How December 25 Became Christmas Talkback Add Your Comment
 Click to view a slide show of larger images and captions. On December 25, Christians around the world will gather to celebrate Jesus’ birth. Joyful carols, special liturgies, brightly wrapped gifts, festive foods—these all characterize the feast today, at least in the northern hemisphere. But just how did the Christmas festival originate? How did December 25 come to be associated with Jesus’ birthday? The Bible offers few clues: Celebrations of Jesus’ Nativity are not mentioned in the Gospels or Acts; the date is not given, not even the time of year. The biblical reference to shepherds tending their flocks at night when they hear the news of Jesus’ birth (Luke 2:8) might suggest the spring lambing season; in the cold month of December, on the other hand, sheep might well have been corralled. Yet most scholars would urge caution about extracting such a precise but incidental detail from a narrative whose focus is theological rather than calendrical. 
The extrabiblical evidence from the first and second century is equally spare: There is no mention of birth celebrations in the writings of early Christian writers such as Irenaeus (c. 130–200) or Tertullian (c. 160–225). Origen of Alexandria (c. 165–264) goes so far as to mock Roman celebrations of birth anniversaries, dismissing them as “pagan” practices—a strong indication that Jesus’ birth was not marked with similar festivities at that place and time.1 As far as we can tell, Christmas was not celebrated at all at this point. This stands in sharp contrast to the very early traditions surrounding Jesus’ last days. Each of the Four Gospels provides detailed information about the time of Jesus’ death. According to John, Jesus is crucified just as the Passover lambs are being sacrificed. This would have occurred on the 14th of the Hebrew month of Nisan, just before the Jewish holiday began at sundown (considered the beginning of the 15th day because in the Hebrew calendar, days begin at sundown). In Matthew, Mark and Luke, however, the Last Supper is held after sundown, on the beginning of the 15th. Jesus is crucified the next morning—still, the 15th.a Easter, a much earlier development than Christmas, was simply the gradual Christian reinterpretation of Passover in terms of Jesus’ Passion. Its observance could even be implied in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 5:7–8: “Our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the festival...”); it was certainly a distinctively Christian feast by the mid-second century C.E., when the apocryphal text known as the Epistle to the Apostles has Jesus instruct his disciples to “make commemoration of [his] death, that is, the Passover.” Jesus’ ministry, miracles, Passion and Resurrection were often of most interest to first- and early-second-century C.E. Christian writers. But over time, Jesus’ origins would become of increasing concern. We can begin to see this shift already in the New Testament. The earliest writings—Paul and Mark—make no mention of Jesus’ birth. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke provide well-known but quite different accounts of the event—although neither specifies a date. In the second century C.E., further details of Jesus’ birth and childhood are related in apocryphal writings such as the Infancy Gospel of Thomas and the Proto-Gospel of James.b These texts provide everything from the names of Jesus’ grandparents to the details of his education—but not the date of his birth. Finally, in about 200 C.E., a Christian teacher in Egypt makes reference to the date Jesus was born. According to Clement of Alexandria, several different days had been proposed by various Christian groups. Surprising as it may seem, Clement doesn’t mention December 25 at all. Clement writes: “There are those who have determined not only the year of our Lord’s birth, but also the day; and they say that it took place in the 28th year of Augustus, and in the 25th day of [the Egyptian month] Pachon [May 20 in our calendar]...And treating of His Passion, with very great accuracy, some say that it took place in the 16th year of Tiberius, on the 25th of Phamenoth [March 21]; and others on the 25th of Pharmuthi [April 21] and others say that on the 19th of Pharmuthi [April 15] the Savior suffered. Further, others say that He was born on the 24th or 25th of Pharmuthi [April 20 or 21].”2 Clearly there was great uncertainty, but also a considerable amount of interest, in dating Jesus’ birth in the late second century. By the fourth century, however, we find references to two dates that were widely recognized—and now also celebrated—as Jesus’ birthday: December 25 in the western Roman Empire and January 6 in the East (especially in Egypt and Asia Minor). The modern Armenian church continues to celebrate Christmas on January 6; for most Christians, however, December 25 would prevail, while January 6 eventually came to be known as the Feast of the Epiphany, commemorating the arrival of the magi in Bethlehem. The period between became the holiday season later known as the 12 days of Christmas. The earliest mention of December 25 as Jesus’ birthday comes from a mid-fourth-century Roman almanac that lists the death dates of various Christian bishops and martyrs. The first date listed, December 25, is marked: natus Christus in Betleem Judeae: “Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judea.”3 In about 400 C.E., Augustine of Hippo mentions a local dissident Christian group, the Donatists, who apparently kept Christmas festivals on December 25, but refused to celebrate the Epiphany on January 6, regarding it as an innovation. Since the Donatist group only emerged during the persecution under Diocletian in 312 C.E. and then remained stubbornly attached to the practices of that moment in time, they seem to represent an older North African Christian tradition. In the East, January 6 was at first not associated with the magi alone, but with the Christmas story as a whole.  