Is Christmas Pagan?

Part 1: Why December 25th?

The first official mention of December 25 as a holiday honoring Jesus’ birthday appears in an early Roman calendar from 336 A.D, though there are many references prior to that. The date of John the Baptist’s birth comes from much further back, which is important because there is a direct correlation between the two births.

The early tractatus De solstitiia records the tradition of the Archangel Gabriel appearing to Zachariah in the High Temple when he was serving as high priest on the Day of Atonement (Lk 1:8). This placed the conception of St. John the Baptist during the feast of Tabernacles in late September, as the Archangel Gabriel said (Lk 1:28) and his birth nine months later at the time of the summer solstice.

Since the Gospel of Luke states that the Archangel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary in the sixth month after John’s conception (Lk 1:26), this placed the conception of Christ at about the time of the spring equinox, that is, at the time of the Jewish Passover, in late March. His birth would thus be in late December at the time of the winter solstice.

That these dates, based on Tradition and Scripture, are trustworthy is confirmed by recent evidence taken from the Dead Sea Scrolls, whose authors were very concerned about calendar dates, essential for establishing when the Torah feasts should be celebrated. The data found in the Scrolls make it possible to know the Temple’s rotating assignment of priests during Old Testament times and show definitely that Zachariah served as a Temple priest in September, thus confirming the tradition of the Early Church [1]

From many sources we can find reference prior to 336AD of both Jesus and John the Baptist. Written around 221 AD,  Sexto Julio Africano wrote Chronographiai, which stated that Jesus was conceived on March 25th. Hypolytus of Rome, circa 204 AD wrote in his commentary of the book of Daniel that Jesus was conceived on March 25 and He was born on December 25th. Irenaeus, student of Polycarp who was a direct student of the Disciple John, wrote Against Heresies in 175-185 AD, which established the date of John the Baptist’s conception at September 25th, his birth in June 25th, which made Jesus’ conception on March 25th, and His birth on December 25th.

The earliest record of this is that Pope Saint Telesphorus (reigned A.D. 126-137) instituted the tradition of Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. Although the Liber Pontificalis does not give us the date of Christmas, it assumes that the Pope was already celebrating Christmas and that a Mass at midnight was added. During this time, we also read the following words of Theophilus (A.D. 115-181), Catholic bishop of Caesarea in Palestine: “We ought to celebrate the birthday of Our Lord on what day soever the 25th of December shall happen. Shortly thereafter in the second century, Saint Hippolytus (A.D. 170-240) wrote in passing that the birth of Christ occurred on December 25.”[1a]

So, the references to the date go way back but why that date. Biblically speaking: why? After the building of the second temple, there began a feast. We know that feast today as Hannukah, which is the Hebrew word for Dedication. Hannukah (the first day is called the Feast of Dedications in the Bible) lands on the 25th of the Jewish month of Kislev. Since the Jewish calendar is different than the Roman calendar, there is a strange thing that happens. Every so many years, Kislev 25th and December 25th line up. This happened in 4 BC. So, what is the significance?

Jesus came to bring a new covenant and to complete the old Law.

^{Galatians 3:26} For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.²⁷ For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.²⁹ And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

1 Corinthians 12:¹² For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.¹³ For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.¹⁴ For the body is not one member, but many.

You see, Jesus came to erase the nations and create a new church, called the Body of Christ. Jesus has become the third temple, which is a spiritual temple, instead of a physical temple as the first and second were.

John 2:¹⁹ Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.²⁰ Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?²¹ But he spake of the temple of his body.

By being born on Kislev 25th and December 25th, in 4BC, Jesus was born on the day of the dedication of the temple. This united both the Jew and Greek, symbolizing His sacrifice for all.   Remember, the second prophecy of the coming Messiah was to bless the world (Gen. 22:18) and all the nations. Jesus was fulfilling prophecy through the very day of His birth.

Part 2: Why the celebration? Why the tree?

Christmas, originally called Christ Mass, has a unique set of decorations that are used. These decorations are direct representations of the second temple of Solomon, as commanded by God. We find the basic layout of our dedication in 2 Chronicles:

2 Chronicles 3:³ Now these are the things wherein Solomon was instructed for the building of the house of God. The length by cubits after the first measure was threescore cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits.

