Dec 25th - Jesus's "Observed" Birthday

**venture** · 12-25-2008, 01:38 AM

Watched a couple shows about it on TV and dug up some interesting reading online. Taking nothing away from what today means for Christians, it is a fascinating discussion on how Christmas Day actually came to be.

Pretty much the short version was when Pope Sixtus III held the first official Christ Mass on December 25th, which was picked to counter the Pagan holy day on the 25th which honored the god Mithras as well as Roman god Sol.

As far as the actual birthday of Christ, from what I've read and watched, the exact date is closer to around September 29th in the year 5 B.C.

Now this would be a nice way to shake up the commercialization of the holiday and just about every other tradition, to go to the actual Birthday date - but that is like telling a 4 year old the truth behind Santa.

Just some food for thought. Personally I wouldn't change a thing because this day is more than just the celebration of one religious groups Messiah. It has a far reaching, moral story line behind it that connects more than just Christians.

**CuatrodeMayo** · 12-25-2008, 08:21 AM

Agreed.

**grantgeneral78** · 12-25-2008, 10:24 PM

I still say HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS.....and it is really special to me my sister was born on this date 40 years ago.....happy birthday sis I love ya!

**Luke** · 01-01-2009, 12:54 PM

Originally Posted by venture79

As far as the actual birthday of Christ, from what I've read and watched, the exact date is closer to around September 29th in the year 5 B.C.

Now this would be a nice way to shake up the commercialization of the holiday and just about every other tradition, to go to the actual Birthday date - but that is like telling a 4 year old the truth behind Santa.

Seems like the commercialization of Jesus' birth starts even before September 29th anymore. It's called Christmas creep. If Christmas was moved to September 29th, I fear we may begin the Christmas shopping season in the spring!

**Thunder** · 01-05-2009, 06:14 AM

Any plans by the government to move Christmas to Sept 29th? We can move Labor Day to Dec 25th!

**venture** · 01-05-2009, 04:39 PM

Originally Posted by Thunder

Any plans by the government to move Christmas to Sept 29th? We can move Labor Day to Dec 25th!

Why should the government move anything? If it is a religious holiday, it is up to the church, not the state to dictate when it is celebrated.

**BradR** · 01-05-2009, 08:39 AM

Christmas is hardly about religion anymore...

**OKCisOK4me** · 01-05-2009, 05:06 PM

Originally Posted by BradR

Christmas is hardly about religion anymore...

Christmas Eve up at my grandma's this (well, last already) year (bless her heart, she's 87) she had a bunt cake laid out on the table. They put a candle into it and then we got into a big circle and held hands. My grandma said, "now we're going to sing happy birthday to baby Jesus". All of us grandkids were trying to hold back on the thoughts of Talladega Nights but a few laughs crept out as we were singing.

To me XMas is just all about getting together with family anymore.

Prunepicker · 01-12-2009, 05:29 PM

Originally Posted by BradR

Christmas is hardly about religion anymore...

That depends upon who you talk to. Christ-mas is a religious day to almost all
Christians. Yes it varies from person to person but the crux of Christ-mas is
Jesus and a large number of Christians revere it as so.

Whether Jesus was born on that day is irrelevant. It's a celebration of Jesus'
birth and that's the whole point.

**Thunder** · 01-05-2009, 05:37 PM

This is tricky.

Christmas is religious as it should be, but the whole thing about this holiday had already gotten carried away by virtually everyone.

If certain religions decided that December 25th is not the proper birth date and they started to honor such event in September, how is that going to end up?

All the retailers will take notice of that and we're going to have two Christmas events.