Information Related to "Christmas: The Curious Origins of a Popular Holiday"
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Already the decorations are going up, the parties are being planned, the presents are being bought. Soon people around the world will again be celebrating Christmas.
More than any other religious holiday, Christmas is associated with the name of Christ. The word Christmas is short for "Christ's mass," instituted by the Catholic Church and continued by many Protestant churches.
Yet, curiously, the Bible records nothing about the apostles or early Church observing Christmas. History shows that it wasn't celebrated until hundreds of years after Jesus Christ lived on earth, and long after the apostles had passed from the scene.
Even more curious are the surprising circumstances under which Christmas came to be observed, and the many aspects of today's Christmas celebrations—including the date, Dec. 25—that have nothing to do with Jesus' birth, but do have a lot to do with ancient pre-Christian religions.
What does history show us about the origins of the world's most popular holiday? It's quite an eye-opening story!
New Catholic Encyclopedia on Christmas
The New Catholic Encyclopedia, in discussing the unlikelihood of a Dec. 25 date for Jesus Christ's birth and how that particular date was chosen, gives some insight into the holiday's origins:
"Why, then, were December 25 and January 6 chosen for the celebration of the Lord's birth? Several theories are offered in explanation. Some actually believed December 25 was the birthday of Christ and tried to prove it by arguing from the conception of St. John the Baptist. Assuming, gratuitously, that Zachary was high priest and that the Day of Atonement fell on September 24, John would have been born on June 24 and Christ 6 months later, on December 25. This theory is now considered completely untenable."
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