Click to view a slide show of larger images and captions. So, almost 300 years after Jesus was born, we finally find people observing his birth in midwinter. But how had they settled on the dates December 25 and January 6? There are two theories today: one extremely popular, the other less often heard outside scholarly circles (though far more ancient).4 The most loudly touted theory about the origins of the Christmas date(s) is that it was borrowed from pagan celebrations. The Romans had their mid-winter Saturnalia festival in late December; barbarian peoples of northern and western Europe kept holidays at similar times. To top it off, in 274 C.E., the Roman emperor Aurelian established a feast of the birth of Sol Invictus (the Unconquered Sun), on December 25. Christmas, the argument goes, is really a spin-off from these pagan solar festivals. According to this theory, early Christians deliberately chose these dates to encourage the spread of Christmas and Christianity throughout the Roman world: If Christmas looked like a pagan holiday, more pagans would be open to both the holiday and the God whose birth it celebrated. Despite its popularity today, this theory of Christmas’s origins has its problems. It is not found in any ancient Christian writings, for one thing. Christian authors of the time do note a connection between the solstice and Jesus’ birth: The church father Ambrose (c. 339–397), for example, described Christ as the true sun, who outshone the fallen gods of the old order. But early Christian writers never hint at any recent calendrical engineering; they clearly don’t think the date was chosen by the church. Rather they see the coincidence as a providential sign, as natural proof that God had selected Jesus over the false pagan gods. It’s not until the 12th century that we find the first suggestion that Jesus’ birth celebration was deliberately set at the time of pagan feasts. A marginal note on a manuscript of the writings of the Syriac biblical commentator Dionysius bar-Salibi states that in ancient times the Christmas holiday was actually shifted from January 6 to December 25 so that it fell on the same date as the pagan Sol Invictus holiday.5 In the 18th and 19th centuries, Bible scholars spurred on by the new study of comparative religions latched on to this idea.6 They claimed that because the early Christians didn’t know when Jesus was born, they simply assimilated the pagan solstice festival for their own purposes, claiming it as the time of the Messiah’s birth and celebrating it accordingly. More recent studies have shown that many of the holiday’s modern trappings do reflect pagan customs borrowed much later, as Christianity expanded into northern and western Europe. The Christmas tree, for example, has been linked with late medieval druidic practices. This has only encouraged modern audiences to assume that the date, too, must be pagan. There are problems with this popular theory, however, as many scholars recognize. Most significantly, the first mention of a date for Christmas (c. 200) and the earliest celebrations that we know about (c. 250–300) come in a period when Christians were not borrowing heavily from pagan traditions of such an obvious character. Granted, Christian belief and practice were not formed in isolation. Many early elements of Christian worship—including eucharistic meals, meals honoring martyrs and much early Christian funerary art—would have been quite comprehensible to pagan observers. Yet, in the first few centuries C.E., the persecuted Christian minority was greatly concerned with distancing itself from the larger, public pagan religious observances, such as sacrifices, games and holidays. This was still true as late as the violent persecutions of the Christians conducted by the Roman emperor Diocletian between 303 and 312 C.E. This would change only after Constantine converted to Christianity. From the mid-fourth century on, we do find Christians deliberately adapting and Christianizing pagan festivals. A famous proponent of this practice was Pope Gregory the Great, who, in a letter written in 601 C.E. to a Christian missionary in Britain, recommended that local pagan temples not be destroyed but be converted into churches, and that pagan festivals be celebrated as feasts of Christian martyrs. At this late point, Christmas may well have acquired some pagan trappings. But we don’t have evidence of Christians adopting pagan festivals in the third century, at which point dates for Christmas were established. Thus, it seems unlikely that the date was simply selected to correspond with pagan solar festivals. The December 25 feast seems to have existed before 312—before Constantine and his conversion, at least. As we have seen, the Donatist Christians in North Africa seem to have know it from before that time. Furthermore, in the mid- to late fourth century, church leaders in the eastern Empire concerned themselves not with introducing a celebration of Jesus’ birthday, but with the addition of the December date to their traditional celebration on January 6.7 There is another way to account for the origins of Christmas on December 25: Strange as it may seem, the key to dating Jesus’ birth may lie in the dating of Jesus’ death at Passover. This view was first suggested to the modern world by French scholar Louis Duchesne in the early 20th century and fully developed by American Thomas Talley in more recent years.8 But they were certainly not the first to note a connection between the traditional date of Jesus’ death and his birth. Around 200 C.E. Tertullian of Carthage reported the calculation that the 14th of Nisan (the day of the crucifixion according to the Gospel of John) in the year Jesus diedc was equivalent to March 25 in the Roman (solar) calendar.9 March 25 is, of course, nine months before December 25; it was later recognized as the Feast of the Annunciation—the commemoration of Jesus’ conception.10 Thus, Jesus was believed to have been conceived and crucified on the same day of the year. Exactly