To Celebrate Christmas Or Not To? (Is There A Pagan Origin To Christmas?)

 

          When I was a teen, I had no qualms about celebrating Christmas. There were no social media back then. It probably made the decision easier.

            Today, social media rules. So we hear that Christians should not celebrate Christmas because it was once a pagan holiday. Doubt then creeps into a sincere Christian mind.

            Should we celebrate Christmas or not?

            But first, let’s see if Christmas had pagan roots?

            Much unlike contemporary comprehension, there are two theories. One - a popular theory, and another not so popular.

            J. Warner Wallace of Cold Case Christianity highlights the claim that Christmas had pagan roots. This is the popular theory.

            In his article entitled, Enjoy Christmas, Even Though It’s Probably Not Jesus’ Birthday, J. Warner Wallace wrote:¹

For many centuries before the birth of Christ, December 25th was similarly non-Christian. The present date for Christmas traces back to the 4th Century. When Constantine declared Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, he introduced the faith to a culture already deeply committed to the pagan worship of Roman gods. Christian leaders were in for a real challenge as they wrestled with prior cultural commitments to these gods. Pagan festivals and celebrations abounded throughout the year, celebrating and honoring Roman gods of one variety or another.

One of Rome’s biggest religious festivals occurred in the winter. The festival was called “Saturnalia”, and it was a celebration coinciding with the winter solstice. It occurred over a period of time corresponding to December 17th – 24th, ending on December 25th. This date, declared by Emperor Aurelian in 274AD to be “Dies Natalis Invicti Solis” (“Day of the Birth of the Unconquered Sun”), was a celebration of the Roman god, Saturn. The winter solstice also occurred around this time, celebrated when the sun reached its most southerly declination (when the North Pole is tilted 23.5 degrees from the sun). This marked the beginning of a number of pre-Roman pagan festivals and Roman holidays.

It shouldn’t surprise us this important pre-Christian holiday season would eventually take a Christian form. As a strategic consequence of those who wished to advance the truth of the Gospel, or simply as a cultural inevitability, December 25th became a Christian celebration. St. Augustine of Hippo (the early church theologian of the 4th and 5th Century), wrote about the newly adopted celebration, and said:

“We hold this day (December 25th) holy, not like the pagans because of the birth of the sun, but because of him who made it”

            Although this theory is a popular theory, there is another theory - more ancient in its origin.

            Andrew McGowan, the Dean and President of the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale cites the other theory in his article entitled How December 25 Became Christmas. This theory accounts for the origin of Christmas without any association with pagan roots. He writes:²

There is another way to account for the origins of Christmas on December 25: Strange as it may seem, the key to dating Jesus’ birth may lie in the dating of Jesus’ death at Passover. This view was first suggested to the modern world by French scholar Louis Duchesne in the early 20th century and fully developed by American Thomas Talley in more recent years.⁸ But they were certainly not the first to note a connection between the traditional date of Jesus’ death and his birth.

Around 200 C.E. Tertullian of Carthage reported the calculation that the 14th of Nisan (the day of the crucifixion according to the Gospel of John) in the year Jesus died^c was equivalent to March 25 in the Roman (solar) calendar.⁹ March 25 is, of course, nine months before December 25; it was later recognized as the Feast of the Annunciation—the commemoration of Jesus’ conception.¹⁰ Thus, Jesus was believed to have been conceived and crucified on the same day of the year. Exactly nine months later, Jesus was born, on December 25.^d

This idea appears in an anonymous Christian treatise titled On Solstices and Equinoxes, which appears to come from fourth-century North Africa. The treatise states: “Therefore our Lord was conceived on the eighth of the kalends of April in the month of March [March 25], which is the day of the passion of the Lord and of his conception. For on that day he was conceived on the same he suffered.”¹¹ Based on this, the treatise dates Jesus’ birth to the winter solstice.

Augustine, too, was familiar with this association. In On the Trinity (c. 399–419) he writes: “For he [Jesus] is believed to have been conceived on the 25th of March, upon which day also he suffered; so the womb of the Virgin, in which he was conceived, where no one of mortals was begotten, corresponds to the new grave in which he was buried, wherein was never man laid, neither before him nor since. But he was born, according to tradition, upon December the 25th.”¹²

            So objective research to understand Christ’s birth on December 25^th yields two different results – a popular theory that suggests pagan roots into Christ’s birth and another theory – not popular but certainly doing its rounds in the academic circles, which does not involve any pagan association.

            This is not to claim that Christ most certainly was born on December 25^th. But this is an endeavor to enlighten you that the origin of Christmas has two very different theories. The pagan-association theory is not the only theory.

            Let’s now consider the popular theory that the Christmas celebration has pagan roots and ask the question, ‘So what if Christmas has pagan origins?’ Even if Christmas has pagan roots, should we not celebrate Christmas?

            J. Warner Wallace cites a classic example of the transformation in the message of the cross to claim that we can celebrate Christmas even if it had pagan origins.

            The message of the cross in the Roman period was a symbol of power and authority. But the very same cross is now our symbol of grace and mercy. He writes:³

When we co-opt an ancient celebration, symbol or word and give it a new meaning, we abandon the first meaning in favor of the second…

…consider the cross. In Roman times, the cross was an ugly, brutal instrument of death. The outskirts of large cities were often landscaped with crosses lining the roads to the city. Criminals were brutally executed on these crosses and displayed publicly. The message of the cross was clear. It was a symbol of the power, authority and bloody brutality of the Empire. The cross was filled with meaning in the days before Jesus. But that changed after the resurrection, as Christianity adopted the cross as a new kind of symbol. For Christians, the cross demonstrates the gift of Jesus who died to provide eternal life for all those who believe. For us, the cross symbolizes the sacrifice God made for our sin. The cross has a new meaning we ascribe as believers, superseding the old symbolism of the Roman Empire. The cross is now our symbol of the grace, mercy and gift of God.

That’s what Christmas is for my family. It’s our symbol of the grace, mercy and gift of God. The prior ancient meanings of the holiday don’t matter to me… So, if your family celebrates Christmas and a Christian holiday, enjoy it, even though it’s probably not Jesus’ real birthday.

.           So it does not matter whether Christmas had pagan origins or not. All that matters is the existence of the Historical Jesus is a proven fact. HE did exist, so HIS birth can be celebrated anytime, December 25^th is one such date when we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

            The Scripture prophesied Jesus' birth, “…an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).” (Matthew 1:20-23, ESV).

            So let’s celebrate Christmas without any qualms. The Lord Jesus is with us.

            May this Christmas season enlighten us more about the living God and HIS Son our Lord Jesus Christ. May HIS power and wisdom be ours as we navigate through very turbulent times. May the Prince of Peace bring the peace of God into your life and mine.

            Merry Christmas!

Endnotes:

¹https://coldcasechristianity.com/writings/enjoy-christmas-tomorrow-even-though-its-probably-not-jesus-birthday/

²https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/jesus-historical-jesus/how-december-25-became-christmas/

³https://coldcasechristianity.com/writings/enjoy-christmas-tomorrow-even-though-its-probably-not-jesus-birthday/

Websites last accessed on December 23^rd 2020.