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Jesus. At the time, pagans, or people who believed in several gods, observed the birthdays of their religious figures. In an effort to distance themselves from pagan practices, the church preferred to recognize the day a person was martyred (killed) instead of his or her birthday. As a result, Jesus’ birth was not treated as an important day on the religious calendar for nearly 200 years after the beginning of Christianity. Good Friday (which commemorates his crucifixion and death) and Easter (which celebrates his resurrection) were considered much more important. It was not until the ninth century that the church assigned Christmas its own liturgy, or religious service, known today as Christmas Mass. For many years, Jesus’ birth was celebrated the same day as his baptism, on January 6. The Armenian Church as well as other Eastern Churches still celebrate Christmas on this date. By the year 221, Jesus’ birth was celebrated on December 25. This was due to the efforts of Sextus Julius Africanus, a Christian historian who wrote A History of the World . The first of its kind, A History of the World was an influential work that attempted to unite the account of the Bible with Greek and Roman history. In it Africanus introduced the idea that the world was created on March 21, and that on March 25, the fourth day of creation, God made light. He calculated

that Jesus was conceived many thousands of years later on March 25. This is symbolically significant as Jesus is often referred to as “the light of the world.” Additionally, nine months after March 25 is December 25, so the date became widely accepted as the date of Jesus’ birth. However, not everyone agrees on this explanation as to why December 25 was the date chosen. Some suggest it was because it is near the time of the winter (December) solstice. Solstices are the days six months apart in the year when the difference in length between day and night is greatest. Christmas shares orientation and timing with the celebration of the ancient Roman holiday of Saturnalia, which took place from December 17 to December 24, in honor of the God Saturn. Saturn was

The Story behind “Xmas”

Some Christians are bothered by seeing Christmas written “Xmas,” believing that the writer is too lazy to write Christ’s name, or is trying to remove religious beliefs from Christmas. The abbreviation is actually at least 1,000 years old. It comes from the uppercase Greek letters X and P . The letters are an ancient abbreviation for Christ’s name in Greek. In many Orthodox, Protestant, and Catholic churches the two letters appear with one laid over the other in an icon .

Origins of Christmas n

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