Why is Christmas on December 25? The history of the date

How December 25 was chosen: the hypotheses

Start with what is documented. Around the year 200, Clement of Alexandria records that there were several proposed dates for the birth of Jesus (he cites May 20 and April 20 or 21, according to National Geographic) and does not mention December 25. The oldest surviving reference to that date is in the Chronography of 354, an illustrated Roman almanac compiled by Furius Dionysius Filocalus, with the entry “Natus Christus in Betleem Iudeae”. Andrew McGowan of Berkeley Divinity School (Yale) adds that the Donatists of North Africa seem to have kept December 25 before the year 312, and that Augustine, around 400, mentions that practice. In other words: the date existed in the 4th century, but how and why it was chosen is written in no text from the time.

1. c. 200Proposed dates, none on Dec. 25

   Clement of Alexandria reports various proposals for the birth and does not cite December 25. Tertullian dates the crucifixion to March 25.

2. 274The Unconquered Sun

   Emperor Aurelian establishes on December 25 the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, the birthday feast of the Unconquered Sun.

3. Before 312The Donatists

   According to McGowan, the Donatists of North Africa apparently already celebrated on December 25.

4. 354The Chronography of 354

   A Roman almanac with the oldest surviving reference to the birth of Christ on December 25.

5. c. 400Augustine

   Augustine mentions the Donatists’ practice and links conception on March 25 to birth on December 25.

A method note helps in reading this discussion. The Roman-festival hypothesis is the most popular, but McGowan notes that its first record is a marginal note in a 12th-century manuscript, and that 4th-century Christian writers do not use it; Augustine even asks Christians to honor the day not because of the visible sun but because of its Creator. National Geographic, for its part, observes that Aurelian created the Unconquered Sun feast in 274 when, according to the text, the Christian date was already in use in some circles, which complicates the idea of a simple replacement. On the other hand, McGowan himself acknowledges that some later Christmas customs, such as the tree, may have come from popular winter practices.

We cannot be entirely sure.

Andrew McGowan, Berkeley Divinity School, closing the article “How December 25 Became Christmas”

January 6, January 7 and the Julian calendar

Christmas on January 7 is not a different date for the birth: it is the same December 25 counted in another calendar. The Russian, Georgian and Serbian Orthodox churches, according to the newspaper Agos, keep using the Julian calendar, which is now 13 days behind the Gregorian (the civil calendar we use, from 1582). That is why the Julian December 25 falls on January 7 in the Gregorian calendar. In Jerusalem, the Armenian Church also uses the Julian calendar, and its January 6 falls on January 19.

January 6 has a different story. Bishop Sahag Maşalyan of the Armenian Patriarchate of Turkey explained to Agos that the original feast joined the birth and the baptism of Jesus and that the Armenian Church calls it Theophany. Clement of Alexandria records that Christians in Egypt marked that event between January 6 and 10 in the 2nd century, and the pilgrim Egeria mentions January 6 in 386. According to the bishop, in the 4th century many churches moved the birth to December 25, a change that began in 336 and was completed in Roman-dominated regions by the 6th century; Armenia lay outside Roman borders and kept the old date. That is the Church’s own explanation, and since the origin of December 25 is debated, we treat the picture as the account of a tradition rather than a historical verdict. National Geographic adds that an early Byzantine chronicle, the Chronicon Paschale, dated the crucifixion to April 6, which gives a birth on January 6 by the same calculation logic.

If you like seeing how the dates of holidays shift from one year to the next, the movable dates tool shows what moves and what is fixed. Christmas is fixed on the civil calendar, but the start of Advent changes from year to year, as Aleteia notes, and each country’s time zone decides at what moment of the night the date arrives, which you can follow with the guide on time zones.

Where the traditions come from: tree, card, Santa Claus, nativity scene and Advent

The date is old and disputed; the traditions we associate with it are, in general, more recent and much easier to date. The timeline gathers the main ones, with the source named in the text below.

1. 4th centuryNicholas, bishop of Myra

   The bishop who would become Saint Nicholas lived in what is now southwest Turkey; his feast day is December 6.

2. 1223The Greccio nativity

   Francis of Assisi stages a living nativity with ox, donkey and hay, according to the account of Thomas of Celano.

3. 1539A tree in Strasbourg Cathedral

   Records show a tree in Strasbourg Cathedral; in 1554 Freiburg bans cutting trees for Christmas.

4. 1809“Santa Claus” in English

   Washington Irving renders the Dutch Sinterklaas as Santa Claus in his history of New York.

5. 1823The poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas”

   Published anonymously on December 23 in a Troy, New York, newspaper; authorship (Clement Clarke Moore or Henry Livingston Jr.) is disputed.

