Christmas

=== Early and medieval era ===
[[File:Hortus Deliciarum, Die Geburt Christi.JPG|thumb|''Nativity of Christ'', medieval illustration from the {{lang|la|[[Hortus deliciarum]]}} of [[Herrad of Landsberg]] (12th century)]]
In the 2nd century, the "earliest church records" indicate that "Christians were remembering and celebrating the birth of the Lord", an "observance [that] sprang up organically from the authentic devotion of ordinary believers"; although "they did not agree upon a set date".<ref name="English">{{cite book |last1=English |first1=Adam C. |title=Christmas: Theological Anticipations |date=October 14, 2016 |publisher=[[Wipf and Stock Publishers]] |isbn=978-1-4982-3933-2 |pages=70–71 |language=English}}</ref> The earliest evidence of Christ's birth being marked on December 25 is a sentence in the ''[[Chronograph of 354]]''.<ref>The manuscript reads, ''VIII kal. Ian. natus Christus in Betleem Iudeae.'' ("[http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/chronography_of_354_12_depositions_martyrs.htm The Chronography of 354 AD. Part 12: Commemorations of the Martyrs] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111122221633/http://tertullian.org/fathers/chronography_of_354_12_depositions_martyrs.htm |date=November 22, 2011 }}", ''The Tertullian Project''. 2006.)</ref><ref name="Bradshaw 7-10">{{cite book |last1=Bradshaw |first1=Paul |editor1-last=Larsen |editor1-first=Timothy |title=The Oxford Handbook of Christmas |date=2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=7–10 |chapter=The Dating of Christmas}}</ref><ref name="NewCath" >{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2002 |title=Christmas and its cycle |encyclopedia=New Catholic Encyclopedia |publisher=Catholic University of America Press |edition=2nd |volume=3 |pages=550–557}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Hyden |first=Marc |title=Merry Christmas, Saturnalia or festival of Sol Invictus? |url=https://times-herald.com/news/2021/12/merry-christmas-saturnalia-or-festival-of-sol-invictus |work=[[Newnan Times-Herald]] |date=December 20, 2021 |access-date=February 17, 2023 |quote=Around AD 274ᵃ, Emperor Aurelian set December 25—the winter solstice at the time—for the celebration of Sol Invictus who was the 'Unconquered Sun' god. 'A marginal note on a manuscript of the writings of the Syriac biblical commentator [[Dionysius bar Salibi|Dionysius bar-Salibi]] states that in ancient times the Christmas holiday was actually shifted from January 6 to December 25 so that it fell on the same date as the pagan Sol Invictus holiday,' reads an excerpt from [[Biblical Archaeology Review|Biblical Archaeology]]. / Could early Christians have chosen December 25 to coincide with this holiday? 'The first celebration of Christmas observed by the Roman church in the West is presumed to date to [336 AD],' per the Encyclopedia Romanaᵃ, long after Aurelian established Sol Invictus' festival. |language=en |archive-date=December 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221226210422/https://times-herald.com/news/2021/12/merry-christmas-saturnalia-or-festival-of-sol-invictus |url-status=dead }}<br />(a) {{cite encyclopedia |title=Sol Invictus and Christmas |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/calendar/invictus.html |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Romana |language=en}}</ref> Liturgical historians generally agree that this part of the text was written in Rome in AD 336.<ref name="Bradshaw 7-10"/> Though Christmas did not appear on the lists of festivals given by the early Christian writers [[Irenaeus]] and [[Tertullian]],<ref name="CathChrit" /> the early Church Fathers [[John Chrysostom]], [[Augustine of Hippo]], and [[Jerome]] attested to December 25 as the date of Christmas toward the end of the fourth century.<ref name="English"/> December 25 was the traditional date of the [[winter solstice]] in the Roman Empire,<ref name="Forsythe">{{cite book |last1=Forsythe |first1=Gary |title=Time in Roman Religion: One Thousand Years of Religious History |date=2012 |publisher=Routledge |pages=113, 123, 141}}</ref> where most Christians lived, and the Roman festival {{lang|la|Dies Natalis Solis Invicti}} (birthday of {{lang|la|[[Sol Invictus]]}}, the 'Invincible Sun') had been held on this date since 274 AD.<ref name="Bradshaw">{{cite book |last1=Bradshaw |first1=Paul |editor1-last=Larsen |editor1-first=Timothy |title=The Oxford Handbook of Christmas |date=2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=4–10 |chapter=The Dating of Christmas}}</ref>

