[NYer]

Ultimately ... it matters not.

[silverleaf]

thanks-very interesting

[Bluegrass Conservative]

Interesting theories. But I’d say it’s just as likely that Christians set the date to piss off the pagans.

[D-fendr]

Mostly it matters to those who call Christians pagan for celebrating it.

[ml/nj]

Scratch #1.

Rosh Hashannah is associated with the "Birthday of the World." It is supposed to coincide with the day on which G-d created Adam. Rosh Hashannah occurs in the fall, never close to March 25.

BTW, my non-Christian understanding is that the early Christians chose the date to coincide with the Roman Saturnalia so that their celebration would not be particularly conspicuous.

ML/NJ

[annalex]

People who tell you eastern Christians celebrate it in January are confused by (a) the Epiphany or (b) use of the Julian calendar!

Yes. The dispute with the East is not about the date of Christmas, but which calendar to use. According to the Julian calendar which the Orthodox use to this day for liturgical purposes, the date of December 25 is on Gregorian January 7. Prior to the synchronization of the calendar with the Catholic West in 1917, any Russian would tell you that he is celebrating Christmas on December 25, and you Westerners just don't know when December 25 is.

[A. Patriot]

April 17th

[Straight Vermonter]

I always found it interesting that Luke 2:8 gives us “Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock.”

Sheep were typically penned up at night or driven into caves. In the spring, however, the shepherds kept them out in the fields because they were birthing lambs (don’t forget Jesus was the “lamb of God).

So unless it was springtime the shepherds would have been home in bed rather than watching over their sheep.

[AD from SpringBay]

I wonder why the Apostles never celebrated Christ’s birth? And if they did, I wonder why such celebrations are not in the Bible?

[Uri’el-2012]

Biblical Dates for the Birth of Yochanan the Immerser and for the Conception and Birth of Yeshua HaMashiach

shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach Adonai

[GonzoII]

“Ultimately ... it matters not.”

---

Yeah, that's right, thanks for the great pic though.

[TASMANIANRED]

Of course they asked Mary.

[Zionist Conspirator]

Jewish thought had placed the date of creation on March 25th

No hostility intended, but this is not true. The Creation season (Ro'sh HaShanah and the week prior) comes in the fall, not the spring.

[GunRunner]

Mithraism was very popular in the Roman Empire right around the same time as Christianity was gaining ground. Mithras was said to also have been born of a virgin (or in some traditions straight from a solid rock) on December 25th, which was the winter solstice on the Julian calendar.

Celebrations of the winter solstice far predate Christianity.