nine months later, Jesus was born, on December 25.d This idea appears in an anonymous Christian treatise titled On Solstices and Equinoxes, which appears to come from fourth-century North Africa. The treatise states: “Therefore our Lord was conceived on the eighth of the kalends of April in the month of March [March 25], which is the day of the passion of the Lord and of his conception. For on that day he was conceived on the same he suffered.”11 Based on this, the treatise dates Jesus’ birth to the winter solstice. Augustine, too, was familiar with this association. In On the Trinity (c. 399–419) he writes: “For he [Jesus] is believed to have been conceived on the 25th of March, upon which day also he suffered; so the womb of the Virgin, in which he was conceived, where no one of mortals was begotten, corresponds to the new grave in which he was buried, wherein was never man laid, neither before him nor since. But he was born, according to tradition, upon December the 25th.”12 In the East, too, the dates of Jesus’ conception and death were linked. But instead of working from the 14th of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, the easterners used the 14th of the first spring month (Artemisios) in their local Greek calendar—April 6 to us. April 6 is, of course, exactly nine months before January 6—the eastern date for Christmas. In the East too, we have evidence that April was associated with Jesus’ conception and crucifixion. Bishop Epiphanius of Salamis writes that on April 6, “The lamb was shut up in the spotless womb of the holy virgin, he who took away and takes away in perpetual sacrifice the sins of the world.”13 Even today, the Armenian Church celebrates the Annunciation in early April (on the 7th, not the 6th) and Christmas on January 6.e Thus, we have Christians in two parts of the world calculating Jesus’ birth on the basis that his death and conception took place on the same day (March 25 or April 6) and coming up with two close but different results (December 25 and January 6). Connecting Jesus’ conception and death in this way will certainly seem odd to modern readers, but it reflects ancient and medieval understandings of the whole of salvation being bound up together. One of the most poignant expressions of this belief is found in Christian art. In numerous paintings of the angel’s Annunciation to Mary—the moment of Jesus’ conception—the baby Jesus is shown gliding down from heaven on or with a small cross (see photo of detail from Master Bertram’s Annunciation scene); a visual reminder that the conception brings the promise of salvation through Jesus’ death. The notion that creation and redemption should occur at the same time of year is also reflected in ancient Jewish tradition, recorded in the Talmud. The Babylonian Talmud preserves a dispute between two early-second-century C.E. rabbis who share this view, but disagree on the date: Rabbi Eliezer states: “In Nisan the world was created; in Nisan the Patriarchs were born; on Passover Isaac was born...and in Nisan they [our ancestors] will be redeemed in time to come.” (The other rabbi, Joshua, dates these same events to the following month, Tishri.)14 Thus, the dates of Christmas and Epiphany may well have resulted from Christian theological reflection on such chronologies: Jesus would have been conceived on the same date he died, and born nine months later.15 In the end we are left with a question: How did December 25 become Christmas? We cannot be entirely sure. Elements of the festival that developed from the fourth century until modern times may well derive from pagan traditions. Yet the actual date might really derive more from Judaism—from Jesus’ death at Passover, and from the rabbinic notion that great things might be expected, again and again, at the same time of the year—than from paganism. Then again, in this notion of cycles and the return of God’s redemption, we may perhaps also be touching upon something that the pagan Romans who celebrated Sol Invictus, and many other peoples since, would have understood and claimed for their own too.16 Notes
1. Origen, Homily on Leviticus 8.
2. Clement, Stromateis 1.21.145. In addition, Christians in Clement’s native Egypt seem to have known a commemoration of Jesus’ baptism—sometimes understood as the moment of his divine choice, and hence as an alternate “incarnation” story—on the same date (Stromateis 1.21.146). See further on this point Thomas J. Talley, Origins of the Liturgical Year, 2nd ed. (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1991), pp. 118–120, drawing on Roland H. Bainton, “Basilidian Chronology and New Testament Interpretation,” Journal of Biblical Literature 42 (1923), pp. 81–134; and now especially Gabriele Winkler, “The Appearance of the Light at the Baptism of Jesus and the Origins of the Feast of the Epiphany,” in Maxwell Johnson, ed., Between Memory and Hope: Readings on the Liturgical Year (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2000), pp. 291–347.
3. The Philocalian Calendar.
4. Scholars of liturgical history in the English-speaking world are particularly skeptical of the “solstice” connection; see Susan K. Roll, “The Origins of Christmas: The State of the Question,” in Between Memory and Hope: Readings on the Liturgical Year (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2000), pp. 273–290, especially pp. 289–290.
5. A gloss on a manuscript of Dionysius Bar Salibi, d. 1171; see Talley, Origins, pp. 101–102.
6. Prominent among these was Paul Ernst Jablonski; on the history of scholarship see especially Roll, “The Origins of Christmas,” pp. 277–283.
7. For example, Gregory of Nazianzen, Oratio 38; John Chrysostom, In Diem Natalem.
8. Louis Duchesne, Origines du culte Chrétien, 5th ed. (Paris: Thorin et Fontemoing, 1925), pp. 275–279; and Talley, Origins.
9. Tertullian, Adversus Iudaeos 8.
10. There are other relevant texts for this element of argument, including Hippolytus and the (pseudo-Cyprianic) De pascha computus; see Talley, Origins, pp. 86, 90–91.
