The month of December in the western world It is accompanied by novenas, posadas, as well as the Christmas Eve (24) and Christmas (25), the main acts that encompass the birth of Jesus, the son of God.
In addition, both dates combine religious elements with pagan customs, which is why they are celebrated in most countries around the world.
Saint Paciano, bishop of Barcelona in the 4th century, already spoke of pagan masquerades that took place around these dates, December and January. Many popes condemned these pagan festivals, details ICA Press.
The Saturnalias or festivals in honor of Saturn were celebrated between December 17 and 23. The much later festivities of the obispillos, the Bisbetó de Monserrat, the festival of Rollo, the Bishop of the Fools or the Abbat of the Fools on December 6 and 28, depending on the case, which subsisted in the Spanish towns as residues of those Saturnalias, were also celebrated in churches.
There are historical references that in the Middle Ages there were great freedoms in the temples. Therefore, it is very likely that December 25 was chosen to commemorate the birth of Jesus in order to deviate faithful Christians from pagan winter solstice celebrations.
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Only Easter was commemorated
In the second century AD, Christians only commemorated Easter, since they considered the moment of Jesu s’ birth irrelevant and, furthermore, they were completely unaware of when it could have happened.
During the following centuries, when the desire to celebrate the birth of Jesus in a clear and differentiated way begins to emerge, some theologians, based on the texts of the Gospels, proposed dating it on dates as disparate as January 6 and 10, March 25, April 15 and 20, May 20 and 25 and some others. But Pope Fabian (236-250) decided to stop so much speculation and described as sacrilegious those who tried to determine the date of the Nazarene’s birth.
The Armenian Church fixed the birth of Christ on January 6, while other Eastern, Egyptian, Greek and Ethiopian churches proposed to fix the birth on January 8.
Finally, since in the Council of Nicaea (year 325) it is officially declared that Jesus is a divinity, since the father and the son are the same, it was decided to fix the birth of Christ during the winter solstice (in the northern hemisphere). ) that is, December 25, the date on which the birth of various Roman and German deities was celebrated.
It was taken by immutable date, during the pontificate of Liberio (352-366), the night of December 24 to 25, the day the Romans celebrated the Natalis Solis Invicti, the rise of the Unconquered Sun (a very popular and widespread cult that Christians had not been able to defeat or prescribe until then) and, of course, the same date on which all contemporary peoples celebrated the arrival of the winter solstice. The Eastern churches continued and continue to celebrate Christmas on January 6.
Christmas thus came to occupy the place that those Saturnalia festivities and others typical of winter in Rome still filled.
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Christmas Eve is Christmas Evea time when in many parts of the world families take the opportunity to have dinners and celebrations while waiting for Christmas.
The origin of Christmas Eve is strictly religious, towards the 10th century the celebration is traced with the so-called Midnight Mass (or Christmas Vigil), the mass that occurs in the early morning of December 24 and December 25.
The name of this mass has Roman roots, since the beginning of a new day (at midnight) was called Canto del Gallo. In any case, currently this mass does not occur specifically at midnight but hours before. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
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