Christmas Day historically was probably not December 25. Jesus most probably was not born on 25 December. Some people are shocked when they realize that 25 December has only one chance in 365 of being the date that Jesus was born. This shock generally deepens when they find out Jesus wasn't born 0 AD. In fact there was no 0 AD - the year before 1 AD is 1 BC. Jesus probably was born some time in 7-4 BC (but that's another story).
How did 25 December come to be the feast of Christ's birth?
Attempts at guestimating a date often turn on the shepherds being in the fields around Bethlehem in Luke's gospel and what time of year that might have been. This misunderstands the role that Bethlehem and the shepherds play in Luke's masterpiece. Bethlehem is there to fulfil an expectation amongst some that the messiah would be born in David's city. And we have so sweetened Jesus' infancy stories and lost their nature as prelude and overture that we often forget that shepherds in that culture were despised as law-breaking, irreligious, un-trustable rogues. In Luke's story the shepherds are amongst the first to hear the good news to set the scene for Luke's story in which God has special care for the downtrodden and despised amongst which were Samaritans, women - and shepherds.
The pagan origin of a 25 December Christmas
The most common explanation that one hears for December 25 being Christmas day is that in the Roman Empire December 25 (the date of the winter solstice in the Julian Calendar introduced in 45 BC) the Romans celebrated the festival Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, "the birthday of the unconquered sun." This celebration grew to its greatest popularity under Aurelian, who in 274 encouraged it as an empire-wide holiday.
Early Christianity conflated iconography and symbolism from the Sol Invictus cult into its own traditions. The haloed Christ is an obvious example. Constantine on March 7, 321 made dies Solis, the day of the sun, "Sunday" the Roman day of rest.
In the twelfth century Jacob Bar-Salibi wrote: "It was a custom of the Pagans to celebrate on the same 25 December the birthday of the Sun, at which they kindled lights in token of festivity. In these solemnities and revelries the Christians also took part. Accordingly when the doctors of the Church perceived that the Christians had a leaning to this festival, they took counsel and resolved that the true Nativity should be solemnised on that day." (cited in "Christianity and Paganism in the Fourth to Eighth Centuries", Ramsay MacMullen. Yale:1997, p155)
25 December, Christmas Day, does not, hence, celebrate Jesus' historical birthday as we do not know the date of his birth. It is an annual commemoration of Christ's birth.
December 25 is not the only date for Christmas (that too is another story). That this date originates as a Christianized pagan festival is not the only theory. In part 2 I will outline a fascinating Judaeo-Christian theory of the origin of a 25 December Christmas Day.
Bosco Peters has a deep interest in spirituality. He runs a website on liturgy worship spirituality. This includes using the Bible in prayer within a tradition called the Liturgy of the Hours.
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