11. De solstitia et aequinoctia conceptionis et nativitatis domini nostri iesu christi et iohannis baptistae.
12. Augustine, Sermon 202.
13. Epiphanius is quoted in Talley, Origins, p. 98.
14. b. Rosh Hashanah 10b–11a.
15. Talley, Origins, pp. 81–82.
16. On the two theories as false alternatives, see Roll, “Origins of Christmas.”
a. See Jonathan Klawans, “Was Jesus’ Last Supper a Seder?” BR 17:05.
b. See the following BR articles: David R. Cartlidge, “The Christian Apocrypha: Preserved in Art,” BR 13:03; Ronald F. Hock, “The Favored One,” BR 17:03; and Charles W. Hedrick, “The 34 Gospels,” BR 18:03.
c. For more on dating the year of Jesus’ birth, see Leonara Neville, “Fixing the Millennium,&rd; AO 03:01.
d. The ancients were familiar with the 9-month gestation period based on the observance of women’s menstrual cycles, pregnancies and miscarriages.
e. In the West (and eventually everywhere), the Easter celebration was later shifted from the actual day to the following Sunday. The insistence of the eastern Christians in keeping Easter on the actual 14th day caused a major debate within the church, with the easterners sometimes referred to as the Quartodecimans, or “Fourteenthers.”
Andrew McGowan
Christmas treeAFAIK, there is no historical evidence of any equivalent pagan custom. I suggest you check references in early Christian writings to the Tree of Life. Also research the history of mystery plays in Europe - there is an Austrian cycle still performed which starts with Adam and Eve and ends with the birth of Christ and the visit of the Magi. An orthodox prayer relates Christ to the tree of life: http://southern-orthodoxy.blogspot.com/2008/12/word-virgin-mary-child.html • • • • • • • Pope Gregory's instructionI am puzzled by your interpretation of Pope Gregory's letter. You say he recommended that pagan feasts be adopted as festivals for martyrs. He actually says the opposite: "some solemnity must be exchanged for them on this account, as that on the day of the dedication, or the nativities of the holy martyrs whose relics are there deposited,..." In other words, he is saying that the new converts can continue feasting on oxen but should hold the feast on a Christian holy day. • • • • • • • Christ's birthLen Viola's idea is not an exclusive one. I have seen charting based on the dating of the priests' turn according to family in the Old Testament; an implication on the birth of John, and hence leading to the birth of Christ possibly being during Sukkot. I would like to know the origin of this theory apart from the godly gentleman who showed this to me. • • • • • • • ChristmasInteresting. You might try adding a line of study outside of archaeology to bring in more lines of evidence. See http://www.bethlehemstar.net/ which brings in astronomy and has an interesting take on why Dec 25 is celebrated. Scholarship footnoted there. It also adds light on how this date ended up crossing over from a different calendar system to ours, because events were marked in the clockwork movement of the heavenly bodies. Very predictable using Kepler's three laws of planetary motion • • • • • • • Date of ChristmasTo give you my bent ... my background is Reformed. Who cares? His birth is fulfillment of prophecy, other than that ... I look to Jesus' life, death and resurrection. Christmas has nothing to do with Jesus Christ and salvation ... leave it and its pagan heritage in the gutter where it belongs. >> Thus, your manipulation of the >> calendar is a feeble attempt to >> distance yourself from paganism. Arnold is on the money. • • • • • • • christmasthe true christians of the first & second century NEVER celebrated birthdays, they never celebrated Jesus birthday, but then something happened as it was predicted in the bible, from the third century on "christians" and pagans bonded together forming the marriage that we see today with the many teachings of established religion, if we personally could go back to the 2nd & 3rd century we would see pagans practicing what religions practice today. this we could not deny!!! • • • • • • • Dec 25According to my search a pope instituted the date for the Christmas celebration. I found that JuliusI in 394 A.D. made it the official holiday to coincide with Solstice. I'm sure there are many other explanations. As the exact date of the birth of Christ no one knows, but we do know that at that time there used to be more then one shepperd in the field during the time lambs where born, so spring or autumn . • • • • • • • December 25thAll that matters is that the Wisdom, Adonai, Root of Jesse, Key of David, Dawn, King of Kings, and Emmanuel promised by the prophets has come. That is what we celebrate. It really doesn't matter when we celebrate it. • • • • • • • Birthday of JesusExcellent article. The author lacks one piece of information; Hippolytus of Rome (ca. 170-235) also calculated that Jesus was born on December 25, using the same reasoning as this author. The belief of some Christians that Jesus was born on December 25 clearly predates the feast of Sol Invictus. • • • • • • • CE and Cool Post1. CE - I don't think there is anything wrong with using this...just make sure to state that it's "Christian Era" and BCE is "Before the Christian Era"...because it'll drive the atheists nuts. ;-) 2. This was a fascinating post. I, for one, personally have no problem with the current date, even if it was a baptizing of a Pagan feast, but I love meaning of having the opening and closing of Christ's life being on the same day. • • • • • • • Born Dec 25 - circumsized January 1stDecember 25 is the birthdate and January 1 - the 8th day thereof - circumsicion date. All fits well • • • • • • • Dating referencesI am not so concerned by the labels CE or BCE. If these labels help to remove some angst from those who have not yet become Christians, then maybe it will be helpful for them. I like to read, to myself, the BCE as "Before the Christian Era" and CE as the "Christian Era." Yet the conception/birth was probably at Trumpets/Tabernacles in Sept, 03 BCE. Thus, a calendar with BC/AD is not correct anyway, so isn't "Before the Common Era"/"Common Era" really more appropriate for current calendars? • • • • • • • Born Tishri 15Biblical evidence substantiates the birth of Jesus on the 1st day of Sukkot/Tabernacles. 