6. 1843First Christmas card

   Henry Cole commissions 1,000 cards from John Callcott Horsley, sold at one shilling each.

7. 1848The royal family’s tree

   An Illustrated London News engraving shows Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and their children around a tree and popularizes the custom.

8. 1863Thomas Nast and Santa

   On January 3, Nast’s first Santa illustration runs in Harper’s Weekly.

9. 1908Printed Advent calendar

   Gerhard Lang is generally credited with the first printed Advent calendar.

Tree. The origin is disputed: Latvia and Estonia claim the first tree (1510 and 1441), but historians doubt both, according to National Geographic. Historian Carole Cusack considers it more likely that the modern tree was born in Alsace in the 16th century; there is a record of a tree in Strasbourg Cathedral in 1539, and Freiburg banned cutting trees for Christmas in 1554. Queen Charlotte is thought to have brought the custom to the British court in the 18th century, and the 1848 Illustrated London News engraving popularized it; in the United States, spread came after 1850, when Godey’s Lady’s Book republished the royal scene adapted to an American family. World History Encyclopedia says Prince Albert popularized the tree in Britain from 1841.

Card. The Victoria and Albert Museum says Henry Cole, its first director, had the card made in 1843, illustrated by John Callcott Horsley: 1,000 copies at one shilling each, a price considered high, and the venture was a commercial flop. World History Encyclopedia notes that the Penny Black stamp (1840) had made postage cheaper and that, also in 1843, Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol, which helped shape the modern holiday.

Santa Claus. The figure comes from Nicholas, bishop of Myra in the 4th century, in what is now southwest Turkey. The miracle stories, such as the one about dowries for three poor daughters, are legendary, and the transfer of relics to Bari in 1087 is disputed, according to Medievalists.net. In the Netherlands the custom survived as Sinterklaas; in 1809 Irving called him Santa Claus in English. The 1823 poem and the drawings of Thomas Nast, which begin in 1863, gave shape to the kindly old man. Another source states that the 1881 drawings fixed the large man in a red suit. The image was built up over the 19th century, decades before 20th-century advertising.

Nativity scene and Advent. Franciscan Media draws on Thomas of Celano to tell the 1223 nativity: Francis, returning from Rome, asked his friend John to set up a scene with ox, donkey, hay and manger, and the night included Mass and a sermon. As for the Advent calendar, Aleteia says Gerhard Lang, of a German printing house, created a printed version in 1908 inspired by the 24 small sweets his mother stuck on a card when he was a child; the little doors came soon after and, in the 1950s, the chocolates. The calendar starts on December 1 because the first ones were reused every year and Advent changes date from year to year. To play with the countdown, the Advent calendar works in the same spirit.

Gifts, panettone and the Brazilian dinner on the night of the 24th

Gifts. Tradition points either to the magi who brought gold, frankincense and myrrh to the child (Gospel of Matthew) or to the gifts exchanged during the Roman Saturnalia (December 17 to 23). World History Encyclopedia says Saturnalia customs, such as gifts, banquets and relaxed social rules, were largely carried over into Christmas; National Geographic, in turn, sees direct copying of a pagan festival as an “overly simplistic” explanation. In the Middle Ages, gifts ranged from fine clothing for the rich to firewood, toys and food for the poor, and charity was expected. Giving gifts to employees on Boxing Day, December 26, appears in Victorian England.

Panettone. The most told legend is that of a baker’s apprentice named Toni at the court of Ludovico il Moro in 15th-century Milan, who saved a burned dessert and gave the “pan de Toni” its name. Aleteia itself says the story is legend and undocumented. According to the same text, an entry from 1599 in the Borromeo school describes a Christmas bread with butter, raisins and spices; the historian Pietro Verri calls it a typical Milanese Christmas tradition in the 18th century; and the baker Angelo Motta supposedly gave it its dome shape in the 1920s. The same piece has inaccuracies (it says the records date to the 16th century but cites a school founded in 1561), so we treat these details with caution.

Why is the Brazilian dinner on the night of the 24th? The most repeated explanation in the press is medieval: according to Tribuna do Sertão (2025), in medieval Europe the faithful fasted during the day of the 24th and broke the fast at midnight, after the Christmas masses, and the habit of waiting for midnight to eat would have come from there. The newspaper O Povo (2024) places the Missa do Galo (Midnight Mass) at midnight on the 24th and has it begin in medieval Europe. The rest of the menu tells another story, one of mixed heritage: bacalhau comes from Portuguese culture, rabanada (a kind of French toast) is of European origin, panettone was born in Italy, and turkey was in many homes replaced by chester, a faster-to-cook option, according to O Povo. A letter to Santa and the elf name generator help turn this history into play for kids.