Born on 25th December?
(Unwrapped: the Truth about Christmas #30)
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In the Roman world, December 25th was the festival of the Invincible Sun. As Christianity spread, many of the first Christians were slaves. They could not take a day off whenever they wanted! They probably chose December 25th to celebrate the birth of Jesus, because it was already a public holiday and they knew that he was born sometime around then.
But by the start of the fourth century A.D, Christianity had become the largest religion in the Roman Empire, and around 330 A.D, the church officially adopted December 25th to celebrate Jesus's birth. No-one was saying that this was the actual date he was born.
We do not know exactly when Jesus was born, and it does not matter. What matters is that he was born, not the exact date when he was born.
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An interesting suggestion:
This is an interesting article, which claims that:
- The Sol Invictus cult was introduced by the emperor Aurelian in 274 AD (after Christians had already been celebrating Jesus's birth on 25th December)
- December 25th became the festival of the birth of the unconquered sun under the emperor Julian the Apostate.
- There is no record of the celebration of Sol Invictus on 25th December before 354 AD.
If this is correct, far from the Christians hijacking a pagan festival, it looks like the pagans tried to hijack a Christian festival!
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