The date of December 25 is not referenced anywhere in the Bible as being the day that Jesus was born. The first followers of Christianity did not recogsed his birth as a significant event. By the middle of the fourth century, the celebrattn of the birthday had been relocated to the 25th of December. According to some sources, it was the pope, while others assert that it was not the pope.
According to this theory, the first connecon between the celebration of Jesus' birth and several pagan holidays was made in the 12th century. However, early Christian writers never even make a passing reference to any recent calendrical engineering; rather, they interpret the coincidence as a providential message. Around the year 200 A.D., when people first started talking about a date for Christmas, it was during a time when "Christians were not borrowing substantiy from pagan traditions."
A close examination of the Scriptures, on the other hand, makes it abundantly evident that the 25th of December is not a likely candidate for the birth of Christ. The following are the two most important reasons:
1. Shepherds were tending their flocks when Jesus was born (Luke 2:7-8).
The Interpreter's One-Volume Commentary says this line "argues against Christ's birth on Dec. 25" since it was too cold and rainy to keep cattle warm.
2. Jesus' parents registered for the Roman census in Bethlehem (Luke 2:1-4).
When temperatures dropped below freezing and roads were terrible, censuses weren't taken. A census would have been useless under those conditions. December 25th was a pagan compromise (William Walsh, The Story of Santa Klaus, 1970).
The majory of Christians, however, would come to celebrate Christmas on December 25, while the feast of the Epiphany would finally be celebrated on January 6. The time between formed the holiday season, which came to be known in subsequent years as the 12 days of Christmas.
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