Was Jesus actually born on December 25? What are the origins of Christmas? Can it be justified as Christian?

Answer 1

No, Jesus was not born in December 25Th, more likekely between the end of September and beginning of October, He was born in Rosh Ashanah and His crcsition in Yom Kippur.

Pre-Christian Era

[Saturnalia
In Roman times, the best-known winter festival was Saturnalia, which was popular throughout Italy. Saturnalia was a time of general relaxation, feasting, merry-making, and a cessation of formal rules. It included the making and giving of small presents (Saturnalia et Sigillaricia), including small dolls for children and candles for adults.[6] During Saturnalia, business was postponed and even slaves feasted. There was drinking, gambling, and singing, and even public nudity. It was the "best of days," according to the poet Catullus.[7] Saturnalia honored the god Saturn and began on December 17. The festival gradually lengthened until the late Republican period, when it was seven days (December 17-24). In imperial times, Saturnalia was shortened to five days.[8]


[Sol Invictus
Beginning with Aurelian in 274, the Roman emperors promoted the festival of Natalis Solis Invicti (December 25) as an empire-wide holiday. The Sol Invictus festival honored the birthdays of two related solar deities, Sol Invictus (The Unconquered Sun), a god of Syrian origin, and Mithras, the Iranian "Sun of Righteousness," who was worshipped by many Roman soldiers.[9] [10] December 25 was considered to be the date of the Winter Solstice.[6] It was therefore the day on which the Sun proved itself to be "unconquered," despite the shortening of daylight hours.


[ Yule
Pagan Scandinavia celebrated a winter festival called Yule, held in the late December to early January period. Yule logs were lit to honor Thor, the god of thunder, with the belief that each spark from the fire represented a new pig or calf that would be born during the coming year. Feasting would continue until the log burned out, which could take as many as twelve days.[11] In Germany, the equivalent holiday was called Mitwinternacht (mid-winter night), and there were twelve Rauhnächte (harsh or wild nights).[12] As Northern Europe was the last part to Christianize, its pagan celebrations had a major influence on Christmas. Scandinavians still call Christmas Jul. In English, the word Yule is synonymous with Christmas,[13] a usage first recorded in 900.


Origin of Christmas
Origen, a father of the Christian church, argued against the celebration of birthdays, including the birth of Christ.It is unknown exactly when or why December 25 was originally associated with Jesus's birth. The New Testament does not name a specific date. One widespread explanation is the appropriation of the popular festivals of Sol Invictus and Mithras by the Christian church. Early Christian writers made frequent connections between the rebirth of the sun and the birth of the Son.[14]

The idea that December 25 was Jesus' date of birth was popularized by Sextus Julius Africanus in Chronographiai (AD 221), an early reference book for Christians.[14] It is nine months after the Feast of the Annunciation, March 25, the presumed date of the Incarnation of Jesus.[15] December 25 was also the date that the Romans marked the winter solstice, which they called bruma.[6] (In the 21st century, the solstice falls on December 21 or 22.)

The identification of the birthdate of Jesus did not at first inspire feasting or celebration. In 245, the theologian Origen denounced the idea of celebrating the birthday of Jesus "as if he were a king pharaoh." He contended that only sinners, not saints, celebrated their birthdays.

Christian are celebrating His birthday and it does not matter to Christians weather was December or September, they just celebrating His birth.

Answer 2

The Bible doesn't have any dates in it, but it is highly unlikely that Jesus was born on December 25. One reason is that the shepherds were sleeping out in their fields when the angels appeared to them. It is cold in Palestine in December; highly unlikely the shepherds would be sleeping outside with their flocks. Some say that Jesus was likely born in the early Fall and that Dec. 25 is close to the date of his conception. Notice what Charles T. Russell--the founder of the religion that is now known as Jehovah's Witnesses--stated in Vol. 2 of his "Studies in the Scriptures": "October 1st, B.C. is about correct. Nine months back of that date would bring us to about Christmas time, 3 B.C., as the date at which our Lord laid aside the glory which he had with the Father before the world was made and the taking of or changing to human nature began. It seems probable that this was the origin of the celebration of December 25th as Christmas Day. Some writers on Church history claim, even, that Christmas Day was originally celebrated as the date of the annunciation by Gabriel to the virgin Mary." This is interesting because, as many know, the Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate Christmas anymore.

