Thread by @just1doctorwala

Why is Christmas celebrated on December 25th?

It's that time of the year again when most Christians in the world celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. I say most because there is a significant number of Christians who celebrate on January 6th & we'll get to that in a bit!

A 🧵

Initially Christmas was celebrated on different dates depending on where in the world one was at the time.

Dates included
January 6th*
January 7th
March 21st
May 20th
May 28th
December 25th*

there is January 6th again!

In around 202 CE St Hippolytus wrote about Christmas being celebrated on December 25th

In 221 CE the Roman Christian historian Sextus Julius Africanus dated Jesus’ conception to March 25 (the same date upon which he held that the world was created), which, after nine months in his mother’s womb, would result in a December 25 birth.

So why do most Christians celebrate Christmas on December 25th?

There have been numerous theories floating around over the years. Some become popular for a while before getting "debunked" before another one takes it place. Let's go through some of the more commonly known ones.

1. "Christmas was decided to be on 25th December to replace the Roman festival of Saturnalia"
By the time Christianity started becoming "popular" in 2nd & 3rd century CE the Romans had already been celebrating a huge festival at the end of December for centuries called Saturnalia

Saturnalia shows up all throughout Roman literature but no single text describes the festival in its entirety. So historians had a tough time trying to piece together various pieces of fragmented records to make sense of it.

To make matters even worse the way people celebrated it differed wildly depending on which part of the Roman empire one lived in. So someone living in Rome in 100 BCE for example would have a vastly different Saturnalia compared to someone living in Gaul in 100 CE

Saturnalia was the festival of the Roman God Saturn & at its height celebrated between 200 BCE - 200 CE
Celebrations began on December 17th usually lasting between 3-7 days depending on location & time as mentioned earlier.

Festivities included large public banquets, offerings/sacrifices at the Temple of Saturn in Rome & private household feasts which included gift giving & role reversal plays between the owners & slaves. Oh & don't forget the Roman orgies.

Christians however started celebrating Christmas as a more somber, sober, serious affair with prayers & family gatherings.

So as mentioned earlier it can from December 17th to December 23rd
Doesn't quite add up to December 25th being chosen though does it?
Why would anyone go from a week long festival to a single day?
Especially for a new up & coming religion trying to "gain followers"
Somber/sober?

So while some of the traditions like having feasts, meeting family having gatherings & feasts may have been incorporated from Saturnalia the date just doesn't quite add up
Hence historians dropped Saturnalia & moved on to the feast of Sol Invictus as precursor to Christmas theory

Which brings us to theory number
2. Christmas was dated December 25th to replace Sol Invictus.
Sol Invictus was another Roman festival established by Emperor Aurelian in 274 CE December 25th as the feast day of the Roman Sun God Sol Invictus
This is important. Look at the date.

25th December 274 CE
By now Christians had already been celebrating Christmas on December 25th as I mentioned earlier.
Christianity was spreading rapidly across the Roman Empire. So to possibly try & reduce its influence & maybe entice people back this new festival was created.

So Christmas wasn't created to get people to switch from Paganism to Christianity. Sol Invictus was created to get people back to Paganism!

Interesting...

Ironically in 243 CE the Christian Bishop Saint Cyprian wrote "O, How wonderfully acted providence on that day on which the sun was born... Christ should be born (also)"

Sarcasm historical style for the win 🤣

So why do Christians celebrate on December 25th?

This is due the Christian belief in the calculation theory

What is the calculation theory?

The calculation theory is based on an old Jewish belief that prophets were born & died on the same day

Jesus crucifixion & death was calculated by those early Christians in the western part of the Roman Empire to be on March 25th. Coincidently the Jewish faith beliefs this is the same date that God created the world. Meanwhile those in the Eastern Empire calculated it as April 6th

Add 9 months to these dates & we arrive at

December 25th
OR
January 6th

And these are the dates followed to today by Christians worldwide as the date of Christmas

January 6th is still celebrated as Christmas by the Eastern Church such as the Church of Armenia for example.

So why this discrepancy?

It came from the difference in calculation from the Jewish month of Nisan, to the Gregorian months of March - April

This is found in a few sources.
For example on a Christian treatise titled on solstices and equinoxes written some time in the 4th century CE

The early Christians differed on the calculation.
In the Western Empire they calculated from March 25th
In the Eastern Empire they calculated from April 6th
Hence all around the world Christmas is celebrated on December 25th by most Christians and January 6th by some Christians

Ultimately though...

Does it really matter why?

People have their faiths & beliefs

Christmas is now celebrated by people of all faiths everywhere

A time to share love, joy & peace

With that,
I wish you all,
A Very Blessed, Merry, Loving & Fulfilling Christmas! 💕🥰😍

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