Why do people celebrate Christmas on December 25th?

Question

and don't tell me it's because Jesus was born on that day, because he totally wasn't!

Where did that date come from?

Because our calender is different than the old Jewish one, I heard once that researchers think it was around March or April that Jesus was born.

Answer 1

Al-Salam Alaykom

Thank you very much to put this point under the light

I have an important point here......

Allah tell us (in Koran....I'm not sure about other religions) that Mary (pbuh) shaked (moved) a palm to eat deat....!!!

and we know that date isn't in Decemer...!!!

so i think that Jesus's great born (PBUH) was in June......
or April and march......because in Palestine (my homeland) that is impossible to have date in the winter...

and i think that isn't a miracle...because nobody talked about it as miracle....even Mary (pbuh) or Jesus (pbuh)

again...thank you very much
salam

Answer 2

Chistmas is not about the birth of Jesus Christ. The forms and ceremonies of paganism gradually crept into the worship. Some of the old heathen feasts became church festivals with change of name and of worship. About 405 AD images of saints and martyrs began to appear in the churches, at first as memorials, then in succession revered, adored, and worshipped. The adoration of the Virgin Mary was substituted for the worship of Venus and Diana; the Lord's Supper became a sacrifice in place of a memorial; and the elder evolved from a preacher into a priest.... The church and the state became one when Christianity was adopted as the religion of the empire, and out of the unnatural union arose two evils, one in the eastern, the other in the western provinces. In the east the state dominated the church until it lost all energy and uplifting life. In the west ["Rome,"], the church gradually usurped power over the state, and the result was not Christianity but a more or less corrupt hierarchy controlling the nations of Europe, making the church mainly a political machine.......Here is the untold story about Christmas. http://www.ucg.org/booklets/HH/christmasuntoldstory.htm

Answer 3

While it is accepted that Jesus was born in the small town of Bethlehem a few miles south of Jerusalem, there is no certain information on the date of his birth, not even of the year One reason for this uncertainty is that the stories of his birth, recorded in the New Testament books of Matthew and Luke, were written several decades after the event. And for several centuries the Christian church itself paid little attention to the celebration of Jesus' birth. The major Christian festival was Easter, the day of his resurrection. Only gradually, as the church developed a calendar to commemorate the major events of the life of Christ, did it celebrate his birth.
As the church spread around the world, it encountered the Roman/European festival of the Winter Solstice. This was a day of great festivity in the pagan world. Because there was no knowledge about the date of Jesus' birth, a day had to be selected. The Eastern Orthodox and the Eastern Rite churches within the Roman Catholic church chose January 6. The day was named Epiphany, meaning "appearance," the day of Christ's manifestation. The Western church, based at Rome, chose December 25. It is known from a notice in an ancient Roman almanac that Christmas was celebrated on December 25 in Rome as early as AD 336.1 In about 547 A.D. St. Augustine was sent by Pope Gregory the Great as the first official missionary to England. He followed an edict from the Pope, "If the religious customs of the people are not evil in origin, they should be blended into Christianity." (This is scriptural read Acts 15:19-20). The early church had a real problem with this all important festival of the SUN God. The church in the Holy Land had begun to observe January 6th at the birth of our Lord. The Austrian church observed May 20th. Still other parts of the church observed March
In 625 A.D. central leaders of the church decided since people were going to celebrate the re-birth of the SUN on December 25th -- the church would really celebrate -- the most important birth, the birth of the SON of God. It took a little time but Christianity prevailed. Although two customs, the Yule long, and kissing under the mistletoe still remain from the pagan days, most every other custom we have today comes from Christ's birthday.

Answer 4

Yeah Jesus definately was not born on December 25 (In the bible it mentions that the shepards and their flocks were outside when Jesus was born and obviously would not be out there if it was in the freezing winter). December 25 was the date of the Roman festival marking the 'birthday of the unconquered sun.' Christians back then wished the date to concide with it. And even if it was his birthdate do you think Jesus would be happy with how commercialized christmas is and them making money off "his birthday" (No he would turn over the table of money)

Answer 5

Back in the days of early Christianity, the Romans found that the more they persecuted the Christians the stronger they became. So, Satan being the great deceiver, planted it into the head of man to set up a celebration on a pagan holiday (Saturnalia) that allegedly celebrated the birth of the Christian Savior, Jesus. In so doing, many were led astray by falling into the practice of idol worship and taking glory away from God. Check out Jeremiah chapter 10 and tell me if anything there sounds familiar.

Answer 6

Because it is the day the Sun begins to rise in the sky and the days start to grow longer after the Winter Solstace.

The sun appears to stay at its lowest point for 3 days and begins to rise again on the 25th.

Its also when the 3 stars in orions belt, also known as the three kings, align with the bright star, called Sirius or the dog star, and create a line that points to where the sun rises on the 25th.

Jesus is just one of many personifications of the sun.

Answer 7

The sun reaches its lowest point in the sky on Dec. 21st and stays there for three days. On Dec. 25th, the sun begins to climb again. Because of this many ancient cultures celebrate the birth of the Sun/Son on Dec 25th. If you do just a little basic research you will find that most of Christian mythology is based on earlier forms of sun worship.

Answer 8

When the Church started to dominate Europe, they took Pagan holidays and claimed them as their own. They knew that Jesus was born in the spring, but they used December 25 because it was their way of stamping out pagan winter solstice celebrations (Yule/Saturnalia--December 21). This was a forced conversion method.

Answer 9

Jesus was born on Christmas but today people don't only celebrate Christmas because of Jesus but because of St. Nick. He is the one that began the giving of presents.
Sorry but that is what I believe and know.

Answer 10

It was the birthday of Mithra the pagan god. Most Christian holidays simply took over the dates of the pagan holidays to make it easier to convert the pagans, and there is no date in the bible as when to celibrate certain things. If I'm wrong give me verses.

Answer 11

Seeing that pagans were already exalting deities (such as Mithras) and celebrating the solstice (a sun worship), church leaders decided to commandeer the date and introduce a new festival.