Well, there are lots of midwinter festivals - just to pick Roman ones, for it was the Romans who chose the date, there is Saturnalia on 17th December, Sol Invictus on the solstice and the New Year on January 1.
But the predominant pagan midwinter festival in the second and third century, in the period when Christianity was taking off, was Sol Invictus, which was on December 25, the winter solstice. So that was the date chosen for Christmas.
Hold on... but the solstice is on the 21st, isn't it?
It is *now*, yes. The Julian Calendar was designed by the astronomer Sosigenes (of Alexandria) and implemented in (what we now call) 45 BC. In its original form, the solstices and equinoxes were on the 26th of the relevant months. Note that this was a mistake by Sosigenes - the intended solstice and equinox days were Jan 1, Apr 1, Jul 1, Oct 1, so the Kalends of Julius would be Midsummer. Ptolemy pointed out the correction in the first century AD (by which point they had drifted to the 25th) and the date of the festival of Sol Invictus was set based on Ptolemy's calculations.
By the time that the Christian calendar was being set - at the Council of Nicaea in 325AD - the Spring Equinox was now on 21 March, so the Easter calculation ("the Alexandrian computus") was set on that basis. When, in 1582, Pope Gregory, using the work of the astonomers Aloysius Lilius and Christopher Clavius, finally reformed the calendar to get rid of the drift, he dropped ten days from the calendar and this corrected the drift between 325AD and 1582AD, not all the way back to 45BC, meaning our calendar is still five days off from the actual calendar Sosigenes devised and six more from his intended calendar.
This is why we have two midwinter festivals, neither of which is on the actual date of midwinter.
I recently heard, on BBC Radio 4, that the reason for the 1914 football match was that the trenches on both sides suffered rapid flooding, forcing the soldiers to abandon them.
Thanks for your comprehensive and humorous notes and updates about Christmas. Enjoyed them very much especially your linking of It's a Wonderful Life with A Christmas Carol - which I vaguely seem to have made myself some time ago with the scenes in the graveyards in "Carol" and "Life".
In 2003 my ex-wife and I were on holiday in Upstate NY. By chance we discovered Seneca Falls which was the birthplace of the American Womens' movement in 1848. This pleased my strongly feminist wife greatly. However, we were both enchanted to discover a cafe called Baileys where we found out that the town was the model for Bedford Falls in IAWL. Frank Capra often passed through it apparently.
May I recommend watching the 1991 BBC feature "Bernard & The Genie" as a superb Christmas tradition.
Lastly, I used to be a massive fan of CS Lewis when I danced around the Christian maypole in an earlier incarnation (forgive the mixed metaphor!). In his collection of writings called "Undeceptions" he wrote a great little piece contrasting the commercial enterprise of "Exmas" with the Christian celebration of Christ-mas. Worth a read. Cheers!
Superb article and George Michael has shot il in my estimation - never mind that I’m basically an old rocker, as a human being he actually rocked and did something with those 53 years. We should all aspire to that. Happy Christmas, all.
I appreciate the humour but the facts are terrible. Santa is a Spirit, even my infant children accepted this by the age of 5. The idea of coming down the chimney arises from Scandinavia where it was too cold to have a door so an opening in the roof was used for entry and exit. It is amazing that Christianity has lasted nearly two thousand years when its origins and beliefs are so impossible to take seriously.
Why is Christmas specifically on December 25?
Well, there are lots of midwinter festivals - just to pick Roman ones, for it was the Romans who chose the date, there is Saturnalia on 17th December, Sol Invictus on the solstice and the New Year on January 1.
But the predominant pagan midwinter festival in the second and third century, in the period when Christianity was taking off, was Sol Invictus, which was on December 25, the winter solstice. So that was the date chosen for Christmas.
Hold on... but the solstice is on the 21st, isn't it?
It is *now*, yes. The Julian Calendar was designed by the astronomer Sosigenes (of Alexandria) and implemented in (what we now call) 45 BC. In its original form, the solstices and equinoxes were on the 26th of the relevant months. Note that this was a mistake by Sosigenes - the intended solstice and equinox days were Jan 1, Apr 1, Jul 1, Oct 1, so the Kalends of Julius would be Midsummer. Ptolemy pointed out the correction in the first century AD (by which point they had drifted to the 25th) and the date of the festival of Sol Invictus was set based on Ptolemy's calculations.
By the time that the Christian calendar was being set - at the Council of Nicaea in 325AD - the Spring Equinox was now on 21 March, so the Easter calculation ("the Alexandrian computus") was set on that basis. When, in 1582, Pope Gregory, using the work of the astonomers Aloysius Lilius and Christopher Clavius, finally reformed the calendar to get rid of the drift, he dropped ten days from the calendar and this corrected the drift between 325AD and 1582AD, not all the way back to 45BC, meaning our calendar is still five days off from the actual calendar Sosigenes devised and six more from his intended calendar.
This is why we have two midwinter festivals, neither of which is on the actual date of midwinter.
I recently heard, on BBC Radio 4, that the reason for the 1914 football match was that the trenches on both sides suffered rapid flooding, forcing the soldiers to abandon them.
Thanks for your comprehensive and humorous notes and updates about Christmas. Enjoyed them very much especially your linking of It's a Wonderful Life with A Christmas Carol - which I vaguely seem to have made myself some time ago with the scenes in the graveyards in "Carol" and "Life".
In 2003 my ex-wife and I were on holiday in Upstate NY. By chance we discovered Seneca Falls which was the birthplace of the American Womens' movement in 1848. This pleased my strongly feminist wife greatly. However, we were both enchanted to discover a cafe called Baileys where we found out that the town was the model for Bedford Falls in IAWL. Frank Capra often passed through it apparently.
May I recommend watching the 1991 BBC feature "Bernard & The Genie" as a superb Christmas tradition.
Lastly, I used to be a massive fan of CS Lewis when I danced around the Christian maypole in an earlier incarnation (forgive the mixed metaphor!). In his collection of writings called "Undeceptions" he wrote a great little piece contrasting the commercial enterprise of "Exmas" with the Christian celebration of Christ-mas. Worth a read. Cheers!
Martin Chapple
Thanks for the newsletter! Hope you have a merry Christmas
have a lovely christmas :)
Slightly disappointed that George watched Deal or No Deal. But what a nice man he was. 🙏🎅🏽🎄
Superb article and George Michael has shot il in my estimation - never mind that I’m basically an old rocker, as a human being he actually rocked and did something with those 53 years. We should all aspire to that. Happy Christmas, all.
I appreciate the humour but the facts are terrible. Santa is a Spirit, even my infant children accepted this by the age of 5. The idea of coming down the chimney arises from Scandinavia where it was too cold to have a door so an opening in the roof was used for entry and exit. It is amazing that Christianity has lasted nearly two thousand years when its origins and beliefs are so impossible to take seriously.
Happy Christmas to you, Jonn, and best wishes for a fab 2025!
Happy Christmas!
George embodied the spirit that so many people claim to have.
What a lovey article - thank you!