Pagan-Santa Clause!

Pagan-Santa Clause!

Was the Grinch who stole Christmas an agnostic? 

You might want to cover little Timmy's ears for this one. For those who do not know, the earliest Christians including the Apostles and disciples of Christ never celebrated such an event. Historically absent from any of the four gospel accounts is the mention of a yearly celebration of Jesus’s birth. During Jesus’s ministry, no such celebration is ever recorded.  Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Observed most commonly on the 25th of December as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. Funny enough, Santa has been google searched more than Jesus for the past eleven years. 

Although some Christian groups reject the celebration. Christians themselves cannot admit that he was even born in December. As a matter of fact, The Bible actually contradicts the notion of winter. The fallacious and logically incoherent belief that God came into the world in the form of man to atone for the sins of humanity, rather than the exact birth date, is considered to be the primary purpose in celebrating Christmas. Furthermore, Protestant Christians in England had banned Christmas in  the year 1644. In further condemnation of the festival, the English’s Long Parliament in June 1647 passed an ordinance confirming the abolition of the feast of Christmas. Protestant Christians in England considered Christmas Trees, decorations and Christmas foods to share a close link to "unholy pagan rituals."

This Begs the question, 

Was Jesus even born on the 25th of December as believed? 

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia:

“Concerning the date of Christ’s birth the Gospels give no help; upon their data contradictory arguments are based. The census would have been impossible in winter: a whole population could not then be put in motion. Again, in winter it must have been; then only field labour was suspended. But Rome was not thus considerate. Authorities moreover differ as to whether shepherds could or would keep flocks exposed during the nights of the rainy season.”  ⁽¹⁾

There are, however, a number of reasons to suggest that Jesus was probably not born in December.  Firstly, Luke 2:8 states that on the night of Jesus' birth "there were also in that same country shepherds living out of doors and keeping watches in the night over their flocks."  Many scholars agree that this would have been unlikely in December, as shepherds would have been keeping their flock under cover during the cold winter months. Secondly, it is written in the Bible that Joseph and Mary travelled to Bethlehem to register in a Roman census (Luke 2:1-4).  However, such censuses were not taken in winter, when temperatures often dropped below freezing and roads were in poor condition. Since Christmas does not celebrate Christ's birth "as God" but "as man", this only aids to the contradiction of Jesus being a God and not a Prophet which you may already know is highly unlikely. 

– By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me. (John 5:30)

 – When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.” (Matthew 21:10-11)

 – “What things?” he asked. “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people” (Luke 24:19)

According to The Barnes’ Notes on the Bible, which had to say in regards to (Luke 24:19) 

A prophet – A teacher sent from God. They did not now call him the “Messiah,” for his “death” had led them to doubt that, but they had no doubt that he was a distinguished “prophet.” 

The evidence of that was so clear that they “could” not call it in question. Mighty in deed – Powerful in working miracles, in raising the dead, healing the sick, etc. In word – In teaching. Before God and all the people – Manifestly; publicly. So that “God” owned him, and the people regarded him as a distinguished teacher.

 – In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day–for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem! (Luke 13:33)

There is not a single evidence from The Bible that proves Jesus' deity. However, on the contrary. There are plenty of verses where Jesus himself states that he was a Prophet of God and not God himself. 

Mark 12:29 – Jesus answered, “The most important is “Here, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord.”

If one were to critically analyse  The Biblical Scriptures they would come to a logical conclusion that Jesus as a Prophet is coherent while asserting him to be a God as Missionaries, Priests and the average laymen do. Then that is intellectually insulting. 

"Christmas" is a shortened form of "Christ's mass". It is derived from the Middle English Cristemasse, which is from Old English Crīstesmæsse, a phrase first recorded in 1038. (2)

The first recorded date of Christmas being celebrated on December 25th was in 336, during the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine (he was the first Christian Roman Emperor). A few years later, Pope Julius I officially declared that the birth of Jesus would be celebrated on the 25th December. On the basis of what exactly? How could such a consensus formulate with a degree of great ignorance; As there was and is no evidence to support the claim of Jesus being born on that particular day. Or could this be some well-devised Christian tactic?

Pagan-Christian fusion

The Christian ecclesiastical calendar contains many remnants of pre-Christian festivals. Although the dating as December 25 predates pagan influence, the later development of Christmas as a festival includes elements of the Roman feast of the Saturnalia and the birthday of Mithra as described in the Roman cult of Mithraism. The Chronography of 354 AD contains early evidence of the celebration on December 25 of a Christian liturgical feast of the birth of Jesus. This was in Rome, while in Eastern Christianity the birth of Jesus was already celebrated in connection with the Epiphany on January 6. (3)

When King Constantine converted to Christianity in the fourth century, he had quite a challenge ahead of him with regard to converting an empire full of pagans.  It was therefore decided to celebrate the birth of Jesus on a date that was already sacred according to pagan traditions. So as a compromise with paganism and in an attempt to give the pagan holiday’s Christian significance, it was simply decided that the birthday of the Sun God would also be the birthday of the Son of God. The Catholic Encyclopedia quotes an early Christian with saying, "O, how wonderfully acted Providence that on that day on which that Sun was born.... Christ should be born".

