A documentary had said that Jesus birthday wasn't in December but in the spring. Whats up?
478271
Actually, its a myth that a Roman emporer set the date of Christmas.  Early Christian Churches celebrated the nativity during every month of the year, depending upon where you lived.  Both Rome and Antioch used December 25th.  There is a good argument that they chose the date to overtake the existing celebration Natalis Invicti.  It is unlikely connected to the Jewish feast of Dedication which at the time was a December feast.\n\nThe whole Church gradually adjusted its readings of scripture to place the nativity readings on December 25 and the Epiphany readings on January 6th.  This was done due to the fact that both Rome and Antioch are most ancient churches.  Additionally, Jerusalem used a different date but wrote to the bishop of Rome asking him to go to the tax office to see when the census was.  We have no reply from the Pope but shortly thereafter, Jerusalem changed its celebration to December 25.  The earliest mention of Christmas was in passing by Clement of Alexandria in the year 200.  It was celebrated either on May 20 or April 20 depending on where you were in Egypt.\n\nIt is important to understand the role of feasts like Christmas in both the early and the current Catholic calendar.  The goal of the Church is to proclaim all of the scriptures throughout the year.  As such, you can either read them in order, or order them according to important events that require contemplation.  The Church does a mixture of both.  It reads all the bible in the public proclaimation of scripture, but it also takes some passages, such as the Easter Passages and remove them from their proper order to allow people to prepare for Easter with readings and to celebrate Easter properly.  What you are seeing in the early dates was their cycle of reading scripture.
1086559
When Rome, probalby under Constantine, said hey these are pagan ceremonies lets take them and make they celebrate something chrisitan so he said spring - new life - yep Easter is now the celebration of The Ressurection of Christ!  And Christs birth he assigned to the winter solsitce.
875118
Yeah Jesus definately was not born on December 25 (In the bible it mentions that the shepards and their flocks were outside when Jesus was born and obviously would not be out there if it was in the freezing winter). December 25 was the date of the Roman festival marking the 'birthday of the unconquered sun.' Christians back then wished the date to concide with it. And even if it was his birthdate do you think Jesus would be happy with how commercialized christmas is and them making money off "his birthday" (No he would turn over the table of money)
1003535
INTERESTING HOW YOU JUST HAPPEN TO ASK THAT SPECIFIC DATE :)\n\nYOUR ON TO SOMETHING.  STAY ON IT. YOUR ON THE RIGHT TRACK.\n\nNOBODY KNOWS. THATS BIBLICAL.  THE BIBLE SAYS: THE HOUR OR DAY.  IT DOESN'T SAY THE YEAR CAN NOT BE KNOWN.!\n\nNobody can know the year. very simple reason. NOBODY know's if Jesus was born on a Leap Year.\n\nYou are into the number crunch or know someone who is.\n\nIt could be 2007 or 2012. you can't know yet. If we go through 2007, then Jesus WAS born on a leap year. :)  Keep your eyes on 2012.\n\ngreat question.  have a good week.
348557
According to our calendar system Jesus was born in 4 B.C. and died in 30 A.D. at 33 years old.\nOriginally thought to be at year 1 A.D. scholars and progressing advancement in dating recalculated for the more accurate date of 4 B.C. \n\nAll these other people here have no idea what they're talking about.