1 Chr 24:10 and Luke 1 provide critical information on birth of John the Baptist (at Passover - Nisan 14). Jesus was born 6 mos. later on Tishri 15. This is substantiated prophetically in Haggai 2:18 - "consider now from this day and upward from the 4 & 20th day of the 9th mo." (Kislev) - day of Jesus's conception - normal gestation is Tishri 15. The day before Hanukkah (Festival of Lights). Jn 1:9 • • • • • • • Dec. 25 Christ's Birth or not?Very interesting. I am open to hear anyone's opinion. This sounds like a very good theory. I, personally, am not as concerned with the actual date as I am with the fact he did exist and will someday return. This is somewhat like the disscusion about the long lime depiction of Christ as a blue-eyed baby faced caucasion. • • • • • • • It's "AD"I was thinking the same thoughts as Jack Rippy. Mr. McGowan, please, it's "AD" not "CE". • • • • • • • How Dec 25th became ChristmasI enjoyed the article, but the practice of using of C.E. or B.C.E. rather than B.C. or A.D. is ridiculous! Our calender is based on years before or after the birth of Christ, and for historians to ignore this by utilizing "common era" is nothing short of historic revisionism. • • • • • • • RE:How December 25 Became ChristmasTwo errors: 1) We DO know from the biblical record the approximate birthdate (Octoberish by the western calendar) because we know when Zechariah was priest, we know that Elizabeth was 6 months gestation at Christ's conception, and that John was born in early spring. 2) Nazarines accounted days from sun-down to sun-down while those in Judea accounted sun-up to sun-up. Its is VERY possible to celebrate the passover satr the evening before his crucifixion. • • • • • • • Birth of The MessiahOnce again, western Christian theology attempts to mold The Messiah in to a Roman/Greco "god", acknowledging ever so briefly the Jewishness of Yeshua. No scholar am I, but will place ALL trust in G-d's (biblical) feasts and His perfect timing of events! • • • • • • • Messiah YeshuaI attend a Messianic Jewish Congregation. At our study, we looked into the Talmud and saw that John the baptist's dad, Zechariah would have been serving twice a year, in the eighth week (around June). John is six months older than Yeshua (Jesus), thus he would have been conceived around Hanukkah and born around the Feast of Tabernacles. This is interesting in that Hanukkah is the festival of light and dedication, and in the book of John Chapter 1 it says he came and tabernacled among us. • • • • • • • How Dec 25th became ChristmasThere is one interesting possibility that is missed. The Bible says Jesus was "conceived" when John was 6 months in his mother's womb. We know that Zechariah (his father) was doing Temple service when Elizabeth became pregnant. Thje priests only did Temple service for two weeks. o there is some possibility to do a fairly decent trace back through when he was doing Temple service. • • • • • • • McGowan on ChristmasMr. McGowan evades the crucial (no pun intended) point: celebration of Christmas on December 25th is an outcome of the identification of Jesus with the Persian sun-god Mithra and his Roman version, Sol Invictus. On Dec 25th 2007 Folha de S.Paulo, the largest and most influential newspaper in Brazil, published "A Christmas Tale", an article I wrote on the subject to explain the dates discrepancy. I will gladly provide an English translation to anyone who request it in aldopereira@yahoo.com • • • • • • • Planned from the BeginningIt is important for us to know the truth, which in this case, is that we don't know. As always, God's word is not comprimised and we should focus on the events and spiritual truth he has given us. (Eternal salvation and forgiveness of our sins by his sacrifice for those who believe that he is the Son of God.) • • • • • • • Christmas DayDoes it matter exactly WHEN Jesus was born? I feel that as long as the world remembers to celebrate his birth every year that the actual date is irrelevent. I understand why such research is done for historical purposes...but still feel it doesn't matter when he was born as long we acknowledge his birth. • • • • • • • ChristmasThe article shows multiple possibilities for Christmas origins. I know people that seem resolute in their belief that Christmas originated on a pagan holiday and has a negative value. But I believe that every day, from the beginning until the end, belongs to the Lord. Besides, if I give thanks to the Lord, what is it to my brother?