2006-12-21 03:26:05 · 14 answers · asked by asticklestad1966 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
Aside from Christmas taking the place of pagan-day worship, the early Christian church has the feast of the Annunciation (Angel Gabriel tells Mary she is pregnant) as March 25. Theoretically, if Mary's last cycle began on March 17, December 25 would be the due date of Jesus's birth. (add 7 days to date of start of cyle, subtract 3 months).
It would make people scratch their heads if Jesus was born 6 days after the Virgin Mary was told she had conceived.
2006-12-21 03:55:53 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
This has a very lengthy answer to it, but I will try to keep it short. Okay,when doing the math, it is pretty much known that Jesus was actually born in April sometime, although the exact date can not be figured accurately.
However the Christians chose to create a holiday on Dec. 25th to celebrate his birth, because that date was then being celebrated by the Pagans as one of their God's birthday and the Christians wanted to do everything possible to try and convert the Pagans into being Christians.
They also used some of the Pagans own traditions for this new Christmas holiday to be even more appealing to them as well. However, I don't know which traditions specifically. I'm guessing probably we're not talking about Santa and x-mas trees though. hehehe! Those came much later! Hope this helps.
2006-12-21 11:38:11 · answer #2 · answered by Cuppycake♥ 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
He was probably born in the spring. That is why Shepard's were keeping watch over their flocks. During lambing season. More than likely early April. They used December 25 because it was a pagan holiday of the time called Natalis Solis Invicti which fell on December 25 and followed Saturnalia which was celebrated between Dec 17 and 24th. There is a saying Christianity did not do away with paganism it adopted it. They were trying to replace pagan holidays with Christian but they adopted allot of paganism in the process. Easter was another pagan holiday. BTW the 3 wise men came a couple years later.
2006-12-21 13:43:32 · answer #3 · answered by dem_dogs 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Jesus wasn't born on Dec. 25th...He wasn't even born in December...Or the winter for that matter! It's been concluded that Jesus was born in the late Spring. Christmas was scheduled on December 25th to help the pagans that were converting to Christianity (those who worshipped a Sun God and held a celebration around the time of the Winter Solsitice) to transition easier to Christianity.
2006-12-21 11:37:22 · answer #4 · answered by Meg 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I don't think ANYBODY says Jesus was born on December 25th - it is the day on which we celebrate his birth.
It had been a pagan festival, and rather than be in competition, the early Christians decided to simply assimilate the date.
Many scholars suggest March as the more likely period in which the birth actually took place. Obviously, we will never know.
I have a friend who was adopted, whose real date of birth was lost. So she got to pick her own birthday. (She did NOT pick December 25.)
2006-12-21 11:56:24 · answer #5 · answered by Uncle John 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No one that I know of is saying he was born on December 25th anymore. It's well known that this isn't his actual date of birth. The observation of December 25th as his birthday however is documented as back as far as 221 AD in Chronographiai, a reference text for early Christians written by Sextus Julius Africanus, a Christian historian. December 25th is 9 months after March 25th, which is the traditional date of the observance of the Incarnation or supposed Conception of Christ.
The actual dates are not known for sure though plenty of theologians from various faiths have speculated on a number of dates.
2006-12-21 11:46:09 · answer #6 · answered by Chanteuse_ar 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The reason for December 25th is that it is an old Roman holiday. The celebration was the festival Saturnalia and the 25th was the final day of that festival called Brunalia. It was the celebration of the winter solstice. Christians took over it in the 4th century (I think) because a lot of new converts would not give up this festival, so the early church leaders did not want to fight this and changed it to a Christian holiday.
2006-12-21 11:32:54 · answer #7 · answered by kepjr100 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
No one actually knows his date of birth. The myth that he was born on December 25th comes from the fact that early Christians chose to celebrate his birthday on that day to conform with existing Pagan practices.
2006-12-21 11:32:03 · answer #8 · answered by Megan Leggett 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
He was given this birthday to better conform with the existing pagan practices of Saturnalia as well as the Winter Solstice. A single person did not do this, but it was the early church's organic response to the existing culture.
I do believe that they have studied the circumstances surrounding his birth and they place it in the month of September.
2006-12-21 11:27:59 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
December 25 is not for sure the date. It was chosen because it was 9 months from the beginning of spring. Theologians decided that since spring symbolizes new beginnings that they would say that's when Mary became impregnated. It's just more symbolism, but that doesn't mean it's not important.
2006-12-21 11:34:31 · answer #10 · answered by purvislets 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