Christmas has become one of the most important celebrations for Christians throughout the world. Even beyond that, its importance has even trespassed religious matters and become a federal festivity in many countries of the world. Now, Christmas comes at a perfect time to end the year just one week before New Year’s, but is it really the date of Jesus’ birth? The date Jesus was born has always been a matter of debate. For centuries and centuries, it has been determined that it’s very unlikely that he was born in December, so why do we celebrate his birth on the 25?
When was Jesus born?
There’s no indication whatsoever in the Bible pointing out a specific date of Jesus’ birth. For that reason, there’s no way to either assure he was born on December 25 or anytime else. However, throughout history, theologists and scholars have delved into the scriptures looking for clues to determine the exact date Jesus was born.
One of the main elements that have debated a winter birth is the presence of shepherds themselves with their flock. That would’ve never been possible during the winter, thus, they suggest he was either born in spring or autumn. To support their thesis, they’ve resorted to Jewish festivities as well. Let’s not forget that Jesus was a Jew himself. With that in mind, there are two main festivities that could explain the setting of the Nativity scene.
The first one is the spring festival of Passover. On this day, Jewish remember the time they were freed from slavery in Egypt. For the Passover festival, lambs are one of the main treats which would explain why there were so many shepherds with their flocks near Bethlehem. They were likely taking them to be sacrificed in the Temple of Jerusalem. Moreover, it was a very important festivity and Jewish from all over the Roman Empire would set a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. Being so, Romans took advantage of the date to carry out a census. Following this theory, it wouldn’t be rare that Mary and Joseph were on their way to Jerusalem for the census. The number of people that would pilgrimage to Jerusalem, could explain also why they couldn’t find logging on their way.
The other possible date, as mentioned, is autumn, either in September or October. This season coincides with the festival of Sukkot, or as it’s also known the Feast of the Tabernacles. This festivity, which is also mentioned in the Bible, celebrates the 40 years God provided for the Jewish while wandering the desert after escaping Egypt. Sukkot, also celebrates the end of the harvest and one of the most characteristic features of the festivity is that people would create temporary huts and shelters to live in for the duration of the festival. Thus, instead of a manger per se, we could be talking about these temporary shelters.
Last but not least, what seems to give enough evidence to both possible dates is the iconic Star of Bethelem. This one could only indicate a spring or autumn birthday.
Why December 25?
So, if the evidence seems to point out to a spring or autumn date, why was December 25 set as Jesus’ birth? There are as well many possibilities. The first one can be found in the texts of Roman historian Sextus Julius Africanus, a Christian scholar who dated the conception of Jesus on March 25, exactly nine months before Christmas. Early Christianism believed it was March 25 the day the world was created. Due to calendar differences to the one we follow today, it was also believed that Jesus died in Nisan 14 (Jewish calendar), which corresponds as well to March 25. So, Jesus was both conceived and died on the same day.
Now, the most likely reason his birth was settled on December 25 is to make it coincide with the already existing pagan festivities honoring Saturn (God of agriculture) and Mithra (the Persian God of light), both highly revered throughout the recently-converted to Christianism Rome. Also, December 25 was the day that celebrated the rebirth of the Unconquered Sun, also known as Sol Invictus. This festivity also coincided with the Roman festival of Saturnalia, where people used to gather to feast and exchange gifts. Merging both festivities would make it easy for the people to accept the new Christian religion.
Christmas celebrations
These decisions wouldn’t be taken until quite some time after Jesus’ death. Actually, it wasn’t until 336, during Constantine’s empire, that Christmas was first celebrated. Before then, Christians had two main celebrations Epiphany day (the arrival of the Three Wise Men) and Easter. In the Eastern Empire, Christmas would take longer to be considered a major festivity; it happened until the 9th century.
Even after becoming one of the main ecclesiastical festivities in the Christian world, Christmas wasn’t celebrated as we do today. Even some Christian religious branches would frown upon some of the traditional celebrations. For instance, Puritans in the colonies even banned the celebration seeing the feasting, the gifts, and decorations as tributes to paganism.
All in all, there’s no way to ever prove the exact date of Jesus’ birth, and although it’s very likely that the date was settled to accommodate other religious interests, December 25 has become a significant date all over the world regardless of religion. Plus, we already have Easter to celebrate on those days so, a main celebration by the end of the year isn’t that bad.
