25th December?

Question

Although i am like most and love christmas, i just wanted to kinow - did the calendar we use today (jan, feb,mar etc) exist 2000 years ago at the time of Jesus. My research says it didnt. Now how do we know that Jesus was born on the 25th December - cos it doesnt say anywhere in the bible. And if it didnt, how was it converted to the 25th December. Was it purely a pagan date?

Answer 1

It doesnt but we took over the holiday and made it Christian and thats what counts THE MEANING!

Answer 2

It was a Pagan festival as was Easter... even the name!

Eoster or Eostre was the Teutonic goddess of the dawn - the 're-born child'. The 'dawn' of the new year is spring so this was her time and festivals and rituals celebrating her were performed - rebirth and renewal were her big things so it is no wander that the Christians took this time for their celebration of re-birth too. It originally was organised around phases of the moon - and Christians still do that today when working out the date for the 'movable feast' that is their 'Easter'.

Eostre is born at the time of the winter equinox (typically December 21st or 22nd) when the night is finally in retreat. This was celebrated as the birth of the Sun ... so it is fairly easy to see why Christians would take this as the birth of the 'son' - albeit shifted slightly to give a little distance between the two.

Easy, really. If you want to indoctrinate a people into a new religion, best if they don't lose out on the old beliefs or festivals.

Answer 3

The calendar in use when Christianity began was the Julian Calender, name devised by Julius Caesar in 46 BC. This was reformed by Pope Gregory Xlll in 1582. The Gregorian calender was adapted in England in 1752. By the 5th.ct. most of the Orthodox church had adopted 25th.Dec. as Christmas Day. Speculation on the time of Christ's birth was around the 3rd.ct. Some suggesting 2OthMay. The earliest mention of the observance on 25th Dec. is in the Philocalian Calendar, representing Roman practice of the year 336. (Contains lists of Roman bishops). This date was probably picked to oppose the pagan feast of the ' Sun of righteousness'.

Answer 4

I don't think this calendar was used back then! When Pope Gregory (don't know if he has a number after his name...he could be the 2nd) became Pope, he started this modern day calendar...that's why it's know as the Gregorian calendar! He started counting from the days of Christ, as a Christian! I have no idea when he made this calendar, though! The 25th was originally a pagan holiday, Christians later added in some religion and declared the day as their own! But it's got absolute pagan backgrounds!

Answer 5

Noe to throw a spanner in the works.

Jesus was not born, as in began to exist, December 25th 0000.

Refer to Genesis, God said let US create man in OUR (God the Father, God thr son [Jesus} and God the Holy Spirit) image.

The scriptures tell us No man may look on the face of God (the Father) and Live.

Adam would walk and talk with God (the son - Jeasus) in the old Testament.

The birth we elebrate is simply Jesus finaly taking Human form, and coming to live amongst us.

I suggest to you that, 2000+ years ago the methods of dating and recording fact were not as good as they are today, and that the actual DATE is insignificant.

The day we celebrate on 25th December is the Incarnation of our Saviour.

Keep this in mind, and celebrate the true meaning of Christmas -

SALVATION

May Gods blessings be with you all

Answer 6

No, it wasn't a pagan holiday until well after the Christians started celebrating it. In short, here is where the date comes from...

We read in Scripture (book of Luke) that Jesus was 29 years old in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius. That puts his birth in late 2 BC or early 1 BC. We know that Zecharias served in the temple during the course of Abia (one of 12 courses who took turns throughout the year), and that his wife, Elizabeth, conceived (with John the Baptist) immediately after his turn as High Priest. Mary conceived (with Jesus) six months later. Now, Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us the exact day that the Temple was destroyed by the Romans, and he mentions the course of the priesthood that was serving on that day. So, all we have to do is trace the courses of the priesthood back from 70 AD to 3 BC, and we can determine when Elizabeth conceived, as well as when Mary conceived. Because Scripture tells us that Mary's pregnancy was carried to term, we can determine that the birth of Christ was in late December 2 BC or early January 1 BC. The Bible says that there was no room at the inn. At that time of year, there could only be one reason why there was no room near Bethlehem - the Feast of Dedication. That means that the birth must have occured during, or just after, the Feast of Dedication. In the mid 4th century a Bishop named Cyril, in Jerusalem, made a trip to Rome. Cyril was an excommunicated heretic at the time, and believed that the birth of Christ should be celebrated in early January. After searching through the historical records related to the province of Judea, he claimed that a child named Jesus was born to a Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem on Dec. 25th (yes, they did use our months in the Roman calendar). He may have been making it up - we'll never know. All of the historical records were destroyed a few years later when Alaric sacked Rome. Most of the early Christian sources who mention the birth of Christ date it to the same time-frame (the year, that is - not the day).

