Riding on the joy of this merry-making season, many rationalise that celebrating Christmas is a sacred way for them to commemorate the coming of Jesus as the Savior without paying any tribute to the sun-god. Historical sources reveal the pagan roots of this supposedly holy affair. Thus, Christmas was never the “birthday of Jesus”, nor “the day the Savior was born”. Centuries later, it has become a heavily commercialised tradition celebrated across the world. This pagan festival would later evolve into the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Christmas was adopted from Rome and was originally celebrated as the birthday of the official sun god of Rome. In other words, Christmas only appeared approximately 300 years after Jesus ascended. THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY, TIM DOWLEY, LION PUBLISHING, 1994 … The Christmas festival was probably the Christian transformation or regeneration of a series of kindred heathen festivals – the Saturnalia, Sigillaria, Juvenalia, and Brumalia – which were kept in Rome in the month of December, in commemoration of the golden age of universal freedom and equality, and in honor of the unconquered sun, and which were great holidays, especially for slaves and children. From sun-worship, for example, came the celebration of Christ’s birth on the twenty-fifth of December, the brithday of the Sun. The Christmas church took over many pagan ideas and images. So the rebirth of the sun became insted the birth of the Son of God. Since there was no general agreement about the exact date of the birth of Jesus(Passover was another popular suggestion), it must have seemed helpful to have it supersede the Saturnalia, which petered out on its seventh day, Dec. … But not for the last time, ecclesiastical pragmatism shrewdly prevailed over killjoy zeal. … The attitude of the early church toward all this indecent jollity was predictably frosty. … Indeed, Christmas itself was superimposed over the ancient festivals that celebrated the winter solstice … In the third century, when sun cults like the Mithraic religion of Persia found their way to Rome, days in December were given over to celebrate the rebirth of Sol Invictus: te invincible sun. 274 by the emperor Aurelian as the birthday of the unconquered sun (natalis solis invicti), which at the winter solstice begins again to show an increase of light. 25 is first known to have been celebrated in Rome in the second of the 4th century.ĭecenber 25 in Rome.-This was the date of a pagan festival in Rome. when the days begin to lengthern, 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 custom are thought to be rooted in this ancient pagan celebration.ĬHRISTMAS … Christmas on Dec. Origins of Christmas … the day was chosen to correspond to pagan festivals that took place around the time of the winter solstice. It appears that Christmas took its roots from these three pagan festivals that took place around the end of December.ĬHRISTMAS … This date was not set in the West until about the middle of the 4th century and in the East until about a century later.ĮNCYCLOPEDIA AMERICANA, GOLIERT INC., 1996 Saturnalia used to be a festival of merry-making Sigillaria was a festival where children received gifts while Brumalia was a festival to honour the ‘Unconquered Sun’ (the sun god). The day was chosen to correspond to pagan festivals that took place around the winter solstice – Saturnalia, Sigillaria, and Brumalia. December 25 was not officiated as Christmas until about the 4th century, and was instituted to be celebrated as the “rebirth of the sun” instead of the holy birth of Christ. Studying historical evidence from various sources such as Encyclopedia Americana, Encyclopedia Britannica and History of Christian Church led to a single conclusion. If this is not the day the Savior was born, whose birthday is it? Examining Christmas This date even made its mark as a public holiday in many nations and reckoned as “the day the Savior was born”. Jesus Christ’s birth has been celebrated over the centuries as ‘Christmas’ on December 25. This answers the first question that was posed to the audience, ‘Is Christmas truly a Christian festival?’. Scanning through the entire Bible, however, one would never be able to find the word ‘Christmas’. Does Christmas truly have its roots from the Bible? In December 2018, the World Mission Society Church of God Singapore (SGWMSCOG) hosted a Bible Seminar titled “Whose Birthday is Christmas” to solve the mystery.ĭrawn to the seminar were individuals in search of the origin of Christmas as well as other biblical truths. As the streets are dressed up in flamboyant lights and people begin their shopping for gifts, some may ponder over the reason for these festivities.
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