Lo saturnalia11/5/2022 25 is now technically January 4.Įarly Christians probably celebrated the birth of Jesus in the winter for more practical reasons. To make up for built-up inaccuracies in the old calendar, Oct. In 1582, Pope Gregory decreed that a new calendar be used to replace the old Roman calendar. 25, we still don’t celebrate the holiday on the correct day. In those days, shepherds “abide with their flocks” (i.e., slept out with their sheep all night) to watch for and protect new-born lambs in the spring, not the winter.Įven if Jesus had been born on Dec. Augustus sent out his taxation decree in 7 BCE (Luke 2:1), and Herod, the villain in the birth story, was dead by 4 BCE.Īlso, Dec. References in the Bible itself determine those years. It’s far more likely that Jesus was born between 7 BCE and 4 BCE. Nine months after conception, he was born. His perfection also dictated that the date must coincide with the creation of the world on March 25. 25.ĭionysius filled in the logic by arguing that the savior’s perfect nature meant that he must have died and been conceived (or, more appropriately, “incarnated” into Mary’s womb) on the same date. That date coincided with the contemporary belief that God had created the world on March 25.Īround the same time, Hippolytus (170–236) claimed that the date of Jesus’ birth was Dec. The exact date of the birth in that year required a somewhat more convoluted argument.Īround 200 CE, Tertullian of Carthage calculated the date of Jesus’s crucifixion as March 25 on the Roman (solar) calendar. 1, Anno Domini 1, the First Year of our Lord. He chose the year in which Rome had been founded and determined, from the scant evidence available to him, that Jesus had been born 753 years later. It seems that the Pope was keen to produce some order in the celebration of Easter.ĭionysius decided to begin with what he considered to be the year of Jesus’ birth. 1, as was incorrectly determined by Dionysius Exiguus, a Roman abbot who lived around 550 CE.ĭionysius Exiguus, a monk from Russia who died about 544, was asked by Pope John I to set out the dates for Easter from 527 to 626. Jesus of Nazareth was not born during the year we now call 1 CE or A.D. Thus, at the risk of incurring some readers’ displeasure, I would like to point out a few “astronomical” aspects of the two holidays and the week that separates them. The juxtaposition of the two holidays may seem strange until we consider how the holidays got their starts. We will soon be in the midst of our traditional period of rest between the spiritually significant solstice celebrations like Christmas and Chanukah, and the more worldly revelries of New Year’s Eve. The Bible does not give a date for Jesus’ birth in fact, some theologians have concluded he was probably born in spring, as suggested by references to shepherds and sheep in the Nativity story.The holiday season is upon us. The Christian holiday of Christmas, especially, owes many of its traditions to the ancient Roman festival, including the time of year Christmas is celebrated. to the fourth century A.D.-and their suppression of older seasonal rites practiced by the Celts and other groups-today’s Western cultures derive many of their traditional celebrations of midwinter from Saturnalia. Thanks to the Roman Empire’s conquests in Britain and the rest of Europe from the second century B.C. The common holiday custom of hiding coins or other small objects in cakes is one of many dating back to Saturnalia, as this was a method of choosing the mock king. The idea was that he ruled over chaos, rather than the normal Roman order. In many Roman households, a mock king was chosen: the Saturnalicius princeps, or “leader of Saturnalia,” sometimes also called the “Lord of Misrule.” Usually a lowlier member of the household, this figure was responsible for making mischief during the celebrations-insulting guests, wearing crazy clothing, chasing women and girls, etc. The cult statue of Saturn in the temple traditionally had woolen bonds tied around his feet, but during Saturnalia these bonds were loosened to symbolize the god’s liberation.
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