Christmas marks the birth of Christ, and it is celebrated by Christians around the world. But this holiday has close ties to an older festival known as the "Unconquered Sun." The impact this Pagan tradition had on how Christmas was celebrated is one of the ways in which The Christian tradition changed as it developed through the ages.

The winter solstice is the time when the Sun reaches it’s southernmost rising and setting points in the northern hemisphere and the Suns apex at noon is at it’s lowest point of the year. The days are shortest and the nights are longest.

December 25th was the date of the winter solstice in the calendar Julius Caesar devised for Rome in 46BC. Today the winter solstice usually occurs on December 21st. Although Caesar used a 365 1/4 day year, a year is actually a little shorter, and this made the solstice occur a little earlier over the years. There was a discrepancy of 1 day in 128 years.

The pagans celebrated the winter solstice as the Unconquered Sun. After this day, the Sun would begin to stay in the sky longer each day, and there would be less cold, and less night; the Sun would win the battle of night and day. There would be feasts, evergreens would be brought into the house to be decorated and lighted with candles to pay tribute to the Sun.

There is nothing in the Christian Bible to specify the day of Christmas. Prior to the fourth century, Christ’s birth had been associated with Three King’s Day on January 6. But the pagans and the newly converted were being a major problem to the church because they were still celebrating the Unconquered Sun. Nothing the church did or said made a difference; the winter solstice was just too important a festival.

What the Christians did in this dilemma, was execute a move seen over and over in history. If you can’t defeat them, and refuse to join them, at least make it appear that you defeated them. Sometime between AD 354 and 360 a few decades after Emperor Constantine’s conversion to Christianity, the celebration of Christmas was shifted to the day of the Unconquered Sun. But the tradition of the Sun god lived on a long time.

The Romans got the idea of the sun god from the Syrians. Their Sun god, Deus Sol Invictus, became the chief god of the Roman State under Aurelian. The Fathers of the Church however, insisted that Christ was the true Sun God, and said that any celebrations for the Sun, were really in celebration of Christ.

Both the Sun worshipers and the Christians saw the solstice/birthday as a transition from darkness to light. Christ conquered the darkness, as did the Sun. Since the theme was similar, the traditions of one blended well with the other.

People have still carried over these traditions, though their earlier pagan roots have mostly long been forgotten. "Christmas" trees are still brought into the house. Colored lights and candles light the darkness. The Yule Log is lit.

In some Christian churches, on Christmas eve, the electric lights are dimmed. In the semi- darkness, the Christmas story is told, and near the end, a single candle is lit. It signifies the movement out of the darkness.

http://home.ccil.org/~kmiles/dln/12-95/decsol.html

WTF? That's what you just said, then you say I'm wrong. :hmmm:

I believe in order for the star to be in the position in which it was described, it would have had to been summer.

However, it's also necessary to remember that the timeline roughly coincides with the introduction of the Julian calendar, so April would have been the 2nd month of the year.

I think this puts some perspective on the entire "Pagan vs. Christian" argument..

http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2010/1...ice-makes-time

I don't think it's accurate to say they "chose it as a good day" based on the face of the statement. There was a reason they did so, imo. To that point I apologize if that is not what you meant.

That's KIND OF what I meant. I knew there was a good reason, I just couldn't remember what I had read it was.

I don't really want to get into a religous debate but from what I have read and given the context of religion, christian and otherwise, I firmly believe it was a calculated move for one reason or the other to adopt the winter solstice as a holiday then rename it to suit the context of said religion.

Unfortunately christmas is not the only example of this but that is for another thread.

Good depending on what side of the fence you stood\stand.

Personally I don't claim to be of any religion. I am a pantheist by label and probably lean more towards paganism if I had to pin myself down. That being said, I personally have no issues with christmas being when it is. I just wish more people were more educated about the holiday, it's history and origins is all.

I work with a person who is of what I think most would call a fringe element of christianity. Her family does not celebrate Christmas at all because as they say "it's not Jeus' birthday". She is very devout but of course casts no dispersions upon others who think otherwise. I have to admire her belief and the fortitude to follow them and not give in to what would be mainstream.

I, for one, celebrate Saturnalia.

Loser! Festivus for all of us!

It's time for the Airing Of Grievances and I'll start!

Cassel sucks!

FYP

Next time...tell those round-head puritans that Oliver Cromwell was a dick.


(I'll be impressed if anyone gets the reference.

Sorry but that sounds like a medical term for some weird fetish.