2 Chronicles 3:⁵ And the greater house he cieled with fir tree, which he overlaid with fine gold, and set thereon palm trees and chains.⁶ And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty: and the gold was gold of Parvaim.⁷ He overlaid also the house, the beams, the posts, and the walls thereof, and the doors thereof, with gold; and graved cherubim on the walls.⁸ And he made the most holy house, the length whereof was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits: and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents.⁹ And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold.

The tree we have is a representation of the temple. Two types of trees have been used historically: fir and palm, because both were used in the temple. The ornaments we have are to represent the precious stones and their colors while the tinsel of gold and silver represent the chains. Lastly we have the angel that sits atop the tree, which is a representation of the golden cherubim, which is sometimes traded for the star of Bethlehem.

The holy day includes several things that are also representations of Jesus’ birth: Gifts are exchanged because the wise men brought gifts. The feast is there because the day is the Feast of Dedications. The day begins on the 24th (Christmas eve) because the Jewish day begins at sundown and ends at sundown. All of these things have significance and are representations. One thing to note: many of these traditions were also present in the original Hannukah (Feast of Dedications), if it were unholy in any way, why did Jesus celebrate it in John 10:22?

Part 3: Jolly ol’ Saint Nick

Santa, also called Saint Nick and Kris Kringle, is a hodgepodge of several things all thrown into one, mostly done in the last two hundred years. Santa is one of the few aspects of Christmas that has been mixed with other Pagan cultures, where Christmas itself is the other way around.

The first person Santa represents is Saint Nikolas (referred by the Dutch as Sinterklaas). Saint Nicholas, also called Nikolaos of Myra, was a historic 4th-century Christian saint and Greek Bishop of Myra, in Asia Minor. Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker. Saint Nicholas was well known to give gifts, especially to poor children.[2] Saint Nicolas Day was celebrated on December 6th but due to wanting to reduce the amount of holidays workers could take off from work, the official day was moved to December 25th along with the first day of Hannukah and Christmas.

Because European governments made Christmas an official holiday, many non-Christians and Jewish Kabbalists wanted to focus the celebration away from Jesus and commercialize it for their own profit. They eventually began to work on Saint Nikolas and include the second person Santa represents: Odin. Odin comes from the north on a flying sleigh, because he rules the realm of the Elves, he has them with him as slaves and builders. Odin was believed to come at the winter solstice, also called Yule, which is between December 17 through December 22. So, in a commercial campaign, Saint Nicolas was rebranded into a half Saint, half Odin commercial product we call Santa Claus today.

Of course, this does not mean honoring Saint Nicolas is now Pagan. It merely means people need to not celebrate the Pagan portions and commercialization that has been incorporated by non-Christians. Christmas, however, should always be about Jesus.

Part 4: The Puritans and the Protestants

After separating from the Catholic Church, a Protestant church known as the Puritans began. They believed that everything enjoyable was Satanic, so even went so far as to sharpen spikes on their pews so that people could not sit in church comfortably. They began a fight against Christmas, not because of Pagan origins but for three distinct reasons: People feasted, dressed nicely, and exchanged gifts.

You will notice the reasons listed are not “Pagan origins”. This began a slippery slope of people trying to find reasons to get away from Christmas, especially since it was a holiday that the Catholic Church practiced and they were viewed negatively by those who had escaped them. In the 18th century, two scholars emerged who would rewrite history and associate Christmas with Pagan holidays.

