Why December 25th?

[JohnRM]

Does anyone know why we celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25th when the Bible states his birth to having been in the month of March?

 

[Yom]

Pagan holidays?

 

[Taliesin]

The Saturnalia, a pagan festival in Rome, was December 25th. It's also the birthday of other Christ-figures such as Mithras and, IIRC, Horus.

 

[A'AbarachAmadan]

Roman Catholics and Protestants celebrate on 25 Dec. Orthodox church celebrates it on 7 Jan (Julian calendar, actually 25 Dec in the Gregorian calendar). I've looked into this extensively. The most common answer I've found is that it was used to replace a Roman pagen holiday, the birth of the sun god. Most historians and theologians agree his real birth has been narrowed down to a few weeks and NOT at the beginning of winter.

 

[North King]

Exactly, the Christians wanted an acceptable religion, so they coopted the legitimate celebration of the Winter Solstice.

 

[sourboy]

December 25th is right in their world, and for Christ's sake (heh) - the world is only 6000 years old!

 

[Goober]

Maybe because this time of the year is depressing, all the rain, cold, snow, etc. so they decided that having a festival now would be good?

Wait, never mind, this would be using logic, and Church cannot use logic.

 

[plarq]

the world is only 6000 years old!

Someone who is addicted to civ will think the world history is only 6050 years.For Christ's sake,I find an excuse from my studies and rest in peace listening to Jingling and Tingling music and enjoy a cup of coffee or tea :coffee

 

[jonatas]

Exactly, the Christians wanted an acceptable religion, so they coopted the legitimate celebration of the Winter Solstice.

that's correct... it's the celebration of the winter solstice, which was around long before Christianity

 

[CenturionV]

that's correct... it's the celebration of the winter solstice, which was around long before Christianity

Exactly the reason no one in my church observes it in any way. If there is one thing we are its consistent, and in no place in the bible does it say we should celebrate some catholic/pagan holiday for christ birth when we do so every sunday anyway.

.....and on the wrong day no less

 

[jonatas]

Exactly the reason no one in my church observes it in any way. If there is one thing we are its consistent, and in no place in the bible does it say we should celebrate some catholic/pagan holiday for christ birth when we do so every sunday anyway.

.....and on the wrong day no less

you don't celebrate christmas???

 

[CenturionV]

you don't celebrate christmas???

Umm, no. Not easter or any other religious holiday either. Most people don't treat it like this, but it is even in its very name (Christ Mass)

Sunday is supposed to be a celebration of Jesus birth, death, and resurrection, (thats why nobody in our church works or carries on regular activities on sunday unless necessary, I.E food, medical, shelter, acts of mercy/worship etc) As I said, we take our religion seriously, there is no use going by 1/4 of the book......

Albeit we don't give gifts every sunday, that would get quite costly

 

[Longasc]

To put it in short words, christmas is a norse / oriental / christian mix.

I prefer the norse "Julfest" that I will celebrate. It is too funny that many wannabe-christians and especially many inhabitants of Jesusland do not know that they are basically following pagan traditions.

 

[Erik Mesoy]

I celebrate on Dec 24th. And we call it "Jul" up here. With Julenissen - Santa Claus - not Jesus to much of an extent.

 

[citizen001]

Dec is quite an auspicious day, plus it's near the end of the year.

 

[Lord_Sidious]

here in Portugal, most (95%)of the population are catholics, we celebrate christmas from 24 dec,(to many people is when we recive the presents )and to the night of 24 to 25, ther is the "missa do galo" to celebrate xmas. in the night of 24 we eat cod in 25 we eat turkey!

 

[Reno]

In Finland it's December 24'th and not 25'th.

 

[insurgent]

It's the 24th here, like in the rest of Scandinavia.

 

[Hitro]

24th here as well, then again I'm no Christian...

 

[Plotinus]

..the Bible states his birth to having been in the month of March?

*What*? Where on earth do you get that bizarre claim from? The Bible says nothing whatsoever about the date of Jesus' birth!

A couple of other points need to be made... the first is that the winter solstice is 21 December, not 25. Christians started to celebrate Christmas on 25 December in the fourth century. John Chrysostom states that this date fell halfway between Saturnalia and the Kalends of Janus, and this date was chosen so that the Christians, who celebrated neither of these pagan festivals, would have something to celebrate while everyone else was recovering from Saturnalia.

In other words, Christmas was not a co-opting of a pagan holiday but a deliberate reaction to pagan holidays and an alternative.

It also had the happy effect of dating Jesus' circumcision to 1 January, a convenient date. When Dionysius Exiguus worked out the Christian calendar, he dated it not from Jesus' birth but from his circumcision. Thus, 1 January 2005 will be, in theory, the 2004th anniversary of Jesus' circumcision (the year 2005 will be the "2005th year of our Lord", which means that 2005 years won't have passed until the year ends - all this assumes that Jesus was indeed born in 1 BC and circumcised in AD 1, of course, which is probably not the case, but that's by the by).

Also, the word "mass" in "Christ's mass" doesn't mean a Catholic "Mass" or eucharistic service. It's an old word for a celebration. "Christmas" is therefore the celebration of Christ. There's nothing specifically Catholic about it any more than there's anything specifically pagan about it, contrary to the claims of some Protestant evangelicals.