Why do we celebrate Christmas on 25 December?

Ah, Christmas: According to Andy Williams and basically every retailer in the Western world, the most amazing time of the year. However, as we get lost in the beauty of twinkling lights, sparkling ribbons and pointed eggs, it can be easy to forget the origins of Christmas. Of course, we all know about the birth of Jesus, but where have our Christmas traditions come from, and why do we celebrate it every year on 25 December? We do not even know when Maria Carrie was born. How are we so confident about Jesus?

Was Jesus Born on 25 December?

The truth is that we cannot be completely certain about Jesus' birthday. Despite eventually becoming one of the most popular religions in the world, Christianity made small beginnings and suffered much persecution, so the celebration of the birth of Jesus was unquestionably gone by 336 BCE, as far as we had one There is evidence as to the ancient Roman calendar. It was celebrated on 25 December, but three centuries is plenty of time to forget someone's birthday if you neglect to write it. Most of us forget after three days.

You may believe that it has nothing to do with the Holy Scriptures, but when Jesus was born, the Bible is remarkably vague about the time of that year. It is clear that the document of the Bethlehem Star will be discovered, which is said to have guided Maggie to Jesus after his birth, but the closest astronomers have found such an event as Jupiter, There was a meeting of Saturn, and the Moon in 6 BCE There are many problems with linking this event to the birth of Jesus on 25 December: It happened in the spring, not in the winter, and it is famously believed that Jesus was in the year was born. 0. The Bible provides some evidence, however, that the possibility of her birth comes closer to the spring, as the mention of farm shepherds makes more sense during the spring rather than the dead of winter.

Norse Christmas

The reason for celebrating the birth of Jesus on 25 December is probably very little from the Bible in the patchwork of religions that existed across Europe in the early fourth century, especially the various pagan religions, almost all of which took place in the coming winter. Celebrated As an important holiday. The winter solstice, the day when the Earth is at its greatest tilt and thus experiencing the longest night of the year, was especially important for pre-Christian European religions. Winter was always a difficult time for people, because survival depended on how much food could be cultivated and stored before the cold and snow and it took away a good deal of your nutrition opportunities. In plain English, you can forget death before spring, so you'd better party it.

The Norse festival of winter was known as the Yule, which the ancient Germanic people celebrated on the last day of their livestock by feasting, singing, decorating trees, and drinking wine. Some classic Christmas iconography, such as the Yule Log and the Christmas Tree, can be traced back to the evergreen tree, which was at the center of this pagan festival, representing the hope that life would outperform even the brutality of the climate. can give. For nothing, but the Norse god Odin was asked to zoom into the night sky on an eight-legged horse, which seems closer to the modern-day myth of Santa, which has been known for eight deer since the 1823s. Was drawn by

Pugs and Saturn

The commonly accepted theory by most historians about the celebration of Christmas on 25 December is that in the attempts to Christianize various pagan religions, the Romans essentially embraced their traditions, while also repeating them. This strategy can be seen more clearly in Halloween, which has its roots in the Celtic traditions of harvest festivals that honor the dead, and Christians named All Hallow Eve in honor of their own dead saints.

The Romans must also have stolen themselves when it comes to Christmas, as there are similarities between the Christian holiday and the ancient Roman celebration of Saturnalia, which honored the god of wealth and renewal. Every year in December, the Romans exchanged gifts, lit candles, and treated each other more kindly and cautiously despite their social status, hoping that Saturn would give them a bounty in the coming year (gods, not planets) Will reward you with harvest.

Winter sun god

For all the European pagan influences on Christmas symbolism and traditions, we may need to revisit the Middle East to find a concrete answer to the December 25th question, especially the ancient Iranian sun god Mithra. This god, who was well known to the Roman Empire well before the rise of Christianity in the fourth century, was born in a similar miraculous way, said to be born of the Rock. Over time, the myth was transformed into a Roman mythic mystery, a secret religion that honored God. In Rome, it was transformed into Sol Invictus, which was settled on 25 December, 247 BC. A temple was dedicated to. A festival in honor of Sol was also held on 25 December.

As Christian influence occupied Rome, many viewed Jesus as the de facto incarnation of the sun god and thus perhaps accepted this day of commemoration as his date of birth. In a way, it tolerates tolerance for the old religions while building a cultural path towards monotheism, especially Christianity, without the use of domination or violence. After all, who needs a spear and sword to contain and assimilate you?

Christmas in recent years

The pagan roots of Christmas, ironically, are centuries after many Christians celebrated the holiday. In the American colonies, for example, many Puritans despised and even banned Christmas celebrations because of their so-called heavy roots. It was not until the great American writer Washington Irving, best known for Sleepy Hollows, called St. Nicholas's satire the History of New York in 1809 that the spirit of the holiday had really ceased in the states.

The 19th century was the birth of Christmas as we know it today, with books like A Christmas Carol bursting into the mainstream in 1843 and cartoons of Thomas Nast in the 1860s, burning the image of the red-friendly, jolly, fat Santa Claus . The mind of the American public since then. By that decade, businesses had figured out how to earn the day by selling decorations and children's toys, and the United States finally made Christmas on June 26, 1870, a nationally celebrated holiday.

So was Jesus born on 25 December? Probably not, but that does not make those celebrating Christmas any less important or less meaningful.