Christmas is a Christian holiday that occurs on December 25th and celebrates the birth of Jesus. In the liturgical year it is preceded by Advent and marks the beginning of the Christmas holidays, which end with the Epiphany on January 6th.
It is one of the most widespread religious and cultural celebrations in the world, originally created to celebrate the Nativity narrated in the Gospels of the New Testament and which took place, according to the Christian faith, in Bethlehem. Today, despite being a public holiday in many countries, Christmas is associated above all with secular and commercial customs.
The origins of the holiday and the etymology of the word Christmas
The origins of the celebration of Christmas are uncertain. As we know, according to Christian tradition the anniversary celebrates the birth of Jesus, born in Bethlehem on 25 December. And, not surprisingly, the word Christmas is short for Dies Natalis Christithat is, “the day of the birth of Christ”. The problem is that, from a historical point of view, the date of Jesus’ birth is far from clear. The gospels, in fact, do not mention it and in the first centuries of the Christian era the communities recognized different dates, including January 6th.
December 25th as the official date of Christmas, first attested in Rome in the year 336, only came into common use in the 5th century.
The meaning of Christmas and the choice of December 25th
Most likely, therefore, the choice of this date originates from pagan cults. The Romans, in particular, used to celebrate on December 25th Dies Natalis solis invictior the day of the birth of the “invincible Sun”, considered the protective deity of imperial power and celebrated at the moment of the year in which the duration of daylight began to increase, immediately after the winter solstice.
Not everyone, however, agrees with this theory: some intellectuals maintain that the choice of date was developed within a Christian context, without connections with pagan cults. Other scholars trace the origins of Christmas to the Jewish festival of lights, the Hanukkahwhich celebrates the consecration of a new altar in the Temple of Jerusalem. Christmas, according to this interpretation, would be the Christian version of a Jewish holiday, as happens with Easter and other celebrations that “passed” from Judaism to Christianity.
Diffusion in Italy and around the world
As mentioned, it was from the 5th century onwards that Christmas celebrations began to take hold, also influencing the liturgical calendar. In 567 the Council of Tours established that the “Christmas season” lasted twelve days, from 25 December to 5 January, thus connecting it to the Epiphany. Hence, the origin of today’s Christmas holidays.
As time passed, the celebration of Christmas spread throughout the Christian world, as did the associated traditions, including that of the nativity scene, born in the 13th century in Assisi, and that of the tree, from the 15th-16th centuries in Europe.
Since the Middle Ages, the habit of exchanging gifts also spread among the wealthiest people, a tradition that originally took place on December 6, the day of Saint Nicholas, a figure that would have inspired that of Santa Claus.
But how did we get to the present Christmas? Only in the 19th century did December 25th become a holiday focused on the family, also thanks to authors such as Charles Dickens and Washington Irving, who in their works described the anniversary in terms similar to today’s ones. In the 20th century, with the development of mass society and globalization, Christmas took on the appearance of a predominantly commercial and consumerist celebration.
Christmas today
Today Christmas is celebrated in almost every country in the world, including many of those where Christianity is not the prevailing religion.
The anniversary has not lost its religious significance and is the day on which churches record the largest presence of faithful. However, it is an occasion also experienced as a moment for socialization and consumption. Indeed, according to a survey by Altroconsumo, for Christmas 2025 the average expenditure of Italians will be around 600 euros, divided between dinners, short holidays and gifts.
