So what about his birth date?
The Bible gives no straight answer to the date of Jesus’ birth, but it does give clues. Luke 2:8-14 speaks of shepherds living outdoor and tending to a flock of sheep. The text reads, “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.” Scholars of the Bible have concluded that this would be highly unlikely in the month of December, for the weather conditions would be too cold to live outside or tend to a flock of sheep. The historians will tell us that should mean that the time is Springtime, since the only time that the shepherds were in the fields was when the new lambs were born, which is in Spring. However we know that some churches kept December 25th as the solemn feast of the nativity very early on. In addition, it is also unlikely that Augustus would force Jews to trek to their home cities under the cold and rainy seasons. Maybe they had information that we no longer have. Some scholars think that there are other reasons why December 25th has been kept as Jesus’ birthday, at least since the year 336 AD.
Why do people celebrate Jesus’ birth on December 25th?
The answer to this question may lie in the pagan (the ancient polytheistic religion) origins of Christmas.
Pagan Feasts
Before the Romans converted to Christianity, they celebrated the popular holiday Saturnalia, a festival of feasting and revelry held in December in celebration of Saturn, the god of agriculture, and the winter solstice. It is an appropriation of the pagan Midwinter festivals, such as the Germanic Yule and the Roman festival of the birth of Unconquered Sun, celebrated on the day after the winter solstice, or the Roman festival of Saturnalia.
Kelly Wittmann wrote, “In 350, Pope Julius I declared that Christ’s birth would be celebrated on December 25th. There is wide acceptance of the belief that Pope Julius I was trying to make it as painless as possible for pagan Romans, who remained a majority at that time, to convert to Christianity. The new religion went down a bit easier, knowing that their feasts would not be taken away from them.” Moreover, in ancient Babylon, December 25th was the feast of the Son of Isis, Goddess of Nature, was celebrated with, “Raucous partying, gluttonous eating and drinking, and gift-giving were traditions of this feast”, as stated by Kelly Wittmann.
One group of scholars think that Christians began celebrating the birth of Christ on December 25th because it was the pagan feast of the Unconquered Sun, proclaimed by the Roman emperor in AD 274. According to the calendar at the time, December 25th would have been the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, when hours of sunlight stop “shrinking.” (December 21st is the Winter Solstice on modern calendars after some mathematical adjustments.) Since Christians knew that Jesus was truly the “Unconquered Sun of Justice,” what better day to feast his birth? (At least everybody already had the day off.)
Another group of scholars think that the early Christians thought, “Well, the gospels say nothing of Christ’s birthday, but John the Baptist, as usual, points to the truth. He says, ‘Christ must increase, but I must decrease’ (John 3:30). Now we can figure out Jesus’ birthday!” People in those days believed that what happened in nature was a clue to the whole meaning of life. So John the Baptist was hinting that his birthday was the summer solstice-the longest day of the year-June 25th on the old calendar. (In fact, we still celebrate the birth of the Baptist on June 24th!) After all, John is the brightest and strongest of the prophets to foretell Christ’s coming. So this means that John would have been conceived on September 25th (the autumn equinox on the old calendar.) Being a holy saint, a perfect person, he would have been in Elizabeth’s womb for exactly nine months.
Christian Feast Dates
Christmas does not appear among the earliest lists of Christian feasts, those of Irenaeus and Tertullian. The earliest evidence of celebration is from Alexandria, about AD 200, when Clement of Alexandria says that certain Egyptian theologians “over curiously” assign not just the year but the actual day of Christ’s birth, on the 25th Pachon (May 20th) in the twenty-eighth year of Augustus. By the time of the Council of Nicaea, in 325AD, the Alexandrian church had fixed a dies Nativitatis et Epiphaniae (day of birth and manifestation . The December feast reached Egypt in the 5th century. In Jerusalem, Egeria the 4th-century pilgrim from Bordeaux, witnessed the feast of the Presentation, forty days after January 6th, which must have been the date of the Nativity there. At Antioch, probably in 386, St John Chrysostom urged the community to unite in celebrating Christ’s birth on December 25th, a part of the community having already kept it on that day for at least ten years.
A more popular theory as to why the Church would pick December 25th, is that the Feast of the Annunciation had previously been set to March 25th. Well, Luke 1:26 tells us that John was conceived six months prior to Jesus. So Jesus was conceived on March 25th. This is the celebration of the conception of Jesus in the womb of Mary at the time she was visited by the angel Gabriel. The fixing of December 25th for Christmas would support the conclusion that the Church set the date of the Nativity as nine months from that point. (We still celebrate this day as the solemnity of the Annunciation, and it was the first day of Spring according to the old calendar!) Being the Son of God, Christ is the perfect human being, so of course he was in Mary’s womb exactly nine months, and thus born on December 25th. The apparition of the angel Gabriel to Zechariah, announcing that he was to be the father of John the Baptist, was believed to have occurred on Yom Kippur. This was due to a belief (not included in the Gospel account) that Zechariah was a high priest and that his vision occurred during the high priest’s annual entry into the Holy of Holies. If John’s conception occurred on Yom Kippur in late September, then his birth would have been in late June. (The traditional date is June 24th.) If John’s birth was on June 24th, then the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, said by the Gospel account to have occurred three month’s before John’s birth, would have been in late March. (Tradition fixed it on March 25th.) The birth of Jesus would then have been on December 25th, nine months after his conception. As with the previous theory, proponents of this theory hold that Christmas was a date of significance to Christians before it was a date of significance to pagans.
