Why was the date of Christmas negotiated during the Roman Empire?

Father Maletta Responds: When Jesus was born no one – but Mary and Joseph – appreciated who he was or what his existence would mean to humankind and history. I do not believe the ancient Jews actually celebrated birthdays, at least not as we do today. There was no record of his birthdate. Luke, who tradition holds, became close to Mary, provides a detailed account of Jesus’ birth and places it in a historical context by naming King Herod of Judea in chapter 1 and then naming the Governor of Syria and Caesar Augustus as the Emperor. The fact that he does not provide a date of Jesus’ actual birth would imply it was not considered important information. I realize that there are sources that argue that the date of Christmas was arbitrarily established to incorporate the pagan celebrations into Christianity. The magisterium has no position as to the establishment of December 25th as the actual date of Jesus’ birth.

Our current Pope rejects the above theory and in Joseph Ratzinger’s book “The Blessings of Christmas” he credits Luke as establishing the date as December 25th by symbolically placing it in the context of Hanukkah. He explains that on December 25th in the year 165BC, Judas Maccabeus removed the altar of Zeus - which tradition called the "abomination of desolation in the holy place" - from the Temple in Jerusalem. It was on the same date that the Syrian King Antiochus, who was worshipped as "Zeus" had set up the pagan idol in the Temple, designating December 25 as his own feast day. Now it became the date of the cleansing of the Temple, the day on which the glory of God, which had been trampled underfoot, was reestablished and God began to be honored anew in their proper manner. As early as around 100 BC, the birth of the messianic child was expected on this day. People hoped that the Messiah would teach them how to honor God aright and that he would thereby indicate the new time of freedom. Ratzinger explains that in his infancy narrative, Luke unfolds a chronology with a profound symbolic meaning, dating it in such a way that the birth of Jesus occurs during the feast of Hanukkah, on the night of lights, which thus became the Christian feast of Christmas...The birth of Christ is the true reform of worship, and all our attempts at liturgical reform must ultimately aim to correspond to this reform, this true new beginning.

Personally, I find Ratzinger’s theory far more satisfying both intellectually and spiritually than the theory about the date put forth by some historians. Furthermore, what difference does it make whether we celebrate the incarnation on the actual date that Jesus was born or that we have another date? The meaning of Christmas has little to do with a specific date but the gratitude and awe we have for the incarnation.

Do we “deceive children” when we tell them George Washington never lied or are we attempting to instill a value in them? Few people, including most priests don't have a clue when the actual date of Jesus’ birth was – theologians and historians don’t even agree when where and how the date was established. What we know is that sometime in the 4th century it became common to celebrate Christmas, as the faith expanded into other non-Roman cultures certain elements of pagan practice were Christianized. Once that happened they no longer were pagan but Christian and were passed down through the ages as Christian. No deception was intended, no deception has taken place. The strength of the Christian faith is that it can embrace other cultural elements and make them our own.