The idea that the celebration of Christmas originated from Pagan origin comes from two 18th century scholars. The first was a German Protestant named Paul Ernst Jablonski. He was the one who first put forward the notion that the celebration of December 25th was one of the many Pagan influences of the Church of Rome (Catholicism) on Christianity. The second was a Catholic Benedictine monk named Dom Jean Hardouin who, in response to Jablonski, tried to show that while the Church may have adopted a pagan celebration of December 25th, it did so without compromising the integrity of the gospel. Both men were wrong. Jablonski erred in his theory that the Pagan December 25 pre-dated Christian celebrations, and Hardouin erred in assuming Jablonski’s date assumption was correct in the first place. From these two catastrophic errors, the whole modern world has come to believe that Christmas was originally a Pagan celebration co-opted by the medieval Church.[3]

To understand the events that happened after Jesus, we have to look into the reaction of the governments around Him at that time. To see what was going on, we have to look no further than the supposed god Mithra.

Encyclopedia Britannica:

“There is little notice of the Persian god [Mithra] in the Roman world until the beginning of the 2nd century, but, from the year AD 136 onward, there are hundreds of dedicatory inscriptions to Mithra. This renewal of interest is not easily explained. The most plausible hypothesis seems to be that Roman Mithraism was practically a new creation, wrought by a religious genius who may have lived as late as c. AD 100 and who gave the old traditional Persian ceremonies a new Platonic interpretation that enabled Mithraism to become acceptable to the Roman world”[4]

The Roman Empire wanted to calm the early Christian movement and Jewish movements at the time by faking a Messiah of their own. They invented Mithra and put him on the day of Jesus’ birth. This was common throughout the time. Several Pagan religions began to bend and twist their gods into a version that had some similarities to Jesus. That is only the beginning of the problem though…

Part 5: Hebrew Roots, Kabbalism, and the fight to make everything Pagan

Now that there was a movement against Christian holidays, another group also took hold of it: The new Hebrew Roots Movement. The HRM was created by Ashkenazic Jews, who were Jewish by religion and Khazar by blood, who began to reform and remake the ancient Jewish language. This new version of the Hebrew language is very different from the original, especially since it had been a dead language for 1700 years and ancient Hebrew didn’t write vowels down, yet used vowel sounds. This led to complete control over the ancient scriptures and an opportunity to rewrite the past as they saw fit. They also believed that all Christians were evil, and thus were commanded to lie to them:

In Babha Kama (113b) it says:

“It is permitted to deceive a Goi (non-Jew).”

In Iore Dea (157,2 Hagah) it says:

“If a Jew is able to deceive them [idolaters/Christians] by pretending he is a worshiper of the stars, he may do so.”

In Zohar (I, 160a) it says:

“Rabbi Jehuda said to him [Rabbi Chezkia]: ‘He is to be praised who is able to free himself from the enemies of Israel, and the just are much to be praised who get free from them and fight against them.’ Rabbi Chezkia asked, ‘How must we fight against them?’ Rabbi Jehuda said, ‘By wise counsel thou shalt war against them‘ (Proverbs, ch. 24, 6). By what kind of war? The kind of war that every son of man must fight against his enemies, which Jacob used against Esau—by deceit and trickery whenever possible. They must be fought against without ceasing, until proper order be restored. Thus it is with satisfaction that I say we should free ourselves from them and rule over them.”

This led to an entirely new movement: the association movement. This movement used the popularity of the Puritan movement to claim something that had never been claimed before. Their new claim was that Christmas was actually a hodgepodge mix of several Pagan religions that predated Christianity. Using the influence of new media sources and advertising, they began to purposefully mix Christmas with other religions and then claim the mixture proved Christmas was modeled after these events. However, there are several issues with these views. The most obvious is that they simply are not true.

Slowly, through the years these lies began to grow and be taught as truth until its culmination in the Kabbalist film Zeitgeist, which was funded by the UN and Israel as an Anti-Christian documentary. The film attempts to make associations through omission, logical fallacies, and lies. For example: the correlation between son and sun are used to show Christianity as sun worship yet they fail to mention (a lie by omission) that the English version wasn’t made until the 16th century. The original mention of the Son of God is in the Old Testament, written in Hebrew as ben and shemesh, which clearly have no sound in common.