235203
The origin of this custom has been much disputed, and many theories have been suggested, e.g. that it is a farcical commemoration of Christ being sent from Annas to Caiaphas, from Caiaphas to Pilate, from Pilate to Herod, and from Herod back again to Pilate, the crucifixion having taken place about the 1st of April.\n\nWhat seems certain is that it is in some way or other a relic of those once universal festivities held at the vernal equinox, which, beginning on old New Year's day, the 25th of March, ended on the 1st of April. This view gains support from the fact that the exact counterpart of April-fooling is found to have been an immemorial custom in India. The festival of the spring equinox is there termed the feast of Holi, the last day of which is the 31st of March, upon which the chief amusement is the befooling of people by sending them on fruitless errands.\n\nIt has been plausibly suggested that Europe derived its April-fooling from the French [1]. They were the first nation to adopt the reformed Gregorian calendar, Charles IX in 1564 decreeing that the year should begin with the 1st of January. Thus the New Year's gifts and visits of felicitation which had been the feature of the 1st of April became associated with the first day of January, and those who disliked or did not hear about the change were fair butts for those wits who amused themselves by sending mock presents and paying calls of pretended ceremony on the 1st of April.\n\nHowever, it is unlikely that this explanation of April Fool's Day’s origin is correct. Well before 1582 when King Charles IX of France brought in the new Gregorian calendar, French and Dutch references from respectively 1508 and 1539 describe April Fool's Day jokes and the custom of making them on the first of April.\n\nThough the 1st of April appears to have been anciently observed in Great Britain as a general festival, it was apparently not until the beginning of the 18th century that the making of April-fools was a common custom. In Scotland the custom was known as "hunting the gowk," i.e. the cuckoo, and April-fools were "April-gowks," the cuckoo being there, as it is in most lands, a term of contempt. In France the person befooled is known as poisson d'avril. This has been explained from the association of ideas arising from the fact that in April the sun quits the zodiacal sign of the fish. A far more natural explanation would seem to be that the April fish would be a young fish and therefore easily caught.\n\nThe Dutch history book-version is this: In 1572 The Netherlands were still ruled by the Spanish king Phillip II, son of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Because the Dutch did not comply with this, they fought back. There was this band of roaming so-called freedom fighters, what we'd now call terrorists, calling themselves Geuzen, after the french geux which means beggars. They were sailing around the Northsea looking for Spanish ships to sink and after a while they got tired and needed some rest, but having no Dutch port to land in, they figured they'd capture one. So on April 1, 1572, they took this little coastal town called Den Briel. This event was also the start of the general civil rising against the Spanish in other cities in The Netherlands. This general phillip had send up called Alva was very upset and all but he couldn't do much. Bril is the Dutch word for glasses, so on April 1, 1572, Alva lost his glasses. Dutch people find this joke so hilarious they still commemorate April the first.
797175
no---Its a celebration Of Jesus Christ's birthday\n\nits not Santamas .....its not Xmas....its CHRISTmas
1124756
I agree\n\nso-called christians are not following the Bible..only traditions of man\nIf the date of Jesus birth were important, dont you think it would be recorded? Can anyone find a record of Jesus birth being celebrated in the Bible?....I dont think so.  \nThis is because God's people were aware of the pagan roots of birthday celebrations...\n\nWhat is most important concerning Christ and his redeeming mankind is his sacrificial death.\n\nCertainly there are records of that in  the Bible.  Jesus gave the command to remember him (Lu 22:19) this was a new celebration to replace the Passover of the old Mosaic Law\n (every Nisan 14..which falls 14 days after the new moon following the spring equinox--according to the lunar calendar used at that time)
735705
" Any record of the date of birth of Yeshua of Nazareth (later known as Jesus Christ) has been lost. There is sufficient evidence in the Gospels to indicate that Yeshua was born in the fall, but this seems to have been unknown to early Christians. By the beginning of the 4th century CE, there was intense interest in choosing a day to celebrate Yeshua's birthday. The western church leaders selected DEC-25 because this was already the date recognized throughout the Roman Empire as the birthday of various Pagan gods. 1,2 Since there was no central Christian authority at the time, it took centuries before the tradition was universally accepted."\n\nhttp://www.religioustolerance.org/winter_solstice.htm
882821
man your stupidity amazes me. x mas was a Pagan holiday stolen by christians turned into jesus birthday(his actual birthday was close to halloween and most christians didnt like that) anyhoo x mas is a joke from the get go and youre making me laugh harder. Jokes on you, silly fool.
