Coincidence....

[lemonbeam]

Hi, I’ve been doing some research about Christmas, in specific, the date 25th of December. Now, there are some that say the day is of pagan origin. The winter solstice is usually around the 21st of December. But, if you count 9 months forward from the annunciation (25th of March), it is midnight, 25th of December!

Surely, this can’t be coincidence, or am I missing something!?

Did they choose the 25th of December based on the fact that it would bring pagan followers to Christianity, because they were already familiar with the Solstice at that time of year. Or did they choose 25th of December, because it is 9 months from the annunciation? The time that Jesus would be born.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

I have seen two explanations.

1. Someone determined the week when Zachariah’s cohort had Temple duty and counted forward six months to date the Annunciation - thennine months to Christmas.
2. There was a belief that a prophet would die on the anniversary of either his birth or his conception. They then determined that Jesus died on March 25, some decided on April 6. Nine months then gave them Christmas. The April 6 crowd went for 6 January - Little Christmas - which we now celebrate as Epiphany [until they shipfted everything to Sundays].

Even as a package deal these are worth less than :twocents:.