December 25, nine months later, then became the date of Jesus’ birth. One of the difficulties with this view is that it suggests a nonchalant willingness on the part of the Christian church to appropriate a pagan festival when the early church was so intent on distinguishing itself categorically from pagan beliefs and practices.Ī second view suggests that December 25 became the date of Jesus’ birth by a priori reasoning that identified the spring equinox as the date of the creation of the world and the fourth day of creation, when the light was created, as the day of Jesus’ conception (i.e., March 25). Indeed, after December 25 had become widely accepted as the date of Jesus’ birth, Christian writers frequently made the connection between the rebirth of the sun and the birth of the Son. One widespread explanation of the origin of this date is that December 25 was the Christianizing of the dies solis invicti nati (“day of the birth of the unconquered sun”), a popular holiday in the Roman Empire that celebrated the winter solstice as a symbol of the resurgence of the sun, the casting away of winter and the heralding of the rebirth of spring and summer. December 25 was first identified as the date of Jesus’ birth by Sextus Julius Africanus in 221 and later became the universally accepted date. The New Testament provides no clues in this regard. The precise origin of assigning December 25 as the birth date of Jesus is unclear.
Learn how Christian historian Sextus Africanus and Roman Emperor Constantine I determined Christmas's date See all videos for this article Numerous Church Fathers offered sarcastic comments about the pagan custom of celebrating birthdays when, in fact, saints and martyrs should be honoured on the days of their martyrdom-their true “birthdays,” from the church’s perspective. In particular, during the first two centuries of Christianity there was strong opposition to recognizing birthdays of martyrs or, for that matter, of Jesus. The actual observance of the day of Jesus’ birth was long in coming. The early Christian community distinguished between the identification of the date of Jesus’ birth and the liturgical celebration of that event. In this secular Christmas celebration, a mythical figure named Santa Claus plays the pivotal role. The German word Weihnachten denotes “hallowed night.” Since the early 20th century, Christmas has also been a secular family holiday, observed by Christians and non-Christians alike, devoid of Christian elements, and marked by an increasingly elaborate exchange of gifts. The corresponding terms in other languages- Navidad in Spanish, Natale in Italian, Noël in French-all probably denote nativity. The earlier term Yule may have derived from the Germanic jōl or the Anglo-Saxon geōl, which referred to the feast of the winter solstice. The English term Christmas (“mass on Christ’s day”) is of fairly recent origin. SpaceNext50 Britannica presents SpaceNext50, From the race to the Moon to space stewardship, we explore a wide range of subjects that feed our curiosity about space!Ĭhristmas, Christian festival celebrating the birth of Jesus.Learn about the major environmental problems facing our planet and what can be done about them!
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