Answer 3

Was Jesus actually born? Question mark. The date is neither here nor there. Only numpties who can't abide the idea of Jesus being a historical character rant on about needing proof that he was born. Would hundreds of people in the first century A.D. alone, sacrifice their lives for having faith in this man if he'd never even existed? Would our calander now be divided into B.C. (= before Christ) and A.D. (anno domini = in the year of our Lord) if Jesus had never been born?

So, if Jesus was born, the next important question is, why did he die? As with the date of his birth, the date of his death is not a real issue. Christians should not be taken up with justifying their traditions but with considering how they have been justified before God by what Jesus did.

Answer 4

The facts say that a person who they believe to be Jesus was born around March, and there is a lot of evidence to support this, of course no proof he was the son of God, and he is listed under his Hebrew name. The holiday we have in December was an old Roman Holiday, and some time back the two things were put together, don't know why, but if you check some of the Hebrew text, before it was translated you will find that a lot of things were different to what we are led to believe, for example there is no mention of a Virgin Mary, that was man's poor translation, the Original said Young woman, if anyone does not believe this then please check it out for yourself., This is history, not the Bible

Answer 5

Nowhere in the bible does it state the date of birth of Jesus Christ. It is beleived to have been during the autumn month's , likely October because the date of the census that was taken at that time that caused Mary and Joseph to travel to Bethlehem.

The origins of Christmas. Well Pagan festivals used to take place during late December. Since the church had so little public interest in celebrating the birth of Christ (Since I suspect, the majority would have been Pagans) the church decided to make the date of Jesus's birth the 25th of December. This improved the popularity of Christianity no end !........... Any excuse for a party would do.

As for whether it can be justified as Christian. Personally, I think we as Christians , want to celebrate the birth of our savior, Jesus, and since we don't know the date..........why not the 25th December ?
Hippichic

Answer 6

Its Roman Apostolic Catholic. It isn't Christina once Catholic Ortodox commemorate in 07 january.

Nobody know when Jesus born, but we can easily give a date to an orphan taht does not know his aniversary. This date was givem many centuries ago... in 354 DC by the Roman Liberius. quite important date where people from different cultures celbrate due different motives. Egiptcians and Romans celebrate Sun, (also winter solstic), Persian Goddess Mitra. usually, comemorate the SUN.

Bible, dues explanations about were shepards were living and taking care of their livestock, probaly Jesus born in Summer or Spring; (Or unusual temperature - Greenhouse??? )

Yes, it is justified as a Catholic or West Christian culture because its an ancient habit with roots within past cultures like everything else. There is no new religion. Everything comes from another influence. Everything is changing and we need understand heritage, influences and history to understand how it was build. There is always a context and past history leading to final results.

Answer 7

Way before Jesus was born, December 25th was always a pagan holiday. He was born in the springtime, and along the way the pagan practices of the December 25th holiday got incorporated into a big Jesus birthday party. Easter is the same way. Christians have no idea about the real roots of their holidays.

Answer 8

No Jesus wasn't born in December or the 25th..it was more around September because John the Baptist was born in the 6th month and Mary was 3 months pregnant when she visited Elizabeth. Men picked December 25 as a day to acknowledge Jesus' b-day. Thats my guess anyway.

Answer 9

No. Jesus was born much earlier in the year. Christmas has other origins and when Christians were working to convert other's to their religion, they adopted a lot of pagan rituals to have it seem "friendlier". For example, the Christmas tree is about Yule, not about Christ. Whatever date his birthday is, it's still nice to pick some day to celebrate it and Christmas/Yule seems like a good one. It's nice to think of the other traditions and honor them as well.

Answer 10

Some orthodox churches (Jerusalem, Russia, Serbia, ...) do celebrate Christ birth at another date, because they use the julian calendar.

Pope Liberius decided to celebrate it on December, 25th, in year 354 so as to assimilate it witht the pagan rituals of winter solstice. This date was adopted in the oriental roman empire and replaced January, 6th.

According to some historical researches, Christ was born not at time 0 of our calendar, but 4 or 5 years before.

Jesus Christ is supposed to be born in -4 before himself.