The Solar Origin of Christmas (The Celebration That Preceded Christ)

Christmas is one of the most widely known festivities in the entire world, and one of the most important traditions of Christianity. It commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ in the city of Bethlehem, Jerusalem. This celebration takes place on the 25th of December of each Gregorian year. The Catholic Church, Anglican Church, and many Protestant and Orthodox communities have observed these festivities since the beginning of the Christian era. However, in some Russian and Hebrew Orthodox churches, it is celebrated on the 7th of January, as they did not adopt the reform of the Julian calendar in favour of the Gregorian. Etymologically, the word Christmas is found in the latin Nativitas which means birth. The English speakers have called this period Christmas: Christ would be for the Christ –Jesus-, while –mas, would come from the english mass. Christmas would come to mean the mass of Christ –or the ceremony of Christ-. Thus, celebrating Christmas would mean celebrating the birth of Christ for the majority of Christians.

The season begins with a period known as Christmastide, which concludes with the Epiphany of the Lord, also known as the baptism of the Lord -from that moment, Jesus would begin his path to make himself known-. Yet the 25th of December, that is, the time of the winter solstice, is not exclusive to Christian churches. This period was originally a pagan celebration. In Roman times, for example, the 25th of December marked the festival of Natalis Solis Invicti, that is, the day of the unconquered sun, which actually corresponded to the 21st or 22nd of December in the Gregorian calendar. From this tradition, the Christian Church, in its intention to unify religious peoples, adopted this date as the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, born of a virgin. The day of the unconquered sun formed part of a festive period of approximately fourteen days, beginning on the 17th of December and ending on the 31st at midnight. This festive period was known as the Saturnalia. This tradition dates back to the reign of Romulus, founder and first king of Rome, and was dedicated to the god Saturn, god of agriculture -the one who understands the cycles of the sun and predicts the harvests-, light of candles and torches, father of Jupiter and other gods of the Olympian pantheon.

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Natalis Solis Invicti (When the Sun Returned)