Christmas Day

Why Christmas day is celebrated on 25th December?

Christmas is celebrated all over the world by everyone belonging to different religions and castes apart from being Christian on 25th December every year from time immemorial. But you must have that questing striking in your mind about the date that why this festival is celebrated on 25 of December every year.

As no one knows when Jesus was born and when he died. So, there was surely a big argument on when to celebrate Christmas as Christ was not only born in winters and also not in year 1. It was slightly earlier in between 2 BCE/BC and 7 BCE/BC, one can call as year 0 also. And, surprisingly, the first date that is recorded of the Christmas celebration was of 336 on 25th December, during the time of the Roman Empire, though it was not an official festival of Romans, but then too it was firstly celebrated by them.

Now, coming back to the celebration of this festival on 25th December, many explanations and traditions are stating the reasons for this. The much earlier one was:

When the mother of Jesus named, Mary was told by an angel that she will be blessed with a baby bid, the day was March 25th. After the annunciation was made, Jesus was born. So, evidently and logically, after nine-month from 25th March, then day fall is 25th December, on which Christmas is celebrated. Also, many early Christian thought that March 25th was the day when the world was formed and Jesus as an adult died as per the Jewish calendar. Their thought was that Jesus was born and died on the same day of the year.

Other than this theory, people also think that earlier Romans used to celebrate their festivals in mid winters after they have escaped from the salivary, and so they are celebrating Christmas in winters from then as many festivals and traditions are already being celebrated on this day and month with the onset of winters.

As per the winter solstice, the difference between the day and night in winters is minimal as per the Roman culture of festivals between December 21st to 22nd and also the Jewish festivals of light fall on the 25th of the same time as that of December. So, this might also be the reason to celebrate Christmas on 25th December for the early Church after collecting many shreds of evidence and concluding many theories related to this.

Now, the western countries celebrate the festival on 25th December and following them many other countries and regions have started celebrating this winter festival on the same date. So, finally, it is proven that Christmas is and was celebrated on 25th December from the times of the Roman Empire, Jewish people, and earlier Church.

When was Christmas celebrated on “25th December” for the first time?

Christmas is not a new festival in the Christian calendar. From almost 2000 years ago, this festival is being celebrated all over the world by the people belonging to the Hindu religion, Muslim religion, different casts, and of course residing in any city or state of the world. This day is considered the day when Jesus birth was born, who is believed by the Christians as the Son of God.

But, does anybody know the actual meaning of the word “Christmas”?

Christmas is the word that is formed from two different words Christ and Mass having some meaning in particular. The mass or huge service is given by the Christians to God or Jesus on this day where they remember that Jesus died for them and came back to life. This service is only allowed to take place after sunset and before sunrise as per the Christian ritual. And, hence we get the name shortened for Christ-Mass as Christmas.

There are many stories and theories that mark the existence of Christmas and Jesus and also the date when it is celebrated i.e. 25th December. There are also many reasons given for the date chosen in the churches for the celebration. Some thought that it was because of the winter solstice and some thought that this time around the year is the one when every holy festival or event is celebrated.

But, do you know that the very first time the Christmas was celebrated on 25th December on 336, during the time of Roman Emperor Constantine. But, at that time, it was not an official festival of Romans. Apart from this, very firstly, the western countries have started following the tradition of celebrating Christmas on the 25th of December every year after the invention of the new calendar system. And, then this tradition is being followed by Britain and Europe and then it spread all over the world and is now the most eagerly awaited festival of the year.