("He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord... Rom 14:6a - "I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean of itself...Rom 14:14a) • • • • • • • How Dec. 25 Became ChristmasDecember 25 is the birthday of the sun god since Nimrod. The sun god has different names in different cultures: Chrishna, Mithra,Horus, Buddha,Hercules, Tammuz, etc. Assigning Jesus the birthday of Dec. 25 is blasphemy and holds Him out to ridicule. Everyone knows this except Christians. • • • • • • • Article on Dec 25Edersheim, in The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, addresses the issue and comes down on the side that 25 Dec is valid---has to do with how jewish writers handled the corresponding date on the jewish calendar for about the 1st 2 or 3 hundred years AD---btw, why is a biblically oriented review using the absurd CE designation rather than AD---humanists and secular scholars who would obscure the fact that Christ divided history are just being silly---something we should eschew-- • • • • • • • Another opinionJust another thought which most will not know about. Mormons have believed since the inception of their church that Jesus' birthday was April 6.They believe that the man they consider a prophet, Joseph Smith, received a revelation establishing that date. Pretty serendiptious for an undedcated rural 24 year old farmer. • • • • • • • December 25Interesting history yet mostly speculation. Joseph was Joe sixpack in his day so he didn't make waves. Our God did not see fit to give date of birth but circumstance of birth. As we can observe, we are more intent on worshiping the occasion than the reason. In the early day Christmas was not observed but Easter or the Crucifixion was. Easter was more familiar to the gentiles than the passover and the dates fall close together. • • • • • • • Sol Invictus1. Could it be that Aurelian scheduled the Sol Invictus holiday to copy a Christian holiday? (That is, the causality is the opposite of the conventional one) 2. Why is John the Baptist's birthday thought to be June or July 25, or whenever it is? • • • • • • • December 25th chosen as Jesus' birthdayIt is my understanding that when Constantine took control of the church he designated December 25th as Jesus' birthday. It was originally the birthdate of the pagan god Mithris and Constantine was replacing Mithris with Jesus. • • • • • • • Christmas 25th DecemberFrom what you have said, everything is predicated on calendar dates with the Hebrew calendar as the primary source. You failed to mention when the Jews were in captivity, even their calendar became corrupt when something like 260 days were lost. This being the case, there is no one calendar which dates back accurately to the time of Christ's actual birth. Having read Scriptures, I know that God had an order and all of His feasts days were set. Jesus would have been been born on a feast date. • • • • • • • Jesus' birth dayYour article about Jesus' birth day was interesting. But as a follower of Jesus, His birth day is of little consequence. The main thing that that He came into the world and died to save sinners from all nations and backgrounds. The fact that we do celebrate His coming into world is quite unique eventhrough many people are missing the true meaning fo the holiday. The fact that we do stop to recognize His birth demostrates His power. John Blackwell • • • • • • • Birth of Christ Biblical sourcingMay I suggest also looking at what is available in the Bible e.g. Zacharias being of the course of Abia, his turn for temple duty and dating forward with the Elisabeth and Mary conceptions. This would suggest Christ's birth as early as August (Rosh Hashanah - Sukkoth time frame). But even this account allows for a date closer to Hanukah or traditional Christmas. Thank you for a delightfully well written article and Merry Christmas. • • • • • • • Pagen influences in celebrating ChristmasIt is interesting that the writer about Christians being influenced by pagan festivals so obviously uses C.E. (common era) which is a paganization of A.D. What non-Christian reference could possibly just happen to coincide with the original believed year of Christ's birth? What other motive could be assigned to the writer for the use of C.E. than to de-emphasize christian roots in the year dating system? • • • • • • • Christ birth dateDear Mr. McGowen, With the errors in human recorded history, I choose to depend on the evidence in God's word. See Luke 1 where Christ birth is tied directly to birth of John. The date is establshed by Zacharis's temple service (he is of the course of "Abia"/"Abijah,(spelling differences are translation errors)), the 8th of 24 courses, which is established in 1 Chron 24) these courses served at distinct times of the year, twice a year, 6 mounths apart. Works out to be most likely Sept 29th. • • • • • • • December 25th and the StarI'd encourage you to check out bethlehemstar.net. The research Rick Larsen, Esq. gives on the origins and meaning of the actual star sheds incredible light on the dates of Christ's conception, birth, and death. He is also able to demonstrate with clarity why December 25th was chosen for Christmas, as it is the point at which Jupiter, the Christmas Star, went into retrograde motion (ie: the star stopped over Bethlehem) in the southern sky. • • • • • • • Christmas is paganismThe truth, and the reason why the earliest Christians did not celebrate or even attempt to divine the exact date of Jesus birth, is that we are not told by the Bible to celebrate Jesus birth at all. It is the crucifiction and resurrection that we are told to remember. The first Christian church founded by the apostles was a church of messianic Jews who did not observe Christmas. If the apostles (who actually KNEW Jesus) did not observe it, that is strong evidence that we shouldn't either. • • • • • • • good article, but...Good article overall, but a real blunder on the calendar. Tishri is NOT "the following month" vis-a-vis Nisan; Tishri is 6 months after Nisan. • • • • • • • December 25th (and March 25th)A very persuasive and well-researched thesis. But if one accepts March 25th as the date of the Crucifixion, why do we now celebrate Easter as a movable feast instead of on that fixed date? • • • • • • • Christmas DateFirst of all i would like to know if the author of this article is basing his findings on recorded facts or if they are biased due to his own personal beliefs/religion. "Scholars" believe there is nor proof of Christmas being rooted in Pagan worhip, customs, rituals, and traditions? Doesn't God use the foolish to confound the wise? Doesn't He blind those who are proud and arrogant? Christianizing/Baptising Pagan days and rituals didn't begin after 300 "CE"/AD. Study Deuteronomy 12:29-32. • • • • • • • "Christmas"The "Eastern Church" does not observe the birth of Jesus on the 7 Jan.