Why Christmas is celebrated The origin, the date... everything has a reason!

Western societies, more and more secular, conserve customs and traditions intimately related to the religion that has constituted one of the axes that has formed them. Although states declare themselves non-denominational, Christianity marks the calendar of most European and American countries. There are many questions we ask about these celebrations and in Supercurioso we want to answer some of them such as Why Christmas is celebrated, the origin, the date... everything has a reason! Join us in finding out!

Christmas is one of the most eagerly awaited seasons of the year. Families gather, gifts rain and the world seems to be tinged with a mantle of "goodwill". In addition, as it coincides with the entry of the New Year, the purposes for the future are multiplied. How about doing a little more research on why Christmas is celebrated ?

Find out why Christmas is celebrated. Origin, date...

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Why Christmas is celebrated

Why Christmas is celebrated

Christmas commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ. The Jews awaited the arrival of a savior who would seal the covenant between God and men. For Christians, this savior is Jesus and his birth is basic to all the events that unfolded afterwards. Christmas is celebrated as a manifestation of the joy of Christians in the face of this event. According to the New Testament, the angel proclaimed the "Good News" which would cause "great joy" and therefore Christmas is celebrated in a universal and joyful way.

Curiously, Christmas was not included in the lists of Christian festivities made by Irenaeus of Lyon or by Tertullian, which are the oldest known and date back to the second and third centuries. It wasn't until the 4th century that it officially began to be celebrated.

Origin of the celebration of Christmas

The first recorded mention of an interest in Jesus' date of birth is found in Alexandria, about 200 A.D., but the first time it was celebrated was, according to most sources, during the reign of Emperor Constantine, on December 25, 336. . However, it was not until a few years later, with Pope Julius I, that December 25 was proposed as the official date and in the year 354, Pope Liberius decreed it so.

Choosing the date

The choice of December 25 as the date of birth is uncertain and varies according to the authors you consult. For some, it corresponds to the time of year in which they were celebrated in Rome the saturnals and for the Romans who converted it was easy to replace one party with another. It is also believed that Christianity replaced the winter solstice celebrations with the birth of Christ, covering up a pagan feast with a Christian one or that it came to replace the celebrations of the "Sol invictus" as we saw in the article in Supercurioso: The origin of December 25th, the birth of "Sol Invictus". .

Why Christmas is celebrated 1

Finally, some historians affirm that the choice of this date comes from a complicated calculation based on Luke's data on the conception and birth of St. John the Baptist, which was approximately 6 months before that of Jesus, the pregnancy of the Virgin Mary and the nine months of gestation. All those calculations give the date of December 25.

Is December 25th celebrated all over the world?

Not all Christian churches celebrate Christmas on the same date. Why Christmas is celebrated on other dates in some orthodox churches such as the Russian one or the one in Jerusalem has to do with the change of calendar. These communities did not accept the reform of the Julian calendar that gave way to the Gregorian calendar. That makes him celebrate on January 7th.

Do all Christians celebrate Christmas?

Not all Christians celebrate Christmas. Already during the Protestant Reformation, in many places it was forbidden to celebrate Christmas, which they called a "papist trap". However, years later, due to popular pressure, the festivity was imposed again.

Why Christmas is celebrated 2

Today, the Catholic Church, Orthodox and Protestant churches all celebrate Christmas. Only some Baptist churches and others para-protestant churches, such as Jehovah's Witnesses, do not do so because they consider that it is not written in the Bible.

Why are red and green the colors of Christmas?

Surely if they ask you what the colors of Christmas are, you will answer that red and green, and you will not make a mistake. This choice of colors has an explanation related to why Christmas is celebrated. Red symbolises the blood of Christ and green symbolises hope, renewal and life, not only as regards Jesus' coming into the world, but also as a future perspective for winter, the season in which we celebrate Christmas.

Do you know why Christmas is celebrated Did you know the possible reasons for setting December 25 as the date? If you have been interested in this article and you are interested in everything related to Christmas, we suggest you read the post: 7 bewildering facts about Christmas that you didn't know about .


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