The date of Christmas

Live Science recently had an interesting post about why Christmas Day falls on December 25th. Like, I suspect most people who reflect upon these things, I thought this was because the celebration of the Nativity of Our Lord displaced the pagan Roman mid-winter festival of Saturnalia, and, more specifically, that of Sol Invictus which was observed on December 25th.

The idea of the association of pre-Christian Hellenistic and Roman festivals with what became the great Christian celebration is also referred to an interesting article on the Greek Reporter website in its account of ancient Greek mid-winter festivities and their legacy at How Was Winter Solstice Celebrated in Ancient Greece?

That is also a reminder of a major aspect of the world which existed alongside that of Judaism and of those as backgrounds to the Nativity.

However as the Life Science article sets out that displacement of paganism m may not be the case, and the Church’s own calendar may have itself been self-determining as can be seen at Why is Christmas celebrated on Dec. 25?

If the calendar count-back theory is accepted then it is further proof of the antiquity of the Church’s Calendar and by linking Incarnation, Nativity and Passion-Resurrection suggests the emergence by that date of a unified liturgical understanding of Christ’s mission and actions, and not that we are seeing a demotic piecemeal remembrance of Salvation history.