The boring truth about Christmas and Pagan Holidays

Every December, the same claim makes the rounds: Christmas is pagan. The story usually goes something like this—Christians didn’t know when Jesus was born, saw popular Roman holidays like Saturnalia or the Feast of the Unconquered Sun, and decided to “take them over” by declaring December 25 as Christ’s birthday.

It sounds interesting and intriguing, but it also isn’t true.

The idea that Christmas was deliberately created to replace pagan holidays did not come from early Christians. This is a relatively new idea that became popular after the 18th century, when comparative religion became fashionable in universities and scholars began lining up festivals by date and assuming influence based on proximity alone.

The earliest references to Christmas appear around 200 A.D., at a time when Christians were not blending other religions into their worship. By 300 A.D., many Christians were already celebrating Jesus’ birth around December 25. Within about a century, Christmas was firmly on the calendar of record.

We now know that Jesus was not born on December 25. So,“Why did Early Christians choose December 25 at all?”

Early Christians focused far more on Jesus’ death and resurrection than on his birthday. That’s where the gospel centers its attention. Birthdays weren’t tracked the way we track them today. Many people were illiterate. Calendars weren’t hanging on kitchen walls. Knowing your exact birthdate wasn’t culturally important.

But when Christians did begin asking about the timing of Jesus’ birth, they used the tools and assumptions they had.

One early belief—incorrect, but sincerely held—was that prophets and martyrs died on the same calendar day they were conceived. Using that idea, Christians tried to determine the date of Jesus’ death. Around 200 A.D., Tertullian of Carthage calculated that Jesus died on March 25 (the 14th of Nisan in the Jewish calendar).  Based on this belief then Jesus would have also been conceived on March 25, then add nine months and it brings you to December 25.

There was also a biblical line of reasoning based on Luke’s account of Zacharias, John the Baptist’s father. Luke tells us Zacharias belonged to the priestly division of Abijah, which rotated service in the Temple. Church historians later tried to back-calculate when his service likely occurred based on the priestly division that was in service when the temple fell in the year 70.  The calculation landed around September/October for the conception of John the Baptist who is 6 months older than Jesus.  This would place Mary’s conception of Jesus in late March, again add 9 months and you land in late December. 

Did they get the calculation right? No.  There are too many variables to correctly calculate when Zacharias was serving in the temple.

Two independent, imperfect calculations. Same conclusion.

So the early church believed they had it right and they acted on that belief over a 1000 years before there is any theory of Christians incorporating pagan festivals into Christmas.

So when was Jesus likely born?

Based on the biblical details, shepherds in the fields at night, the logistics of travel for a census, and the sacrificial lambing season around Bethlehem a springtime birth fits better.

And that opens up something far more interesting than a calendar argument.

Bethlehem wasn’t chosen at random, and it was where sacrificial lambs were raised for the Temple by these shepherds.  The reason why the shepherds were there is because these shepherds greet each sacrificial lamb, this time they greeted the Lamb of God

That story doesn’t depend on December 25 being exact. It depends on the meaning.

Christmas is not pagan. It was not created to hijack Saturnalia or Sol Invictus. December 25 comes from early Christian attempts, imperfect but sincere, to understand the life of Christ is rooted in theology. We celebrate Christmas not because we think we cracked the calendar, but because God entered history. And we spend the season reflecting on how carefully that moment was prepared: his birth, his death, and his resurrection all pointing to the same truth.  A truth that I don’t find boring at all.

Merry Christmas Everyone.