Why is Christmas on December 25th?

At the time that that was decided, it was because Yule (a Pagan holiday) was being celebrated on or around December 22nd and until the first of the year (12 days of Xmas) and the Romans and other bastards were trying to force christianity on everyone. So they figured that if they tried to make the christian practices look similar to the Pagan ones, then the Pagans would be more willing to adopt them.

I looked through some of the answers. Many are correct.

Yes, it is probably true that Jesus was probably was born in March. His birthday is celebrated in December because it falls close or on some pagan holidays (The Winter Solstice & Mithra's Birthday). Christ is considered "The Light of the World" The darkest days (in the N. Hemisphere ) are in December. The Jewish Festival of Lights (Hanukkah) is also in December.

Easter falls after the Vernal Equinox- which is around the beginning of Spring. Spring is a time of renewal and hope. That is why Easter falls in the Spring.

The Sabbath for the Hebrews was Saturday. The Christians moved it to Sunday-- the beginning of the week.

It shouldn't matter, really- as long as one observes a day of thanksgiving for the gifts from God, etc.

Christmas is on December 25th because it was a traditional pagan holiday, and the early church wanted to convert the local pagans. So they said, "OK, you have the same festival as always, but now it's about Jesus, see?" It's the day you can tell the sun is returning northward. The actual solstice is December 21 or sometimes 22, but you can't tell it's coming back until the 25th.

Easter is a movable feast because it corresponds to Passover. That last supper DaVinci painted was a Passover Seder. So Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox.

The tradition of worshiping on Sunday rather than Saturday was started to commemorate the resurrection, which (see above) was a Sunday.

December 25th in the year of Christ's birth is actually the celebration of the time when the changing of the ages occurs, or recurs, I should say, because it happens once every 2000 years (or so).

Astrologically, it has to do with the time when the three stars in Orions belt , the three Kings, point to the sun at the horizon.

It should be noted that the emperor Aurelian is attributed with this attribution and this in 274 CE, but that's only detrimental if you believe that Aurelian was the first person in the history of the world to attribute importance to the monumental moment when the sun sits still for three days and is at its actual turning point as the end of the shortening of days.

Being astrologically inclined, regardles of Aurelian, this astrological phenomenon makes sense to me. More sense than the insidious fact that although the Romans are known as the world's greatest record keepers, there is no written history for Jesus Christ.

Of course, it all depends on what you believe.

According to New Life.net, the best guess for the actual birth of Jesus is Sept. 29, 5 BCE. They base their guess on the scriptures...

Here's why:

Shepherds were in their fields, a census was being taken, Jesus' birth was during the reign of Herod (who died in 4 BCE), etc...

So, yes, the Bible says almost exactly when he was born, but it helps to be a historian to calculate the actual date.

As for Easter, it falls on the Sunday following the Paschal Full Moon (PFM) date for the year. Which is the Ecclesiastical full moon after March 20. You can get details from the Australian Astronomical society, (linked below).

As for when did the prayer date change from Saturday to Sunday, According to Religious tolerance. org, the Sabbath was changed several times... (linked below)

Constantine ordered it changed to Sunday in 321 CE and The Church Council of Laodicea about 364 CE ordained that church services would be conducted on Sunday. There are scriptures listed that show why Saturday is the correct Sabbath.

Great questions, btw, the were fun to answer.

There is no Biblical indication of the birth date of Jesus. The two infancy narratives are so symbolic as to be useless for such mundane calculations. Christmas was simply established on the date when everyone was partying anyway, at the winter solstice, with the hope that the pagan associations would fade away.

Easter is based on the Jewish feast of Passover, which follows a lunar calendar, so it moves around on our solar calendar according to the Spring Equinox and the phase of the moon.

The reason most Christians worship on Sunday is historical. Originally, Christian Jews went to synagogue for Sabbath services, then shared a fellowship meal the following day. When the Jews had had enough of Christians claiming that the scriptures were fulfilled by the messiah, Jesus, they barred the Christians from their synagogues. So the Christians simply did their Bible reading and interpretation among themselves before the common Sunday meal.

It was set to co inside with a well known pagan holiday.

Pagans always celebrated the return of the sun to the sky. By the 25th of Dec. they could see that the sun was rising in the night sky and they were not going to be thrown into total darkness. So they had a big party.

As no one knows for sure when Christ was born some pope figured it would be good to tie into this holiday that was being celebrated in December already.

Sort of like 2 holidays for the price of one.

This is totally the truth, a fact This is not an opinion.

No, there is no reference at all in the BIble that say Jesus was born Dec 2th.

I am not sure, but I think the Catholics because the Pagans worshipped one of their gods on that day. So they Christianized (Catholics again not real sure) that Pagan Holiday. Thus saying Jesus was born then when He wasn't. In other words for centuries have lied and deceived the multitudes.

I am really not too sure why one is on the same day but the other isn't. I do know though that Easter is also Pagan but got Christianized.

Sort of like taking a black cloth and saying it is white.

I think it changed because people said Jesus rose again on Sunday so that means it is the new Sabbath. In reality, neither God NOR Jesus ever made a Sabbath change declaration. Even so we are not to judge others in their days and holidays. So if one wants to worship on Sunday then we aren't to judge them. If one wants to worship on Saturday, then we aren't to judge them. But it originally never changed by God...only by humans.

Winter Solstice is usually around that date. At the time the Romans ruled, Mithras was the celebrant. In all ancient religion, the Solstice was a time to celebrate the return of the Sun and warmth in the land.

In later times, the Sun was represented by a "Son".

When the Council of Nicea convened to convert the masses to Christianity, they decided to smother the pagan holiday of the Solstice with Jesus and call it His birthday because He was "The Son" of Man.

Jesus was really born in the summer and died in the winter.

Easter is also a pagan holiday regarding the spring Equinox.

The Sabbath..I'm not sure on that one, but pagans also celebrated their holy days on the Sabbath-Sabbat is a pagan word...most likely has to do with breaking away from paganism,.

holidays are just days. They were picked in order to facilitate a change during the times in which they were selected.

Easter was centered around the 1st full moon after the spring equinox....to help convert pagans to the celebration of the Resurrection, which took place around passover. Sunday was chosen to preserve the "day of Rest"

Christmas changed to Dec 25 from April 1 to follow the winter solstace, in an effort to help convert pagans to celebrate Christ's birth rather than the false Gods of the Sun (it's how we got "April Fool's Day---people that still celebrated Christmas in April after the change were called April Fools)

And the day of prayer did not "change" from the sabbath---Jews still recognize sundown friday to sundown Saturday as the Sabbath. Christianity changed it's celebration to Sunday to reflect the decsions surrounding Easter.

Because it is close to Dec 21, which is a day celebrated by the pre-christain pagans of Europe. This was the Winter Solstice. It signaled not just the onset of winter, when most people wer traped in their homes, to eat the stores of food saved up for the event. It was one of the last days of the year when they would be able to feast on fresh food, so they partied.

When the Roman empire first spread Christianity to these pagan lands, Christmas was establised to be in late december to satisfy the pagan tradition.