Around the world it is already a tradition to celebrate Christmas. For many it is a very important date in which they usually gather as a family, Christmas carols, Santa Claus, candles, lights, share with friends, exchange gifts, eat a lot and all this based on the birth of Jesus on December 25.
However, this tradition has no basis in the bible, since it is nowhere mentioned that the birthday of Jesus or any other servant of God was celebrated at that time. Only two birthdays are mentioned in the Bible, which ended very badly:
(Genesis 40:20) It says: Now on the third day it turned out to be Pharaoh's birthday, and he proceeded to make a feast for all his servants and to raise the head of the chief bakers in the midst of his servants.
(Mark 6:21) It says: But it came on an opportune day when Herod, on his birthday, gave a dinner for his men of the first rank and for the military commanders and for the distinguished men of Galilee.
These are the only birthdays mentioned in the book inspired by God, and in this they also do not give an exact date of the birth of Jesus Christ.
The people who do care to please God have some reasons to be sure that the son of God was not born in December:
- Jesus was not born in winter; (Luke 2: 1-3) It says: Now, in those days came a decree of Caesar Augustus that all the inhabited earth should be inscribed (this first inscription was made when Quirinius was the governor of Syria); and they all went to travel to register, each one to their own city.
This mandate was given by Caesar before Jesus was born. In addition, there is little chance that Caesar Augusto decreed this in winter, which would be impossible for people to move to their cities for registration on that very cold date.
- (Luke 2: 8) It says: There were also in that same area shepherds who lived in the open country and kept the vigils of the nights over their flocks.
The book The daily life in Palestine in the time of Jesus explains that for that time the herds stayed outdoors from March to mid-November and spent the winter sheltered.
So you do not have to be very intelligent to conclude that it is impossible that Jesus was born in December, which we know is a very cold month due to winter.
You can calculate the season in which Jesus was born by doing a countdown from his death, which took place in the spring of the year 33 of our era, on the date of Passover: 14 of Nisan (John 19: 14-16) . Jesus was about 30 years old when he began his ministry, which lasted three and a half years. That means that he was born in the early autumn of the year 2 before our era (Luke 3:23). If there is no proof that Jesus was born on December 25, why is Christmas celebrated on that date? The Encyclopedia of the Catholic Religion says that, apparently, the leaders of the Church wanted to "supplant the pagan festivities for other Christian ones. [...] In Rome the pagans consecrated the 25th of December to celebrate [...] the birth of the 'Invincible Sun' "during the winter solstice. According to The Encyclopedia Americana, many scholars agree that this was intended to make Christianity more meaningful to the pagans who converted.
Reference: (www.jw.org/es/enseñanzas-bíblicas/preguntas/cuándo-nació-jesús/)
While it is true that Jesus did not leave a date in the bible to celebrate his birthday, if he left us a very clear instruction.
Luke 22:19 says:
Also, he took a bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This means my body that has to be given in your favor. Keep doing this in memory of me."
1 Corinthians 11:25 says:
He did the same with regard to the cup also, after having dined, saying: "This cup signifies the new covenant by virtue of my blood, keep doing this, how many times you drink it, in memory of me."
These verses of the Bible let us see that the only thing we should commemorate is his death.
After all this information we must conclude that everything that has to do with Christmas is directly related to a pagan tradition, since as we could see has no solid foundation. No one knows exactly the day of Jesus' birth. Therefore we have reasons not to celebrate Christmas.