Who’s Birthday Is December 25th?
Who’s birthday is December 25th? This “birthday celebration” was around for thousands of years before Jesus was ever born. It was a celebration of Nimrod, Tammuz, Dionysus, Bacchus, Saturn, Mithra, Sol Invictus, and various other Pagan gods. All of these Pagan gods were said to have been born (or reborn) at the Winter Solstice. Today this winter solstice festival is still celebrated by Wiccans and Neopagans as the festival of “Yule”.
Yule (where we get the Yule log, Yule ham, and Yule tide greetings) was a Germanic Pagan celebration of the god Odin (father of Thor). They eat roasted pork in honor of Odin, the god of the hunt. This is where most people say our modern “Christmas Ham” comes from.
Saturnalia, was celebrated approximately 200 years before Jesus was born. This December 25th celebration was in honor of the Pagan god Saturn. This festival was celebrated earlier as “Brumalia” in honor of the Pagan god Bacchus, and also celebrated as “Lenaia” or “Dionysia” in honor of the Greek god Dionysus. The Persians celebrated it as the birth of their sun god, Mithra. And the Romans under Constantine celebrated it as the birthday of their sun god, Sol Invictus. All of these celebrations took place on December 25th. All of these celebrations were in honor of the “birth” of pagan gods.
The Bible tells us that Jesus was born in a warm month, when the Shepherds had their flocks out at night. This would put his birth sometime between September and October (not the end of December). Also, the Bible never tells us to celebrate the birthday of Jesus, and for nearly 300 years no one celebrated His birthday.
So, why did we start celebrating the birthday of Jesus on December 25th? The Pagan Emperor, Constantine, decided that it would be beneficial for his Kingdom if he merged Christianity with the Pagan religion of Sol Invictus. All of the former cathedrals and places of worship of Sol Invictus were renamed with “Christian” names, and became official catholic churches. All of the Pagan celebrations were renamed with “christian”names, but many of their practices and traditions remained unchanged. This political move of Constantine was very beneficial for expanding his Empire, but it was devastating to the Church.
For nearly 300 years (longer than the US has been a country) Christians still celebrated Sabbath, Passover, and the other Biblical Festivals that God gave us. Until Constantine declared them illegal. He outlawed Sabbath worship, he declared that Easter would be celebrated instead of Passover, and he established December 25th as the celebration of the birth of Jesus.
The fact is, if Constantine hadn’t outlawed these Biblical Holidays upon penalty of death, we would probably still be celebrating them today throughout the church.
Our family is returning to God’s calendar and we are removing anything that Jesus wouldn’t have celebrated himself. In John 10:22 we find Him in the temple for the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah). We have also found an interesting quote in Jeremiah 10 that sounds very familiar:
Hear what the Lord says to you, O house of Israel. 2) This is what the Lord says:“Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them.3) For the customs of the peoples are worthless;they cut a tree out of the forest,and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.4) They adorn it with silver and gold;they fasten it with hammer and nailsso it will not totter.”~ (Jeremiah 10:1-4)
For more detailed information, this video has been the best one stop source I’ve come across, but also tested the findings through many other resources:
Excerpt Source: UNLEARN
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