124323
Easter was stolen from the Pagans.  We had it first.  I hope you all enjoy the following article.\n\n===================\n\nThe Old Ways: Spring\nby Doug and Sandy Kopf\n\nSpring (Earrach) or Vernal Equinox, on approximately March 21, is the mid-point of the Waxing Year. The spark of light that was born at Winter Solstice has reached maturity, and from this point forward, the days grow longer than the nights. This is the time of full Dawn, 6:00 a.m. on the Year Clock, and so was the time of the festivals of the Grecian Goddess, Eostre, and the Germanic Ostara, both Goddesses of Dawn. (It is from these Bright Ladies that the modern Easter holiday takes its name). This is the time that is often seen as the time of Kore’s return from the Underworld, where She (as Persephone) has ruled throughout the Winter. It is also the time of the celebration of the rebirth of Adonis the Beautiful.\n\nSpring is the time for a celebration of planting and of the greening of the Earth. The supermarket is a sign in itself, as the produce department begins to fill with fresh fruits and vegetables. People start to talk about having ‘Spring Fever’ and doing ‘Spring cleaning’, as the brighter sunshine provides a needed morale boost.\n\nNon-Pagans start to shop for Easter finery (putting on new clothes, just like the Earth Mother), or Passover foods, unaware that we are all truly celebrating the same thing: the Revitalization of the Earth, as She warms to the waxing rays of the Sun. We have survived another Winter and are\nonce more surrounded by the delights of Spring. Some authorities say that this was probably the time that the Christian Church should have chosen to celebrate as the birth date of Jesus, since this would have been the time for paying taxes in ancient Jerusalem and, according to the myth, Mary and Joseph were traveling to fulfill that obligation. It is also the season of lambing, the only time shepherds would ‘watch by night’.\n\nMany traditions associated with Spring Equinox have been retained over the years and grafted onto the Easter celebration. Even today, people arise early on Easter morning to attend ‘Sunrise Service’. (Remember Eostre, the Dawn Goddess?) If your group is not opposed to getting up early, a Dawn Circle to greet the Sun on the morning of the Equinox can be wonderful!  Legend says the Sun Dances and, if it is reflected in a bowl of clear water, you can see it for yourself! However, we would not recommend this if you are night-owls. It’s hard to put your whole heart into ritual when you are bleary-eyed and groggy. Festivals should be FUN, not tests of your determination!\n\nDecorated eggs have always been symbols of fertility. In 17th century France, gifts of decorated eggs were given to new brides, in hopes they would bear many children. In Germany, bowls full of eggs were given to the field-workers by the farmer’s wife, to insure a rich harvest. Many\ncultures see the egg as a symbol of Life, or the actual home of the soul.  The egg is the symbol of all good fortune in Russia and decorated eggs are still given as gifts to loved ones and buried in graves to insure rebirth.  These elaborate and ornate treasures are sometimes even set with precious stones. (Note: Faberge’ and Tiffany eggs)\nThe Old Ways: Spring\nby Doug and Sandy Kopf\n\nSpring (Earrach) or Vernal Equinox, on approximately March 21, is the mid-point of the Waxing Year. The spark of light that was born at Winter Solstice has reached maturity, and from this point forward, the days grow longer than the nights. This is the time of full Dawn, 6:00 a.m. on the Year Clock, and so was the time of the festivals of the Grecian Goddess, Eostre, and the Germanic Ostara, both Goddesses of Dawn. (It is from these Bright Ladies that the modern Easter holiday takes its name). This is the time that is often seen as the time of Kore’s return from the Underworld, where She (as Persephone) has ruled throughout the Winter. It is also the time o
431346
A lot of people get overwrought about this..  unnecessarily, I think.\n\nThe NAME "Easter" was indeed the name of the pagan spring festival of the Germanic tribes.\n\nBut the Jewish Passover (Hebrew 'Pesach', Greek translation 'Pascha') was held at the same time of year, and since Jesus was crucified at the feast of Passover and raised just after it, the celebration of his resurrection naturally ended up being held at about the same time.  \n\nActually, the early church had different customs for when and how to celebrate this season. In AD 325 a council of the church agreed to a formula for determining the date, and for always observing the Day of Resurrection on a SUNDAY, since it was on that day, the first day of the week, that Jesus rose from the dead.\n\nNow in the Mediterranean cultures they simply took the word English renders as "Passover" and used that name for the feast.  But when the church spread among the Germanic tribes it might sometimes be called "Easter" instead, from the name of the Germanic feast.  (We do, however, sometimes use the word "paschal" to refer to things related to the death of Christ and Easter.)   \n\nBUT under EITHER name the Christian celebration of the resurrection was not substantially different.  It was hardly "paganized", anymore than someone just 'decided' to celebrate the resurrection at the time of a pagan festival.  \n\n(The fact that there ARE spring festivals in varous religions is not all that surprising.  And if people want to make something of it, their criticsim ought to be of the original Hebrew Passover, which was in part a spring/seasonal feast --closely connected to the 'Firstfruits'-- just as the two other major Jewish festivals were harvest festivals!   But it is silly to conclude this somehow makes all these things pagan.  I would argue, instead that God called his people to see in the 'new life' of spring a sign in his creation of his SPIRITUAL work for his people, as he redeemed them from Egypt and gave them a new life.)
