<aside> đź—Ł On the 2nd Day of Christmas, Someone Picked a Date
</aside>
Why is Christmas celebrated on December 25?
God is explicit in the Old Testament about when the Feast Days—the holy days that He explicitly commanded His people to keep—should occur, but no where in the New Testament are we ever given a date for Jesus' birth (a possible hint that it was never meant to be celebrated). So, how did people come up with December 25? Is that really Jesus' birthday and does it even matter?
The first place one should think to look for the date of Jesus' Birthday is the Bible—it is after all a believer's trusted source of information on our Savior. No explicit date is given for the birth of Jesus, and the only references to time we have are that He was born 6 months after John the Baptist and during the time that people were required to travel to register. We are also told that during the time Jesus was born, shepherds were in the field watching their flocks.
It seems unlikely that in an era where the common cold was life threatening, people were traveling and sleeping in fields in the middle of winter. While the Middle East may be desert-like, in the winter Bethlehem's average low is approximately 40°F, and it's average high is in the upper 50's.[1]
That doesn't sound like good travel or sleep outside in a field weather—possible, but definitely not ideal. Without any Biblical evidence to assume this date, we have no reason to defend it. This leaves us with 2 questions: why didn't the Bible tell us the date (or at least the month) and how did people calculate December 25?
The word birthday is found only 3 times in the Bible, once in reference to Pharaoh (a pagan—Genesis 40:20) and twice in reference to King Herod (also a pagan—Mark 6:21 and Matthew 14:6), but never in reference to one of God's people. We are often told of God's hand in miraculous births (such as Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Mary) but God never says what time of year He performs these miracles. When the Israelites departed Egypt, He thought it was important enough to document 14 of Nisan (Passover) and require future generations to celebrate the day, but nowhere are we shown God stating a date of birth as though it is important to remember and commemorate. In fact Ecclesiastes both confirms and explains why birthdays are not important.
A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth.
This is why we are never given exact dates or even estimates for the birth of His people, but in a few cases (e.g. Miriam in Numbers 20:1) we are given approximate dates of their death. Even with Jesus, we know that He died as the perfect Passover Lamb and thus died around the 14 of Nisan. If God wanted us to celebrate Jesus' birthday, don't you think he would have at least recorded the month of Jesus' birth?
Christian theologian Origen, who lived from 185 to 254 AD, wrote the following as it pertains to Christians and birthday celebrations**[3][4]**:
...not one from all the saints is found to have celebrated a festive day or great feast on the day of his birth. No one is found to have had joy on the day of the birth of his son or daughter. Only sinners rejoice over this kind of birthday.
We know that during Jesus' ministry and after Jesus' crucifixion, Christians were not celebrating His birthday. The first record of attempting to pinpoint the date of Jesus' birth appears in 200 AD. The estimates provided at this point in Christian history all point to the thought that Jesus was born in the Spring. Yet by 300 AD, Christians were celebrating Jesus' birth either on December 25 (in the West) or January 6 (in the East and Egypt).[2]
How did we get these dates?
A popular theory is that Christmas is actually modeled after and a substitute for one or more of the pagan holidays meant to honor the winter solstice. The 3 holidays most commonly accused of being the blueprint for Christmas are Saturnalia, Sol Invictus, and Yule.
Named for the Roman god Saturn, Saturnalia was a Roman holiday that consisted of a week long party, coinciding with the winter solstice. Google's dictionary describes it as "the predecessor to Christmas."[5] There were large public celebrations, but there were private parties and festivities honoring Saturn as well—much like the public plays/productions and private parties for Christmas. Another similarity, is a red hat, known as the freedman's hat, which was worn during the Saturnalia during the switching of roles. During the role switch, slaves were granted many freedman privileges and were served (to an extent) by their masters. Government offices were closed during Saturnalia and small gifts were exchanged at feasts and banquets. The phrase "deck the halls" likely stems from the tradition of adorning the halls of ones home with green boughs during this holiday. Caroling—nude caroling to be specific—was also part of the festivities.**[6][7]**
Another ancient holiday that takes place during the Christmas season is Sol Invictus. Sol Invictus actually takes place on December 25th just like Christmas. There is debate as to whether Sol Invictus was created to suppress Christianity, or if Christmas was created to suppress Sol Invictus.[8]
Sol Invictus was a sun worshiping holiday for Sol, a Latin cult. One writer tries to defend Christmas against accusations of paganism and copycat tendencies, by citing the uncertainty of whether Sol Invictus or the celebration of Jesus' birth came first and listing quotes from the early church where leaders wished to distance themselves from paganism.[9] Interestingly, the author doesn't mention the traditions of Saturnalia and Yule that the church (specifically the Roman Catholic Church, as it was the only "official" church for quite some time) adopted. Actions speak much louder than words, even today we have so-called Christians who spew hate and venom that is not of God. If the early Christians were so set on distancing themselves, why did they adopt the traditions of Saturnalia and Yule? Why is it that in Old English, the holiday was still called Yule and not reflective of Jesus (the first version of the word Christmas didn't occur until the latter days of old English approximately 900 years later)?**[10][11]**
Similarly, today, many preachers will condemn actions such as premarital sex and drinking, but members of the church commonly partake in these practices anyway. While I wouldn't say there is definitive evidence that Sol Invictus inspired Christmas, I also don't agree with this poster's reasoning and attempt at "proving" the two have no connection (I don't think this is definitive either).
Yule also took place in accordance with the winter solstice (around December 21st)[12] and is the namesake for the word "Yuletide."**[13][14]** Yule or Yuletide was the popular name for the holiday before Christmas came into fashion and is still referenced in many Christmas carols.[15]