Changes

==Relationship to pagan festivals==

==Relationship to pagan festivals==

It is sometimes suggested that Christmas is an "appropriation" of a pagan festival. This view has a long history and can be traced back to the Puritans. According to this view, the Church placed Christmas on December 25 as a marketing strategy to absorb pagan solstice festivals into Christianity. The cycle of solstice and equinox is a natural phenomena significant to religions of widely varying character. Pagan Rome had many holidays and the fact that Christmas is on the same date as a pagan holiday is not necessarily significant.

The view that Christmas is an "appropriation" of a pagan festival has a long history. It was popularized by German scholar Hermann Usener in the late 19th century.<ref>Usener's essay was published in 1889. His views are foreshadowed in two essays by P.E. Jablonski (1693-1757). (Hijmans, p. 584.)</ref> According to Usener, the Church placed Christmas on December 25 as a kind of marketing strategy to absorb pagan solstice festivals into Christianity. The cycle of solstice and equinox is a natural phenomena significant to religions of widely varying character. Pagan Rome had many holidays and the fact that Christmas is on the same date as a pagan holiday is not necessarily significant.

The end of the year was a time of varied celebration in pagan Rome, and it remains so in modern times. Saturnalia began on December 17 and lasted for three to five days. It was followed by ''Dies Natalis Solis Invicti'' on December 25 and Kalends on January 1 to January 4. Saturnalia was exclusive to Italy while ''Natalis Solis Invicti'' was prominent only under Aurelian.

The end of the year was a "holiday season" of varied celebration in pagan Rome, and it remains so in modern times. Saturnalia began on December 17 and lasted for three to five days. It was followed by ''Dies Natalis Solis Invicti'' on December 25 and Kalends on January 1 to January 4. Saturnalia was exclusive to Italy while ''Natalis Solis Invicti'' was prominent only under Aurelian.

"It is cosmic symbolism ... which inspired the Church leadership in Rome to elect the winter solstice, December 25, as the birthday of Christ, and the summer solstice as that of John the Baptist, supplemented by the equinoxes as their respective dates of conception. While they were aware that pagans called this day the “birthday” of Sol Invictus, this did not concern them and it did not play any role in their choice of date for Christmas," as Steven Hijmans wrote in ''Sol, the sun in the art and religions of Rome.''<ref name="Hijmans">Hijmans, S.E., ''Sol, the sun in the art and religions of Rome,'' 2009, p. 595.</ref>  

"It is cosmic symbolism ... which inspired the Church leadership in Rome to elect the winter solstice, December 25, as the birthday of Christ, and the summer solstice as that of John the Baptist, supplemented by the equinoxes as their respective dates of conception. While they were aware that pagans called this day the “birthday” of Sol Invictus, this did not concern them and it did not play any role in their choice of date for Christmas," as Steven Hijmans wrote in ''Sol, the sun in the art and religions of Rome.''<ref name="Hijmans">Hijmans, S.E., ''Sol, the sun in the art and religions of Rome,'' 2009, p. 595.</ref>