So how did Christmas start? As history explains, it began as a religious festival. Over the years, elements of pagan festivals were integrated into the Christmas celebration. Nonetheless, Christmas was consistently a time for families to come together to celebrate the birth of Jesus and worship together.
The origins of Christmas stem from both the pagan and Roman cultures. The Romans actually celebrated two holidays in the month of December. The first was Saturnalia, which was a two-week festival honoring their god of agriculture Saturn. On December 25th, they celebrated the birth of Mithra, their sun god.
The first recorded Christmas celebration was in Rome on December 25, AD 336. In the 3rd century, the date of the nativity was the subject of great interest.
“The real reason for the selection of Dec. 25 seems to have been that it is exactly nine months after March 25, the traditional date of Jesus' crucifixion. … As Christians developed the theological idea that Jesus was conceived and crucified on the same date, they set the date of his birth nine months later.”
The date of birth of Jesus is not stated in the gospels or in any historical sources, but most biblical scholars generally accept a date of birth between 6 BC and 4 BC, the year in which King Herod died.
In the New Testament there is no mention of Jesus' date of birth. Even the Encyclopaedia of Theology and the Church says: "The true birthday of Jesus is unknown". This is not surprising, because people at that time were completely unaware of the year and the day. To this day the true birthday of Jesus is still unclear.
The church in Rome began celebrating Christmas on December 25 in the 4th century during the reign of Constantine, the first Christian emperor, possibly to weaken pagan traditions.
But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
The first date listed, December 25, is marked: natus Christus in Betleem Judeae: “Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judea … ” So, almost 300 years after Jesus was born, we finally find people observing his birth in mid-winter.”
Christmas owes its roots to the ancient Roman holiday of Saturnalia, which was a pagan festival which was celebrated from December 17-25 each year. This custom was altered and absorbed into Christmas, and this allowed early Christians to gradually erase these old pagan holidays.
According to History.com, the monk who over time would evolve into Santa Claus was born in what is now modern-day Turkey in 280 A.D., making him a whopping 1,741 years old!
Why do we celebrate Christmas? Celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ is more than a Christian holiday or Christian festival. It is more than an occasion to decorate our houses. It is an opportunity to pause and give thanks for the love, hope and joy found in Jesus – our Saviour and friend.
Among them are Quakers, Jehovah's Witnesses, and members of the Churches of Christ. Some of the half-dozen Christian faiths that do no celebrate Dec. 25 contend there is nothing in the Bible that says Christ was born on that day.
Virtually all scholars believe, for various reasons, that Jesus was crucified in the spring of either AD 30 or AD 33, with the majority opting for the former.
BETHLEHEM, Occupied West Bank (AP) _ New archaeological evidence indicates Jesus may have been born in late summer or early fall of the year 12 B.C., and the star that led the three wise men to Bethlehem was Halley's comet.
Dec. 25 is not the date mentioned in the Bible as the day of Jesus's birth; the Bible is actually silent on the day or the time of year when Mary was said to have given birth to him in Bethlehem. The earliest Christians did not celebrate his birth.
Christmas is celebrated to observe the birth of Jesus Christ, whom Christians believe is the Son of God.
Mary gave birth to Jesus and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger (see Luke 2:7). An angel appeared to nearby shepherds with “good tidings of great joy.” The angel told them the Son of God had been born, and they hurried to find their newborn Savior (see Luke 2:8–16).
History. The first Christmas celebrations in Australia have their roots to late 1788 and were introduced by convicts of the First Fleet, who arrived in Sydney Harbour early the same year.
According to historical records the first Christmas in Australia was celebrated in December of 1788, almost one full year after their arrival at Sydney Cove. Reverend Johnson conducted services for Governor Arthur Phillips and his officers before they enjoyed Christmas supper.
New Zealand is the first country on the western side of the International Date Line, the place where each day begins. The International Date Line is an imaginary line on the surface of the Earth that sits mostly on the 180º line of longitude in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Jesus' name in Hebrew was “Yeshua” which translates to English as Joshua.
Aramaic is best known as the language Jesus spoke. It is a Semitic language originating in the middle Euphrates. In 800-600 BC it spread from there to Syria and Mesopotamia. The oldest preserved inscriptions are from this period and written in Old Aramaic.
It is said that Mithra or [the] Sun took birth in the Cave on December 25th. It is also the belief of the Christian world that Mithra or the Sun-God was born of [a] Virgin.
He was born of a Jewish mother, in Galilee, a Jewish part of the world. All of his friends, associates, colleagues, disciples, all of them were Jews. He regularly worshipped in Jewish communal worship, what we call synagogues. He preached from Jewish text, from the Bible.