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The True Origin of Christmas
BY DAVID C. PACK
 Where did Christmas originate? From the Bible or paganism? What is the real origin of Santa Claus—mistletoe—Christmas trees—holly wreaths—and the custom of exchanging gifts? Many are concerned about putting “Christ back into Christmas.†Was He ever there? Here are the stunning answers!
Every year after Thanksgiving, most people’s thoughts turn to Christmas. It is the time when professing Christians are supposed to focus on Jesus Christ. After all, it is the “Christ-mass†season!
Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, holly wreaths, decorated trees, mistletoe, season’s greetings, seasonal music, “chestnuts roasting on an open fire†and Santa Claus are all associated with this holiday. These all bring warm feelings to those who celebrate it.
I grew up in a family that kept Christmas, and it was a very big event in our household every year. We left out none of the usual trimmings of this occasion. On December 24th, excitement grew with every passing minute.
Christmas is thought by most to be a wonderful time, focusing the participants on giving, family togetherness, beautiful music and decorations, feasting on special foods and singing Christmas carols All of this is supposedly centered around the worship of Christ. Surely the Bible instructs us to do all this—right?
The answers will shock you!
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Why do people think that Christmas is wonderful? It certainly felt wonderful to me. I trusted what my parents told me. I had no reason to doubt them. They were merely teaching me what their parents had taught them. I never questioned the true origin of Christmas!
At the same time, my church does not specifically recognize Christmas. There is no Christmas tree in our church, no Hanging of the Green, nor any special service to commerate Christmas. In only recent years have I heard religious carols sung in my church at this time of year.
At the same time all its members celebrate the holiday in their homes and with their families.Â
 Most of us, though, never reflect on why we believe what we believe or do what we do. We live in a world filled with customs, but few ever seek to understand their origin.
We generally accept them without question. Most people basically do what everyone else does—because it is easy and natural!
Let’s carefully examine the roots of Christmas. Let’s look at why people follow the customs associated with it.
 Why is it kept on December 25th? Did the early New Testament Church keep it? Let’s avoid all assumptions and only accept what can be proven!
Pagan Origin
In 1990, the Solon, Ohio (a Cleveland suburb) school board banned all nativity and other Christmas scenes on any school property because they felt it violated the separation of church and state.
They were challenged in court when outraged parents opposed them, feeling that Christmas was being stolen from their children and the community. The board lost the case!
The citizenry had contended that Christmas was a worldwide tradition that was not part of, and transcended, religion. It was deemed to be secular—a part of virtually all cultures worldwide.
The court decision affirmed that Christmas has no Christian roots! However, the court’s opinion also noted that Bible reading and prayer obviously are associated with Christianity—a remarkable admission!
The court concluded that Christmas-keeping and manger scenes could remain because they are not really part of either Christianity or religion—but prayer and Bible reading, which are, must remain excluded from schools!
Nearly all aspects of Christmas observance have their roots in Roman custom and religion. Consider the following admission from a large American newspaper (The Buffalo News, Nov. 22, 1984): “The earliest reference to Christmas being marked on Dec. 25 comes from the second century after Jesus’ birth.
It is considered likely the first Christmas celebrations were in reaction to the Roman Saturnalia, a harvest festival that marked the winter solstice—the return of the sun—and honored Saturn, the god of sowing.
 Saturnalia was a rowdy time, much opposed by the more austere leaders among the still-minority Christian sect.
Christmas developed, one scholar says, as a means of replacing worship of the sun with worship of the Son.
 By 529 A.D., after Christianity had become the official state religion of the Roman Empire, Emperor Justinian made Christmas a civic holiday but NOT a religious holiday.
The celebration of Christmas reached its peak—some would say its worst moments—in the medieval period when it became a time for conspicuous consumption and unequaled revelry.â€
Consider these quotes from the Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911 edition, under “Christmasâ€: “Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church…The first evidence of the feast is from Egypt".
 Further, “Pagan customs centered round the January calendars gravitated to Christmas.â€
Under “Natal Day,†Origen, an early Catholic writer, admitted, “…In the Scriptures, no one is recorded to have kept a feast or held a great banquet on his birthday.
It is only sinners (like Pharaoh and Herod) who make great rejoicings over the day on which they were born into this world†(emphasis mine).