-the Orthodox Churches of Serbia & Russia do (Julian). Most of world-wide Orthodoxy observes 25 December, as is prescribed in service books. "The East": yes, Armenians observe the Incarnation/Manifestation (i.e. baptism) of Christ on 6 Jan., the original Feast which is still the case in world-wide Orthodox Christianity. See oca.org (Feasts/Saints) and the hymns appointed for the 25th & 6th to understand the theology/teaching. • • • • • • • Christmas 25th DecemberJesus was born 1st week of October; 25th Dec was a Roman religious festival which was 'Christianised' gradually in the decades following Constantine's alleged conversion in the 3rd Century AD; exactly the same thing happened with Easter. Jesus birth was attended by the shepherds and angels only; by the time the Magi managed to locate Jesus, he was 3 years old and living in Egypt; their valuable gifts enabled Joseph to move from working- to middle-class craftsman living comfortably in Nazareth. • • • • • • • Should we be surprised?We are so much the product of what we've been told. If one believes that Jesus is the Messiah of God, a Jew in a Jewish world, then we should look to Judaism to more fully understand him and how to honor him. • • • • • • • Birth of ChristI hope there is no suggested theological import to this discussion. And what is this mysterious CE of which you speak? • • • • • • • Calculation HypothesisThis is a reasonably valuable corrective to some of the superficial 'solstice' explanations on offer. However, it is worth noting that Susan Roll, the leading authority on the question, concludes that the calculation hypothesis has many defects (not least the absence of early sources) and inclines towards a compromise position which retains the central role of the Christianisation of Sol Invictus in the process. • • • • • • • 12/25 Christmas ??It is plausible that Jesus was born during the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukot). I've been doing reasearch on debunking Christmas myths. Luke tells when Jesus was born; Matthew tells what year. Concerning John the Baptist's birth, pertinent scriptures are 1 Chron. 24.7-18 & 2 Chron. 23.8. The angels use 2nd Temple litergy for Sukot. John 1.14 says that the Logos tabernacled (eskaenosen) with us. I should have my work done by June. If you are interested contact me at dickshebrew@gmail.com. • • • • • • • December 25thIt is my opinion that the celebration of the Christ's birth is merely a replacement for the winter solstice celebration already in place. By 300 A.D., there were enough Christians to warrant such a celebration, thus the soltice was chosen as there was already a celebration inplace then--church leaders merely called it something else. • • • • • • • ColonIf Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem for the census, as most biblical accounts agree, it would have been at the New Year, "Rosh Hashana," which, of course is early fall--September or October. So, obviously absolutely no tie-in to either December 25 (the well documented pagan festival), or Passover which occurs in March or April, depending upon the lunar phase and the Hebraic calendar. Thus, your manipulation of the calendar is a feeble attempt to distance yourself from paganism. • • • • • • • monomythWhether or not this is "true" is the wrong question. The main idea appears to be that people, when faced with the seasons and the cyclical forces of the sun and the moon (as represented by solstice and equinox) are struck by the same notions. Pagans felt compelled to celebrate the birth of the Sun, Christians found a reason to celebrate the birth of their God. Again in spring time, pagans felt a need to commemorate rebirth, as did the Jews and Christians. "Reasons" here are questionable. No? • • • • • • • Christmas Day1. The pagans celebrated the first day after the solstice (20-21st December)where one could see the daylight time increasing. It was a wonderful orgy of food and sex. It is stated that Joseph was going to Bethlehem to pay his taxes, which in the Roman Empire was done in the last month of the financial year (March/early-April as in the UK). The young fellow was thus likely born at that time. However, since Easter was already a springtime Christian feast in the 4th century, the feats was moved. • • • • • • • Date for ChristmasExcellent article. I linked to it from my Christian apologetics blog. Thank you for the great work you are doing at BAR. • • • • • • • JESUS BIRTHDATEWe propose the Jewish Holiday, Rosh Hashanah, for that Holy Event. Talmud Aboth 8:21 rules Jewish men are "at full strength" at age thirty. This ruling appears to be reasoned from precedent. Joseph was placed in charge of Pharaoh's wealth at age thirty. David was anointed King of Israel at age thirty. Jesus apparently held the age of "maturity" when reading Scripture in Capernaum�s synagogue. (Luke 4:17 - 21) • • • • • • • Gonenmaybe there is a