[LivinLOS]

How We Came to Celebrate on December 25th

Another question is always asked, "Why December 25th? We know Jesus was probably born sometime between April and November. - after all the scripture says that shepherds were watching their flocks in the fields?" Recently, I was seated at a table with hosts of a major television program. The question of the date of Christ's birth arose and I was told in no uncertain terms that Jesus was born on the 15th of Tishri (Sept/Oct) which is the feast of Tabernacles, or Hebrew "cukkah", (pronounced 'sook-kaw'). Although this is a real possibility -- I must tell you after hours of searching Matthew Henry, Halley's Bible Dictionary, Compton's Encyclopedia, The American Book of Days, the 12 Volume Interpreter's Bible, Holman's Bible Dictionary, Revell Bible Dictionary and volumes on Christian Sites on the World Wide Web, all definitely state, "we do not know when Jesus was born, or even what year." (Although he had to be born sometime between 4 and 8 BC due to Herod's reign and death which is known from archaeological records.) 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 (see Jesus Christ). 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.น

Till about the year 250-300 there was little celebration of Christ's birth, other than a solemn memory. His death and resurrection were all important to new Christianity. 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 25th.

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.