Is Christmas modeled after a Pagan holiday? Is it really Jesus's Bday or just another day?

Answer 1

"Christmas" literally means "Christ's Mass" or the day of celebration for Christ. The "traditions" of Christmas are Pagan traditions. Worldwide, there are no "Christmas" traditions, with the exception of going to Church. The month of Jesus' birth would have been in late fall. The discrephancy occured because of the switch from the Julian to the Gregorian calender in the late 1500's. Traditions from around the world that have pagan roots include the Christmas Tree -- in the Germanic pre-Christian religions, the evergreen tree was representative of fertility. Santa Claus is based on St. Nicholas, an early Christian Saint, who brought gifts to poor children. However, St. Nicholas Day is a seperate day (December 6). Catholic children around the world celebrate St. Nicholas Day by putting out their shoes, and they are filled with candies. This is the root of the Christmas stocking. It is one of the few Christmas practices with Christian roots. In Scandinavia, the mistletoe was a symbol of peace (much like the olive branch in Christianity).

Answer 2

Well in short... Yes Christmas is modeled after Pagan holidays, since before, Christians used to celebrate the death of remarkable persons rather than their birth. In fact Pagans are linked with the celebrations of birthdays also.

The second question, the answer short is NO. The bible NEVER says an exact day however it is very unlikely Jesus was born on Dec. 25 since where he was born around that time, it would be very cold, and the bible mentions how when Jesus was born, the shepherds where outside with their sheep, and Jesus himself was born in a manger. (luke 2:8-14)

More detailed information is on the following site.
http://www.watchtower.org/library/w/2000/12/15/article_01.htm

They even cover the "3 Wise Men" story and everything.

Answer 3

A winter festival was traditionally the most popular festival of the year in many cultures, in part because there was less agricultural work to be done during the winter. The prominence of Christmas in modern times may reflect the continuing influence of the winter festival tradition, including the following festivals: It is unknown exactly when or why December 25 became associated with Jesus' birth. The New Testament does not give a specific date. Sextus Julius Africanus popularized the idea that Jesus was born on December 25 in his Chronographiai, a reference book for Christians written in AD 221. This date is nine months after the traditional date of the Incarnation (March 25), now celebrated as the Feast of the Annunciation. March 25 was also considered to be the date of the vernal equinox and therefore the creation of Adam. Early Christians believed March 25 was also the date Jesus was crucified. The Christian idea that Jesus was conceived on the same date that he died on the cross is consistent with a Jewish belief that a prophet lived an integral number of years. The identification of the birthdate of Jesus did not at first inspire feasting or celebration. Tertullian does not mention it as a major feast day in the Church of Roman Africa. In 245, the theologian Origen denounced the idea of celebrating Jesus' birthday "as if he were a king pharaoh." He contended that only sinners, not saints, celebrated their birthdays.

Answer 4

It's not modeled after one -- but originally it coincided with one on the calendar.

Not all of Christianity's first adherents were converts from Judaism -- many were pagan converts.

Paganism was all around them, and it was very easy to "slip back" into their old pagan ways, including pagan worship and celebration of pagan holidays.

So, the early Church would position Christian holidays on the calendar so that they would occur at the same time as these pagan holidays -- in an attempt to keep people from "relapsing" into paganism.

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Answer 5

no one knows hat day Jesus replaced into born on yet on the grounds that there are pagan celebrations for terribly nearly daily of the year the possibilities of Christians being accused of stealing a pagan holiday have been approximately 365 to a million. the subject isn't any one provides any evidence purely accusations based on wishful conjecture. those form of comments are extra installation the national enquirer. Christmas isn't a pagan holiday basically on the grounds which you're saying it incredibly is. instruct it. accident isn't evidence of something different than a accident.

Answer 6

Yes, it was the worship of the sun, not the Son. Dec. 25, by the old calendar is the longest day of the year. Non-Christians worshiped the sun god. That was done on Dec. 25th every year.

The Bible doesn't say the date Jesus was born but does tell us the actual day, year, time and how old Jesus was when he died. That was Nisen 14 in the year 1BC. No year -0-. He was 33 & 1/2 years old when he died so counting back the years would bring his birth to about Sept/Oct of 1BC.

God never let us know when Jesus was born but He made sure we knew when his death was and his age. He came to die for us not be born for us. If he died he would have to be born. The point being, his death.

Answer 7

Yes, it was created to complete with local Pagan celebrations. There is absolutely no other reason why December 25th was declared as Jesus's birthday. The date was chosen by Pope Julius I. Christians had Easter, but they didn't celebrate the birth of Jesus as a holiday before then.

http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=Minisite_Generic&content_type_id=1253&display_order=1&sub_display_order=2&mini_id=1290

Answer 8

The actual date of Jesus' birthday is not recorded in scripure. No one knows when he was born. They used a very different calendar during his lifetime.

The early Christians began to celebrate his birthday on December 25 because that was the date of the largest holiday in the Roman religion. People already had that day off, so it was a convient time to celebrate, plus it gave them an alternative to the Roman holiday. Much like people have began to celebrate Kwanzaa is an alternative to Christimas celebrated at the same time.

Over the years, the Christians have taken symbols and customs from other culture in redefined them to have a Christian meaning. No "thing" in and of itself is either pagen or Christian. Rather the meaning given to it by the people using it define its purpose. For example, Christian took a symbol of execution (the cross) and transformed it into a symbol of faith. As part of the Christmas celeration, it has taken joyous traditions from many different cultures and given them Christian meaning.

So while December 25 is probably not the birthday of Jesus, Christmas is the day on which the event is celebrated.

Answer 9

The time of year is based off of a pagan holiday. The winter solstice is on either the 21st or the 22nd. The pagan celebrate that holiday because it's part of their nature-based religion.

Answer 10

Yes and no. Christmas celebrates Jesus' birthday but no one actually knows the actual day of his birth. Christmas just evolved out of a pagan holiday. Whatever roots it may have, that doesn't decrease it's relevance today. That's what commercialism is for.