In the [[Eastern Christianity|East]], the birth of Jesus was celebrated in connection with the [[Epiphany (holiday)|Epiphany]] on January 6.<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h5VQUdZhx1gC&pg=PA65 |editor-first1=Geoffrey |editor-last1=Wainwright |editor-link1=Geoffrey Wainwright |editor-first2=Karen Beth |editor-last2=Westerfield Tucker |editor-link2=Karen B. Westerfield Tucker |title=[[The Oxford History of Christian Worship]] |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-19-513886-3 |page=65 |chapter=The Apostolic Tradition|first=Maxwell E.|last=Johnson|access-date=February 3, 2012}}</ref><ref name=Roy>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANxZYgEACAAJ |first=Christian |last=Roy |title=Traditional Festivals: A Multicultural Encyclopedia |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2005 |place=Santa Barbara, California |isbn=978-1-57607-089-5 |page=146 |access-date=February 3, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111115502/http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Traditional_Festivals_An_Multicultur.html?id=ANxZYgEACAAJ |archive-date=January 11, 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref> This holiday was not primarily about Christ's birth, but rather [[baptism of Jesus|his baptism]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sites.google.com/site/historyofepiphany|title=History of Epiphany|last=Pokhilko|first=Hieromonk Nicholas|access-date=December 27, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160923004605/https://sites.google.com/site/historyofepiphany/|archive-date=September 23, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Christmas was promoted in the East as part of the revival of [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christianity]] that followed the death of the pro-[[Arianism|Arian]] Emperor [[Valens]] at the [[Battle of Adrianople]] in 378. The feast was introduced in [[Constantinople]] in 379, in [[Antioch]] by [[John Chrysostom]] towards the end of the fourth century,<ref name=Roy /> probably in 388, and in [[Alexandria]] in the following century.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=INJI4FGeLpYC&q=Encyclopaedia+of+religion+and+ethics+6 |editor-first1=James |editor-last1=Hastings |editor-first2=John A. |editor-last2=Selbie |title=Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics |publisher=Kessinger Publishing Company |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7661-3676-2 |pages=603–604 |volume=6 |access-date=February 3, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181122005448/https://books.google.de/books?id=INJI4FGeLpYC&dq=Encyclopaedia+of+religion+and+ethics+6 |archive-date=November 22, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Georgian Iadgari demonstrates that Christmas was celebrated in Jerusalem by the [[sixth century]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Frøyshov |first=Stig Simeon |title=[Hymnography of the] Rite of Jerusalem |url=https://www.academia.edu/4874556 |journal=Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology}}</ref>

[[File:Nativity from Sherbrooke Missal cropped.jpg|thumb|left|''The Nativity'', from a 14th-century [[missal]], a liturgical book containing texts and music necessary for the celebration of Mass throughout the year]]

In the [[Early Middle Ages]], Christmas Day was overshadowed by Epiphany, which in [[western Christianity]] focused on the visit of the [[Biblical Magi|magi]]. However, the medieval calendar was dominated by Christmas-related holidays. The forty days before Christmas became the "forty days of St. Martin" (which began on November 11, the feast of [[St. Martin of Tours]]), now known as Advent.<ref name="Murray">Murray, Alexander, [http://www.historytoday.com/alexander-murray/medieval-christmas "Medieval Christmas"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111213224341/http://www.historytoday.com/alexander-murray/medieval-christmas |date=December 13, 2011 }}, ''History Today'', December 1986, '''36''' (12), pp. 31–39.</ref> In Italy, former [[Saturnalia]]n traditions were attached to Advent.<ref name="Murray" /> Around the 12th century, these traditions transferred again to the [[Twelve Days of Christmas]] (December 25 – January 5); a time that appears in the liturgical calendars as Christmastide or Twelve Holy Days.<ref name="Murray" />

