it ‘cheated’ them out of 11 days!

Christians believe that Jesus is the light of the world, so the early Christians thought that this was the right time to celebrate the birth of Jesus. They also took over some of the customs from the Winter Solstice and gave them Christian meanings, like Holly, Mistletoe and even Christmas Carols!

St Augustine of Canterbury was the person who probably started the widespread celebration of Christmas in large parts of England by introducing Christianity to the regions run by the Anglo-Saxons in the 6th century (other Celtic parts of Britain were already Christian but there aren’t many documents about if or how they celebrated the birth of Jesus). St Augustine of Canterbury was sent by Pope Gregory the Great in Rome and that church used the Roman Calendar, so western countries celebrate Christmas on the 25th December. Then people from Britain and Western Europe took Christmas on the 25th December all over the world!

Source: https://www.ivoryfile.com/the-exact-date-of-christmas/



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Nice info

Nice write up with unbiased view. Let me ask some questions I hope you answer them or others contribute without been biased. I would want an open minded Christian to contribute without been biased not disgruntled fellow or atheist.
1. Do you think Christians should still celebrate the birth of Jesus since there was no specific date to his birth moreover it was recorded we should celebrate it?
2. There many Christians who believe that the date chosen is linked to paganism. Isn't hypocritical to use Gregory calendar that has some paganism in it as alleged by many?
3. Since many Christians claim to follow the scriptures. Isn't foolish for many Africans to do two weddings whereas the bible supports just one?
4. Would celebrating Christmas made one go to hell since it is linked to paganism?.

We all know the origination of christmas but that does not stop the rice and chicken every year.

AryEmber:
We all know the origination of christmas but that does not stop the rice and chicken every year.

Yeah, the origins are believed to be pagan in nature.Personally,I view Christmas(as in the general sense) with skepticism because it is just like any festival.However, I 'celebrate' it as a memorial of the birth of our Lord.Personally, I use it as a period of self assessment of who He wants me to be,also to be reminded of why He came to Earth. Nonetheless, rice and chicken are necessary jare.

asuustrike1:
Nice write up with unbiased view. Let me ask some questions I hope you answer them or others contribute without been biased. I would want an open minded Christian to contribute without been biased not disgruntled fellow or atheist.
1. Do you think Christians should still celebrate the birth of Jesus since there was no specific date to his birth moreover it was recorded we should celebrate it?
2. There many Christians who believe that the date chosen is linked to paganism. Isn't hypocritical to use Gregory calendar that has some paganism in it as alleged by many?
3. Since many Christians claim to follow the scriptures. Isn't foolish for many Africans to do two weddings whereas the bible supports just one?
4. Would celebrating Christmas made one go to hell since it is linked to paganism?.

..
Beautiful questions you've asked!

asuustrike1:
Nice write up with unbiased view. Let me ask some questions I hope you answer them or others contribute without been biased. I would want an open minded Christian to contribute without been biased not disgruntled fellow or atheist.
1. Do you think Christians should still celebrate the birth of Jesus since there was no specific date to his birth moreover it was recorded we should celebrate it?
2. There many Christians who believe that the date chosen is linked to paganism. Isn't hypocritical to use Gregory calendar that has some paganism in it as alleged by many?
3. Since many Christians claim to follow the scriptures. Isn't foolish for many Africans to do two weddings whereas the bible supports just one?
4. Would celebrating Christmas made one go to hell since it is linked to paganism?.

Hello,
Just saw this. Sorry the reply is coming late.
You have asked great questions that I'd be glad o share on our website and gather responses from various views.
Meanwhile, this has been sent to bible scholars for review.
You'd definitely hear from us asap.

Regards.