<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Toby Katz responded: Your question about Easter -- xmas is especially associated with the night, <br>with the darkness of night -- that's when their god was born and that's when they are all outside, going to church. <div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>The answer above is not accurate:</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 18px; ">Most biblical scholars and preachers readily admit that they know Jesus was <b>not</b> born on December 25th. However, they claim that this day is as good as any other to celebrate the birth of Jesus, despite the fact that it was originally a pagan celebration called Saturnalia which commemorated the birth of the sun god.</span></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Times"><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Times"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: 19px; ">Determining the exact day of Jesus' birth is even more problematic than the year. Some say that the birth could not have happened in the deep winter, because the Bible says that shepherds spent the night outdoors with their flocks when Jesus was born (Luke 2:8). <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; ">Paul L. Maier, <i>In the Fullness of Time: A Historian Looks at Christmas, Easter, and the Early Church</i>, Kregel Publications (1998), p28</span></span></font></div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><p><font size="4">In the first 200 years of x-stian history, no mention is made of the calendar date of Jesus' birth. Not until the year 336 do we find the first mention of a celebration of his birth.</font></p><p><font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;">Why this omission? In the case of the Church fathers, the reason is that, during the three centuries after his life on earth, the event considered most worthy of commemoration was the date of his death. In co</span></font></font><font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;">mparison, the date of his birth was considered insignificant. As the </span></font><i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;">Encyclopedia Americana</span></font></i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"> explains, "xmas... was, according to many authorities, not celebrated in the first centuries of the xtian church,</span></font></font><font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"> as the xtian usage in general was to celebrate the death of remarkable persons rather than their birth..." [probably patterned after yahrzeit] (1944 edition, "Christmas"). </span></font><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">For several centuries, xtians paid little attention to the celebration of Jesus' birth. The major Christian festival was Easter, the day of his purported resurrection. Only as the church developed a calendar to commemorate the major events of the life of Jesus, did it celebrate his birth. Therefore, a date had to be selected and was done so arbitrarily.</span></font></span></font></p><p><font size="4">Speculation on the proper date began in the 3rd and 4th centuries, when the idea of fixing his birthday started. Quite a controversy arose among Church leaders. Some were opposed to such a celebration. Origen (185-254) strongly recommended against such an innovation. "In the New Testament, no one is recorded to have kept a feast or held a great banquet on his birthday. It is only sinners who make great rejoicings over the day in which they were born into this world" (<i>Catholic Encyclopedia,</i> 1908 edition, Vol. 3, p. 724, "Natal Day").</font></p><p><font size="4">During this time eight specific dates during six different months were proposed by various groups. December 25, although one of the <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">last</span></b> dates to be proposed, was the one finally accepted by the leadership of the Western church.</font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 17px; ">The following is very interesting:</span></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 17px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; ">Since Jesus was conceived six months after John the Baptist, and a likely date was established for John's birth, we need only move six months farther down the Luach to arrive at a likely date for the birth of Jesus. From the 15th day of the 1st month, Nissan, we go to the 15th day of the 7th month, Tishri. And what do we find on that date? It is the festival of Succos! </span></span></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 14px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;"><br></span></font></p></span></div></div></body></html>