ARE WE CELEBRATING THE SOLSTICE DAY ON THE 25TH
OF DECEMBER?
Some Christians
are afraid of uniting themselves to the Nativity celebration of our Lord Jesus
Christ because they have heard that the ancient Church chose the pagan day of
the ‘Invincible Sun’ imposed by Roman Emperor Aurelian in 274, on the 25th
of December. But that is not correct.
The Calendar in
used by the time the 25th of December was chosen, was the ancient
Roman Calendar imposed by Julius Caesar in the year 46, which was called ‘Julian’
for that reason. It was on the 25th of December of that calendar
that the Romans celebrated their pagan festival, which is equivalent to the 7th
of January on our modern calendar.
In 1582, Pope
Gregory XIII designed his new calendar, called ‘Gregorian’ for that reason, which
is an average of 13 days behind than the old Julian calendar. Keeping with the
traditions, he also kept Christmas on the 25th of December of his
new calendar, and the original 25th of December came to be the 7th
of January in that new calendar.
The new ‘25th
of December’ it was really the 12th of December of the original
Christian calendar.
Then, the whole
Western world keeps Christmas on the 12th of December according to
the original calendar the primitive Christians used to celebrate the Nativity.
Far from any pagan
concept.
Omar Flores.
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