Before the advent of Christianity, the 25th of December was a special day of celebration for many ancient cultures. For the day we now know as Christmas Day marked the ancient turning point of the year, when the sun was finally reborn after ‘standing still’ at the winter solstice.
The Romans marked the winter solstice and the days that followed with a number of solstice celebrations. The Brumalia marked the shortest day, while later, eastern-influenced cults such as Mithras and Sol Invictus celebrated December 25 as the birth dates of their cult deities. These winter festivals later influenced the time of year that Christians chose to celebrate the birth of Christ.
The Brumalia
In 45 BC, Julius Caesar reorganised the Roman calendar. This reshuffling of dates shifted the date of the winter solstice to December 25- the equivalent date on the modern calendar of December 21stof 22nd. And so, the 25thDecember became the date of the Brumalia; the festival celebrated by the Romans as the mark of midwinter- and the end of Saturnalia.
The Brumalia derived its name from the Latin “bruma” or shortest day. According to John the Lydian, winter brought an end to the pursuits of war, hunting and farming for the Roman people“because of the season’s cold and the shortness of the days.” And so, he continues, “in the old days they named it Bruma, meaning, ‘short day.”’ And Brumalia means ‘winter festivals’ so at that time, until the Waxing of the Light, ceasing from work, the Romans would greet each other with words of good omen at night, saying in their ancestral tongue, ‘Vives annos’—that is, ‘Live for years.’”
The festivities of the Brumalia were reputedly based on an ancient Greek festival celebrated in late December and dedicated to the god of the vine, Dionysus as well as the gods Demeter and Cronus. These deities were the Greek equivalents of Saturn and Ops who were the focus of the Roman celebrations. At the Brumalia, celebrants made offerings of pigs, goats and the first fruits of the harvest to the gods, following the formalities with much merriment and drinking, as well as reading the auspices for the coming year.
Natalis Sol Invictus
Sun worship was an integral part of many ancient religions and the Romans were no different. Initially they venerated the sun as an agrarian deity, Sol Indiges, “the native or invoked sun”. However, in the third century AD, this native cult underwent a transformation under the influence of solar deities from elsewhere in the empire. Sol Indiges now adopted many of the attributes of foreign sun gods such as the Syrian Elah Gabal, to become a hybrid deity known as Sol Invictus, or “the victorious sun.”
The term “Invictus“ derived from the imperial title Pius Felix Invictus: “dutiful, fortunate and unconquered.” This association occurred because the Cult of Sol Invictus had imperial patronage. According to the Augustan History, it was Emperor Elagabalus in the early third century who introduced the celebration of the birth of Sol Invictus on the 25th of December. The festival reached the pinnacle of its popularity later in the century under Aurelian who established it as an empire-wide holiday. And so, for a time, the cult of Sol Invictus became the chief cult of the empire.
Mithras
Mithras was originally a Persian deity known as Mithra, a god of light and regeneration. After Alexander the Great’s invasion of Persia, Mithra’s cult began to spread westwards. By the third century AD, his cult had become popular amongst soldiers and merchants in the Roman empire and Mithras became known as the ‘protector of the empire.’
Evidence for the cult of Mithras consists of fragments of literary references and some archaeological remains. The “Mithras Liturgy,” part of the Greek magical Papyrus associates the god with the sun god Helios. This association, amongst other things, led to the belief that Mithras’s birth was celebrated on the same day as Sol Invictus– the 25th of December.
The young god supposedly arrived in the world bearing a torch and a knife, under a tree near a sacred stream. Soon after his birth, he slew the cosmic bull whose blood subsequently fertilized the earth. These symbols of light and regeneration through death were interpreted bu Mithras’s worshippers as motifs of a solar deity. The design of many Mithraic-cult centers also emphasizes this affiliation with the sun, as many incorporated an opening that allowed a ray of the sun to appear about the god’s head at certain times of the year.
The Birth of Christ
The date on which Christ’s birth is celebrated owes a great deal to these solar celebrations. For the New Testament has no evidence linking the nativity to the 25th December. In fact, it was not until 221 AD that Sextus Julius Africanus linked the birth of Christ to this date.By the third and fourth centuries AD, Christian writers had begun to associate the solar motifs of the resurgence of light and rebirth belonging to the solar pagan cults with their accounts of Christ. For this reason, they regarded the 25th of December as his birth date. “They call it the birthday of the unconquered,”commentedJohn Chrysostom in the fourth century. “Who indeed is so unconquered as our lord? Or, if they say that it is the birthday of the Sun, He is the Sun of Justice.”
By 354AD, December 25thwas officially established as the birthdate of Christ on the calendar of Philocalus in Rome. The acceptance of the date was all part of a campaign by the church to stamp out pagan practices by rebranding them in a Christian context. Over the next two centuries, the idea of Christ’s birth on December 25thspread and was accepted across the eastern and western empires. Finally, in 567AD, the Council of Tours formally established the celebration of Christ’s nativity on December 25.
Many Christian’s were jubilant, seeing their usurping of the December 25thas a victory over the pagans. Others, such as St Augustine, however did not approve. For they worried that many Christians needed constant reminding that it was the son of god’s birth they were celebrating- not the rebirth of the sun.
Sources
“Sun Worship.”Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007
“Mithra.” Encyclopædia Britannica 2007
Ancient Mystery Cults, Walter Bukert, Harvard University Press, 1987.
