Thousands of years ago Northern Hemisphere Stone Age persons started grunting to themselves about how “sometime it light a lot” (long days) and “sometime it dark a lot” (short days).
They noticed that “when it light a lot, it warm, it feel good, everybody happy. There lots of fruits, nuts, and animal to eat.”
They also noticed months later that “when it dark a lot, it no feel good. It chilly. Everybody sad. No fruits, nuts, and no animal on campfire.”
This became so important to Stone Age persons that they actually figured out ways to tell exactly when “it start to get light a lot again” by building stone thingies that used Sunlight to mark that day.
Stone Age persons smart, Ug…
Today we know that day as the “Winter Solstice” which occurs every year sometime between Dec 20 & 23 in the Northern Hemisphere.
But hold the iPhone, that’s just about the same time as when Jesus was born, right? What a coincidence.
Actually, it’s no coincidence whatsoever, Ug…
It turns out that Christians… uh… “borrowed” the date.
How the Christian stole Christmas
On the day of the Winter Solstice, the arc of the Sun as it moves across the sky is at it’s lowest, making it the shortest day of the year. On that day however, the Sun ever so slightly begins to arc higher and it continues to arc higher and higher in the sky each day for months to come.
Thousands of years ago this start of the ascension of the Sun was celebrated by ancient people as the birth of the Sun for the coming year, which meant, oh yeeaaa…, the coming of warmer weather, food from plants and trees, abundance of animals to eat, etc…
People eventually started worshipping the sun itself as a god and celebrating the Winter Solstice as the birth of that god, because oh yeeaaa…, the coming of warmer weather, food, etc… [2]
At the time of Constantine who was a Roman Emperor around 300 CE, much of the vast Roman Empire was still worshipping a Sun god named Mithras who was of course believed to be born on the Winter Solstice (celebrated at that time in Europe on Dec 25), in a cave and of a virgin. [1]
After Constantine converted to Christianity, he decided to move the birthday of his “light of the world” god to the same day as the Sun god Mithras’ birthday (to avoid confusion) and voila, Christmas as we know it was born.
[1] -The reason why the Winter Soltice was the 25th in Europe at that time is because the calendar had drifted several days because of a slight difference between the Julian Calendar and the actual year. This drifting of days was eventually fixed by the Gregarian Calendar in 1582 which moved the Winter Soltice date back to Dec 21. However because of tradition, Christmas is still celebrated on the Winter Soltice date as it was in Europe at the time of Constantine. [2]-… On the night of Winter Solstice, as seen from a northern sky, the three stars in Orion’s belt align with the brightest star in the Eastern sky Sirius to show where the Sun will rise in the morning after Winter Solstice. Until this time, the Sun has exhibited since Summer Solstice a decreasing arc across the Southern sky. On Winter Solstice, the Sun ceased to decline in the sky and the length of daylight reaches its minimum for three days. At such a time, the Sun begins its ascent and days grow longer. Thus the interpretation by many cultures of a sun reborn and a return to light. This return to light is again celebrated (at the vernal equinox, when the length of day equals that of night. The solstice itself may have remained a special moment of the annual cycle of the year since neolithic times. This is attested by physical remains in the layouts of late Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeological sites like Stonehenge in Britain and Brú na Bóinne (New Grange) in Ireland. The primary axes of both of these monuments seem to have been carefully aligned on a sight-line framing the winter solstice sunrise (New Grange) and the winter solstice sunset (Stonehenge). The winter solstice may have been immensely important because communities were not assured to live through the winter, and had to be prepared during the previous nine months. Starvation was common in winter between January to April, also known as the famine months. In temperate climates, the midwinter festival was the last feast celebration, before deep winter began. Most cattle were slaughtered so they would not have to be fed during the winter, so it was nearly the only time of year when a supply of fresh meat was available. The majority of wine and beer made during the year was finally fermented and ready for drinking at this time. The concentration of the observances were not always on the day commencing at midnight or at dawn, but the beginning of the pre-Romanized day, which falls on the previous eve.