Christmas is a time for spending time with family and friends, enjoying food and drink, exchanging gifts and watching Christmas movies.
In the Western world, Christmas is celebrated on December 25th each year. Although many people associate Christmas with Santa Claus, the holiday actually has a religious background. The date of December 25th was chosen by Pope Julius I in 354 CE as a way to replace an earlier pagan festival called Saturnalia. The idea was that people would celebrate Jesus’ birth on the same day that they were already celebrating his death.
The date of December 25th is not actually Jesus’ birthday though. It’s believed that he was born sometime in April or May of 4 BCE. Most scholars believe this due to the fact that there is no mention of when Jesus was born in any historical documents from around the time he was alive, although there are some clues pointing towards a spring birth. For example, Luke 2:8 says “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.” This would have been difficult to do during winter months.
