Christmas is celebrated to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ, whom Christians believe to be the son of God.The name Christmas originates from the Mass honoring Christ (a rite which most commonly includes Communion).
In a ceremony in which Christians celebrate that Jesus died and then came back to life – or was resurrected – an event known as Easter amongst other names, it became customary for churches to hold services at midnight due to their proximity with sunsets. So therefore, we now know how the term Christ-mas developed over time into its current form Christmas.
Today, Christmas can be celebrated by all religions and those who don’t practice religion. This time is for families to come together during the holiday season and celebrate their successes from the past year. Children are excited about receiving presents at this time of year because they’re taught that Santa Claus will bring them something on Christmas morning if they’re good!
The Date of Christmas
No one knows for certain when Jesus was born! No date is listed in the Bible, so why are we celebrating it on December 25? There were many arguments among early Christians about what day it should be celebrated on. Some argued for dates ranging from 2 BCE/BC to 7 BCE/BC; some say perhaps it might even have been in 4 CE/AD (note there was no zero because everyone went back to 1 BC).
On the 25th of December, people all around the world celebrate Jesus Christ’s birthday. In 336 AD, during the reign of Emperor Constantine (the first Christian Roman emperor) they were celebrating his birth but it did not become a public event until 380 AD.
However, there are many different traditions and theories as to why Christmas is celebrated on December 25th. One of the earliest Christian celebrations was on September 11 – also known as the day Christ ascended into heaven which falls on March 25 every year. Nine months later, it lands on the 25th of December.
On March 25th, the Christians believed that this was the day of creation for humankind. It was also a time for remembrance when Jesus died. This date was chosen because it coincided with both the vernal equinox – where days were just as long in both daylight and nighttime hours- and Jesus’ death at age 33 years old (33 being one third of 66 years).
Easter is defined as the day after pascha (Passover), which falls on Nisan 14 according to Judaism’s lunar calendar. Easter may occur between March 22nd- April 25th, but it typically occurs on Sunday when referencing a Gregorian calendar since most major Christian holidays follow this schedule. This complicated naming of Easter might come from the tradition rooted in scripture that Christians believe Christ ascended from his grave three days later—after Passover and during Saturday evening at sunset.
The Solstice, Yalda and Saturnalia
On the Winter Solstice, days are at their shortest while nights are at their longest. It occurs around December 21st or 22nd in the Northern Hemisphere, and it is due to this that the event is also known as the shortest day of the year. For those living on Earth’s Southern hemisphere, it marks the end of summer- but also its beginning.
In olden days, before Christianity became the official religion in Europe, pagans viewed this passage of time as natural way to signal that Spring was coming close. They celebrated with a mid-winter festival where they could eat and drink while celebrating the Sun’s victory over winter. With the festive celebration occurring so close to when food supplies would be running low, people tended to slaughter their livestock and some drinks brewed since Autumn were finally ready for consumption; making it a great opportunity to celebrate well into Winter before fully experiencing its dreariness.
The winter solstices are celebrated by many cultures all over the world, each in their own unique way. For example, Scandinavian countries typically celebrate Christmas while Eastern European countries like Russia and Ukraine hold a celebration called Koleda at this time of year.
In Persian culture, the winter solstice is called ‘Yalda Night’. For 40 days after the beginning of winter, people gather together to share food, drinks and poems. The meaning of this word is night of forty because it happens 40 days into winter. Yalda comes from the Greek word for birth but now means holiday in Iran because some early Christian communities in Persia used to celebrate Christmas on December 25th. If you go to a party during Yalda Night, try eating fruits and nuts as well as pomegranates and watermelons!
In ancient Rome, there was an annual festival for the god Saturn during which every citizen would dress up as a deity or slave. Though many celebrations were held through this time period, the most famous festivities occurred from December 17th to 23rd. Not only did these festivals honour the worshipful lord Saturn, but they believed that the winter solstice had taken place on December 25th. In 274 AD Roman Emperor Aurelian created Dies Natalis Solis Invicti – meaning Birthday of the Unconquered Sun which was celebrated annually on December 25th and became very popular in Rome where it grew beyond its pagan roots in time
Many people think that the Christian church hijacked December 25th from other popular holidays but there are records which go back to around 200 showing that believers celebrated Christmas on or close to the 25th March – long before sol invictus ever came about. This contradicts what scholars previously thought, who stated that Christians simply changed Sol Invictus’ date from November 27th to December 25th because they wanted an earlier holiday in order for Christ’s birth to be observed.
Some more dates!
Christmas has always been a time for celebration in many different forms. The early church, who later became what we know today as the Catholic Church, first celebrated Christmas on January 6th. They celebrated three things that day – Christ’s conception by Mary, Jesus’ baptism at age 30, and the Three Wise Men visiting him soon after. It was deemed important to celebrate these events because this was when Christ found out who he truly was and started his mission of spreading hope through kindness and love. In present times though, Epiphany has taken precedence over all other days due to its importance at the beginning of Christ’s ministry; which began with him being baptized at age 30- where he proclaimed I am the Alpha and Omega.
Celebrating the Jewish holiday of lights, Hanukkah begins on evening before the Kislev 25th day. For one week, Jews light candles for each night so they can celebrate and remember when their temple in Jerusalem was dedicated to them again after many years of not being allowed to practice their faith.
Jesus was born around the time of Chanukah, which might be why the early Church chose December 25th as the day to celebrate his birth.
