Why do Christians celebrate Christmas on December 25? Was Christmas deliberately chosen to replace pagan festivals like Saturnalia? The Bible never mentions a date for Jesus’ birth, and early Christians didn’t agree on one. By the third century, some marked it on August 28, others on May 20, and still others on April 21.
The first record linking Jesus’ birth to December 25 appears in the year 354—around the time of the Roman festival Saturnalia and the birthday of Sol Invictus, the unconquered sun. Was Christmas placed here to replace these pagan celebrations, or did the date have deeper symbolic meaning?
John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place explores how December 25 became Christ’s birthday, tracing how ancient solstice festivals, sun worship, and Christian theology merged into what we now call Christmas.
Centre Place
Why do Christians celebrate Christmas on December 25? Was Christmas deliberately chosen to replace pagan festivals like Saturnalia? The Bible never mentions a date for Jesus’ birth, and early Christians didn’t agree on one. By the third century, some marked it on August 28, others on May 20, and still others on April 21.
The first record linking Jesus’ birth to December 25 appears in the year 354—around the time of the Roman festival Saturnalia and the birthday of Sol Invictus, the unconquered sun. Was Christmas placed here to replace these pagan celebrations, or did the date have deeper symbolic meaning?
John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place explores how December 25 became Christ’s birthday, tracing how ancient solstice festivals, sun worship, and Christian theology merged into what we now call Christmas.
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