![]() 17, but by the time of Cicero (first century B.C.) it lasted three or even seven days. According to the agricultural writer Columella, it was officially celebrated on Dec. Just like Christmas today, it was part religious festival and part opportunity to skip work and drink too much. Some of that feels familiar.įinally, there’s Saturnalia, the agricultural festival honoring the god Saturn. Eric Vanden Eykel, author of the new book The Magi, told me, the winter solstice “was broadly understood in the Roman world to have cosmological significance.” It was observed by a variety of ancient groups including the Druids, who (according to Pliny) marked the day by sacrificing bulls and gathering mistletoe. The event was cross-cultural: whether you were at Stonehenge or the Pantheon, anyone interested in time, the seasons, and the cosmos saw the solstice as a special event. 21, but Roman authors like Pliny the Elder placed it on Dec. This year, you probably noticed, the shortest day of the year was Dec. It’s a coincidence, but one that probably worked to the advantage of early Christians. Because Christians had begun observing Christmas in December in the early third century, the two celebrations seem to be independent. ![]() ![]() Aurelian dedicated a new temple to Sol Invictus and founded what Henry calls the “Sol Olympics.” But before this point Sol Invictus was a bit-player in the Roman pantheon. It was only in 274, after the Emperor Aurelian credited Sol Invictus with assisting him in battle, that resources were dedicated to the god’s cult. Andrew Henry ( explains that Sol Invictus only became popular during the later third century. On his TikTok channel, popular religion YouTuber and scholar Dr. It's unlikely, primarily because the chronology is a bit off. ![]() 1171), who celebrated Jesus’ birth on Epiphany, wrote “The reasons for which the Fathers transferred the said solemnity from the sixth of January to December 25 is… it was the custom of the pagans to celebrate on this same day … the feast of the birth of the sun.” As an Eastern Christian who celebrated the Nativity and Epiphany in January, Jacob had a clear motive for undermining the December date, but was he right? A Sun God and the Son of God shared a birthday? What are the chances?įrom the medieval period onwards, people have speculated that Dec. Sol Invictus was one of several “sun gods” that were worshipped in the Roman Empire, and according to an ancient calendar known as the Chronograph of A.D. Perhaps the most superficially similar festival is the birthday of Sol Invictus (the “Unconquered Sun,” also known as Helios). If celebration of Christ’s birth is based on a pre-existing festival, then there are at least three prime candidates: the birthday of the ancient Sun God (Sol Invictus), the Roman festival of Saturnalia which takes place around this time, and the widely celebrated Winter Solstice. All of which leads many to ask: did Christians steal a pagan holiday? There are no fewer than three different ancient pagan festivals around this time of year, and many people claim that Christians scheduled Christmas to erase and monopolize the season. Perform even the most cursory of online searches and you’ll be confronted by a wealth of conspiracy theories about the origins of Christmas. But a careful reader of the infancy stories will note that the Bible never mentions the date of Jesus’ birth. It’s that time of year when families get together, we put trees in our living room, and we exchange gifts in honor of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.
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