A question for christians or someone with knowledge of christianity?

Question

My son and I were discussing the dates for his football games over the coming season. Suddenly he pipes up and says,
"why is Jesus' birthday always on Dec 25th but the day he died on the cross changes every year?"
"Good question." I said, "I have know idea, but I bet I can find someone who does know!"
So, does anyone out there know the answer?

Wow! So many informative answers, not sure if I can translate it to a 10yr old, but he's intelligent and will get the idea. Now I've got to explain the solstice, pagan history, roman gods, the different calendars, . . . . . . . .
Thank you all for your input so far!

Now-follow: if the day he died is 'mar/april sometime' then it has no fixed caledar date, does it? It relates to another factor, hence the request for the reason the date changes.

Oh, Jana! I was really enjoying reading your response then you spoilt it with the sermon style preachings. I don't want to know how you feel about your religeon, just an answer to the question as all the others have done would suffice.

Answer 1

Easter falls on a different date in the same year for the Eastern rites and the Western rites, so there are different ways of calculating the dates. See Wikipedia:
"The canonical rule is that Easter Day is the first Sunday after the 14th day of the lunar month (the nominal full moon) that falls on or after 21 March (nominally the day of the vernal equinox). For determining the feast, Christian churches settled on a method to define a reckoned "ecclesiastical" full moon, rather than observations of the true Moon as the Jews did. Eastern Orthodox Christians calculate the fixed date of 21 March according to the Julian Calendar rather than the modern Gregorian Calendar, and observe the additional rule that Easter may not precede or coincide with the first day of the Jewish Passover."

Answer 2

Easter- Jesus as the Christ/Messiah was crucified during the Jewish feast of the passover. Without going into too much depth this timing was a neccessisty for the Messiah/Christ. The Christian festival of Pentecost coincides with the festival of first fruits I believe as well.The feast of the passover date is setlled by reference to new moons and so changes every year according to a sun based calender. This was complicated by the resurection happening on a Sunday and therefore Easter had to happen around a Sunday and so they played around a bit.

Christmas- There is an incredible amount of myth about this date and frankly nobody can be sure of the truth. Because it was not mentioned (datewise) in connection with any other recordable event it was probably just made up for whatever specific reason the church had at the time. I am not sure it is really important when. There are clues as to when the birth probably did really happen (Roman census, sheperds on hill, star of east) but they are only clues.

Answer 3

Jesus and the people of his culture mostly used a lunar-based calendar, not a solar one (except the Essenes). According to the gospels, he died on or just before the Jewish holiday of Passover, which is calculated according to the moon. Early Christians kept part of the tradition, but changed it just enough to be different from the Jews (which is why Easter and Passover don't match).

We have no good information about when he was born. Two gospels give some hints about the year date, but they are confusing and perhaps confused. Two gospels give hints about his age during his ministry (but alas, these suggest different ages).

Answer 4

December 25 is not Jesus' birthday.
Jesus himself taught nothing about celebrating birthdays. The two examples of birthdays in the Bible both resulted in tragedy for someone.
Genesis 40;20...Matthew 14;6
Jesus died on the Jewish date of Nisan 14. This translates each year into a slightly different day in April/May. what we regard as Easter.
Jesus was baptised at about age 30. He preached for 3 1/2 years.
Go back 33 1/2 years from April/May of any year and you get September/October. So Jesus; birthday is about then.
It is significant that the Bible is clear on the time that Jesus spent preaching and also that it mentions at what age Jesus was baptised.
Also, when Jesus was born, the shepherd were outdoors with their flocks. this could not have been mid december in Jerusalem, which in the northern hemisphere is midwinter. a time of bleak cold weather and possibly snow.
By that time, shepherds would have their flocks ensconced in the lower floors of their houses to protect them from the weather.

Answer 5

the catholic church approved the date of 25 December as Jesus' birthdate, despite the fact that Jesus never said to honor his birthday. Jesus said to memorialize the day of his death, doing so every year until he returned. The Romans observed the pagan Feast of Saturnalia on 25 December.

Jesus observed the Jewish festival of Passover on 14 Nisan, a Jewish month and date that ALWAYS fell on the first full moon after the spring equinox. thus, the catholic observance of easter is usually NOT the day when Jesus was resurrected. Jesus was resurrected on the second night after Passover. Passover is still observed by Jews on 14 Nisan, and it is the feast instituted by Moses under direction by God just before they started their Exodus out of Egypt.

Jesus was the corresponding sacrifice offered to God on that last Passover. The Christian Greek Scriptures called Jesus the Passover Lamb.

Answer 6

Because both dates have very little to do with Xtianity, both are adapted from older, pagan festivals. The 25th December thing is a confabulation of the Roman feast of Saturnalia, the Winter Solstice, and the Birth of Mithras, slayer of the bull, virgin-born saviour of mankind!
Easter is of course the very ancient rite of spring and re-birth. The floating date of Easter is more complex, and is based on the liturgical calendar, which in term is astronomically driven.

Answer 7

Who told that Jesus birthday was on Dec25.

According to the Jewish laws written down in the Torah one can find that the Shepherds were not allowed to bring their cattle, herds etc out in Winter..

During the Roman empire season they inorder to mix paganism to Christianity thought of celebrating the Birthanniversary of a Roman Goddess - which was on Dec25 evry year - as the Birth day of Jesus. This in fact is not Jesus' Brithday. No one exactly recorded the birthday date either.

Now since this was brought into practice, it continued throught the years and so many are led to the wrong assumption of saying Dec25 as Jesus' birth day.

This is for your information and your Question is Answered.

Answer 8

Easter is always celebrated on the Sunday immediately following the first full moon after the vernal (spring) equinox. The (vernal equinox) is one of only two times in the year when the sun crosses the celestial equator making the length of day and night approximately equal.

Answer 9

Easter is based on the 'ecumenical calendar', and changes in a cycle. You can get more info from WIKI or other such sites.
25th December was choosen as Jesus' birthday as it was already a pagan holiday and was hijacked by the church.

An atheist

Answer 10

No one knows the birthdate of Christ. This date was chosen by the church. For twotoosmartt t: Lets break down the word CHRISTMAS. The word Christ stems from the Middle and Old English word Crist meaning the Lord's Anointed. It is borrowed from the Latin Christus and from the Greek Christos also meaning the anointed one. The Greek is a translation of Hebrew mashiah meaning anointed of the Lord or Messiah. In the word Christmas, the suffix 'mas' is taken from the Old English word maesse meaning festival, feast day or mass.

So this day is a day chosen to celebrate Christ. If you dont believe in Him, it's just another day. It just happens to be another day - named after Christ. :)