Here is where the problems come. First, the Bible says that Jesus was born while Herod the Great was still alive. So, when did Herod die? According to Josephus, Herod died after a lunar eclipse (the only eclipse mentioned by Josephus). According to historians, no lunar eclipse was visible in 1 BC, so Herod must have died a few years earlier (4 BC, I believe). Now, the course of the priesthood moved backwards by one month each year. So, if Jesus were born in 2 BC, his birth would have been in December. If 3 BC, January. If 4 BC, February. If 5 BC, March. If 6 BC, April. etc. So, assuming that Herod died in 4 BC, most people assume that Jesus was born in either 5 BC or 6 BC, in the March-April time frame.

However - astronomers have now confirmed that a lunar eclipse was visible in the sky around the time of the birth of Christ. In fact, it would have been a very dramatic sight, hanging low in the evening sky. If that were the eclipse Josephus mentions, then it places the death of Herod back in 1 BC, which places the birth of Christ in late December, 2 BC.

So, did the Christians borrow Dec. 25th from the pagans? No. Contrary to popular opinion, the ancient Romans did not observe any holiday on the winter solstice (Dec. 25th - Saturnalia ended before Dec. 25th). The first Roman celebration of Dec. 25th was instituted by the Emperor Aurelian in 274 AD, after Dec. 25th was already a Christian holiday. Pagan Rome set up a festival on Dec. 25th as an alternative to Christmas, and not vice versa.

Oh yeah - Some people say that the shepherds would not have been in the fields in December. This, however, is contradicted by several passages in Talmud, which do, in fact, describe shepherds tending sheep in the fields throughout the winter months.

One more thing - the Romans used the same calendar that we use today. People get confused over the "Gregorian Reform." The western world used the calendar developed around the time Julius Caesar (Julian Calendar). But the Roman method of calculating leap years was not very accurate, causing the calendar to 'slip' one day about every 100 years. In the 16th century, Europeans reset the calendar and corrected the leap years. Otherwise, the calendar is exactly the same, including the names of the months and the number of days per month.

http://cranach.worldmagblog.com/cranach/archives/2006/12/draftchristmas_1.html
http://www.scripturescholar.com/DionysiusExiguus.htm

Answer 7

There's allot missing from the Bible, even though the 25th has its roots deeply entwined with Pagan origins its more to do how Christianity integrated into Pagan Britain. After all I'm sure there's a Proffessor of theology working for the Vatican with all those answers we all want to know. but will probably never find out because it wouldn't be worth his life.

Answer 8

He wasn't born on the 25th. We know that for a fact. Many believe He was actually born in April, or at least in the Spring time. Early Christians never used to celebrate His birth with a holiday, the Catholic church simply looked back on the day of His birth and designated a day to celebrate it. But isn't it better to celebrate His birth on a day then to choose not to celebrate it at all simply because we don't know the right day?

Answer 9

No, the gregorian calendar was introduced a few hundred years ago. It is just a convenience, so coincide with various pagan mid-winter festivals concerning the re-birth of the sun (birth of the son - geddit?).

Answer 10

A pagan date

Answer 11

It was done with an edict from the roman emperor Constantine around 314 ad. In this edict he decreed that the Christians were to observe the birth of Jesus on 12/25. This was to bring it into line with the roman celebration held each year for the sun God that Rome worshiped. This same edict commanded the Christians to change the sabbath day from Saturday to SUN- DAY To bring The christian Sabbath in line with the day that the Romans worshiped the sun god whom the day had been named after.

Love and blessings Don