Christmas belongs in winter. If you think of christmas, you think of snow, ice and a warm chimney. Most of us, if asked, would say that we celebrate christmas in winter, because we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ which was on December 24th. But that’s only half the truth. Yes, we celebrate the birth of Christ, but he wasn’t born December 24th, So why do we celebrate christmas in winter?
To answer that question, we have to go back to early medieval times. Back then, there weren’t too many christians in Europe. Modern day northern and middle Europe were populated by Germans and other northern people, all of whom followed natural religions. These natural religions worshipped nature as a bringer of life. This wasn’t limited to plants and spirits, bur also repeating astronomical phenomenons. They lived by a calender based solely on these astrological events. Long after the romans had conquered Germany up to the Rhine under heavy resistance, christdom also spread to the conuered regions from Rome. The first to convert (mainly for political reasons) were single clan leaders who in turn forced their people to convert. To make the conversion easier, influencial leaders of the new church put their holidays on the days of already existing heathen holidays (or close to them). Modern day christmas is close to the solistice, a very important event in the old religions, thought to chase away the ghosts of winter, because from this day on, days became longer again and spring was on its way.
Nobody knows the exact day of Jesus’ birth. But from Roman chronicles we do know that a Jeschua (Jesu’s aramaic name) of Nazareth did indeed live and was born someday in summer.
