The Origins of Christmas

by Joseph F. Kelly

The establishment of a Christmas season based on December 25 affected several other feasts. It was simple arithmetic to figure out that Jesus’ conception had occurred nine months earlier on March 25—again the exact date theory—and that became the date of the Annunciation (the third-century reckoning of the date of Christmas from the date of the Annunciation had long been forgotten). The feast of the Annunciation was observed rather early in Byzantium, but it did not become a feast in the Latin churches until the seventh century. The Old Testament book of Leviticus said that a woman who gave birth to a boy was considered to be unclean for forty days. Since Luke’s gospel said that Joseph and Mary went to the Jerusalem Temple for purification, by the fifth century early Christians assumed that this occurred forty days after Jesus’ birth. Thus the feast of the Presentation in the Temple fell forty days after December 25, that is, on February 2. The feast was often known as the Purification of Mary and dates to the fourth century. It was originally observed forty days after Epiphany, but when Christmas was firmly established on December 25, it moved to February 2. Since the medieval celebration of the feast involved the carrying of candles in procession, the feast became known in England as Candlemas, that is, the “candle Mass.” (In the modern United States, it has been overwhelmed by Groundhog Day.) Marian devotion grew in the fourth and fifth centuries, and with it grew feast...