How Merry Should Christmas Be? A Fact-Based Historical Survey and Christian Perspective

Christmas is one of the most beloved holidays in the world, filled with lights, gifts, and family gatherings. But where did it come from, and should Christians celebrate it? This is a question that stirs debate among believers. In this post, I’ll take you on a fact-based exploration of how Christmas evolved into the holiday we know today, drawing from historical records. Then, I’ll share my thoughts on whether it’s something we should embrace or avoid as followers of Christ.

Early Christianity: No Birthdays, Just Resurrection

In the first three centuries of Christianity, the birth of Jesus—known as the Nativity—wasn’t a big deal. Early Christians focused on the resurrection, celebrated at Easter, rather than birthdays, which were seen as pagan customs. The New Testament doesn’t give a specific date for Jesus’ birth, and there’s no evidence of organized feasts marking it during this time.

By the early third century, some theologians started calculating possible dates for Jesus’ birth, trying to align it with scriptural timelines and cosmic events like the equinox. Hippolytus of Rome, writing around 202–235 AD, suggested December 25 in his Commentary on Daniel. He based this on Jesus’ conception occurring on March 25—the vernal equinox, symbolizing creation—and adding nine months for gestation. This tied Christ’s incarnation to the renewal of creation, not pagan festivals.

The Fourth Century: Formalizing the Feast

The official celebration of Christmas on December 25 began in the Roman Empire during Constantine I’s reign (306–337 AD). The earliest record is from the Chronograph of 354, a Roman calendar noting the feast as “Natus Christus in Betleem Judeae” in 336 AD. This followed the Edict of Milan in 313 AD, which legalized Christianity and allowed public holidays.

While some debate Roman influences like the pagan festival Natalis Invicti or Saturnalia (December 17), there’s no direct evidence that these dictated the date. Saturnalia did inspire general winter merriment, like feasting and gift-giving, but Christmas was rooted in theological calculations.

By the late fourth century, the holiday spread to the Eastern Empire. In 379 AD, Constantinople held its first documented Christmas banquet. As the Western Roman Empire fell to barbarian invasions in the fifth century, Christian missionaries integrated Christmas into Germanic kingdoms, blending it with local solstice rites.

A key moment came on Christmas Day 800 AD, when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as Emperor of the Romans in St. Peter’s Basilica. This fused Roman tradition with Carolingian power, making Christmas a date of political and religious importance. Charlemagne’s court standardized practices, including hymns and Gospel readings. By the 10th century, Christmas involved charity, almsgiving, and 12 days of feasting from December 25 to Epiphany.

High Middle Ages and Renaissance: Feasts and Innovations

In the High Middle Ages (11th–13th centuries), Christmas became Europe’s top religious observance. After the Advent fast, communities feasted with goose, boar, and ales. Churches held midnight masses and chants, blending Christian solemnity with evergreen symbols of renewal—though church leaders sometimes criticized excesses like gambling.

In 1223, St. Francis of Assisi created the first live nativity scene in Greccio, Italy, using a cave, animals, hay, and a figure of the infant Jesus. This evoked empathy for Christ’s humility and spread across Europe, inspiring creche traditions.

In Northern Europe, guilds staged mystery plays of biblical scenes, and early markets in German towns hinted at future commercial aspects, tied to religious fairs.

Reformation and Early Modern Period: Reform and Retention

The Protestant Reformation brought mixed views. Reformers like Martin Luther affirmed Christmas as commemorating Christ’s incarnation but rejected “superstitious” Catholic elements. Luther’s 1520s sermons and 1535 hymn “Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her” focused on scriptural truths. Lutheran families kept church services and added domestic touches, like gift-giving on Christmas Eve.

Luther is often credited with lighting candles on trees to mimic starry skies, though decorated trees existed earlier in German regions. This symbolized eternal life and promoted family piety.

In British colonies like Massachusetts, Puritans banned Christmas in 1659 as “false religious worship,” fining celebrants. Enforcement faded by 1681.

19th-Century Revival: Victorian Family Focus

The 19th century revived Christmas in Britain and America. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert popularized the Christmas tree—a German custom—after an 1848 Illustrated London News illustration showed the royal family around a decorated fir. This emphasized family unity amid industrialization.

Charles Dickens’ 1843 A Christmas Carol portrayed Christmas as a time for charity, feasting, and reconciliation. It revived carol singing, promoted turkey dinners (thanks to better rail transport), and addressed poverty concerns. The first commercial Christmas card in 1843, by Sir Henry Cole, boosted mass exchanges.

In the U.S., after Puritan bans, immigration and literature like Dickens’ works revived customs. By the 1840s, trees and gifts were common, and in 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant made it a federal holiday. This era shifted focus to personal piety and consumerism, laying modern foundations.

20th–21st Centuries: Commercialization and Secularization

The 20th century ramped up commercialization. Department stores used catalogs and displays to make gift-giving central. Advertising in media solidified Santa Claus’ image, with U.S. holiday spending hitting $886.7 billion by 2021.