Other Theories...
During Hanukkah
It derives from the tradition that Jesus was born during the Jewish Festival of Lights (Hanukkah, the 25th of Kislev and the beginning of Tevet). Kislev is generally accepted as corresponding with December. Under the Old Julian calendar, the popular choice of 5 BC for the year of Jesus’ birth would place the 25th of Kislev on the 25th of November.
Based on the date of Good Friday
The date of Christmas is based on the date of Good Friday, the day Jesus died. Since the exact date of Jesus’ death is not stated in the Gospels, early Christians sought to calculate it, and arrived at either March 25th or April 6th. To then calculate the date of Jesus’ birth, they followed the ancient idea that Old Testament prophets died at an “integral age”—either an anniversary of their birth or of their conception. They reasoned that Jesus died on an anniversary of the Incarnation (his conception), so the date of his birth would have been nine months after the date of Good Friday—either December 25th or January 6th. Thus, rather than the date of Christmas being appropriated from pagans by Christians, the opposite is held to have occurred.
Birthday of Mithras
It was appropriated from the birthday of Mithras, a savior figure of a Greco-Roman mystery religion who was popular with the Roman Legions.
Conclusion
Some today scoff at this logic, sadly missing its profound poetry, its inner truths. (In a time when most people didn’t know math, such calculations would have been respected as sacred knowledge.) And sadly, there still are those today who won’t believe that Jesus even existed until they see some kind of birth certificate. But we, who are baptized, are open to other ways of knowing truths bigger than official documents and laboratory evidence can tell. We learn in our liturgy to sense divine action in human history. We know that we can trust our church calendar, waiting in Advent, rejoicing at Christmas, joyfully celebrating God in the flesh, our flesh, born into our world, redeeming even our calendars, giving us holidays to cherish.
Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord!
Christmas Carols  
Christmas Carols
Songs celebrating the Church’s mystery of God becoming man was a natural outcome of the celebration of Christmas. In today’s culture, Christmas Carols and songs are among the most sung and remembered songs. It just seems natural to sing of the great joy expressed in the Christmas Story as the angels praised God in their song and proclaimed to the world “the Savior is born. “
Looking at the History of Carols.
In looking at the history of Christmas carols, we can find no better expert than the late Maria Augusta Trapp who’s life story became known as “The Sound of Music.”
On a South American Christmas concert tour in Caracas, Venezuela, she wrote, “Singing at Christmas goes back to the early centuries of Christianity. It is the oldest of those innumerable folk customs still alive throughout the world during the Christmas season. Books have been filled, years have been spent in research on this subject.”
Early Songs
The early Christmas music compositions are regarded as chants and hymns. The original carols referred to a circle dance which did not have any singing - that came later. As the church struggled against the influences of pagan customs, the singing of carols was barred from sacred services. However, outside the church, Nativity carols were written and became popular. Nearly all were simple folk songs created by people from the countryside.
Medieval Carols
Saint Francis of Assisi is credited with bringing carols into the formal worship of the Catholic church during a Christmas Midnight Mass in a cave in Greccio, in the province of Umbria in 1223 AD. It’s said that the music sung that night was more akin to what we know as carols than to hymns. Carols enjoyed further development and popularity when they were used in the mystery plays of the Middle Ages.
Wandering minstrels traveled from hamlet to castle, performing carols in the distant past. In later years, villages had their own bands of waits.
Waits were originally watchmen who patrolled the streets and byways of the old walled cities keeping guard against fire and singing out the hours of the night. During the holiday season, they would include some carols for the people along the way, although some folks complained that they would rather get a good nights sleep than have somebody singing under their window.
Eventually the term was used to describe groups of musicians who sang and played for various civic events during the Christmas Season. Today, a look at a small-town newspaper lists dozens of caroling events, not just on Christmas Eve, but throughout the holiday.
Catholic Persecutions and secret of The Twelve Days of Christmas
Early in the 16th century, King Henry VIII of England was so intent on an heir to his throne that he divorced, in order to marry another woman who would be able to bear a child. This schism caused the split between the Catholic Church of Rome and the Church of England. Many of the involved parties, including a bishop, were beheaded. All things “Roman” (Catholic) were strictly forbidden.
Just as it was in the early days of our church, and still in modern day China, the practice of the faith went “underground.” Among the many things the believers tried to hold on to was the education of their children. Literacy was not then as it is now, and story-telling and song were the primary tools for teaching the faith. One of the many Christmas songs we sing to this day has its roots in the catechism of the children in Henry’s England.
