If I were to ask anyone why we celebrate Christmas on December 25th, there is no doubt that most would say that it marks the birthday of Jesus.
But does it?
In fact, if there is one thing that is certain, and undisputed by scholars, Jesus was definitely NOT born on December 25th in the year 0.
A Census, a Star and a Very Cold Stable
The nativity story is quite clear on some details. Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem to participate in the census and it was whilst there, that Jesus was born.
But the Romans did not call a census in the year 0. In fact, the closest two years to contain a census were AD 6 or 8 BC.
Then again, the stories of a shining star point to 6 BC as the closest date where there was such a phenomenon.
So if the actual year is in doubt, what about the date?
December 25th, in the mid winter, would not have been an effective date for the Romans to hold a census. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that a census would have been held in the Autumn months, when communities would not be working the land and the weather wouldn’t restrict travel. Also, the shepherds would definitely not be watching their flocks by night at that time of the year.
The Bible offers very little evidence to allow us to fix a date, but it is pretty conclusive that what evidence there is, it points away from winter.
The final bit of evidence that December 25th is almost certainly not the right date comes when we discover that the date wasn’t identified as such until nearly 400 years later, when there was a conscious decision to ‘select’ a date as a rallying point for celebration.
A Pope, a Festival and a Persian God
In the Fourth century, Pope Julius I decided that an official date was needed to celebrate the occasion. Research was conducted, but there was no clear answer.
Therefore, Pope Julius selected December 25th. This was no arbitrary decision and was a very clever solution to a problem faced by the Church.
With the spread of Christianity across Europe, there were regular clashes with established pagan traditions. The largest of these was the midwinter festival, celebrated in many forms from country to country and rigorously held onto by the people. Yuletide, Saturnalia and many more were celebrated universally at midwinter, on or around the solstice. In fact, the Persian celebration of the birth of the god Mithras also took place on December 25th.
By declaring the birth date of Jesus as December 25th, Pope Julius cleverly allowed Christianity to take prime position in the middle of the midwinter festivals, gradually transforming the pagan celebrations into a Christian one. Now the Church could encourage a celebration of the birth of Jesus without conflicting with festivals and traditions that showed no signs of dissipating.
To explain the selection of this date, a reason was given that, as Jesus was supposed to have died on March 25th, he must have also been conceived on that date. With December 25th falling exactly nine months later, the Church had the justification it needed to declare an official date.
A Tree, a Feast and Christ’s Mass
The result is the mish-mash of traditions we carry out today – under the umbrella title of Christ’s Mass, despite the truth that the Christian celebration is only one aspect of a much bigger patchwork festival. In reality, Christmas is a combination of many different festivals, pagan, Christian and otherwise, in a weird and sometimes contradictory flood of tradition.