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December 25th
Why December 25th?
Generally December 25th is considered to be the day that a very well known story took place. According to many versions of this story a baby known as Jesus was born to a virgin mother, named Mary, in a stable somewhere in Bethlehem.
Obviously we all know this story but the reality is that it is very unlikely that Jesus was actually born on this day. So I guess it begs the question…. Why do we celebrate Christmas on December 25th.
As always with such questions the actual answer is unclear. However there are many theories.
You can go back and check this, but it must be noted that the New Testament does not actually give a date for the birth of Christ.
Many cultures hold winter festivals. There could be many reasons for this from the fact that there are no crops to farm and, I believe, people need cheering up in dark and damp days.
Issac Newton argued that December 25th was accepted as a date to celebrate the birth of Christ due to the Roman date for the Winter Solstice.
Louis Duchesne (cite him here), put forward the idea that December 25h was chosen because it was 9 months after the tradition date believed to be the conception of Jesus, March 25th. Early Christians also believed that Jesus was crucified on this day. This coincides with a Jewish belief that prophets live for an integral number of years.
Hermann Usener, CITE AGAIN, suggested in an 1889 book that December 25th corresponded with a Roman festival in honor of Sol Invictus. He also argied that the church used to choose festibal dates to make it easier for Pagans to convert and keep some of their traditions. Many pagan traditions can be found in our Modern Christmas celebrations.
The title of Sol Invictus also allowed many solar dieties to be worshiped.
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