Christmas is a festival celebrated by Christians to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the central figure in Christianity revered as Lord, God, Savior, and King. Therefore celebrating the day of Jesus’ birth was a deed that sprang up naturally from the genuine devotion of the believers.
The celebration of Christmas began very long ago for evidence from the second century suggests that Christians were remembering and celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. The earliest known mention of Christmas observance is from 129 AD when a Roman bishop decreed: “In the Holy Night of the Nativity of our Lord and Saviour, all shall solemnly sing the Angels Hymn.”
However, the observance of Jesus’ birth was not held on 25th December and it is still not known on which day of the year they observed the festival. The writing of one Clement of Alexandria (150 AD – 215 AD) from the second century tells us that discussions about Jesus’ birthdate were ongoing around that time. He wrote:
“There are those who have determined not only the year of our Lord’s birth, but also the day; and they say that it took place in the 28th year of Augustus, and in the 25th day of [the Egyptian month] Pachon [May 20] … Further, others say that He was born on the 24th or 25th of Pharmuthi [April 20 or 21]”.
The celebration of Christmas had already started in the early part of the second century but there were still discussions on which date was most appropriate for the occasion. There was a man called Sextus Julius Africanus (AD 160 – AD 240), who was a Roman Christian historian. He maintained that Jesus Christ was conceived on 25th March and, since the period of pregnancy is nine months, was born on 25th December, which the Western Christian Church established as Christmas.
Sextus Julius Africanus wrote a five-volume book about the history of the world called Chronographiai (221 AD). As recorded in the Chronographiai, the belief that Jesus was born on 25th December was supported by the interpretation of the Gospel of Luke 1:8-10 that Angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah to announce the conception of John the Baptist during the observance of Yom Kippur, a festival which occurs around October. During Yom Kippur, the worshipers prayed outside of the Temple, not within; only the priest could enter the Temple at this time to conduct the proper rituals. Since Jesus was six months younger than John the Baptist, Jesus was conceived in March and born in late December.
We can therefore deduce that 25th December was a date already known to Christians before or during and after the days of Sextus Africanus. It is either the celebration of Christmas on 25th December had already begun before the days of Africanus or during the days of Africanus but on a small scale before it was largely accepted.
However, 34 years after Africanus’ death, on 25th December AD 274, the Roman emperor Aurelian established the cult of Sol Invictus or sun worship as an official religion in Rome. Thus on every 25th December, the ancient Romans had a holiday and celebrated a winter solstice festival called Dies Natalis Solis Invicti which means the “Birth of the Invincible Sun”.
For this reason, some scholars agree that the festival Dies Natalis Solis Invicti instituted by Emperor Aurelian, was intended to give pagan significance to a date that was already important to the Christians in Rome.
Later, from the 17th century up to date, there have been many hypotheses that Christians chose 25th December to appropriate the festival Dies Natalis Solis Invicti. In the 17th century, Isaac Newton, who was also born on 25th December, suggested that the date of Christmas was chosen to correspond with the winter solstice. Many others think that the early Christians chose 25th December to correspond with the date of Dies Natalis Solis Invicti and that they did that to continue enjoying Roman pagan festivals under the guise of Christian worship.
We see that the earliest Christian records about Christmas falsify these hypotheses and opinions above. The earliest Christian records have it that the celebration of Christmas had already begun in the second century and 25th December was known to Christians as a significant day for the celebration of Christmas long before Emperor Aurelian fixed the festival of the unconquered sun on 25th December. So far, the earliest record of the celebration of Christmas on 25th December tells that it happened in Rome in the year 336 AD.
Christmas itself did not become a major Christian festival until the 9th century when Charlemagne was crowned emperor on Christmas Day. In the Middle Ages, Christmas became a widely celebrated festival. The nativity scene, depicting the birth of Jesus in a stable, became a popular way to celebrate Christmas. Other traditions, such as caroling and the exchanging of Christmas cards, also began to emerge during this time.
Throughout history, Christmas traditions have continued to evolve and adapt, incorporating elements from various cultures around the world. For example, the tradition of decorating a Christmas tree is believed to have originated in Central Europe – Germany, Estonia, and Latvia – and spread to other countries. Today, Christmas is celebrated in many different ways around the world, but it remains a time of joy, love, and giving.