It’s often said that Christmas was placed on December 25 to “steal” or repurpose pagan festivals such as Saturnalia, Sol Invictus, or other ancient midwinter celebrations. The popular assumption is that early Christians deliberately picked this date to blend in with established pagan customs. However, if we look more closely at the evidence, we see a different story, one that shows how December 25 was chosen for reasons deeply rooted in early Christian thought rather than a strategy to absorb or hide within pagan festivals.
The roots of Christmas go back at least as far as the late second and early third century. One of the most relevant sources is the early Christian treatise Chronographiai, written by the historian Sextus Julius Africanus. In his attempt to outline all of world history, Africanus concluded that Jesus was conceived on March 25 (based on reading Luke and Matthew’s Gospels). Counting nine months forward, he landed squarely on December 25 for Jesus’s birth. A contemporary of Africanus, Hippolytus of Rome, reached the same conclusion in his Commentary on Daniel 4.23.3, reinforcing December 25 as the date of the Nativity. All of this happens long before there’s any sign of a Christian conspiracy to “steal” a pagan feast.
Was December 25 Copied From Sol Invictus?
The festival of Sol Invictus, which honored the “Unconquered Sun,” is often cited as proof that Christmas was stolen from Roman sun worship. Historical records, however, suggest that Emperor Aurelian established Sol Invictus on December 25 in the late third century, well after Christians had already begun observing the Nativity on that date. Rather than Christianity copying a pagan holiday, it appears the pagan holiday was set to coincide with a date already significant to Christians. Roman sources of the period reveal that Christianity was growing rapidly and even overshadowing traditional pagan worship, which makes it more plausible that Romans tried to counter a popular Christian feast rather than the other way around. But there are other celebrations that Christianity allegedly copied.
Saturnalia, Brumalia and Yule
Saturnalia was a Roman festival held in honor of the agricultural god Saturn and typically ran from December 17 to December 23. It was marked by feasts, gift-giving, and a general relaxation of social norms but did not extend to December 25. Brumalia took place in late November and was more of a seasonal festivity than a single day of celebration. The Germanic Yule festival often occurred around the winter solstice (sometime between mid-December and early January), and it involved feasting, honoring ancestors, and activities tied to the darkest time of year. When we compare these dates with December 25, we see they don't align, which complicates the idea that Christians intentionally chose December 25 to coincide with these other festivities.
Christmas Traditions and Pagan Customs
Many claims of pagan influence on Christmas trees, wreaths, and gifts trace back to two relatively recent sources. One is the 16th-century Puritans, who objected to most holiday festivities, and the other is Alexander Hislop’s 1853 book The Two Babylons, which attempted to link nearly every Christian practice to ancient Babylonian religion but did so with very little historical proof. In reality, the Christmas tree tradition is reliably traced to 16th-century Germany, where Christians, including Martin Luther, used evergreen trees as a symbol of nature’s beauty and a reminder of God’s creation during the cold winter. Other holiday customs, such as feasting and exchanging gifts, also developed within predominantly Christian cultures over centuries, rather than being imported from pagan worship.
Why Celebrate Jesus’ Birth at All?
It’s true that Scripture never commands us to mark Jesus’s birth on a specific date. But just because the Bible doesn’t mention it explicitly doesn’t mean we shouldn’t celebrate. In John 10, Jesus had no problem traveling to Jerusalem for the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah). That event, which originated in the "intertestamental" period (well after the Old Testament canon closed), commemorated God’s intervention during the Maccabean revolt and the rededication of the Second Temple. Jesus evidently saw no conflict in honoring a festival that wasn’t divinely mandated. In the same way, setting aside a time to remember the Incarnation—one of the most remarkable moments in all human history—makes perfect sense for Christians.
The idea that Christmas is pagan actively skews our view of Christian heritage. It’s become all too common to shrug and say, “Well, December 25 was obviously lifted from pagan festivals,” when the actual documentation proves something else entirely. We end up suggesting that the world’s most influential faith simply patched its core celebration together from somebody else’s ritual leftovers.