Q. Why is the Nativity of Christ celebrated on
December 25th?
A. There are two main explanations as to why the
Church chose to celebrate the Nativity of Christ on December 25th.
The first says that the day was
chosen to oppose the great pagan feast of the sun god, which was celebrated
near December 22nd at the Winter Solstice, the time of year when the
days started to get longer again (at least in the northern hemisphere). It is believed that the Church chose December
25th, because it ensured that Christians would be fasting during the
pagan celebration and would therefore not easily be tempted to participate. And also because it would help the pagans to
leave off worshiping the false sun god and instead celebrate the coming of the
True God, “the Sun of Righteousness”.
The
second explanation says that the day was chosen in relation to the feast of the
Annunciation, which was celebrated on March 25th commemorating the
supernatural conception of the Lord in the womb of the Virgin Mary. The Annunciation was celebrated on this day because
of the belief in the ancient world that great men died on the same day as they
were conceived. Since the Lord was
believed to have been crucified on March 25th, it also came to be
believed that He was likewise conceived on this day. And since it followed that the Lord’s birth
would be nine months after His conception, the feast of His Nativity was set on
December 25th.
1 comment:
If memory serves, both St. John Chrysostom and St. Augustine refer to having seen the records of the census ordered by Octavian Augustus which corroborated the traditional dating. Given what detailed record keepers the Romans were that doesn't strike me as an assertion which strains credulity.
Too, I once heard a homily preached that argued we know the date because Mary told the Apostles.
Again, if memory serves, the celebration of Sol Invictus was an effort by a paganzing emperor to reassert the "old religion" in the face of the rise of Christianity. It was a response to the observance of the Nativity in the West, not a precursor that needed to be co-opted by the Christians.
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