Is Dec 25th a Pagan Holiday actually, for celebrating the sun?

Answer 1

Most ancient cultures have a winter solstice celebration, decemeber 21st or 22nd. Most of our christmas customs come from Roman and Germanic "pagan" practices such as hanging mistletoe, exchagning presents, burning the yule log, decorating a tree, etc. In fact, Christmas was not celebrated until 375 A.D. . The reason for so many pagan traditions in christmas was in fact for the church to win converts out of people who were not about to completely abadon their old ways. However, as times and cultures change things begin to blend and take on new meaning which does not mean that Christmas is not a legitimate Christian holiday nor does it make it purely Christian for Jesus was not born in winter nor to the culture of the germanic people.

Answer 2

The Winter Solstice Celebration, Midwinter Festival or Winter Solstice Festival occures in many cultures. The astronomical event of the winter solstice, occurring around December 21 or 22 each year in the northern hemisphere, and June 21 or 22 in the Southern Hemisphere, is the shortest day of the year. The winter solstice can be, but is usually not, also the darkest night of the year, which takes into account the full moon. In antiquity, the winter solstice was immensely important because communities were not assured to live through the winter, and had to be prepared during the previous nine months. Starvation was common in winter between January to April, also known as “the famine months.” The winter solstice festival was the last feast celebration, if it could be managed, before deep winter began. Many cultures celebrate or celebrated a holiday near (within a few days) the winter solstice; examples of these include Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and HumanLight. The first civilization to celebrate the winter solstice were the Ancient Persians, deriving from their Zoroastrian religion, which is first recorded as early as 650 BCE.

Answer 3

Dec 25th is around the time of the celebration fo the Winter Solstice in many cultures. Christ was born in the spring. Joseph and Mary went to Jerusalem every year for Passover (Luke 2:41). They would have come from Nazareth for the Passover and then gone from Jerusalem to Bethlehem to be taxed and await the birth of Christ. Additionally, the shepherds are stated as being in the fields with their sheep at night. December is the rainy season in Judea and the shepherds would not be in the fields at night. They would be in the fields, however, in the spring in order to take care of the new lambs being born, hence another similitude of Christ being the Lamb of God.

Constantine simply chose to celebrate (or recognize) the birth of Christ at that time to facilitate the spread of Christianity. I use the term recognize, because Christmas as we know it, wasn't widely celebrated as we have become accustomed until well after the renaissance, and even then not like we do today until the 1800's.

One thing to note, regarding this day, is that the Winter Solstice was celebrated as the triumph of light over darkness, particularly by the ancient Persians which would have still maintained a cultural influence in Turkey at that time. The light was, in some cultures (including the Persian), the recognition that the Messiah (the light) would come to forever light his people. That being the case, this was a perfectly acceptable day to recognize the birth of the Light.

Answer 4

Some people celebrate Winter Solstice, which falls around Dec 21. It's a sort of celebration of the Sun, in that the days will start getting "longer" (more daylight), which is a good thing. :)

December 25 is Christmas, the day on which Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

Answer 5

Yes.

December 25th was the day the Romans celebrated the Birthday of Mithras, an ancient Sun God.

Answer 6

When Constantine converted to Christianity, he insistent his subject to do the same. In order to encourage compliance, many pagan celebrations were replaced with Christian celebrations. December 25th is a date for celebrating the sun and does not correspond with the real birth date of Christ.

Answer 7

No it is not. That holiday wasn't even thought up until 30 years after Jesus was born. Christians were celebrating His birth date in Dec almost from the beginning. It was calculated from the time Of Eliz, husbands service time in the Temple, and when Mary came for a visit. And those are set dates. Well known, From that Jesus birth can be figured out. Non believers just keep saying the same old lies over and over. Christians do not go around refuting all of them. We should have.

Answer 8

No one knows what day Jesus Christ was born on. From the biblical description, most historians believe that his birth probably occurred in September, approximately six months after Passover. One thing they agree on is that it is very unlikely that Jesus was born in December, since the bible records shepherds tending their sheep in the fields on that night. This is quite unlikely to have happened during a cold Judean winter. So why do we celebrate Christ’s birthday as Christmas, on December the 25th?

The answer lies in the pagan origins of Christmas. In ancient Babylon, the feast of the Son of Isis (Goddess of Nature) was celebrated on December 25. Raucous partying, gluttonous eating and drinking, and gift-giving were traditions of this feast.


Not to mention Mithras.

1. Mithra was born of a virgin on December 25th in a cave, and his birth was attended by shepherds.
2. He was considered a great traveling teacher and master.
3. He had 12 companions or disciples.
4. Mithra's followers were promised immortality.
5. He performed miracles.
6. As the "great bull of the Sun," Mithra sacrificed himself for world peace.
7. He was buried in a tomb and after three days rose again.
8. His resurrection was celebrated every year.
9. He was called "the Good Shepherd" and identified with both the Lamb and the Lion.
10. He was considered the "Way, the Truth and the Light," and the "Logos," "Redeemer," "Savior" and "Messiah."
11. His sacred day was Sunday, the "Lord's Day," hundreds of years before the appearance of Christ.
12. Mithra had his principal festival of what was later to become Easter.
13. His religion had a eucharist or "Lord's Supper," at which Mithra said, "He who shall not eat of my body nor drink of my blood so that he may be one with me and I with him, shall not be saved."
14. "His annual sacrifice is the passover of the Magi, a symbolical atonement or pledge of moral and physical regeneration."
15. Shmuel Golding is quoted as saying that 1 Cor. 10:4 is "identical words to those found in the Mithraic scriptures, except that the name Mithra is used instead of Christ."
16. The Catholic Encyclopedia is quoted as saying that Mithraic services were conduced by "fathers" and that the "chief of the fathers, a sort of pope, who always lived at Rome, was called 'Pater Patratus.'"

Answer 9

Yes it is actually, but I look at Dec 25 as a traditional time of giving and having fun.

Answer 10

it was actually a pagan holiday celebrating the death of Semiramis' son..... She was supposedly the queen of the sun.... The wife of Nimrod......

When her son came to be born, her husband was dead.... she had to tell the followers that her husband had gone over the sides of the earth to protect them at night..... Apparently, in those days, they believed the earth was flat.......

During the day, he was protecting them through the sun.....

Well, when she had gotten pregnant, as the story went, when I heard it, she had to tell them something to keep them from falling her out of favor...... So to keep the peace, the "sun-god" sent his "rays" to impregnate her...... So, she was carrying a god to be worshipped.......

The followers then baked hot-crossed buns in honor of the sun-god......

But, then...... the child became ill.... and when it had died, in its youth, they took the child out to the woods and buried it......she went to visit the site yearly....... Later, a tree had grown the place of his burial.....

And as the story goes...... The tree was to be worshipped because it was the child that was renewed in the growth of the tree.... so they decorated it and honored it yearly........

That was the story of Semiramis......as I remember it.....

Your sister,
Ginger