156283
Date of the celebration\n\nM’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopædia says: “The observance of Christmas is not of divine appointment, nor is it of N[ew] T[estament] origin. The day of Christ’s birth cannot be ascertained from the N[ew] T[estament], or, indeed, from any other source.”\n\nLuke 2:8-11 shows that shepherds were in the fields at night at the time of Jesus’ birth. The book Daily Life in the Time of Jesus states: “The flocks . . . passed the winter under cover; and from this alone it may be seen that the traditional date for Christmas, in the winter, is unlikely to be right, since the Gospel says that the shepherds were in the fields.”\n\nThe Encyclopedia Americana informs us: “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.’ . . . The Roman Saturnalia (a festival dedicated to Saturn, the god of agriculture, and to the renewed power of the sun), also took place at this time, and some Christmas customs are thought to be rooted in this ancient pagan celebration.”\n\nThe New Catholic Encyclopedia acknowledges: “The date of Christ’s birth is not known. The Gospels indicate neither the day nor the month . . . According to the hypothesis suggested by H. Usener . . . and accepted by most scholars today, the birth of Christ was assigned the date of the winter solstice (December 25 in the Julian calendar, January 6 in the Egyptian), because on this day, as the sun began its return to northern skies, the pagan devotees of Mithra celebrated the dies natalis Solis Invicti (birthday of the invincible sun). On Dec. 25, 274, Aurelian had proclaimed the sun-god principal patron of the empire and dedicated a temple to him in the Campus Martius. Christmas originated at a time when the cult of the sun was particularly strong at Rome.”\n\nWise men, or Magi, led by a star\n\nThose Magi were actually astrologers from the east. (Matt. 2:1, 2, NW; NE) Although astrology is popular among many people today, the practice is strongly disapproved in the Bible.  Would God have led to the newborn Jesus persons whose practices He condemned?\n\n. Regarding the date for Christmas celebrations, the Enciclopedia de la Religión Católica frankly states: “The reason that the Roman Church decided to assign this date to the festival seems to be its tendency to replace pagan festivals with Christian ones. . . . We know that in Rome at that time, the pagans consecrated December 25 as the celebration of natalis invicti, the birth of the ‘invincible sun.’”\n\n“Christmas has been celebrated on December 25 in all Christian churches since the fourth century. At that time, this was the date of the pagan winter-solstice festival called the ‘Birth (Latin, natale) of the Sun,’ since the sun appeared to be reborn as the days once again became longer. In Rome, the Church adopted this extremely popular custom . . . by giving it a new meaning.”—Encyclopædia Universalis,\n\nZenobia’s Legacy\n\n  Upon returning to Rome after defeating Zenobia, the queen of Palmyra, Emperor Aurelian built a temple to the sun. In it he placed the statues of the sun-god that he had brought back from her city. Commenting on further developments, the magazine History Today says: “The most reverberant of all Aurelian’s actions is perhaps the establishment, in AD 274, of an annual festival of the sun falling on the winter solstice, December 25th. When the empire became Christian the birthday of Christ was transferred to this date to make the new religion more acceptable to those who enjoyed the festivities of the old. It is a curious thought, that it should be ultimately due to the Empress Zenobia that . . . [people] celebrate our Christmas.”
186936
The most detailed accounts of Jesus' birth are contained in the Gospel of Matthew (probably written between 65 and 85 AD/CE) and the Gospel of Luke (probably written between 65 and 100 AD/CE).[4] There is considerable debate about the details of Jesus' birth even among Christian scholars, and few scholars claim to know either the year or the date of his birth or of his death.\n\nBased on the accounts in the Gospels of the shepherds' activities, the time of year depicted for Jesus' birth could be spring or summer. However, as early as 354, Roman Christians celebrated it following the December solstice in an attempt to replace the Roman festival of Saturnalia (or more specifically, Sol Invictus). Before then, Jesus' birth was generally celebrated on January 6 as part of the feast of Theophany, also known as Epiphany, which commemorated not only Jesus' birth but also his baptism by John in the Jordan River and possibly additional events in Jesus' life. The traditional date of Jesus's birth is celebrated as Christmas.\n\nIn the 248th year of the Diocletian Era (based on Diocletian's ascension to the Roman throne), Dionysius Exiguus attempted to pinpoint the number of years since Jesus' birth, arriving at a figure of 753 years after the founding of Rome. Dionysius then set Jesus' birth as being December 25 1 ACN (for "Ante Christum Natum", or "before the birth of Christ"), and assigned AD 1 to the following year—thereby establishing the system of numbering years from the birth of Jesus: Anno Domini (which translates as "in the year of our Lord"). This system made the then current year 532, and almost two centuries later it won acceptance and became the established calendar in Western civilization due to its championing by the Venerable Bede.\n\nHowever, based on a lunar eclipse that Josephus reports shortly before the death of Herod the Great (who plays a major role in Matthew's account), as well as a more accurate understanding of the succession of Roman Emperors, Jesus' birth would have been some time before the year 4 BC/BCE. Having fewer sources and being further removed in time from the authors of the New Testament, establishing a reliable birth date now is particularly difficult.
