Why do people pretend that Christmas is a religious holiday?

Question

It is not Jesus' birthday. Christmas didnt start until hundreds of years after Jesus was born, and Jesus was even born in December.

Christmas was originally a pagan holiday.. why would you take an already existing holiday and pretend its Christs birthday, is what I guess Im asking. If making one up.... why not use one that doesnt already have a significance to somethign else? The holiday was before Jesus was born, then changed to Christmas about 400 years after.

Hey Spreebee... do your homework. Ive done mine and YOURE WRONG!

Answer 1

The roots are in pagan religion. December 25th is the third day after the solstice (December 22nd). In Rome during the first centuries A.D. the worship of Mithras (and others) was common, and protected by the government. In the Mithras cult, he was considered the "unconquered sun", who arose from death three days after the solstice. Christians made the obvious connection about their "unconquered Son" rising three days after His death. So, they celebrated His birth while pagans celebrated Mithras' rebirth. This protected them from persecution until the movement took control of the empire.
Once the Mithras cult was stamped out, Christmas celebration had become firmly entrenched, at least in the Western Empire.

Answer 2

Good question. Christmas was a pagan holiday that was celebrated the light and birth in the darkest days of winter, were drinking and eating was done in abundance; this was the case for years. Once Christianity began to take shape the church noticed that people would rather celebrate the winter carnivals instead of going to church. In a very calculated move the church began to introduce celebrations of the birth of Jesus and the celebration of Three Kings Day. With the years people began to accept the Christmas traditions of the past. Of course it has all gone down the gutter since the 60's when Christmas became a commercial holiday, now days just vacation time.

Answer 3

The facts about Christmas:

It IS a religious holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. It's not necessarily his birthday however.

Many of its customs and traditions are pagan in origin and Predate Jesus. The Christmas tree for example.

Many people of faiths other than Christianity celebrate Christmas today. Often times these people secularize the celebration, using it primarily as a time to reunite with family and show appreciation for family and friends through the tradition of gift-giving.

Answer 4

Christ wasn't born in December you're right. Christmas is celebrated in December because back when the Christian church was first gathering followers and power they were trying to convert as many from the old pagan religions as they could. So, they moved their holy days to coincide with the old pagan ones to get people to convert. That is why Christmas is when it is. However, it's still a symbolic holiday. It's not so much important, from a Christian point of view, to be accurate to the exact date and time as it is to simply recognize the importance of certain religious events in history.

I'm Pagan and for me Christmas-time IS a religious (spiritual) holiday. It is the time of the year when the nights are the longest and the days the shortest. From that day on the days will get longer, until they reach their peak at Midsummer (the summer solstice). In the Wiccan mythos, Yule (Christmas) is celebrated as when the Goddess (in her Mother aspect) gives birth to the Sun/Son, the God. I have always found this to be an interesting parallel between the Christian Christmas and the Pagan Yule. We celebrate re-newed life, and use it as an opportunity for purification rituals. (also similar to Christianity, the idea that Christ represents new life, and cleanses us of our sins.)

Hope that answers you question!

Blessings and Light!

~RW

Answer 5

as Christianity spread they were alarmed by the continuing celebration of pagan customs and Saturnalia among their converts. At first the Church forbid this kind of celebration. But it was to no avail. Eventually it was decided that the celebration would be tamed and made into a celebration fit for the Christian Son of God.

Some legends claim that the Christian "Christmas" celebration was invented to compete against the pagan celebrations of December. The 25th was not only sacred to the Romans but also the Persians whose religion Mithraism was one of Christianity's main rivals at that time. The Church eventually was successful in taking the merriment, lights, and gifts from the Saturanilia festival and bringing them to the celebration of Christmas.

The exact day of the Christ child's birth has never been pinpointed. Traditions say that it has been celebrated since the year 98 AD. In 137 AD the Bishop of Rome ordered the birthday of the Christ Child celebrated as a solemn feast. In 350 AD another Bishop of Rome, Julius I, choose December 25th as the observance of Christmas.

Answer 6

To convert people from Mithraism which celebrated Mithra's birthday on December 25th, the church decided to make it there holiday. This happened in 375, but did not catch on in most places until some time in the 7th century.

Buddha was believed to have been born into the virgin queen Maya on December 25th some 450 years beefier that though. Same stories just keep getting repackaged.

So SpreeBee looks to be guilty of what she preaches against.

Answer 7

Actually Christmas began as a pagan holiday. Several gods such as Odin and Dionysis were born on the 25th. The Winter Equinox is near the 25th...several cultures had celebrations revolving around this date. So, when Constantine refined Christianity, he chose it because it was easier to incorperate pagan religions into Christianity. It's like saying, "You still get to celebrate your holiday, just for a different reason!"

Answer 8

Makes huge amounts of money so why not? Nobody really knows the month of Jesus birth but is suggested to be in October, not the pagan holiday we celebrate. More money is made during that season that is made all year. So why not have it as a holiday and keep the money rolling in?

Answer 9

Well... because it has the word Christ in it? lol I don't know. I'm a christian, and I absolutely adore the christmas holiday. I love the spirit of it, the magic, and of course the religious significance. I don't see why it's such a problem. I see it as a better way to celebrate than a holiday that holds onto gift-receiving and spending craploads of money.

Answer 10

It was an early method the church used of converting the local populace to christianity. The did it to keep the people happy enough not to revolt yet still be subjected to Chritianity. This allowed for the Pagan population to privately and secretly still worship their Gods under the illusion of worshiping Chrisitan ideals. The hope was that pagans would gradually conform to the church more with each genereation untill the pagan side of it was lost and only christian beliefs remained.