How did December 25th become Jesus’ birthday?

[mathewfinch]

Seems likely that the best explanation is that ... late December is just a pretty good time for a major festival. All the major agricultural work is done, and it's not too cold yet. Perfect time for a party.

[ufpride]

Christmas is a great example of cultural diffusion. Cultural diffusion is honestly one of my favorite things to study in history because it’s fun watching all the cultures blend together throughout time.

The Christmas we have today is a wonderful blend of so many cultures all throughout history all across the globe and it continues to change to this very day.

Christmas in America is now very much has it’s own secular holiday that has nothing to do with the the birth of Jesus or Jesus at all for millions of people. All the Christian themes will be there just like the pagan themes will too but it’s neither Christian or pagan in the minds of the family unwrapping gifts on Christmas morning. It will be their own very American non religious thing.

And I think it’s great, the nature of things is to evolve and grow with time. 🙂

[ThatBernie]

Your channel is a beacon of clarity and scholarly rigor in a world overwhelmed with misinformation

[benroberts]

I remember a short on History Channel back in the 90s with Sam Waterston saying Christmas' date was borrowed from a celebration of Mithra's birthday. It's amazing how far and wide that idea has spread.

[mathewfinch]

Always found the idea that an Iranian deity like Mithras was said to be born on December 25th (a date on the *ROMAN CALENDAR*) to be a little suspicious.

[tomesplin]

Excellent summary. This is one very popular topic for misinformation. We will never know the actual date, but the origins (pagan or otherwise) of the original celebration are important to many

[seb.s.]

Thanks! A comparison to the orthodox Christian tradition would be great (which celebrate, afaik, the birthday on the 6th of January due to differing calculation of calendars!?). However, what would actually be much more interesting is a detailed mapping/calculation of calendars throughout the time given there were several overlapping and non-consecutive calendars. This would elaborate the question how we can be sure that the original date is "our" 25th of December and not another date they labeled 25th; and, of course, to what level of certainty we can be sure of that... Just a request/recommendation even tough I doubt it'll fit into a 3-minute segment. Anyways, I like the format!

[UHFOnline]

Jesus never told his followers to celebrate his birth.

[kellymckinney]

I get frustrated when some Christians get angry when people say "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings" around November and December. claiming that such a greeting is about declaring "war on Chistmas." Many cultures celebrate some holiday around that time of the year. As far as I am concerned, the reason for the season is the Winter Solstice. I don't care why Christians celebrate Christmas in December, whether it was because they wanted to co-opt the day or they did some math that led them to believe that was his actual birthday, but they need to share the day. They don't get to monopolize December as a holiday season and December 25 as the actual holiday.

[SlamminBenjammin]

Cosmic poetic justice!!! I like that! That is exactly the way I see the traditions and the date. Now, thanks to God uncoincidentally the date and the pagan traditions are all about Jesus! Thank you for that simplified phrase to explain this argument.

[achildofthelight]

Jesus was born in him as the darling buds we are, until you blossom on the tree of life. ❤

[paulblack]

Dan, Jesus was born on April 15th. Joseph and Mary were paying their taxes and we all know that God appointed that to be tax day.😅

[babuybabuyan]

Hi Doctor McClellan, do you have a recommended reading list for the history of christianity?

[jamestweedy]

Dan McClellan I have a few questions I do not know if you respond to the comments though if so, please respond so I can ask you the questions one of them has to do with Canaan Abel, is it possible that they may have been twins?

[Sotelurian]

The strangest part of this gets glossed over: why would anyone associate the date of someone’s death with their birth or conception? You state this was a convention among historians but don’t say why. Were they just putting down a date because they didn’t know and then other people assumed that what they wrote was true, or did the historians actually believe such an idea?

[jerbib]

Christmas started on December 25th 336 CE, when Emperor Constantine was in power. It was a year before he died, aged 65.  He had killed many and felt guilty. After some time had passed, Pope Julius I announced that the birth of Jesus would be commemorated on December 25.
The sun had stopped and could be seen moving north again by the 24 or 25th, for the solstice watchers.
It was already Mithra's birthday, probably because of that bright supernova in mid-December 185 CE, 8000 light years away.  It's a murky history there..

[cliffords]

Mary Concieved Jesus in Dec born in Sept according to the Conception of Jesus and John the Baptist Father's Course of Abia In Dec

[matthewparsons]

Do you know the source for this information?

[paulcleary]

The date of the Winter Solstice is what I had always heard and that is was specifically picked to try diminish Paganism and convert more people to Christianity. Whether it was specifically for that, or simply a coincidence, they seemed to take full advantage.

[sandraturner]

When would Jesus really have been born based on clues in the Gospels?