When did Christians start celebrating Christmas?

Answer

This is a good question. IT all started before the 4th century.

People of all ages and races celebrated the winter months because of the Winter Solstice. People would use evergreen trees to celebrate the fact that life is precious and can sustain harsh times (winter).

This time of celebration slowly morphed into a celebration of giving to those in need. Witnter was a hard time of poor families and thus had little or no food. People (St. Nicholas in particular) are known for giving others food and or gifts of warmth (sweaters, socks, mittens etc.) starting around the 4th century and more so beginning in the centuries to come.

In last few hundred year the Christian as well as the Catholic churches started to examine the idea of weather or not Jesus Christ was born in winter due to the fact that the 3 kings/wise men brought gifts, and there are stories of a celebration of life at this time too. However, we now have learned that Jesus was not born in winter at all….I also saw someone else post to another question this fact. It is so odd that people still believe that Jesus was born in winter.

Christians began celebrating “Christmas” at this time of year, particularly on the 25 because the pagan celebration of St Nicholas was growing and the Christian faith wanted to have something to also celebrate.

Later many other cultures and religions also adopted dates in December to celebrate too. Now we have Solstice, Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, just to name a few.

It is a good time of the year to clump things together to celebrate life, love, happiness, time together, and so on. That is why all the groups/religions/faiths/races/cultures started using December.

Answer

Sint Nicolaas, or Sinterklaas, is not the pagan figure here. He was a very catholic man declared saint after his death. As is shown in his name. (Although some decades ago his saint status was removed again, but we, the dutch and belgian, will keep calling him saint anyway). The Dutch imported him between 1600 and 1700 into the States. there he merged with Father Christmas, but stil kept his bishop colors and the "saint" part in his name.

The older and indeed pagan figure was Wodan. He indeed flew through the sky and had many helpers and is way older than Sinterklaas or Santa Claus. Many holidays were dedicated to him. The one that merged into christmas was the midwinter holiday where people made animal sacrifices and decorated their houses with plants that remained green all year long.

Answer

And to add, King solomon met halfway with the pagans he was trying to convert, so he made the pagan ritual of the Winter Solstice into a christian holiday to please them.

• King Solomon lived 1000 years before Christ. There were no Christians yet! No Christmas either.

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