Christmas was originally intended to celebrate Jesus Christ’s birth — however, it is a bit of a historical mystery why December 25 was chosen as the official date.
Some speculate early Christians could have chosen the date because it fell shortly after the northern hemisphere’s winter solstice.
Other theories suggest that Christians appropriated the date from pagan holidays, like the birthday of Mithras — a Persian sun god who many Roman soldiers worshiped, with some claiming that Christians “took advantage of the popularity of the 25 December date to celebrate the birth of their own influential religious figure.”
Still, some are skeptical of a supposed cynical piggy-backing off of paganism.
“The various pagan religions all had festivals spanning the calendar. Whatever month the early Christians might have otherwise chosen would still place Christmas near some pagan celebration, and oppositional theorists would still be making the same claims,” wrote Jon Sorensen in an article for Catholic Answers.
Case in point, according to one theory, the date was taken from the feast day of Sol Invictus — the Roman sun god.
However, historical evidence suggests that the feast of Sol Invictus may have started after Christians began celebrating Jesus’ birth on December 25. In fact, there is evidence that Christians commemorated Christ’s birth on that date as early as the second century.
Hippolytus of Rome wrote in his Commentary on the Book of Daniel (c. 204), “For the first advent of our Lord in the flesh, when he was born in Bethlehem, was December 25th, Wednesday, while Augustus was in his forty-second year, but from Adam, five thousand and five hundred years.”
Some Christians observed Christ’s birth on different days, however. While his birth was celebrated in the West on December 25, Christians in the East celebrated it in January. That tradition lives on today, as this holiday season, Eastern Christians will celebrate Christmas on January 7.
Regardless of the exact date that Christ’s birth is commemorated, Christmas remains a vibrant holiday celebrated by the vast majority of Christians the world over who worship, rejoice, and make community, just as their predecessors did some 2,000 years ago.
Really good article, thank you for bringing us some of the interesting information regarding Christmas — though it could have been longer ;-). Regardless of what the date of Jesus’ birth actually was, that we celebrate it is what matters!
A more interesting question is, Why is the Annunciation celebrated at the same time as Jesus’ birth?” Was Mary pregnant for a year?
Similar “adjustments” have a historical cause. For example, after the Bar Kochba rebellion, Rome outlawed Judaism. The difference between Christianity and Judaism (at that time) would be invisible to a Roman pagan, so to avoid being swept up, Christians moved the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday.
Likewise there are too many coincidences between Easter and the feast to the fertility goddess Ishtar to not believe it was not co-opted. What do rabbits, eggs, and Easter bonnets have to do with the death of Jesus?
At one time a slave was burned to death at the winter solstice to give the sun power for another year. Yule log?
Despite these quirks, which is more important: That the Son of God was born, or exactly what was the date of His birth?
It’s just important that we celebrate the birth of Christ.
The Hebrews were not Pagans, but the number 25 coincided with the miracle of the candles staying lit for 8 days. The date of this miracle was when the Second Temple was being dedicated, 25th of Kislev. The Festival of Lights continues to this day. It is really not a major Holyday or Holiday, it appears that way because the Holy time of Christians Christmas..
Christmas is on Dec. 25th because it was believed that people died on the same day they were conceived. Jesus died on March 25th so it was believed that he was conceived on March 25th and 9 months later would be Dec. 25th. There are no facts of the date of Jesus’ birth, just speculation and theories.