![]() ![]() The 25th of December is celebrated as the birth date of Jesus Christ. It thus is no surprise that Christian puritans – or even conservative Christians – often are upset that Christmas “is not as religious as it was meant to be,” forgetting that Christmas was not celebrated at all until fairly recently. The Christmas celebrations end the 12th day of Christmas (January 6), the same amount of days that the return of the sun was celebrated by ancient and Roman pagans. Jesus was born in March, yet his birth is celebrated on December 25, the time of solstice. Today, many of the pagan uses are reflected in Christmas. Year by year, countries all over the world started to recognize Christmas as the day for celebrating the birth of Jesus. In 1907, Oklahoma became the last US state to declare Christmas a legal holiday. ![]() In 1860, American illustrator Thomas Nast borrowed from the European stories about Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of children, to create Father Christmas (Santa Claus). Hervey’s The Book of Christmas also became a best seller. In 1836, Alabama became the first state in the US to declare Christmas a legal holiday. It was so popular that neither the churches nor the governments could not ignore the importance of Christmas celebrations. In 1834, Britain’s Queen Victoria brought her German husband, Prince Albert, into Windsor Castle, introducing the tradition of the Christmas tree and carols that were held in Europe to the British Empire.Ī week before Christmas in 1834, Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol (in which he wrote that Scrooge required Cratchit to work, and that the US Congress met on Christmas Day). The popularity of Christmas was spurred on in 1820 by Washington Irving’s book The Keeping of Christmas at Bracebridge Hall. And, keep in mind, there was no Father Christmas (Santa Claus) figure at that time. Still, Christmas was not even a legal holiday until the 1800s. When many Protestants escaped persecution by fleeing to the colonies all over the world, interest in joyous Christmas celebrations was rekindled there. In England, for instance, Oliver Cromwell banned Christmas festivities between 16 through the so-called Blue Laws, believing that Christmas should be a solemn day. Christmas failed to gain universal recognition among Christians until quite recently. However, even though Constantine officiated 25 December as the birthday of Christ, Christians, recognizing the date as a pagan festival, did not share in the emperor’s good intentions. In 354AD, Bishop Liberius of Rome officially ordered his members to celebrate the birth of Jesus on 25 December. He also introduced Sunday as a holy day in a new 7-day week, and introduced movable feasts (Easter). In 325AD, Constantine the Great, the first Christian Roman emperor, introduced Christmas as an immovable feast on 25 December. Some non-Christians prefer the alternative designation “CE” for “Common Era.”Ĭhristmas official, but not generally observed In 320 AD, Pope Julius I specified the 25th of December as the official date of the birth of Jesus Christ.ĪD is short for Anno Domini, or “ Year of our Lord,” as proclaimed by the Roman Catholic Church. Roman Emperor Aurelian proclaimed the date as “Natalis Solis Invicti,” the festival of the birth of the invincible sun. In the year 274 AD, solstice fell on 25th December. In fact, for more than 300 years, people observed the birth of Jesus on various dates. But the early church actually did not celebrate the birth of Christ in December until Telesphorus, who was the second Bishop of Rome from 125 to 136AD, declared that Church services should be held during this time to celebrate “The Nativity of our Lord and Saviour.” However, since no-one was quite sure in which month Christ was born, Nativity was often held in September, which was during the Jewish Feast of Trumpets (modern-day Rosh Hashanah). As Christian numbers increased and their customs prevailed, the celebrations took on a Christian observance. To avoid persecution during the Roman pagan festival, early Christians decked their homes with Saturnalia holly. The Roman celebrated Saturnalia between 17 and 24 December. The first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere occurs between the 20th and 22nd of December. It announced that winter is not forever, that life continues, and an invitation to stay in good spirit. In Roman times, it became the celebrations honoring Saturnus (the harvest god) and Mithras (the ancient god of light), a form of sun worship that had come to Rome from Syria a century before with the cult of Sol Invictus. It is also called Yule, the day a huge log is added to a bonfire, around which everyone would dance and sing to awaken the sun from its long winter sleep. In ancient pagan times, the last day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere was celebrated as the night that the Great Mother Goddess gives birth to the baby Sun God. ![]() Home » christmas » History of Christmas History of Christmas ![]()
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