In fact, the Christian celebration of Christmas was invented by Romans as a way to co-opt and tame the raucous pagan holiday of Saturnalia, which was itself essentially a celebration of the days getting longer after the winter solstice.
The theory suggests the Catholic Church in Rome, Italy, began celebrating Christmas on December 25 in 336 CE to replace the pagan celebrations. However, several ancient manuscripts and theories reveal that the original celebrations of Christmas began even earlier than 336 CE.
The English Father Christmas was now Santa Claus in all but name. Despite being invented by New Yorkers hankering after old Dutch traditions, Santa was exactly the kind of hero the Victorians needed for their new, family-friendly Christmas.
Christian church leaders declared Christmas as a holiday in the 4th century to celebrate the birth of Jesus. The Bible does not mention the date of Jesus' birth, so church leaders declared December 25th the official date.
The church in Rome began formally celebrating Christmas on December 25 in 336, during the reign of the emperor Constantine. As Constantine had made Christianity the effective religion of the empire, some have speculated that choosing this date had the political motive of weakening the established pagan celebrations.
The date of the birth of Jesus is not stated in the gospels or in any historical sources and the evidence is too incomplete to allow for consistent dating. However, most biblical scholars and ancient historians believe that his birth date is around 6 to 4 BC.
At the time Christians used to continue their observance of these pagan festivities. In order to undermine and subdue this pagan practice, the church hierarchy designated December 25th as the official date of Christmas and January 6th as the feast of Epiphany.
St Augustine of Canterbury was the person who probably started the widespread celebration of Christmas in large parts of England. The first recorded date of Christmas in England in when Augustine baptised 10,000 Saxons in Kent on Christmas day 597.
Santa Claus' origins date back to about 280 A.D. when St. Nicholas was born, the History Channel reports. This would make Santa approximately 1,744 years old today.
The English folk figure "Father Christmas" originally wore green robes which eventually turned red over time. This was mainly due to St Nicholas, whose legend modern portrayals of Father Christmas are based on, often appearing in paintings and illustrations wearing red-coloured robes.
Santa usually starts at the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean and travels west. So, historically, Santa visits the South Pacific first, then New Zealand and Australia.
Saint Nicholas, who is known worldwide as Santa Claus, was born in the ancient Lycian city of Patara, an important city on the Mediterranean coast of Türkiye. Around 300 AD, during a prosperous era for Patara, a rich wheat merchant had a son and named him Nicholas.
Countries in which Christmas is not a formal public holiday include Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bhutan, Cambodia, China (excepting Hong Kong and Macau), the Comoros, Iran, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Laos, Libya, the Maldives, Mauritania, Mongolia, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, the Sahrawi Republic, ...
Christianity developed in Judea in the mid-first century CE, based first on the teachings of Jesus and later on the writings and missionary work of Paul of Tarsus.
They saw Christmas as a wasteful festival that threatened Christian beliefs and encouraged immoral activities, to (in Stubbs' words) the 'great dishonour of God'. The discontent felt within the Puritan community towards festivals led to the enactment of forceful legislation even before Cromwell's protectorate.
Since 1947, every year Norway has given a large Christmas tree to Great Britain which is displayed in Trafalgar Square, London. During the Second World War, the Norwegian king and government fled to London when their country was occupied.
A survey by the polling company from last year suggested the more traditional name of "Father Christmas" was used by 43% of the country – down by 8% from 2017. Meanwhile, the more American term of "Santa" was up by 9%, with 45% of those surveyed saying they used that name the most.
In its original Hebrew form, Jesus' name was Yeshua, a shortened version of Yehoshua (Joshua). The name carries the powerful meaning "Yahweh saves" or "Yahweh is salvation," or just simply, “salvation” emphasizing God's role as the Savior.
Most Christian historians believe Mary was around 15-16 years old when she gave birth to Jesus. This might seem surprising today, but it fits the customs of first-century Judea. Let's uncover the truth about Mary's age, and why this question fascinates both faith and scholarship.
AD stands for Anno Domini, which is Latin for in the year of the Lord. It's a way of counting years based on the estimated birth of Jesus Christ. BC stands for Before Christ, and it's a way of counting years before the estimated birth of Jesus Christ.
So, based on this historical evidence, the most likely time of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem is sometimes between 6 and 5 BC[1]. Second, the Roman Emperor Constantine, in 336 AD, chose December 25 to celebrate Jesus' birth. There is no detailed historical evidence that Jesus was born in the winter.
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. This idea appears in an anonymous Christian treatise titled On Solstices and Equinoxes, which appears to come from fourth-century North Africa.
The Christmas story in the Bible can be found in a couple of different places, mainly Matthew 1:18-2:23 and Luke 1:26-2:40. Although the word “Christmas” is never used in scripture, the word itself means “Christ's Mass,” a day (and season) to remember the birth of Jesus.
