The earliest Christians do not appear to have commemorated the nativity, but only the baptism and resurrection of Christ and the deaths of the martyrs.
98 Traditions say that it has been celebrated since the year
137 AD the Bishop of Rome ordered the birthday of the Christ Child celebrated as a solemn feast.
Clement of Alexandria (c.150-c.215) favored May 20 but others for April 18, April 19, and May 28. Hippolytus (c.170-c.236) championed January 2. November 17, November 20, and March 25. Polycarp (d. 155 AD), for example, suggested that Christ was born on a Wednesday, since the sun was created on the fourth day in Genesis.
273 AD, Western Christians had decided on December 25 to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
350 AD another Bishop of Rome, Julius I, choose December 25th December 25 already hosted two other related festivals: the Roman "birth of the unconquered sun"), and the birthday of Mithras, the Iranian "Sun of Righteousness" whose worship was popular with Roman soldiers. The winter solstice, another celebration of the sun, fell just a few days earlier. Seeing that pagans were already exalting deities with some parallels to the true deity, church leaders decided to commandeer the date and introduce a new festival.
A Christian writer explained in 320 AD:
We hold this day holy, not like the pagans because of the birth of the sun, but because of him who made it. {6}
Origen of Alexandria {2}, strongly opposed the celebration of Christ's birth. Pointing out that only Pharaoh and Herod celebrate their birthdays in the Bible {3}, Origen argued that birthdays were for pagans, not Christians.
The pagan origins as well as pagan origins for many Christmas customs
• gift-giving and merrymaking (singing, drinking naked) from Roman Saturnalia;
• greenery, lights, and charity from the Roman New Year;
• Yule logs and various foods from Teutonic feasts), have always fueled arguments against the holiday.
• 12 days
Mid-ages – caroling was lewd (drunkenness, gambling, etc.
Reformation frowned on it as too lewd and catholic. Anglicans didn’t like it, puritans banned it in 1647 (1659-81 in boston).
1800s – Dickens Christmas Carol, xmas trees with presents, xmas cards, santa
