How did Christmas start?

Before the arrival of Jesus, Europeans celebrated light and birth in the darkest days of the winter. Although early celebrations of Christmas are thought to have derived from Roman and other Europeans festivals that marked and the of the harvest, also including the winter solstice

Christmas is a Christian festival celebrating the birth of Jesus.  

“The Early Christian community distinguished between the identification of the date of Jesus’ birth and the liturgical celebration of that event. The actual observance of the day of Jesus’s birth was long in coming. In particular, during the first two centuries of Christianity there was strong opposition of recognizing birthdays of martyrs or, for that matter, of Jesus. Numerous Church Fathers offered sarcastic comments about the pagan custom of celebrating birthdays, when, infact, saints and martyrs should be honored on the days of their martyrdom- their true “Birthdays” from the church’s perspective”

Another view suggests that the 25th  of December had become the date of Jesus’ Birthday by a priori reasoning that identified the spring equinox as the creation of the world.. The fourth day of creation, when light was created, the day of Jesus’ conception (March 25). Nine months later, it became the date of his birth.

Christmas had then started to be celebrated widely during the 9th century and throughout the years, towards the end of the 18th century, people had started to establish giving gifts to family members and others. 

“Theologically, the fest day reminds Christians of God’s gift of Jesus to humankind even as the coming of the Wise Men, or Magi, to Bethlehem suggest that Christmas was somehow related to giving gifts.”

Christmas is now celebrated worldwide, billions of people setting out cookies, milk and carrots for Santa and his reindeers. An early tradition has now become a huge one and impacted many people’s lives.