By Pastor Stephen Hess –
You’ve probably heard the story before. It’s a story that has been retold in books, television shows, and countless articles. The story is that Christmas wasn’t originally a Christian holiday but has its origins in paganism. The Romans celebrated a seven-day winter festival called “Saturnalia” during which they would worship the god Saturn. At the conclusion of Saturnalia, a feast was held on December 25th to Sol Invictus (the Roman god of the sun). It is often claimed that the church sought to co-opt these pagan festivals by establishing December 25th as the day of Christ’s birth. In doing so, the church made Christianity more appealing to the Roman people. It sounds like a convincing story, but is it true?
According to Andrew McGowan, a professor of Church History at Yale Divinity School, the answer is no. In an article called “How December 25th Became Christmas” he points out that in the first two centuries following Christ’s resurrection, the early church fathers didn’t even mention celebrating Christ’s birth. They even mocked Roman celebrations of birthdays, dismissing them as “pagan practices.” However, as time went on there was a growing interest among Christians in determining the date of Jesus’ birth and celebrating it each year. It appears that the earliest celebrations of Christ’s birth on December 25th can be traced back to the end of the 3rd century, which makes it unlikely to be associated with pagan festivals for two reasons. First, this was a period when many Christians still faced persecution and wanted to disassociate themselves with anything related to Roman pagan culture. Second, this was before Constantine rose to power and began to Christianize the Roman Empire. Therefore, it appears that the celebration of Christ’s birth on December 25th had little to do with Roman pagan festivals.
So how then did December 25th come to be identified as the date of Christ’s birth? According to McGowan, the answer is connected to the dating of Jesus’ crucifixion. The Gospel of John states that Jesus’ death took place on the Jewish day of Preparation which was the 14th day of Nisan in the Jewish calendar. In approximately 200 AD, the church father Tertullian noted that the 14th day of Nisan in the year Jesus died was equivalent to March 25th on the Roman calendar. Not only did March 25th become the date associated with Jesus’ death, but according to church tradition, this was also the date of his conception. Assuming that Jesus was conceived on March 25th, the early church concluded that his birth would have taken place nine months later on December 25th.
In summary, although the story about Christmas having pagan origins makes good fodder for skeptics, under closer historical examination this theory simply doesn’t hold up. It is highly likely that the traditions surrounding the conception of Jesus on March 25th are what led Christians to start celebrating Christmas on December 25th. The fact that this coincided with the Roman festival of Saturnalia was probably coincidental, but it did provide a convenient opportunity for Christians to contrast the truth of Christ with the claims of a pagan world.
What Christians today have in common with the early church is that we are increasingly living in a pagan culture. Christmas is widely celebrated in our day, but sadly for most people, December 25th is more about Santa and his elves than about the birth of Christ. In the midst of this pagan world, Christians today have the opportunity to do what the early church did: We can show the world that we have something far greater to celebrate than what the world celebrates. We celebrate not a mythical man whose coming forth is from the north pole, but a Messiah whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days (Micah 5:2).