One theory to explain the choice of December 25 for the celebration of the birth of Jesus with the help of archaeological evidence is that the purpose was to Christianize the pagan festival in Rome of the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, meaning "the birthday of the Unconquered Sun", a festival inaugurated by the Roman emperor Aurelian (270–275) to celebrate the sun god and celebrated at the winter solstice, December 25. (4) (5)

An explicit expression of this theory appears in an annotation of uncertain date added to a manuscript of a work by 12th-century Syrian bishop Jacob Bar-Salibi. The scribe who added it wrote: "It was a custom of the Pagans to celebrate on the same 25 December the birthday of the Sun, at which they kindled lights in token of festivity. In these solemnities and revelries the Christians also took part. Accordingly when the doctors of the Church perceived that the Christians had a leaning to this festival, they took counsel and resolved that the true Nativity should be solemnised on that day." This idea became popular especially in the 18th and 19th centuries. (6) (7)

The Oxford Companion to Christian Thought remarks on the uncertainty about the order of precedence between the religious celebrations of the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun and of the birthday of Jesus, stating that the hypothesis that December 25 was chosen for celebrating the birth of Jesus on the basis of the belief that his conception occurred on March 25 "potentially establishes 25 December as a Christian festival before Aurelian's decree, which, when promulgated, might have provided for the Christian feast both opportunity and challenge" (8)

 The celebration of Christmas was banned on more than one occasion within certain Protestant groups, such as the Puritans, due to concerns that it was too pagan or un-biblical. Also Jehova's Witnesses reject Christmas celebration.

 An anonymous work known as De Pascha Computus (243) linked the idea that creation began at the spring equinox, on March 25, with the conception or birth (the word nascor can mean either) of Jesus on March 28, the day of the creation of the sun in the Genesis account. One translation reads: "O the splendid and divine providence of the Lord, that on that day, the very day, on which the sun was made, the 28 March, a Wednesday, Christ should be born. For this reason Malachi the prophet, speaking about him to the people, fittingly said, 'Unto you shall the sun of righteousness arise, and healing is in his wings.'" (9)

It is widely celebrated on the 25th of December, except among Armenians (the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Armenian Evangelical Church), who continue to celebrate the birth on January 6, 25th of December eventually won acceptance everywhere. (10)

In the early 4th century, the church calendar in Rome contained Christmas on December 25 and other holidays placed on solar dates. According to Hijmans "It is cosmic symbolism ... which inspired the Church leadership in Rome to elect the southern solstice, December 25, as the birthday of Christ, and the northern solstice as that of John the Baptist, supplemented by the equinoxes as their respective dates of conception." Usener. Modern scholar S. E. Hijmans, however, states that "While they were aware that pagans called this day the 'birthday' of Sol Invictus, this did not concern them and it did not play any role in their choice of date for Christmas."


In 1809, the New-York Historical Society convened and retroactively named Sancte Claus the patron saint of Nieuw Amsterdam, the Dutch name for New York City. At his first American appearance in 1810, Santa Claus was drawn in bishops' robes. However, as new artists took over, Santa Claus developed more secular attire. Nast drew a new image of "Santa Claus" annually, beginning in 1863. By the 1880's, Nast's Santa had evolved into the modern vision of the figure, perhaps based on the English figure of Father Christmas. The image was standardized by advertisers in the 1920's and continues through the present day. (11) (12) (13)

Father Christmas, a jolly, well nourished, bearded man who typified the spirit of good cheer at Christmas, predates the Santa Claus character. He is first recorded in early 17th century England, but was associated with holiday merrymaking and drunkenness rather than the bringing of gifts. 

However, there is also a small Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which maintains the traditional Armenian custom of celebrating the birth of Christ on the same day as Theophany (January 6), but uses the Julian calendar for the determination of that date. As a result, this church celebrates "Christmas" (more properly called Theophany) on the day that is considered January 19 on the Gregorian calendar in use by the majority of the world.

In summary, there are four different dates used by different Christian groups to mark the birth of Christ. Including the  25th of December, 6th of January, 7th of January, 19th of January. In the U.S. there has been a tendency to replace the greeting Merry Christmas with Happy Holidays, which is considered inclusive at the time of the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah. Groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union have initiated court cases to bar the display of images and other material referring to Christmas from public property, including schools. Such groups argue that government-funded displays of Christmas imagery and traditions violate the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which prohibits the establishment by Congress of a national religion. 

In conclusion: 

Ironically, one of the most universal holidays celebrated across all continents throughout the world celebrate a pagan-holiday "thinking" it to be the birthday of Jesus when The Biblical scriptures state that it most likely would have not been winter hence ruling out the 25th of December notion. Ignorance is indeed a bliss.