Why do we celebrate Jesus’ birth on 25 December, and why do we exchange gifts, and when did it become the behemoth it now is.
CHRISTIANS AROUND THE world are preparing to celebrate the birth of Jesus and exchanging gifts to mark the occasion.
Upon arrival, Mary and Joseph can find no place to stay, but eventually find refuge in a stable, where she gives birth to Jesus. He explains: “In the early fourth century, the Emperor Constantine becomes much more positive about Christianity. One of these public festivities was Saturnalia, an ancient festival in honour of the Roman god Saturn.
“Mithra was born apparently, as an infant, on 25 December and that was a really sacred holiday for many Romans. “We’re used to knowing so much about people, we’ve grown up with tabloid journalism. But the sort of stuff that excites us in trying to trying to work out who he was and where he was, this is stuff that didn’t concern them.”Pierce says there was a “big change” around the end of fifth century.“Those who aren’t Christians are going to find life awkward from now on and Christians are going to take over the running out of the calendars.
“They were saying, ‘there is no date mentioned, therefore we can’t observe it, whereas Easter has some sort of date’.”He was said to be crucified on the Day of Preparation for the Passover, which allows Biblical scholars to give a precise date for this event, often cited as 3 April, AD 33.“The kind of Christmas we have now is very much a Victorian thing,” says Pierce.
“This was an important thing because the workers’ conditions were abysmal. So to actually be sure of getting a day off, it gave people a centre to be enthusiastic about it. “He brought this German custom of bringing an evergreen tree in to the house in the middle of winter.” “Take a look into any stables at the time, this was a pretty shitty place and it’s not exactly the place where you’d be choosing to enter the world.”
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