Christmas

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Christmas is the anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ in the Christian faith. In recent years however, its meaning has been somewhat corrupted and Santa Claus has become to the leading figure rather than Jesus himself.

Although the date of Jesus' birth is unknown, in spite of much speculation, it began to be kept at the time of the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere. Theologically, this choice of date demonstrated Christ as Light of the World at the darkest point of the year. Culturally, the choice of date christianized the light festivals of the pagan empire. The traditional date for the winter solstice in the Roman calendar was 25 December, the date of Saturnalia, which became the date of Christmas in Western Europe. However, basing the date of the solstice on the old Egyptian calendar, 6 January became the date of Christmas in the East. In time, agreement was reached, and 25 December became the celebration of the nativity of Christ while 6 January was variously interpreted as the celebration of the visit of the Magi, the baptism of Christ and the first miracle at the wedding at Cana. 6 January became known as Epiphany or Theophany. However, Armenian Christians still celebrate a combined Christmas feast on 6 January in the Julian calendar. Because some churches use the Gregorian calendar and others the Julian calendar, the dates of these celebrations can differ.

Gregorian date	Julian date	Festival	Community
25 December	12 December	Christmas	Western and New Calendarist Eastern Christians
6 January	24 December	Epiphany or Theophany	Western and New Calendarist Eastern Christians
7 January	25 December	Christmas	Old Calendarist Eastern Christians
19 January	6 January	Theophany	Old Calendarist Eastern Christians
19 January	6 January	Christmas	Armenian Christians

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