Sidebar

In establishing December 25 as Christmas Day, Christians took a universal symbol and used it. (Most scholars agree that Christ was born in the spring.) As the days grew shorter approaching the winter solstice, primitive man feared that the sun was being swallowed up by the gathering darkness. As the sun began to show itself earlier, December 25 became over the centuries as a period of great, sometimes wild, rejoicing: in Rome, the Saturnalia; in Northern Europe, Yule; wherever Roman legions served, the birthday of Sol Invictus--the invincible sun. The Christian believes that Jesus is the light that came into the world to overcome darkness.