How did Christmas Originate?
- Esha Jain
- Dec 24, 2015
- 2 min read
What is the one thing we all look forward to amongst those gloomy winter mornings, warm blankets and hot chocolate? Yes, its that time of the year! Christmas trees, Santa caps, wine cakes, Christmas carols, children preparing their wishlist for their beloved Santa to fulfill. It’s the Christmas season. The season of giving, the season of happiness, season of togetherness, the time to end the year in the best way possible.
However, Christmas is not only about the gifts and family reunions, it has a whole lot of history attached to it. How many of us really know the origin of Christmas? It is generally believed that Christmas is the celebration of Jesus’s birth. Though, no proof of the exact date of Jesus’s birth really exist. The early New Testament Church did not observe 25th December as the date of His birth. Luke 2:8 explains that when Christ was born, “there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.” Note that they were “abiding” in the field. This never happened in December. Winter was the rainy season and shepherds could not stay on cold, open fields at night. The Catholic Encyclopedia and the writings of many others confirm that Christ was, in all likelihood, born in fall.
The most widely accepted theory, despite having its problems, about the origins of Christmas is that it was borrowed from Pagan celebrations. The Romans had their mid-winter Saturnalia festival in late December; barbarians kept holidays at similar times. Roman emperor Aurelian, in 274 C.E., established a feast of the birth of Sol Invictus (the Unconquered Sun), on December 25. It is believed that the Christians deliberately chose these dates, inspired from the Pagan festivals, to spread Christianity in the Roman World. They thought if Christmas looked like a Pagan holiday, they will be more accepting.
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