We celebrate the birth of Christ every year on the 25th of December. These celebrations are known around the world as Christmas. Festivals are necessary for a lot of reasons. It gives people a chance to enjoy themselves irrespective of their social position or their monthly income. Festivals give us a chance to reunite with our friends and family and give us a break from the monotony of routine work. These reasons are strong enough in favour of celebrations and festivals but have we ever thought why we celebrate Christmas? It is believed that Christ was born on this day but there is no proof of this assumption.
Christianity talks about frugality and maintains strict decorum in all its festivity. The Christmas celebrations have been a matter of debate among many learned individuals and even among the Christian religious leaders. The frivolous ways in which Christmas is celebrated now days raise doubt if it is appropriate to celebrate the birth of Christ, who fought for humanity all his life, in this manner. There is doubt regarding Christ’s exact birth date. The other Christian festivals like Good Friday, Easter, Ascension Day and Ash Wednesday are not celebrated on a particular or fixed date. They are celebrated by calculating the position of the moon in the sky or by selecting the day from the calendar.
Apart from Christmas, the other festivals are older and more authentic. Christmas is celebrated in such a magnificent way all around the world because it is more of a marketing tool than a real festival. It is true that very noble ideologies are attached with this festival but there is no accurate answer to the question why it is celebrated on 25th of December. Probably the Christian festivity born out of the Pagan festival Saturnalia which was a much-loved festival of the Pagans and when they converted to Christianity the festival also got a Christian makeover.
