December 25, 272
That was the first official public celebration of Dies Natalis Invicti Solis, a pagan Roman holiday that was later co-opted by the Christians to celebrate the birth of their favourite Jew.
Turning the holiday into "Christmas" (in 336 CE) was part of a pattern of the church stealing various pagan festivals and feast days.
If you're from the eastern influence of where the church is (like Russian Orthodox) you celebrate Christmas on January 6. This comes from when people started to celebrate the Epiphany - the time that Christ revealed himself to the people as the Messiah. Jesus' incarnation - when God became man - was also commemorated at this time.
Many have speculated that since shepherds were in the field the night that Jesus was born, it must have been in the spring or summer. Some said May 20, others fixed the date for April 19 or 20. Still others thought March 25 was the most likely day. Nobody actually knows, because it doesn't tell you in the bible.
Hundreds of years later, the bishop of Rome started to observe December 25 as the date for Christ's birth. Four major Roman (remember, Christianity was a cult until it got in with the Romans, who liked to pick up new ideas wherever they went) festivals were held in December, including Saturnalia which celebrated the returning Sun-god. It was easy to adapt this to Christian celebration of the coming of the Son of God.
It does, however, appear that the birth of the one now generally recognised by Christians as Jesus happened somewhere between 3 BCE and 6 BCE, depending on which criteria you use. The screwup comes from the monk that was commissioned to make the calendar, and nobody wants to change it now. And what would be the point?
Happy festival today, Mithras.
Turning the holiday into "Christmas" (in 336 CE) was part of a pattern of the church stealing various pagan festivals and feast days.
If you're from the eastern influence of where the church is (like Russian Orthodox) you celebrate Christmas on January 6. This comes from when people started to celebrate the Epiphany - the time that Christ revealed himself to the people as the Messiah. Jesus' incarnation - when God became man - was also commemorated at this time.
Many have speculated that since shepherds were in the field the night that Jesus was born, it must have been in the spring or summer. Some said May 20, others fixed the date for April 19 or 20. Still others thought March 25 was the most likely day. Nobody actually knows, because it doesn't tell you in the bible.
Hundreds of years later, the bishop of Rome started to observe December 25 as the date for Christ's birth. Four major Roman (remember, Christianity was a cult until it got in with the Romans, who liked to pick up new ideas wherever they went) festivals were held in December, including Saturnalia which celebrated the returning Sun-god. It was easy to adapt this to Christian celebration of the coming of the Son of God.
It does, however, appear that the birth of the one now generally recognised by Christians as Jesus happened somewhere between 3 BCE and 6 BCE, depending on which criteria you use. The screwup comes from the monk that was commissioned to make the calendar, and nobody wants to change it now. And what would be the point?
Happy festival today, Mithras.
posted by Rimmy at 07:03
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