Is December 25 A Pagan Holiday?

The only reason Christians celebrated Jesus’ birth on December 25 was because the Romans had a pagan celebration on that day and Christians took it over. Right?Wrong.Serious scholars do not believe that. There’s no evidence for it. We have nothing in writing from early church fathers or ancient historians that indicate that Christmas was a takeover of an already Roman holiday. It’s just something that historians assumed hundreds of years later and passed on as fact, though there’s nothing to it. Instead, we have evidence to the contrary.Christians started celebrating Jesus’ birth on December 25 (in the west) and January 6 (in the east) in the 3rd century. It is true, that in later centuries (mid 4th-10th), church leaders would “christianize” Roman practices and festivals, but that was unheard of in the 3rd century. Instead, in the 3rd century they believed in distancing themselves from pagan holidays and practices, according to historians of that era. They wanted pagans to see them as altogether different, and refused to participate in their holidays and celebrations. One early church leader defended the date of December 25 for Jesus’ birth, claiming it was only a coincidence that it fell near the date of a pagan celebration.We’ve also heard, “Shepherds would not have been in the field in the middle of the winter.” Also not true. Beduin shepherds are in the fields twelve months of the year in parts of Israel, even today. During the first century, a special kind of shepherd watched sheep in the winter in the hills of Bethlehem, outside of Jerusalem, watching flocks of unblemished sheep kept specifically for Temple sacrifices. It makes sense that the angel would appear to these shepherds saying, “These sheep will not be needed much longer because the true Lamb of God has been born!”Early Christians believed that Jesus was born on December 25 for two reasons. One had to do with the date of Jesus’ crucifixion, and the other with the timing of the angel appearing to Zechariah. Everywhere in church literature, all the way into medieval times, whenever it was discussed, December 25 was put forth as the date with of one of those two explanations. Winter Solstice, or a Roman festival, was never part of their reasoning. And those who came up with the December 25 date would have adamantly rejected those claims.We still don’t know Jesus’ birthdate for certain. But my point is this: December 25 is as good a date as any. And celebrating Christmas on December 25 began as a Christian celebration and not a pagan one. Celebration on December 25 around the world is of Christian origin, not pagan. It was a celebration of something wonderful, the incarnation, and has been passed on through the centuries from our Christian forefathers. It’s a healthy tradition to reclaim, redeem, and embrace.Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Jesus!