Official nativity date.

[Snowy Owl]

Who fixed December 25th as the official nativity date? I`ve googled lots of pages, but the evidence seems so varied that I`m more confused than when I started. Can anyone point me in the right direction please?

[reinganum]

Nativity of Christ was not thought very important by early Christians. Easter was, and still is, the primarily important Christian festival.
When Christianity became the "official" religion of the Roman Empire, the early Christians needed to replace various Roman or pagan celebrations with ones of their own (even then, people did not like to be done out of their feasting). As Christ was considered to be the Light of the world, it seemed appropriate to celebrate His coming at the same time as the old midwinter festival of the Unconquered Sun (since from that date, the days started getting longer).
Another reason is that some Romans worshipped the god Mithras, whose main feast day was 25th December. So to make it easier to convert them, that date was fixed by the early Christians as the date for celebrating the birth of Christ.

Other ABers may have more to add to this....

[Snowy Owl]

Thank you reinganum, that summarises much of what I read and makes me think that the simple answer is...the early Church of Rome....

[funkymoped]

mine isnt a true answer im sorry to say.

i understood it was the 25th of december because of the stars.. not ever been sure how this was established but i always believed it to be for this reason !
also, the shortest day of the year is the 21st of december not the 25th.

i was also led to believe easter was star related, thats why easter isnt on the same date every year. maybe we keep christmas on the 25 for convenience these days, i dont know !!
:-)

[BBWCHATT]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_Day

It is unknown exactly when or why December 25 was originally associated with Jesus' birth; the New Testament does not name a specific date. [13] Sextus Julius Africanus popularized the idea that Jesus was born on December 25 in his Chronographiai, a reference book for Christians written in 221 AD.[13] This date is nine months after the traditional date of the Incarnation (March 25), now celebrated as the Feast of the Annunciation.[17] March 25 was also considered to be the date of the vernal equinox and therefore the creation of Adam.[17] Early Christians believed March 25 was also the date Jesus was crucified.[17] The Christian idea that Jesus was conceived on the same date that he died on the cross is consistent with a Jewish belief that a prophet lived an integral number of years.

The identification of the birthdate of Jesus did not at first inspire feasting or celebration. Tertullian does not mention it as a major feast day in the Church of Roman Africa. In 245, the theologian Origen denounced the idea of celebrating Jesus' birthday "as if he were a king pharaoh." He contended that only sinners, not saints, celebrated their birthdays.[7] His criticism may be inspired by his contact with Egypt as Origen was born in Alexandria.

The earliest reference to the celebration of Christmas is in the Calendar of Filocalus, an illuminated manuscript compiled in Rome in 354.[3][18] In the east, meanwhile, Christians celebrated the birth of Jesus as part of Epiphany (January 6), although this festival focused on the baptism of Jesus.

[Snowy Owl]

Thank you funkymoped and BWCHATT for your contributions. It obviously isn`t as clear cut as one might think.