Zeitgeist was an internet success and caused many Christians to believe that holding on to traditional Christian beliefs and holidays was a Pagan practice created by the Catholic Church. A comical yet very accurate video of these allegations is seen here:

Pagan holidays that landed on the Winter Solstice were said to be on December 25th, even though the winter solstice is on the 17-22 depending on the calendar. Mithra, who was born from a rock and Horus, son of the whore god Isis, were said to have been born of virgins. Mithra, being created after Jesus was already given the birthday of December 25th and Horus was rewritten to be given that birthday as well, even though there is no historical evidence of his birth date. Nimrod was also included in the list of “idols” born and worshiped on December 25th.

They even have gone so far as to claim that Sol Invictus, celebrated on the winter solstice, is the same because it is called the birthday of the unconquered sun. The lie by omission is that sun and son are not similar in Hebrew (ben/shemesh) and in Greek (helios/hyiós). English was not spoken or written back then, so there is no correlation of English words that sound similar.

Part 6: Scriptural twisting

With several anti-Christian movements existing, it was only a matter of time before the Scriptures themselves were twisted to say things they do not. A prime example of this is in Jeremiah 10:

Jeremiah 10:³ For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.⁴ They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.⁵ They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.

Now, on the surface this appears to be an anti-Christmas tree Scripture. However, if this were true, God commanded Solomon to cut a tree down from the forest, deck it with silver and gold, and fasten it with nails in 2 Chronicles chapter 3, meaning God was practicing Pagan rituals. However, this scripture is referencing CARVING a tree into an idol to worship. The Christmas tree is not carved into an idol, nor is it worshiped. To further prove this scripture is not referencing Christmas trees, we see the same exact reference to making idols out of metals is Isaiah.

Isaiah 44:12 A blacksmith works with his tool and forges metal over the coals. He forms it with hammers; he makes it with his strong arm. He gets hungry and loses his energy; he drinks no water and gets tired. 13 A carpenter takes measurements; he marks out an outline of its form; he scrapes it with chisels, and marks it with a compass. He patterns it after a man, like a well-built man, and puts it in a shrine. 14 He cuts down cedars and acquires a cypress or an oak. He gets trees from the forest; he plants a cedar and the rain makes it grow. 15 A man uses it to make a fire; he takes some of it and warms himself. Yes, he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Then he makes a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it. 16 Half of it he burns in the fire— over that half he eats meat; he roasts a meal and fills himself. Yes, he warms himself and says, ‘Ah! I am warm as I look at the fire.’ 17 With the rest of it he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships it. He prays to it, saying, ‘Rescue me, for you are my god.’ 18 They do not comprehend or understand, for their eyes are blind and cannot see; their minds do not discern. 19 No one thinks to himself, nor do they comprehend or understand and say to themselves: ‘I burned half of it in the fire— yes, I baked bread over the coals; I roasted meat and ate it. With the rest of it should I make a disgusting idol? Should I bow down to dry wood?’ 20 He feeds on ashes; his deceived mind misleads him. He cannot rescue himself, nor does he say, ‘Is this not a false god I hold in my right hand?’ 21 Remember these things, O Jacob, O Israel, for you are my servant. I formed you to be my servant; O Israel, do not forget me. 22 I remove the guilt of your rebellious deeds as if they were a cloud, the guilt of your sins as if they were a cloud. Come back to me, for I protect you.” 23 Shout for joy, O sky, for the Lord intervenes; shout out, you subterranean regions of the earth. O mountains, give a joyful shout; you too, O forest and all your trees! For the Lord protects Jacob; he reveals his splendor through Israel. 24 This is what the Lord, your protector, says, the one who formed you in the womb: “I am the Lord, who made everything, who alone stretched out the sky, who fashioned the earth all by myself, 25 who frustrates the omens of the seers and humiliates the omen readers, who overturns the counsel of the wise men and makes their advice seem foolish, 26 who fulfills the oracles of his prophetic servants and brings to pass the announcements of his messengers, who says about Jerusalem, ‘She will be inhabited,’ and about the towns of Judah, ‘They will be rebuilt, her ruins I will raise up,’ 27 who says to the deep sea, ‘Be dry, I will dry up your sea currents,’ 28 who commissions Cyrus, the one I appointed as shepherd to carry out all my wishes and to decree concerning Jerusalem, ‘She will be rebuilt,’ and concerning the temple, ‘It will be reconstructed.’”

