Christmas 2024: Why we celebrate the festival on December 25? Know history, significance and more

Updated on: Dec 25, 2024, 07:37:36 IST

By Adrija Dey

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Jesus Christ's birthday is celebrated on December 25. (Shutterstock)

Christmas 2024: The birth of Jesus Christ is celebrated on December 25. Find out the history and significance of this festival.

Christmas 2024: Christmas is a much-anticipated festival of the year. It is celebrated every year on December 25 to mark the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as per Christians. The holy day also celebrates his teachings of love, forgiveness, and compassion. This holiday brings families and friends together, celebrating the warmth and cheer of Christmas, from singing Christmas carols to decorating the Christmas tree. Here’s more about the history of this special day.

ALSO READ: 5 reasons why Christmas is celebrated: Birth of Jesus Christ to message of love and compassion

History of Christmas

Jesus Christ referred to himself as the light of the world. (Shutterstock)

The Bible does not exactly mention the birth date of Jesus Christ. There’s no specific date or month. It's very vague. This suggests that the early Christians did not celebrate Christmas and his death and resurrection (Easter). The Bible, as a work of theology, is centred more on the teachings. However, it wasn’t until centuries later that the celebration of Jesus Christ’s birth was formally established with December 25 being chosen. But it was not through any direct Biblical reference but rather it coincides with the Roman winter solstice festival.

Ancient Rome used a different calendar back then so the winter solstice fell on December 25. On this day Romans observed dies natalis solis invicti (birthday of the Invincible Sun) celebrating the end of the winter and resurgence of the sun. This day is special as after winter solstice the days begin to lengthen, marking the ‘rebirth’ of the sun. Early Christians may have chosen December 25 to align with this celebration of light and the ‘rebirth’ of the sun, adeptly symbolizing Jesus as the ‘light of the world.’ Jesus Christ in John 8:12 referred to himself as the light of the world.

Importance of Christmas

Christmas cheer is enthusiastic and infectious, from celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ to bonding with family, exchanging gifts, and preparing meals together. It is also a day to reflect on and celebrate the teachings of Jesus Christ. Christmas is a widely celebrated festival, across cultures and the globe.

ALSO READ: Christmas films are cheesy, mindless and widely loved. Why?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Adrija Dey
Adrija Dey’s proclivity for observation fuels her storytelling instinct. As a lifestyle journalist, she crafts compelling, relatable narratives across diverse touchpoints of the human experience, including wellness, mental health, relationships, interior design, home decor, food, travel, and fashion that gently nudge readers toward living a little better. For her, stories exist in flesh and bones, carried by human vessels and shaped through everyday endeavours. It is the small stories we live and share that make us human. After all, humans and their lores are the most natural and raw repositories of stories, and uncovering them, for her, is akin to peeling an orange under a winter afternoon sun. Always up for a chat, she believes the best stories come from unfiltered yapping, where "too much information" is kind of the point. A graduate of Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi, and an alumna of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Delhi, Adrija spends her idle hours cocooned with herbal tea and a gripping thriller, scribbling inner monologues she loosely calls poetic pieces, often with her succulents in attendance. On lazier days, she can be found binge-watching, for the nth time, one from her comfort-show holy trinity: The Office (US), Brooklyn Nine-Nine, or Modern Family. Dancing by herself to her peppy playlists, however, is an everyday ritual she swears by religiously.Read More

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