Q: Why do people still believe that Christmas is the 25th December? Yes i know that majority of Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus on this date. I was always under the impression that it was common knowledge that a this was just a date. The Coptics have it more or less correct celebrating Christmas in January. I am Christian. Come on people the birth of Jesus was actually later than December, the educated thought would be more in January.
A: No one really knows the actual date of Christ's birth. However, pagans celebrated the return of the sun (S-U-N): the winter solstice, when the number of minutes of daylight gradually begin to increase, around December 25th. When Christians decided they wanted to celebrate the return of the Son (S-O-N) they chose the approximate same date and festival--anticipating His second coming by celebrating and remembering His first coming. More support: When John the Baptist told the people about Jesus, "He must increase and I must decrease," people applied that to the celebrations mentioned above as it related to the sun. Thus, the celebration of Jesus' birth around December 25 and the remembrance of John The Baptist on the day when the sunlight begins decreasing: around June 24th.