Wars influenced celebrations: The 1914 Christmas Truce in WWI saw British and German soldiers exchange gifts and play soccer. WWII brought rationing, but parcels provided relief.

Secularization grew; by 2019, only 35% of U.S. celebrants saw it as “strongly religious.” In the Soviet Union, it was suppressed for secular New Year’s events. Globally, migration created hybrid forms, sparking meaning debates.

Eastern Orthodox Christmas: A Different Calendar

Eastern Orthodox Christmas ties to the 1054 Great Schism, dividing East and West. Orthodox churches stuck with the Julian calendar, rejecting the 1582 Gregorian reform to maintain independence. By the 20th century, Julian December 25 fell on Gregorian January 7.

It’s one of the 12 Great Feasts, with a 40-day Nativity Fast, vigils, and liturgies focusing on family and symbolism. Despite low believer percentages, Western influences have added commercialization.

Should Christians Celebrate Christmas?

With this historical overview, what should we conclude if we want to stick to biblical feasts? The Bible doesn’t mandate or forbid celebrating Jesus’ birth—it’s not like the feasts in Israel.

While we can go to the extreme of completely denying Christmas as a non-biblical holiday and coming down hard on it as a pseudo-celebration distracting us from the real meaning of the Christian faith, such well-intended zeal might be counterproductive.

Here is why.

Christianity is the historical backbone of Christian civilization. Like it or not, Christianity is not only a personal faith for individuals here and there, it also represents what used to be known as Western Christendom, or Christendom in general.

Western Christianity has been under attack for decades internally from secular atheists, and Christmas hasn’t been spared from the culture wars raging in the West. The word Christmas has been replaced with the generic term “holiday,” and references to Christmas have been removed from all government institutions in an attempt to purge the West from its Christian legacy.

This has contributed greatly to the weakening of Christian civilization and simultaneously to the introduction of multiculturalism as a replacement for the Christian identity of the West.

Muslims have seized on this weakness and have been pushing hard by pointing out how the West is becoming more secular as some sort of a sign that this is the right time for them to Islamize it.

It is for this reason that we as Christians should take a stand for Christmas and not against it. If we fail to understand the larger existential confrontation that we are currently experiencing as a civilization and instead choose to become petty about minor issues such as when exactly Jesus was born, we are essentially working for and with secular atheists and global jihad’s agenda to undermine our own civilization.

When one understands the culture wars, it’s not too difficult to make one’s decision on where one stands.

While I do not approve of and certainly do not enjoy the materialistic way Christmas is being exploited in the West by merchants and corporations, this is a far lesser evil compared to the prospects of a takeover by Communism or Islam.

Therefore, the most reasonable position should be to allow each person, each family, and each congregation to choose the way they will honor Christ, including whether they will celebrate Christmas or not.

If you are a believer who enjoys the celebration of Christmas, you certainly shouldn’t allow anyone to make you feel guilty about it.

If you do not believe that this is a way to honor Christ and you choose to treat Christmas as any other day, and if these are your convictions and the culture you want to raise your family in, then this is your choice, and you’re free to follow that, and no one should try to force you into anything else you don’t believe in.

The New Testament does not forbid the celebration of the birth of the Messiah, nor does it institute it. Rather, this celebration has become a feature of the civilization that is the most friendly to Christianity, and therefore it’s perfectly acceptable for it to be part of our lives.

A similarity can be drawn with the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, which is not a biblically mandated holiday, and yet it has become integral to the Jewish identity and culture. As such, there’s nothing wrong with us joining the Jewish people in celebrating Hanukkah with them as a way of showing support for them as a civilization.

Whether we fail or succeed in our mission to bring the knowledge of Jesus to this world is ultimately determined not by whether we celebrate Christmas or not, but by how we live our lives on a daily basis and who we choose to serve on a daily basis, personally and as a culture.

God is not going to be more glorified by us celebrating or not celebrating Christmas. If the celebration or non-celebration of certain holidays is what’s going to define us as true believers, then I would say we have failed to grasp the essence of the teaching of Jesus and the life He calls us to.

Everyone in our family clearly understands that Jesus wasn’t born on December 25th. However, we appreciate the fact that this is a rare annual opportunity to set time aside from our busy schedules to enjoy time together as a family and to thank God for His great gift in sending His Son to this lost world. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this.

At the same time, I have friends who have taken more of a Puritan position on Christmas and have chosen not to celebrate the holiday since it wasn’t part of the feasts of Israel commanded in the Bible. I respect their choice and will never engage in shaming them about it.

We need fewer extremes and more stability in our lives. The world is unstable and full of extremes as it is; there is no need for us to add to it by engaging in crusades for purity we know we’re not going to win.

How Merry Should Christmas Be? A Fact-Based Historical Survey and Christian Perspective© 2025 byGeorge Bakalovis licensed underCC BY-NC-ND 4.0