Christmas is celebrated to remember the birth of Jesus Christ , whom Christians believe to be the Son of God.
The name “Christmas” comes from the Mass of Christ (or Jesus). A Mass service (which is sometimes called Communion or Eucharist) is an opportunity for Christians to remember that Jesus died for us and then came back to life. The ‘Christ-Mass’ service was the only one that was allowed to take place after sunset (and before sunrise the next day), so people had it at midnight! We thus obtain the name of Christ-Mass, shortened to Christmas.
Christmas is now celebrated by people all over the world , whether they are Christians or not. It’s a time when family and friends get together and remember the good things they have. People, especially children, also love Christmas, because it is the time to give and receive gifts !
No one knows the real birthday of Jesus! No date is given in the Bible, so why do we celebrate it on December 25? The early Christians certainly had many arguments as to when it should be celebrated! Also, Jesus’ birth probably did not take place in A.D. 1, but slightly earlier.
The first recorded date of Christmas celebrated on December 25 was in 336, during the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine (he was the first Christian Roman Emperor). But it was not an official holiday of the Roman state at that time.
However, there are many different traditions and theories as to why Christmas is celebrated on December 25th.
A very old Christian tradition says that the day Mary learned that she would have a very special baby , Jesus (called the Annunciation) was March 25 – and it is still celebrated today on March 25. Nine months after March 25, it’s December 25!
March 25 was also the day that some early Christians believed the world was made, and also the day that Jesus died as an adult (Nisan 14 in the Jewish calendar) and they believed that Jesus was conceived and was dead the same. New Year’s Day.
The winter solstice is the day when the time between sunrise and sunset is the shortest. This is happening on December 21 or 22 in the northern hemisphere. (In the southern hemisphere, this time it’s the summer solstice and the winter solstice at the end of June.)
For the pagans, this meant they knew the days would start to get lighter and longer and the nights would get shorter – marking a change in the seasons. To celebrate, people held a festival in the middle of winter to celebrate the sun “winning” over the darkness of winter.
At that time, animals that were kept for food were also often killed to avoid having to feed them all winter and some drinks that had been brewing since the fall / harvest were also ready to drink. So it was a good time to party with things to eat and drink before the rest of the winter. (We still have New Years celebrations near this time now!)
In Scandinavia and some other parts of northern Europe, the period around the winter solstice is known as the Yule (although the word Yule only seems to date to around AD 300). In Eastern Europe, the mid-winter festival is called Koleda.
In Iranian / Persian culture, the winter solstice is known as “Night of Yalda” or “Shab-e Chelleh” and it is a time when families and friends come together to eat, drink and recite some poetry. Shab-e Chelleh means ‘night of forty’ because it happens forty nights in winter. The word Yalda means “birth” and comes from the first Christians living in Persia celebrating the birth of Jesus around this time. Eating, fruits, nuts, pomegranates and watermelons are important in Yalda / Chelleh and you can get Yalda cakes that look like watermelon!
The Roman feast of Saturnalia took place from December 17 to 23 and honored the Roman god Saturn. The Romans also believed that the solstice took place on December 25. It is also believed that in 274 the Roman Emperor Aurelian created “Dies Natalis Solis Invicti” (meaning “Birthday of the Undefeated Sun”) also called “Sol Invictus” and it took place on December 25th.
Because of the dates, some say Christians “took over” December 25 from these Roman and / or Christmas holidays . However, there are records dating back to around 200 early Christians connecting Nisan 14 to March 25, and therefore December 25 was a “Christian” festival date many years before “Sol Invictus”!
(More recent studies have also revealed that the connection “Sol Invictus” did not appear until the 12th century, and that it originated from a note scribbled in the margins of a manuscript. There is also evidence that “Sol Invictus ”could also have happened in October and not December anyway!)
Christmas was also celebrated by the early Church on January 6, when they also celebrated Epiphany (which signifies the revelation that Jesus was the son of God) and the Baptism of Jesus. (Like the December 25 date above, this was based on a calculation of Jesus’ death / conception, but from April 6 and not March 25.)
Now, Epiphany mainly celebrates the visit of the Magi to the baby Jesus , but at the time it was celebrating two things! Jesus’ baptism was originally considered more important than his birth, as that was when he began his ministry.
The Jewish Festival of Lights, Hanukkah , begins on the eve of 25 Kislev (the month in the Jewish calendar which is around the same time as December). Hanukkah celebrates the time when the Jewish people were able to re-dedicate and worship in their temple in Jerusalem, again after many years without being allowed to practice their religion.
Jesus was a Jew, so this could be another reason that helped the early Church choose December 25 as the date of Christmas!
