First off, the actual birth date of Jesus is not known. No date is given in the Bible, birth certificates didn't exist back in the first century, and no one wrote down the date! Some think based on Biblical clues that it may have been in the fall sometime, but no one knows for sure. So why is it celebrated on December 25? I wasn't 100% sure myself, to be honest, so I did some research. What I discovered was that there was one popular theory and other less supported ones.
As mentioned in my last “tidbit”, the first recorded date of the birth of Jesus being celebrated, aka Christmas, on December 25th was in 336 AD, during the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine (he was the first Christian Roman Emperor). A few years later, Pope Julius I officially declared that the birth of Jesus would be celebrated on the December 25th. This decision subsequently spread throughout Europe and eventually North America.
The most popular theory for selecting December 25 seems to be the following: During the first two centuries (prior to “Christmas”), the early church celebrated the Epiphany (the revelation that Jesus was God's son) and the Baptism of Jesus on January 6. Jesus's Baptism was originally seen as more important than his birth at that point in time, as this was when he started his ministry. When the idea to celebrate his birth was proposed, possibly as early as 273 AD, people wanted a separate day to celebrate it.
December 25 already hosted two other related festivals: natalis solis invicti (the Roman "birth of the unconquered sun"), and the birthday of Mithras, the Iranian "Sun of Righteousness" whose worship was popular with Roman soldiers. The winter solstice, another celebration of the sun, fell just a few days earlier. Seeing that the Roman pagans were already exalting deities with some parallels to the true deity, church leaders evidently decided to adopt the date and introduce a new festival to celebrate “the son” rather than “the sun”. Thus December 25th was chosen to celebrate the birth of “the son”.
Other less supported theories include an early Christian tradition that Mary was informed by the angel Gabriel about Jesus (called the Annunciation) on March 25th. Thus nine months later would be December 25. March 25th was also the day some early Christians thought the world had been made, and also the day that Jesus died on the cross.
Another theory is that the Jewish festival of Lights, Hanukkah, starts on the 25th of Kislev (the month in the Jewish calendar that occurs at about the same time as December). Hanukkah celebrates when the Jewish people were able to re-dedicate and worship in their Temple, in Jerusalem, following years of not being allowed to practice their religion. Since Jesus was a Jew, some think this could be another reason that helped the early Church choose December 25.
So there you have it. I’ll admit that I was not aware of much of this, so I hope you’ll find it interesting as well!
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