Instead of an earthly suitor, the “true love” mentioned in the song is a reference to God. The “me” is symbolic of every baptized person. The partridge in a pear tree is Jesus Christ. The meaning of the other symbols are:
Two turtle doves... the Old and New Testaments;
Three French hens... Faith, Hope and Love;
Four calling birds... the four Gospels;
Five golden rings... the first five books of the Bible;
Six geese a-laying... the six days of creation;
Seven swans a-swimming... seven gifts of the Holy Spirit;
Eight maids a-milking... the eight Beatitudes;
Nine ladies dancing... nine fruits of the Holy Spirit;
Ten lords a-leaping... the Ten Commandments;
Eleven pipers piping... the eleven faithful disciples;
Twelve drummers drumming... the twelve points of belief in the Apostles Creed.
The next time you hear the song, think of it in a new light. And when CNN reports how much more it costs to buy the “Twelve Days” at Neiman-Marcus this year as compared to last, just smile. For now you know the real truth of this song, and you know that it can’t be bought at any price, because it is free to anyone who believes.
Secular Christmas and Winter songs
Many songs have developed enjoying the fun of winter and the gathering of family and friends for the Christmas celebrations, but most of these though not Christmas Songs necessarily, have become associated so much as Christmas Music that these songs are only played in the season, seen as Christmas in he secular world, but is Advent Time in the Church.
Saints of Christmas Time
Saints of Christmas Time & The Celebrations of the Christmas Season
The Church celebrates the Christmas Season for 12 days. In the United States, we celebrate the Epiphany on a Sunday following the Feast of the Holy Family, rather than on the actual date of Epiphany, January 6th. During the Christmas Season, we celebrate many different liturgical feasts which tell us what it means to be this follower of Christ—two are celebrations of the Lord (one from the Western Church and one from the Eastern Church) which tell us of God’s presence in our lives; two are feasts of Mary and the Holy Family which show us how we must live out our life in Jesus; two are saints of the United States which give us inspiration to be saints in the way we live Jesus’ life, and three are martyrs for the faith, which tell us that often we must choose to imitate Jesus is his death to live his life. The very feasts during the Christmas Season inspire us to live in Jesus’ way our whole life.
December 25th The Nativity of the Lord
God Comes to be within us. He breaks into our lives so he may dwell in our flesh and be with us always in the good and hard of life.
December 26th The Feast of Saint Stephen, Deacon and Martyr
He was the first martyr of the Church.
December 27th The Feast of Saint John, the Beloved Apostle
The beloved apostle of Jesus and cared for Mary after Jesus’ death and brought the faith to “modern day” Turkey.
December 28th The Feast of the Holy Innocents
They were those who lost their lives because of King Herod. These year this celebration falls on a Sunday and the Feast of the Holy Family replaces it on that day.
December 29th The Feast of Saint Thomas Becket, Bishop and Martyr.
He was Archbishop of Canterbury and was murdered in his cathedral. He opposed the interference of the State into Church affairs and held for separation of Church and State.
January 1st The Feast of Mary, the Mother of God
On the octave of Christmas (the 8th day of Christmas) and the beginning of a New Year, the Church celebrates a Feast of Mary. By focusing on Mary we learn to model her way of being open to God’s way.
January 4th The Feast of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. She was a Protestant who became Catholic. She is one of the rare married women to be recognized as a saint. She raised ten children, was widowed and started a religious community. She was the first native-born American to be named a saint.
January 5th Feast of Saint John Neumann.
He was the Bishop of Philadelphia. He is the first and only American bishop to be recognized as a saint.
January 6th The Feast of the Epiphany
God is made visible in the lives of Jesus, ourselves, and the Church. Celebrated in special fashion by the Eastern Church.
Merry X-Mas
Many use X-Mas instead of “Christ”mas. Many people believe that using the “X” was being irreligious or it was just lazy that they didn’t write out the word Christmas. Actually, the early Christians used the Chi (X) from the Greek alphabet as a secret sign of their faith during the times of Roman persecution to represent Christ.
Also throughout the centuries when people who could not write were requested to sign a document. They used the “X” as a sign of the cross swearing that they were who they were.
Perhaps, when we see X-Mass, we can remember those without a name—the poor, the illiterate, and remind us that many followers of the Christ still suffer persecution for their faith. After all when Jesus came he took on all flesh. The Greek word Cristos (”Christ”) is a title of Jesus which means “King” and the king has made us all heirs of this kingdom—rich and poor alike.
Other Religious Customs
Religious Customs and celebrations
The religious celebrations begin with Advent, the anticipation of Christ’s birth, around the start of December. These observations may include Advent carols and Advent calendars, sometimes containing sweets and chocolate for children.
Catholics
For Catholics, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services would include a midnight mass or a Mass of the Nativity, and feature Christmas carols and hymns.
Christians
For other Christian denominations, Christmas worship is encourage with family celebrations and plays of the Christmas story.
Celebrations in Other Major Religions
Islam
Christmas has some acceptance in the Islamic world, where Jesus is regarded as a prophet. Many secular aspects of Christmas are becoming common in developed Muslim nations.
Judaism’s Hanukkah, has developed a similar tradition of gift-giving.
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