All you need to know about Christmas

Christmas is widely celebrated around the world, whether you’re a Christian or not we all look forward to this festive season.

Why do we celebrate Christmas on December 25? Early Christians had many arguments as to when Christmas must be celebrated. No one knows the real birthday of Jesus and no date is given in the Bible. The first recorded date of Christmas celebration was December 25 in 336 AD during the time of Roman Emperor C0nstantine who is also the first Christian Roman Emperor.

Although there are many theories and traditions as to why Christmas is celebrated on 25th December. One of them being that there’s an early Christian tradition that the day Mary was told that she would have a special baby, Jesus was on March 25th and it is still celebrated today on 25th March. Nine months later is 25th December.

December 25th has also been selected as the Winter Solstice and the early pagan Roman midwinter festivals known as ‘Saturnalia’ and ‘Dies Natalis Solis Invivti’ were celebrated in December around this date. It is also the time when animals which had been kept for food were killed to save having to feed them in winters.

Christmas is a festival of joy, delight and cheerfulness. People visit church, sing carols, swap presents, decorate their houses with mistletoe, lights and flowers and Christmas trees.