Why do we celebrate Chirstmas on December 25?

Question

Historically, it's know Jesus was not born on this day.

Answer 1

Like most holidays, it took the place of pagan holidays.
Saturnalia was the celebration of winter, along with dressing of an Evergreen tree with bright colorful things, as well as lots of drinking and sex. The custom of decorating trees in honor of the gods is in fact so old it is specifically prohibited in the Old Testament.

Of course when the church took over, they kept the day, but got rid of, or tried to, the drinking and the sex, put the tree indoors, where it could dry up and burn a few houses down, and turned the Scandinavian gift-giving gnome Tomten (Also known as Julesvenn, Julnissen, Knecht Ruprecht) into today's well known jolly fat man.

Answer 2

I don't know why the British and the Americans celebrate Christmas on the 25th.... Most all over Europe it's celebrated on the eve of the 24th. In Germany the celabration goes this way : On the 24th you set up your Christmastree in the morning, get together with your family in the afternoon have coffee and cake and then around dinnertime in the evening you exchange the gifts. If little children are involved you exchange gifts a little earlier. Then you have a nice Christmas dinner and after that you sit together, play a board game or so. The 25th and 26th are national Holydays, so you can invite the In-laws on one of those days or go to visit them, or you invite friends. Either way, on both of those days you will again have a nice Chrismas dinner and mostly it's a relaxed time for everybody, since nobody has to work or go to school. By the way, the Christmas tree is not thrown out until the second week in January.

Answer 3

Christmas means Christ's Mass and was first celebrated on various dates from about 200 A.D until Bishop Liberus of Rome in 354 A.D set the date on December 25, which almost coincides with the winter solstice, became a popular festival of West Europe during the Middle Ages. But as late as the nineteenth century, the Christmas celebration was suppressed in Scotland and New England because of some religious differences. It is believed that Jesus Christ was actually born sometime in March as that is when the famed star generally appears. As for the giving of gifts this is a tribute to the wise mens gift to the baby Jesus. Since there is so much controversy regarding the actual birthdate of Jesus catholic politics intervened to give a traditional day of celebration, much like Easter Sunday. Jesus didn't rise from the tomb on a different Sunday every year it was one specific date but as we don't know the exact one we use a Sunday in late March or April because it falls in the seasonal time of year coinciding with the rise of Jesus The Vernal Equinox (another seasonal influence in our calendar).

Answer 4

Because it's retalted to the winter solstice & saturnalia & the Roman church though since the pagans were celebrating then anyway, they'd just co-opt their holiday to try & justify it & get new followers. Jesus was certainly NOT born that day, nor even in this time of year & the wise men didn't even see him until he was a couple years old...

Answer 5

Ok I'm Christian and I just know that i agree with the history thing im pretty sure thats when everyone -including the nine month late three wise dudes- was there I thiiiiiiiink and the Star of David is known to be Jupiter really i'm guessing i don't totally know but yeah the wise men were nine months late -slaps wise men-

Answer 6

It is true that Jesus was probably not born on December 25th. No one really knows the exact date. But, the Church celebrates it on the 25th because it is exactly 9 months after Mary was told by the angel Gabriel that she was to have a child.

Answer 7

Religious holidays, particularly in Catholicism, are rooted in pagan festivals. In Rome, Saturnalia was a public winter festival that honoured the god Saturn. It started on the 17th and generally ended around the 24th. Festivities included gift-giving, feasts, games, etc

I'm assuming this eventually fell out of practice when Constantine declared Christianity the offical religion of the empire.

...but if you know the correct date, we'd be happy to change it ;)

Answer 8

It is not proven that december 25 was chosen as the date for Christmas because it was already a holiday, it's just a theory but saturnalia is the early form of that.

Answer 9

A man-made Holiday. We should celebrate the birth of Christ everyday. It is adding to God's Holy Word to Only Celebrate His Sons birth one day a year. Warning Revelation 22.... DO NOT ADD TO OR TAKE AWAY FROM MY WORDS.

P.S. The True Church of Christ does not celebrate Dec. 25th as Christ's Birthday.

Answer 10

Because the church couldn't get the Pagans to stop celebrating Yule, the rebirth of the sun. So they changed the date of Christ's birth to Dec. and incorporated their traditions & refered to it as the birth of the "son". Sounds the same, so why would they question.