Most people use the ‘Gregorian Calendar,’ which was created by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. However, before then people relied on the ‘Roman Calendar,’ named for Julius Caesar himself. The Gregorian calendar is much more precise and accurate than the Roman one- it has 365 days per year instead of 355! Unfortunately, this means when they switched over in 1582 ten days were skipped; therefore September 3rd became September 14th after the change. In 1752, England caught up with other countries when they updated their own calendars to match ours by skipping eleven days between March 25th and April 4th.
When Christians first began celebrating Christmas in 336 AD, it fell on December 25th. When the Julian calendar was created in 45 BC and became popular around 100 AD, the celebration would have then fallen on January 7th. However, Pope Gregory XIII moved the celebration up a day to November 4th because he wanted there to be less than 10 days difference between the end of year and beginning of year to make tax collecting easier for Roman citizens; which means now Christians celebrate on December 25th or January 1st depending when you live.
Christians are of the belief that Jesus Christ is the Light of the World. So naturally, it follows that they would choose this time to celebrate His arrival among us. Early Christians appropriated or continued some winter solstices traditions by adopting its symbols like Holly and Mistletoe while giving them new Christian meanings such as those found in the Christmas carols they adopted or created.
St Augustine of Canterbury likely made Christmas celebrations a larger event among the English population. In 6th century England, he introduced Christianity to Anglo-Saxon areas where it had not yet been practiced; however, in the Celtic part of Britain – which was also largely Christian – little is known about what practices were observed. St Augustine of Canterbury was sent by Pope Gregory the Great from Rome and his church used the Roman Calendar for timekeeping purposes, so America celebrates Christmas on December 25th each year. From here, those from Britian and Western Europe began celebrating this day outside their home country when they migrated to new areas across the globe.
So when was Jesus Born?
There is a sensible explanation behind the idea that Jesus wasn’t born in December after all. If he had been, it would’ve likely been too cold for shepherds to be out on the hills during lambing season and it also wouldn’t make sense for there to have been so many lambs because of how cold the weather gets around that time.
In ancient Israel, there was an annual holiday called Passover. It took place in either early March or late April each year – depending on how you count that year’s calendar. The celebration commemorated the Jews’ escape from enslavement in Egypt about one thousand five hundred years before Christianity and Judaism would merge together under belief of Jesus Christ being the Messiah. To commemorate this day, lots of lambs were sacrificed at the Temple in Jerusalem – it is likely why many Jews came to attend annually and why they felt safe travelling as they could return home easily if need be. Of course, when Mary and Joseph travelled to Bethlehem for registration – little did they know they were registering their own son too!
In September or October, one of the Jewish holidays known as Sukkot takes place – this means ‘The Feast of Tabernacles.’ As one of the festivals mentioned most in the Torah, it celebrates how Jews were dependent on God after escaping from Egypt and spending 40 years wandering through the desert. One way it does so is by celebrating an end to harvest season; during which time Jews live out in temporary shelters that were traditionally referred to as tabernacles.
Many people think that Jesus could have been born during the festival of Sukkot. After all, a census would have been taken when people from all over traveled to Jerusalem for the holiday; most notably because Jews travelled with their tents or temporary shelters with them! A pregnant Mary may not have had the ability – or at least desire- to carry around her own shelter so she stayed at an Inn where it is said there were no rooms available.
My research on the Birth of Christ points to one of two seasons: Spring or Autumn. It could be determined when Jesus was born if we knew what year he would’ve been conceived, in relation to when Zechariah (who happens to be Mary’s cousin) served as High Priest at the Temple and experienced an amazing vision. A passage on that subject has been posted by theologian Ian Paul (sends browser elsewhere), which talks about how it fits with Jewish festivals such as Sukkot!
John 1:14 says, The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. Like John-In Greek the word for dwelling is eskēnōsen, which literally means to pitch a tent or encampment. He then goes on to explain what this looks like in Hebrew-translating as either mishkan (מִשְׁכַּן – משתיינת) meaning to dwell or sukkah (סוכה – בית). And finally relates this passage back to John’s perspective by suggesting he could have been thinking about Jesus’ time on Earth-as well as at least considering the fact that Jesus was not alive when he wrote the scripture of course being close friends with him.
The year that Jesus Christ was born is unknown. In the 7th century AD, Dionysius Exiguus tried to find a better way to calculate Easter dates. After studying different calendars, he decided that the first day of creation must have been March 25th. His calculations were incorrect however, and this led him to believe erroneously that Christ had been born on December 25th instead of September 11-3 BC.
Most historians date Jesus’ birth to somewhere between 2 BCE/BC and 7 BCE/BC, most likely occurring in 3 or 4 BCE/BC. Before Dionysius’s new calendar came into use, years were typically dated based off of the reigns of various Roman emperors. With Bede’s introduction of this new system throughout Europe during the 8th century, it became customary for people to refer to dates before 1 as BC rather than AD; there is no year zero that actually existed prior to the 11th century-the number zero didn’t arrive until much later on after being introduced by India.
So this coming Christmas, make sure you are celebrating an important event from 2000 years ago when God sent His son as a gift to all people in the form of Jesus Christ.
For those who celebrate winter holidays, there are many other events that take place during this time of year. Many Jewish people hold a holiday called Hanukkah while some people of African descent celebrate Kwanzaa which lasts from December 26th to January 1st.
