Actually the Constantine derived birthday of J.C. was based on the birthday of Mithra. The Romans celebrated Saturnalia from Dec 17th to Dec 23, exchanging gifts, and Masters served their servants (which still survives in Boxing Day traditions).
Saturn was revered as the King of G-ds before Jupiter, during the Golden Age.
Io Saturnalia!
See? I knew someone was going to bring that up! I was already typing before you posted. Read the truth in post #8.
For the life of me, I'll never understand why people feel compelled to spread that falsehood about Christmas.
Actually, No. The Jews had a tradition that prophets died either on the anniversity of their births or the anniversity of their conception. Christians, not knowing the actual date of Christi's birth, adopted this tradition.The celebration of the Nativity has been either 25 December or 6 January, depending on which date one assigns to the Crucifixion.