How Do People Celebrate Jesus Birthday On Christmas Day

The early christians did not celebrate jesus birth because they considered the celebration of anyone s birth to be a pagan custom the world book encyclopedia.

How do people celebrate jesus birthday on christmas day. The reason for establishing december 25 as christmas is somewhat obscure but it is usually held that the day was chosen to correspond to pagan festivals that took place around the time of the winter solstice when the days begin to lengthen to celebrate the rebirth of the sun. Easter a much earlier development than christmas was simply the gradual christian reinterpretation of passover in terms of jesus passion its observance could even be implied in the new testament 1 corinthians 5 7 8. Just don t worship the tree. Jesus began to preach after being baptised by john the baptist and based on luke s gospel john only began baptizing people in the fifteenth year of the reign of tiberius caesar.

But was jesus really born on december 25 in the first place. The encyclopedia americana informs us. And we do not believe it is a sin to have a christmas tree 200 000 lights on your house stockings hung by the chimney with care etc. There was a day when jesus was born sometime over 2000 years ago.

But how sad it is that so many people on earth associate the birth of jesus christ with a fictitious being called santa claus who has come to be known as the giver of good. My children are younger under 5 but they still know the general concept behind why we celebrate christmas. Sometimes they will get into the mommy i want that for christmas and that is all i hear for the next 30 minutes and then i just ask them why we really celebrate christmas and they say because jesus was born and that usually stops the whole asking for every toy they see. Our paschal lamb christ has been sacrificed.

Birthdays celebrate beginnings and the celebration of christmas is both a birthday and a beginning in more ways than one. It was certainly a distinctively christian feast by the mid second century. Therefore let us celebrate the festival. There is no proof that jesus was born on that date church leaders likely chose this date to coincide with pagan festivals held on or around the winter solstice.

For many christmas brings about lavishly decorated storefronts religious services celebrations with family and friends and of course presents galore people pray sing dance and exchange gifts on the days leading up to christmas in order to celebrate the birth of jesus christ and yet what most people don t even realize is that december 25 isn t actually jesus s birthday. The first official mention of december 25 as a holiday honoring jesus birthday appears in an early roman calendar from 336 a d.