connection with the festival of Hannukah which is celebrated on 25th of Kislev (usually falling in December)? • • • • • • • Christmas originsFinally, someone had the nerve to say what is truth about Easter & Christmas. As a history buff, I found out that Dec. 25th is not the birth of Jesus. I love Jesus with all of my heart and I have taken the time to study pre-church practices, how the pagans celebrated Dec. 25th and Easter, and what I found out shocked me. Most everyone just accepts what has been passed down to them and never find out what the history of is. The simple message of Jesus is so divine and doesn't need pagan rituals. • • • • • • • ChristmasA footnote to December 25 as the date of Christmas is its relation to the date chosen for John the Baptist's nativity, June 25, three months after the Annunciation to Mary, and the sixth-month of John's conception (Luke 1:36). This places the Baptist's birth around the summer solstice when sunlight decreases in contrast to Chrismas' proximity to the winter solstice when dayight increases. Reminisent is John the Baptist's saying, "He must increase, but I must decrease"(John 3:30). • • • • • • • Date for Christmas(A 500 character limit?) In the Western church the Mexican (and maybe the Hispanic community at large) celebrates not on December 25 but they honor the Three Kings on January 6. • • • • • • • Date of ChristmasIf you check a calender that has it, you'll notice that Christmas in the Eastern church is celebrated on January 7. I thought this a typo the first time I saw it. Then learned that the Eastern church remains on the Julian calendar. It did not adopt the Western Gregorian calendar (instituted by Pope Gregory). Thus December 25 is 13 days later under the Julian calendar (13 days were removed when the Gregorian was instituted to bring the earth back in sync with the seasons). • • • • • • • vacuous learningWhat a display of vacuous learning! A prime example of what scholarship should not be. Shame! • • • • • • • How December 25 Became ChristmasI know Mr.McGowen has excellent credentials & I am but a lowly Bible student, but his explanations lack the ring of truth in many instances. His research was not quite complete enough. I challenge him & other readersto take the time and read "The Star Of Bethlehem" by E.L.Martin & can be found here; http://www.askelm.com/star/index.asp Of all the things I have read about Christmas & its origins, this one book has the most accurate discription of any other work, bar none. • • • • • • • How December 25 Became ChristmasThis is one of the best articles from a 'secular' magazine that I have read concerning the date of Jesus Messiah's birth date. For many Christians, it is almost dogma that Jesus was born in the spring at the time of 'first fruits'. Others feel celebrating Jesus' birth is irrelevant, and many many others feel 'Christmas' is a pagan festival anyways, so why be concerned. Thank you for a concise accurate article. • • • • • • • WhiteheadHere's the missing link. Did the cruelty of Diocletian instigate a rebellion against all things Roman, by the Donatists and others? At this point, they may have noticed the 9 month difference between March and December (the coincidence). Did they proclaim Christ's birth on Sol Invictus day as a small but symbolic way to countermand the edicts of Rome? They seem to have had the personality to think this way. • • • • • • • date of ChristmasIt's interesting that none of the several evidences and consequent theories points to a Fall date. The head of Family Radio a persistent date-setter has concluded that the probable date corresponds to a Jewish feast that occurs in the Fall of the current calendar. The two alternative analyses here are quite new to me. Thanks for a fresh look. • • • • • • • Re: December 25th as ChristmasDear BAR, Thank you for the excellent article by Andrew McGowan! I had always heard about the ties with Dec. 25th and the pagan festivals, but had not heard so clearly the theological reasons for that dating, nor why January 6 was similarly dated. It was an insightful presentation of the varied aspects, and one I passed along to others. Thank you for the fine job you always seem to do! I find your material always leading me to new insights and greater understanding. May God Bless you! • • • • • • • Birth of ChristThe date of Christ birth always gets banded about but is hardly ever associated with the year of crucifixion and the decree of Daniel's 70 week prophecy. All 3 events are time linked and must be independently established. Mary conceived on June 20th 8BCE the day of Pentecost. Jesus was born 27th March 7BCE and was crucified at the Passover 27CE. The decree of Cyrus in 408BCE. BAR For the full details email me so I can send them to yeu • • • • • • • |
 FREE Downloadable E-BooksThe Holy Bible: A Buyer’s Guide
Easter: Exploring the Resurrection of Jesus
I Volunteered for This?! Life on an Archaeological Dig
The First Christmas: The Story of Jesus’ Birth in History and Legend
Israel: An Archaeological Journey
From Babylon to Baghdad: Ancient Iraq and the Modern West
Exploring Jordan: The Other Biblical Land
Island Jewels: Understanding Ancient Cyprus and Crete
The Olympic Games: How They All Began
The Dead Sea Scrolls—What They Really Say
Real or Fake? Forgery Conference Report |
||||||||||
INFORMATION |
PUBLICATIONS |
FREE EMAIL NEWSLETTER |
Warden and President of Trinity College at the University of Melbourne, Australia, Andrew McGowan’s work on early Christianity includes God in Early Christian Thought (Brill, 2009) and Ascetic Eucharists: Food and Drink in Early Christian Ritual Meals (Oxford, 1999).
