DJ Jab's Place: 01/06/05

Thursday, January 06, 2005

Christmas Holiday

It is frequently asked why is Christmas celebrated on December 25th? The exact date of
Christ's birth has not been historically established; neither is recorded in the Gospels.
However, until the fourth century, all Christian churches celebrated Christ's Birth on
January 6th.

The Church of Rome changed the date from January 6th to December 25th in the fourth century.
The change was intended to subdue an ancient pagan feast celebrating the birth
of the Sun on December 25th. At the time, Christians also were tempted to participate in
these pagan festivities. Thus the church hierarchy decided to celebrate the Birth of Christ
on December 25th and the feast of Epiphany on January 6th.

In the Holy Land, the Orthodox churches use the old calendar, the Julian calendar,
which is 13 days behind the Gregorian, the one we use today, to determine the date of
religious feasts. As such, Christmas is celebrated on January 19th in Bethlehem.

posted by Joab # 10:45 PM 1 comments

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