858614
Considering that Christmas really has nothing to do with the birth of Christ, or Christianity, why are you ranting. Check out what I'm saying. The Christians just gave it a new name. They adopted the holiday that is originally from Pagans. As far as Santa and the reindeer and the elves and the sleigh rides, I've never taught my children to believe in such lies, because if I lied to them about that, then they may just think that I would lie to them about God. I don't celebrate the holidays because of their origins. Try reading Exodus 32:4-10
807907
Neither Christmas nor Easter have any connection with Christianity. So-called "Christmas" celebrates the pagan Saturnalia and the appropriately-named "Easter" celebrates the pagan goddess Eostre.\n\nJesus was not even born in December. Nearly all so-called Christmas customs dishonor Christ.\n\nhttp://watchtower.org/e/19981215/article_02.htm\nhttp://watchtower.org/e/20001215/\nhttp://watchtower.org/e/20041215/article_01.htm\nhttp://watchtower.org/e/19981215/\nhttp://watchtower.org/e/rq/article_11.htm\n\nChristendom adopts "Easter" from pagan worship of the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre (or Oestre). Most Easter traditions merely repackage pagan fertility festivals and concentrate on eating, decorating, and frivolity. Christ certainly never wanted that.\n\nBy contrast, it's tragic that the one holiday Christ actually *DID* ask Christians to commemorate is entirely ignored by almost all of Christendom. It is, of course, the Memorial of Christ's death, sometimes called "the Last Supper" or "the Lord's Evening Meal".\n\n(1 Corinthians 11:23-25, NWT) The Lord Jesus in the night in which he was going to be handed over took a loaf... Keep doing this in remembrance of me.” 25 He did likewise respecting the cup.. Keep doing this... in remembrance of me.” \n\n(1 Cor 11:24, 25, NEB) "Do this as a memorial of me.” \n\n\nChrist Jesus himself personally celebrated and explained the significance of that Last Supper to his followers (see Matthew 26:26-29). Christians who commemorate the Last Supper have done so on the same Jewish calendar date as Jesus did, Nisan 14, which generally falls between late March and mid-April. Interestingly, Christians in the centuries immediately after Christ's impalement were sometimes called "Quartodecimans" which literally mean "Fourteen-ers", because the early Christians were well-known for this true holy day.\n\nHow would Jesus feel to learn that the holiday he commanded was widely ignored, while his so-called followers chose to celebrate a pagan false god and their own traditions of men? We don't need to wonder.\n\n(Matthew 15:6-9) You have made the word of God invalid because of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites, Isaiah aptly prophesied about you when he said, 8 ‘This people honors me with their lips, yet their heart is far removed from me. 9 It is in vain that they keep worshiping me, because they teach commands of men as doctrines.’”\n\nLearn more:\nhttp://watchtower.org/e/lmn/article_08.htm\nhttp://watchtower.org/e/rq/article_11.htm\nhttp://watchtower.org/e/20041215/article_02.htm\nhttp://watchtower.org/e/20011115/article_02.htm\nhttp://watchtower.org/e/20050101a/\nhttp://watchtower.org/e/jt/
1023474
Do we ask why Christmas is held at the same time as the pagan winter soloists. No one really know the date of the birth of Jesus (pbah) and so they picked a good party time so they would not have to give it up. Instead of making fun of Muslims maybe you could look into why things happen in Christianity. \n\nIf you can remember God told the Jews in the Old Testament not to eat pork too. But I know the Old Testament is just a guide and you can pick and choose what you what to do.