The two references are clearly to idols, crafted and decorated into the image of a “god” to worship. The reference cannot mean as they say or the commandment from God is a sin in 2 Chronicles and God does not sin nor break His own rules.

Part 7: Countering A Common Misconception

“Objection: Christ could not have been born in December since Saint Luke describes shepherds herding in the neighboring fields of Bethlehem. Shepherds do not herd during the winter. Thus, Christ was not born in winter.”

     “Reply to Objection: Recall that Palestine is not England, Russia, or Alaska. Bethlehem is situated at the latitude of 31.7. As the great Cornelius a Lapide remarks during his lifetime, one could still see shepherds and sheep in the fields of Italy during late December, and Italy is at higher latitude than Bethlehem.”

Now we move on to establishing the birthday of Christ from Sacred Scripture in two steps. The first step is to use Scripture to determine the birthday of Saint John the Baptist. The next step is using Saint John the Baptist’s birthday as the key for finding Christ’s birthday. We can discover that Christ was born in late December by observing first the time of year in which Saint Luke describes Saint Zacharias in the temple. This provides us with the approximate conception date of Saint John the Baptist. From there we can follow the chronology that Saint Luke gives, and that lands us at the end of December.

Saint Luke reports that Zacharias served in the “course of Abias” (Lk 1:5) which Scripture records as the eighth course among the twenty-four priestly courses (Neh 12:17). Each shift of priests served one week in the temple for two times each year. The course of Abias served during the eighth week and the thirty-second week in the annual cycle.[ii]However, when did the cycle of courses begin?

Josef Heinrich Friedlieb has convincingly established that the first priestly course of Jojarib was on duty during the destruction of Jerusalem on the ninth day of the Jewish month of Av.[iii]Thus the priestly course of Jojarib was on duty during the second week of Av. Consequently, the priestly course of Abias (the course of Saint Zacharias) was undoubtedly serving during the second week of the Jewish month of Tishri—the very week of the Day of Atonement on the tenth day of Tishri. In our calendar, the Day of Atonement would land anywhere from September 22 to October 8.

Zacharias and Elizabeth conceived John the Baptist immediately after Zacharias served his course. This entails that Saint John the Baptist would have been conceived somewhere around the end of September, placing John’s birth at the end of June, confirming the Catholic Church’s celebration of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist on June 24.

The second-century Protoevangelium of Saint James also confirms a late September conception of the Baptist since the work depicts Saint Zacharias as High Priest and as entering the Holy of Holies—not merely the holy place with the altar of incense. This is a factual mistake because Zacharias was not the high priest, but one of the chief priests.[iv]Still, the Protoevangelium regards Zacharias as a high priest and this associates him with the Day of Atonement, which lands on the tenth day of the Hebrew month of Tishri (roughly the end of our September). Immediately after this entry into the temple and message of the Archangel Gabriel, Zacharias and Elizabeth conceive John the Baptist. Allowing for forty weeks of gestation, this places the birth of John the Baptist at the end of June—once again confirming the Catholic date for the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist on June 24.

The rest of the dating is rather simple. We read that just after the Immaculate Virgin Mary conceived Christ, she went to visit her cousin Elizabeth who was six months pregnant with John the Baptist. This means that John the Baptist was six months older that our Lord Jesus Christ (Lk 1:24-27, 36). If you add six months to June 24 you get December 24-25 as the birthday of Christ. Then, if you subtract nine months from December 25 you get that the Annunciation was March 25. All the dates match up perfectly. So then, if John the Baptist was conceived shortly after the Jewish Day of the Atonement, then the traditional Catholic dates are essentially correct. The birth of Christ would be about or on December 25.[1a]

*1: http://www.traditioninaction.org/religious/e031rp_PaganOrigins.html
*1a: http://taylormarshall.com/2012/12/yes-christ-was-really-born-on-december.html
*2: http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=371
*3: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2971709/posts?page=70
*4: Encyclopedia Britannica – Article entry: Mithraism 2004 edition