Christmas and December 25

No one knows the exact date of Jesus’ birth. This is true. But do you realize how ancient the celebration of Christmas actually is? We know that celebrating Christ’s birth on December 25 was already an old and established practice in A.D. 312.

The false claim is often repeated that the Church chose December 25 as the date in order to preempt an old pagan celebration. However history tells another story. In fact we know that celebrating Christmas on December 25 was the practice of a group of early Christians (Donatists) who were especially careful not to have any connection to the pagan religion of the Roman Empire.

While the date of Christ’s birth is lost to history, it is clear that celebrating Christmas on December 25^th is not of pagan origin. Then where does it come from? The best explanation is that the Church calculated the date of Jesus’ birth from the date of the Annunciation of the Angel Gabriel to Mary. The early Church determined this date to be March 25. Nine months later Mary would travel to Bethlehem and deliver baby Jesus, wrap Him in swaddling cloths and lay him in a manger.

Pastor Quardokus