a question for Christians ?

Question

i am not knocking anyone.i just want to know why christians celabrate
christmas when it came from a pegan holiday.there is no record that christ was born in dec. but there is a history of it being a pagan holiday.

Answer 1

I guess it is due to groups of "pagans" who converted to christianity, who celebrated a so-called holiday of the winter solstice, where they put up a tree, and decorated it with different decorations. the Christmas celebrations that we know of today, came from the mixing of all the
different pagan holidays. I believe Christ actually was born during a warmer season (?).

Answer 2

I don't know this for sure, but I think the yule was chosen to celebrate the birth of christ because the pagan holiday was the first of the new calender year when they celebrate the birth of the oak king (the young manifestation of the god, who becomes a man or the holly king when he marries in May). Since there was already a baby boy being born why not use it to slide the converts more seamlessly into christian life? I think it's nice to know that there are many ways to celebrate the holiday season, whether you belive in christ, an oak king, santa claus or father christmas. Even the jews have their own way of making the season something special. I think it's a nice way for everyone to celebrate something all at the same time, since it builds such a sense of community among such diverse people.

Answer 3

We did take a lot of Pagan tradition to celebrate the Birth of Our Savior, Jesus, but, we added Him to it all, therefore making it our own. As a way of involving the entire family, gift giving is a beautiful thing. Why Dec 25th?

Although no one knows what date Jesus was born on, there were several reasons for early Christians to favor December 25. The date is nine months after the Festival of Annunciation (March 25), and hence the Incarnation. It is also the date on which the Romans marked the winter solstice.

Around 220, the theologian Tertullian declared that Jesus died on March 25, AD 29. Although this is not a plausible date for the crucifixion, it does suggest that March 25 had significance for the church even before it was used as a basis to calculate Christmas. Modern scholars favor a crucifixion date of April 3, AD 33 (also the date of a partial lunar eclipse).(These are Julian calendar dates. Subtract two days for a Gregorian date.)

By 240, a list of significant events was being assigned to March 25, partly because it was believed to be the date of the vernal equinox. These events include creation, the fall of Adam, and, most relevantly, the Incarnation. The view that the Incarnation occurred on the same date as crucifixion is consistent with a Jewish belief that prophets died at an "integral age," either an anniversary of their birth or of their conception.

Aside from being nine months later than Annunciation, December 25 is also the date the Romans marked the winter solstice, which they referred to as bruma. For this reason, some have suggested the opposite of the theory outlined above, i.e. that the date of Christmas was chosen to be the same as that of the solstice and that the date of Annunciation was calculated on this basis. (The Julian calendar was originally only one day off, with the solstice falling on December 24 in 45 BC. Due to calendar slippage, the date of the astronomical solstice has moved back so that it now falls on either December 21 or December 22).

Although Christmas may be celebrated on December 25 in historically Catholic and Protestant nations, in eastern Europe it is often celebrated on January 7. This is because the Orthodox church continues to use the Julian calendar for determining feast days.

Many Christmas practices originate in Germanic countries, including the Christmas tree, the Christmas ham, the Yule log, holly, mistletoe, and the giving of presents. The prominence of Christmas in Germanic nations may be a form of carryover from the pagan midwinter holiday of Yule.


Russia banned Christmas celebration from 1917 until 1992. Several Christian denominations, notably the Jehovah's Witnesses, Puritans, and some fundamentalists, view Christmas as a pagan holiday not sanctioned by the Bible.

Answer 4

If you really want to know the truth. It just gives us a time to celebrate Christs birth. It didn't actually come from a pagan holiday so you might want to research a little more. I don't remember why the date was chosen but it was. The truth is Christ was actually born around the times we celebrate Easter and actually died on the day we celebrate Christmas. So do more research because Christmas wasn't originally called Christmas and I am not really sure exactly how far it goes back but I do remember reading something about that same time period that the Druids celebrated but at the top of my head I just can't remember. So you know Druidism is the first form of religion as far as I have researched I haven't found anything older

Answer 5

You make a great point. My boyfriend's mom is an Evangelical, and we constantly have arguements about God and Christ, yet she always celebrates Christmas with a tree and all the attendant lights, decorations, etc. I told her last year that I was surprised by it since the practice of the decorated tree was pagan in origin. She had no real answer for that one. (She also hates when people don't say Merry Christmas to her at Wal-Mart - they say Happy Holidays - drives her spare - it offends her that they're trying not to offend anyone.) Let's face it - for most people, myself included, it's about giving and love and being with family, which is really what Jesus was preaching anyway. It's a nice holiday, regardless of why or how you observe it.

Answer 6

It is doubtful that Jesus was truly born on December 25th. Some early church fathers believed it to have been December 25th, but the Bible does not say when Jesus was born. Some argue that Jesus was born in the Fall, probably in September by our modern calendars. However, the Bible does not even really tell us what season Jesus was born. The early church declared December 25th to be Jesus’ birthday in order to replace a pagan Roman holiday, Saturnalia. Ironically, December 25th was a celebration of the birthday of the sun god. The early church, in an attempt to get rid of the pagan holiday, declared December 25th to be the birthday of the Son of God. Now, Jesus very may well have been born on December 25th – we simply do not know.

Answer 7

"CHRIST-mas" was never a pagan holiday-the pagans never called it Christmas. You could also ask many non-Christians why they celebrate December 25. Does that mean they are pagans? Many days share many events it's that simple. I share my birth day with a few celebrities, and it's some kind of religious day and an independence day for some country as well or something like that.

Answer 8

A holiday is what you make of it. If you honor God on a certain day of the year, doesn't that make it into something other than a pagan holiday? If you skip breakfast and lunch on any day during Ramadan, does that mean you're celebrating this Muslim religious holiday? No, it doesn't.

As far as the date, Scripture tells us it's not possible Jesus Christ was born on December 25th. However, I cannot identify ANY scripture that tells us we cannot set aside a day to honor His birth.

Answer 9

According to the Syriac bishop Jacob Bar-Salibi, writing in the twelth century:

"It was a custom of the Pagans to celebrate on the same 25 December the birthday of the Sun, at which they kindled lights in token of festivity. In these solemnities and revelries the Christians also took part. Accordingly when the doctors of the Church perceived that the Christians had a leaning to this festival, they took counsel and resolved that the true Nativity should be solemnised on that day." (cited in "Christianity and Paganism in the Fourth to Eighth Centuries", Ramsay MacMullen. Yale:1997, p155)

Answer 10

Actually Christmas was made to coincide with the Jewish festival Chanukah, an 8 day festival that starts on 25th Kislev (Kislev is a Jewish month). Chanukah is also a time of giving presents.

You have to remember that the early Christians were Jews and therefore made most of the new festivals to coincide with similar Jewish ones.

But after all that's said and done - does it really matter?
Christianity teaches peace and Judaism teaches peace .Some will try to tell you otherwise but they really don't know - or want to know - all the facts.

As Jackie Mason's says in his act - since when were you frightened to walk through a Jewish neighborhood?