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It's most commonly thought that Dec. 25 isn't his actual birthday. It was chosen for its closeness to pagan holidays to make Christianity more palatable to the local faithful.

...and it's actually the wrong year as well. If I recall they figure Jesus was born at least four years B.C.

Just some more Christians in history changing things to stamp out paganism

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They also didn't even write the first Bible till like 130 years after Jesus died.

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And the wrong month. He was born in the summer, as evidenced by the appearance of the shepherds.

You know as a Christian myself. I have never thought about it that way.

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Meh, average temps in that area of the world in late Dec are lows of 40 and highs of 60. That’s perfect weather to have sheep in a field. Not saying the timeline is correct, but that argument isn’t why

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Because Dec 25 is the end of Saturnalia, celebration of the god Saturn, in the Roman pantheon. It was adopted by the Christians because there was already a big celebration that happened every year on that day so it was easier to integrate it into their religion and make it seem like their god was being celebrated.

Tis to commemorate Jesus's first new years, he got absolutely mortal

Even 2000 years ago?

It's also the Birthday of Mithras, an Indo-Iranian god who had become popular with Roman soldiers, and just 2 days before the Birthday of the Egyptian god Osiris. Notably, both of these deities have myths involving their death and resurrection. It's also close enough to the Winter Solstice that Christians were able to syncretize the celebration of Yule/Jule as Christianity moved into Northern Europe. This celebration was often connected with Odin/Woden, who has a myth wherein he sacrificed himself to himself on the World Tree.

Some parts of the world might have changed a little but overall it takes way more than 2000 years for the world's climate to drastically change naturally

Oh yea there’s dozens of religious celebrations around winter solstice, usually celebrated sometime around Dec 20-25. Nothing revolutionary for the Christians to celebrate a major event then

And, as the shortest day/longest night of the year, it's commonly associated with death and resurrection/rebirth, so the themes fit nicely with Jesus.

And it sucks, because winter solstice is on 21st of december, which is the actual reason we celebrate christmas. Has been celebrated for thousands of years before Jesus came around. Would've been the perfect time to start the year. So make it 21st if anything.

Also winter is the rainy season here, and that's when the grass grows

Jesus is the sun, the light of our world, born in the east and the reason for the seasons

The Bible is a compilation of 66 different books. Some were written thousands of years before Jesus was on earth (the earliest were written by Moses about 1512 BCE)

The earliest book written after Jesus ( Matthew) was written circa 41 CE.

The last Bible books written were around 96-98 CE by John.

IIRC it this because in the northern hemisphere December usually tends to be at the height of winter (lack of production or active field plowing) and the longest night is the ideal setting dor a reunion in a holding protected from the elemental dangers of a harsh winter night, especially when you consider that before the development of advanced engineering then all resources would have to be pulled into one fortress since civilian homes couldnt hold that many people.

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I love the Newsradio episode where Y2K happens 4 years early because of this...

honestly it was even more confusing for the people at the time, "why is it year one again????". Very frustrating, most people thought it was the calendar vendors doing it to make more money.

The Middle East was green and wet 2000 years ago. Now it’s a desert.

A common misconception is that AD stands for After Death, meaning after the death of Christ, but it actually stands for Anno Domini, a Latin phrase that translates to "the year of our Lord". Thus, Christ was born in the year 1 AD. He died in the year 33 AD. Though his actual birthday was April 6, not December 25.

Just curious, where does April 6 come from? I've never heard that before

> Some were written thousands of years before Jesus was on earth (the earliest were written by Moses about 1512 BCE)

The old testament is believed by historians to have been written over a period of time starting a bit more than a thousand years before Jesus. Almost certainly not by Moses. Your main point stands, of course.

Bible historians have deduced that approximate date due to context clues. Not all of them agree on the exact date, but that's the average of all the estimates I've found.

Oh ok. I know I've heard it was probably spring, but I'd never heard a specific date before. I also read that we have the whole manager thing all wrong, too.

Yup that's what i said, some parts changed a lot but the planet (especially temperature-wise) is overall the same

But also a bunch of Romans converted. It wasn't to make Christmas seem legit, just convenience for the growing population of roman christians and christians through out the Roman empire.

Not all historians

No Roman converted their holiday for the convenience and pleasure of a Christian. Romans hunted Christians pretty extensively from Nero’s rule in 64 CE until 313 CE when Constantine the Great declared toleration. However, you’re other point “for the convenience of the growing population of Roman Christians” is exactly what co-opting the ceremony for Christian purposes means, as I originally said.

Solstice, Christmas, New Year's = same event + poor calendar management over several millennia