The Encyclopedia Americana, 1956 edition, adds, “Christmas…was not observed in the first centuries of the Christian church, since the Christian usage in general was to celebrate the death of remarkable persons rather than their birth…
A feast was established in memory of this event [Christ’s birth] in the 4th century. In the 5th century the Western church ordered the feast to be celebrated on the day of the Mithraic rites of the birth of the sun and at the close of the Saturnalia, as no certain knowledge of the day of Christ’s birth existed.â€
There is no mistaking the origin of the modern Christmas celebration. Let’s begin to tie some other facts together.
It was 300 years after Christ before the Roman church kept Christmas, and not until the fifth century that it was mandated to be kept throughout the empire as an official festival honoring “Christ.â€
Can Christ be Honored by Christmas?
The most common justification that one will hear regarding Christmas is that people have replaced old pagan customs and intents by asserting that they are now “focusing on Christ.â€
 I have heard many say that they are “honoring Christ†in their Christmas-keeping.
 The problem is that God does not say this is acceptable to Him! Actually, He plainly commands against it! Keeping Christmas dishonors Christ! He considers everything about it to be an abomination! We will soon see why.
Christ said, “But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men†(Matt. 15:9). Christmas is not a command of God—it is a tradition of men.
 Christ continued, “Full well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your own tradition†(Mark 7:9).
Every year, throughout the world, on December 25th, hundreds of millions do just that!
Was Christ Born on December 25th?
Christ was born in the fall of the year. Many have mistakenly believed He was born around the beginning of winter—December 25th! They are wrong!
 Notice the Adam Clarke Commentary, volume 5, page 370, New York edition: “It was custom among Jews to send out their sheep to the deserts about the Passover [early spring], and bring them home at the commencement of the first rain.â€
 The first rains began in early-to-mid fall. Continuing with this same quote: “During the time they were out, the shepherds watched them night and day.
 As…the first rain began early in the month of March-esvan, which answers to part of our October and November [begins sometime in October], we find that the sheep were kept out in the open country during the whole summer.
 And as these shepherds had not yet brought home their flocks, it is a presumptive argument that October had not yet commenced, and that, consequently, our Lord was not born on the 25th of December, when no flocks were out in the fields; nor could He have been born later than September, as the flocks were still in the fields by night.
The feeding of the flocks by night in the fields is a chronological fact…See the quotations from the Talmudists in Lightfoot.â€
Luke 2:8 explains that when Christ was born, “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.â€
Note that they were “abiding†in the field. This never happened in December. Both Ezra 10:9-13 and the Song of Solomon 2:11 show that winter was the rainy season and shepherds could not stay on cold, open fields at night.
Numerous encyclopedias plainly state that Christ was not born on December 25th! The Catholic Encyclopedia directly confirms this. In all likelihood, Christ was born in the fall!
Since we now know that December 25th was nowhere near Christ’s actual birthdate, where did the festival associated with this date come from?
Now read this quote under “Christmasâ€: “In the Roman world the Saturnalia (December 17) was a time of merrymaking and exchanging of gifts. December 25 was also regarded as the birth date of the Iranian mystery god Mithra, the Sun of Righteousness.
 On the Roman New Year (January 1), houses were decorated with greenery and lights, and gifts were given to children and the poor.
To these observances were added the German and Celtic Yule rites when the Teutonic tribes penetrated into Gaul, Britain, and central Europe.
Food and good fellowship, the Yule log and Yule cakes, greenery and fir trees, gifts and greetings all commemorated different aspects of this festive season.
Fires and lights, symbols of warmth and lasting life, have always been associated with the winter festival, both pagan and Christian†(Encyclopedia Britannica, 15th Edit. Vol. II, p. 903).
A final quote about the selection of December 25th as the birthdate of Christ is necessary.
Note an article in The Toronto Star, December 1984, by Alan Edmonds, entitled, “We owe a lot to Druids, Dutchâ€: “The Reformation cast a blight on Christmas.
By then, of course, clever ecclesiastical politicians had adopted the Pagan mid-winter festival as the alleged birthdate of Jesus, of Nazareth, and thrown in a few other Pagan goodies to make their takeover more palatable.â€
December 25th was not selected because it was the birth of Christ or because it was even near it.
It was selected because it coincided with the idolatrous pagan festival Saturnalia—and this celebration must be carefully examined.
In any event, we do not know the exact date of Christ’s birth. While God certainly could have made it known, He chose to hide it from the world’s eyes!
To read more on this subject go to:Â https://www.thercg.org/books/ttooc.html