Most of the world uses the “Gregorian calendar” implemented by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. Prior to this, the “Roman calendar” or Julian was used (named after Julius Caesar). The Gregorian calendar is more precise than the Roman calendar which had too many days in a year!
When the change was made 10 days were lost, so the day after October 4, 1582 was October 15, 1582. In the UK, the calendar change was made in 1752. The day after October 2, 1582 September 1752 was September 14, 1752.
Many Orthodox and Coptic churches still use the Julian calendar and therefore celebrate Christmas on January 7 (i.e. when December 25 would have been on the Julian calendar). And the Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates it on January 6!
In parts of the UK January 6th is still referred to as ‘Old Christmas’ as it would have been the day Christmas would have been celebrated if the calendar had not been changed. Some people didn’t want to use the new calendar because they thought it was “cheating” them on 11 days!
Christians believe that Jesus is the light of the world, so the early Christians believed it was the right time to celebrate the birth of Jesus. They also took some of the winter solstice customs and gave them Christian meanings, like holly, mistletoe, and even Christmas carols !
Saint Augustine of Canterbury was the person who probably started the widespread celebration of Christmas throughout much of England by introducing Christianity to areas ruled by the Anglo-Saxons in the 6th century (other Celtic parts of the Great Brittany were already Christians, but there are not many documents on whether or how they celebrated the birth of Jesus).
Saint Augustine of Canterbury was sent by Pope Gregory the Great to Rome and this church used the Roman calendar, so Western countries celebrate Christmas on December 25. Then the people of Great Britain and Western Europe took Christmas on December 25th all over the world!
CHRISTMAS DAY ; So when was Jesus born?
There is a solid and practical reason why Jesus may not have been born in winter, but in spring or fall! It can be very cold in the winter and it is unlikely that the shepherds kept sheep on the hills (as these hills can sometimes receive a lot of snow!).
In the spring (in March or April) there is a Jewish holiday called “Passover”. This festival recalls when the Jews escaped slavery in Egypt around 1,500 years before Jesus was born. It would have taken a lot of lambs during the Passover feast to be sacrificed in the Temple in Jerusalem.
Jews from all over the Roman Empire traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover feast, so it would have been a good time for the Romans to take a census. Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem for the census (Bethlehem is about six miles from Jerusalem).
In autumn (in September or October) there is the Jewish holiday of “Sukkot” or “The Feast of Tabernacles”. It is the holiday that is most often mentioned in the Bible! This is when the Jewish people remember that they depended on God for everything they had after escaping Egypt and spending 40 years in the wilderness. It also celebrates the end of the harvest. During the festival, Jews live outside in temporary shelters (the word “tabernacle” comes from a Latin word meaning “cabin” or “hut”).
Many people who have studied the Bible believe that Sukkot would be a likely time for Jesus’ birth, as it might fit the description that there is “no room in the inn.” It would also have been a good time to take the Roman census, as many Jews went to Jerusalem for the festival and they would have brought their own tents / shelters with them! (It would not have been practical for Joseph and Mary to carry their own shelter, as Mary was pregnant.)
The possibilities for the Star of Bethlehem seem to point to spring or fall.
The possible dating of Jesus’ birth can also be taken from when Zechariah (who was married to Mary Elizabeth’s cousin) was on duty in the Jewish temple as a priest and had an incredible experience. There is an excellent article on Christmas dating based on the dates of Zechariah’s experience, on the theologian Ian Paul’s blog. With these dates you get the birth of Jesus in September – which also corresponds to Sukkot!
In Hebrew, this translates to “mishkan” (“מִשְׁכַּן” meaning to dwell and it is also the name given to the Tabernacle which was the place where God “dwelled” in the Jewish and Christian faith during the time of the Jews in the desert. in the book of Exodus) and / or ‘sukkah’ (‘סוכה’). So John seems to have clearly taken advantage of this analogy by saying that Jesus “pitched his tent” as a human being and most likely also makes the connection with the time of Jesus’ birth. John certainly knew both Jesus and Mary and therefore would have known when Jesus was born!
The year of Jesus’ birth is not known. The calendar system we have now was created in the 6th century by a monk called Dionysius Exiguus. He was actually trying to create a better system for determining when Easter should be celebrated, based on a new calendar with the birth of Jesus in the year 1. However, he made a miscalculation and therefore got the possible year of Bad Birth of Jesus!
So, every time you celebrate Christmas, remember that you are celebrating an actual event that happened about 2000 years ago, that God sent his Son into the world as a Christmas present for everyone!
In addition to Christmas and the Solstice, other festivals take place at the end of December. Hanukkah is celebrated by the Jews; and the Kwanzaa festival is celebrated by some Africans and African Americans takes place from December 26 to January 1.
