What is Christmas?

Possibly ninety-nine out of every hundred people who give the matter any thought at all, would answer that it is the anniversary of the birth of Christ. So general has this idea become, that many people regard Christmas as a sacred day, and think that labor thereon is a sin. In the Catholic Church it is regarded as far more holy than Sunday.

As a matter of fact, nobody knows the month or the day of the month on which Jesus of Nazareth was born. The only place where we could hope to find any definite information on the subject, namely, the Bible, is utterly silent regarding the matter. The fact that the Bible gives no sanction whatever to the celebration of the birth of Christ, not even mentioning when it occurred, is sufficient evidence that the Lord did not wish to have it celebrated. Whatever the Bible does not mention is forbidden.

There is only one thing that we can know with any certainty about the birth of Christ, and that is that it did not take place on the twenty-fifth of December, nor in the month of December. Read the record: “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:8-11

Winter in Palestine is the season of rain. Snow falls, and there are sharp frosts. While it is a subtropical country, it is certain that in the winter season sheep are not kept in the field, and shepherds do not in winter, watch their flocks by night “all seated on the ground,” as the hymn has it. Christ was undoubtedly born in the spring or summer, although at what day nobody knows, for no record has been kept. No one thought of celebrating any day as the birthday of Christ until about three hundred years after His ascension. Dr. Schaff tells us that we first find Christmas in Rome, “in the time of the Bishop Liberius, who on the twenty-fifth of December, 360, consecrated Marcella, the sister of St. Ambrose, nun or bride of Christ, and addressed her with the words, ‘Thou seest what multitudes are come to the birth festival of thy bridegroom.’ This passage implies that the festival was already existing, and familiar. Christmas was introduced in Antioch about the year 380; in Alexandria, where the feast of the Epiphany was celebrated as the nativity of Christ, not till about 430.”

Dr. Schaff also tells us something about the origin of the Christmas festival. He says: —

“The Christmas festival was probably the Christian transformation or regeneration of a series of kindred festivals—the Saturnalia, Sigillaria, Juvenalia, and Brumalia—which were kept in Rome in the month of December, in commemoration of the golden age of unbridled freedom and equality, and in honor of the unconquered sun, and which were great holidays especially for slaves and children. This connection accounts for many customs of the Christmas season, like the giving of presents to children and