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We humans have been watching the movements of the stars and sun for thousands of years and have based many of our rituals and holidays around their movements. Some evidence points to astronomical events such as solstices and equinoxes being the basis for why Christmas falls on December 25.
Perhaps one of the earliest well-known monuments to an astronomical event was Bru na Boinne built 5,300 years ago in what is now County Meath, Ireland. This massive stone structure was intricately designed so that for five days during the time of the winter solstice, the sun shines directly down a stone shaft some 70 feet long to a three-roomed chamber. Those 5 days are the time when the sun shines the fewest hours of the year and is reborn as the daily hours of sunlight increase. For the early Irish, the Solstice heralded the beginning of a new year when there would be more hours of daylight and farmers could start planting new crops.
Other monuments which came later such as Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids and numerous others around the world, also showed how important that knowledge of the astronomical movements of the stars and sun were to agriculture, the primary source of food.
By the time our cities began growing, we turned solar celebrations into festivals and feasts. What grew to be one of the biggest was Saturnalia, a Roman festival that grew out of an earlier festival in ancient Greece. Both honored gods of agriculture. In Greece, the people honored and praised Kronos; in Rome it was Saturn. Both festivals were celebrated with large feasts and partying.
Saturn was a popular god who eventually had a planet and a day of the week named after him. The feast in his honor was held in late December and lasted about 5 days which included the day of the winter solstice or the Dies Natus Solis Invictus, or birth of the unconquerable sun. It was a time of feasting, partying, meeting up with old friends, and a time when for some families the roles of master and slaves were reversed for a few days. The idea was that it celebrated the Golden Age centuries earlier when Saturn was the supreme god and all people were equal. On the last day of Saturnalia, gifts were exchanged.
Scholars speculate that when Christianity began growing after the death of Jesus Christ and priests were trying to determine the date of his birth, it was easier to rearrange an already popular late December celebration, Saturnalia, than to compete with it by setting a different date. Getting together with friends and family, dining on good food, and exchanging gifts were already part of the holiday. As the popularity of Christianity grew, worship of the baby Jesus and his mother Mary replaced the worship of Saturn.
Thus, here were two influences on the day of Christmas. The popular festival of Saturnalia and the winter solstice which marked the time of the birth of a new year. But December 25 also fit into another astronomical pattern as well as human biology that fit very well with Christian belief.
In the book of Luke chapter 1, verse 26 in the New Testament of the Christian bible, the angel Gabriel visits the virgin Mary and reveals to her that she will have a baby who will be the Son of God and savior of the world. The day Gabriel came to Mary has always been considered to be around March 25, the day of the vernal equinox, the first day of spring. In the Catholic church, the Feast Day of the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary is held on or around March 25 near Easter, the day Christians celebrate Jesus rising from death. This makes the date of the conception of Jesus coincide with the death and resurrection of Jesus. And nine months later on December 25 Mary gave birth to Jesus.
So, today we can celebrate the holiday season in three ways. We can travel to Bru na Boinne in Ireland and watch the sun rise on the winter solstice and sunlight slowly brighten the stone shaft, we can have a Saturnalia party with food, drink and friendly comradery, or we can attend Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve and pray to Mary and Jesus to give us health and prosperity and save us from going to hell because of the sins we committed last year at our Saturnalia party.