In 567, the [[Council of Tours 567|Council of Tours]] put in place the season of [[Christmastide]], proclaiming "the [[twelve days of Christmas|twelve days]] from Christmas to Epiphany as a sacred and festive season, and established the duty of [[Advent]] fasting in preparation for the feast."<ref name="Forbes"/><ref name="Hynes1993">{{cite book|last=Hynes|first=Mary Ellen|title=Companion to the Calendar|url=https://archive.org/details/companiontocalen0000hyne|url-access=registration|year=1993|publisher=Liturgy Training Publications|isbn=9781568540115|page=[https://archive.org/details/companiontocalen0000hyne/page/8 8]|quote=In the year 567 the church council of Tours called the 13 days between December 25 and January 6 a festival season.}}</ref> This was done in order to solve the "administrative problem for the Roman Empire as it tried to coordinate the solar Julian calendar with the lunar calendars of its provinces in the east."<ref name="Hill2003">{{cite book|last=Hill|first=Christopher|title=Holidays and Holy Nights: Celebrating Twelve Seasonal Festivals of the Christian Year|year=2003|publisher=Quest Books|isbn=9780835608107|page=91|quote=This arrangement became an administrative problem for the Roman Empire as it tried to coordinate the solar Julian calendar with the lunar calendars of its provinces in the east. While the Romans could roughly match the months in the two systems, the four cardinal points of the solar year—the two equinoxes and solstices—still fell on different dates. By the time of the first century, the calendar date of the winter solstice in Egypt and Palestine was eleven to twelve days later than the date in Rome. As a result the Incarnation came to be celebrated on different days in different parts of the Empire. The Western Church, in its desire to be universal, eventually took them both—one became Christmas, one Epiphany—with a resulting twelve days in between. Over time this hiatus became invested with specific Christian meaning. The Church gradually filled these days with saints, some connected to the birth narratives in Gospels (Holy Innocents' Day, December 28, in honor of the infants slaughtered by Herod; St. John the Evangelist, "the Beloved," December 27; St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, December 26; the Holy Family, December 31; the Virgin Mary, January 1). In 567, the Council of Tours declared the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany to become one unified festal cycle.}}<!--|access-date=15 December 2014--></ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.americanminute.com/index.php?|title=On the 12th Day of Christmas|last=Federer|first=William J.|publisher=American Minute|date=January 6, 2014|access-date=December 25, 2014|quote=In 567 AD, the Council of Tours ended a dispute. Western Europe celebrated Christmas, December 25, as the holiest day of the season... but Eastern Europe celebrated Epiphany, January 6, recalling the Wise Men's visit and Jesus' baptism. It could not be decided which day was holier, so the Council made all 12 days from December 25 to January 6 "holy days" or "holidays," These became known as "The Twelve Days of Christmas."}}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media|people=[[Kirk Cameron]], William Federer|date=November 6, 2014|title=Praise the Lord|url=http://www.itbn.org/index/detail/lib/Networks/sublib/TBN/ec/FyODhvcTrKC2NHhNkBx1leF42RiSVq_v#ooid=FyODhvcTrKC2NHhNkBx1leF42RiSVq_v|access-date=December 25, 2014|time=01:15:14|publisher=[[Trinity Broadcasting Network]]|quote=Western Europe celebrated Christmas December 25 as the holiest day. Eastern Europe celebrated January 6 the Epiphany, the visit of the Wise Men, as the holiest day... and so they had this council and they decided to make all twelve days from December 25 to January 6 the Twelve Days of Christmas.|archive-date=December 25, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141225225359/http://www.itbn.org/index/detail/lib/Networks/sublib/TBN/ec/FyODhvcTrKC2NHhNkBx1leF42RiSVq_v#ooid=FyODhvcTrKC2NHhNkBx1leF42RiSVq_v|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The prominence of Christmas Day increased gradually after [[Charlemagne]] was crowned Emperor on Christmas Day in 800.<ref>{{cite news |title=Who was Charlemagne? The unlikely king who became an emperor |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/premium/article/holy-roman-empire-king-charlemagne |access-date=November 30, 2023 |work=National Geographic}}</ref> King [[Edmund the Martyr]] was anointed on Christmas in 855 and King [[William I of England]] was crowned on Christmas Day 1066.<ref>{{cite news |title=William the Conqueror: Crowned at Christmas |url=https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/william-the-conqueror-crowned-at-christmas/ |access-date=November 30, 2023 |work=[[The History Press]]}}</ref>

[[File:Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (German - The Coronation of Charlemagne - Google Art Project.jpg|alt=|thumb|The coronation of Charlemagne on Christmas of 800 helped promote the popularity of the holiday]]

By the [[High Middle Ages]], the holiday had become so prominent that chroniclers routinely noted where various [[magnate]]s celebrated Christmas. [[Richard II of England|King Richard II]] of England hosted a Christmas feast in 1377 at which 28 oxen and 300 sheep were eaten.<ref name="Murray" /> The Yule boar was a common feature of medieval Christmas feasts. [[Christmas carol|Caroling]] also became popular, and was originally performed by a group of dancers who sang. The group was composed of a lead singer and a ring of dancers that provided the chorus. Various writers of the time condemned caroling as lewd, indicating that the unruly traditions of Saturnalia and Yule may have continued in this form.<ref name="Murray" /> "[[Lord of Misrule|Misrule]]"—drunkenness, promiscuity, gambling—was also an important aspect of the festival. In England, gifts were exchanged on New Year's Day, and there was special Christmas ale.<ref name="Murray" />

Christmas during the Middle Ages was a public festival that incorporated [[ivy]], [[holly]], and other evergreens.<ref name=mcgreevy /> Christmas [[gift-giving]] during the Middle Ages was usually between people with legal relationships, such as tenant and landlord.<ref name=mcgreevy>McGreevy, Patrick. "Place in the American Christmas", ([https://www.jstor.org/stable/215896 JSTOR] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215223504/https://www.jstor.org/stable/215896 |date=December 15, 2018 }}), ''Geographical Review'', Vol. 80, No. 1. January 1990, pp. 32–42. Retrieved September 10, 2007.</ref> The annual indulgence in eating, dancing, singing, sporting, and card playing escalated in England, and by the 17th century the Christmas season featured lavish dinners, elaborate masques, and pageants. In 1607, [[James I of England|King James I]] insisted that a play be acted on Christmas night and that the court indulge in games.<ref name=BTR /> It was during the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] in 16th–17th-century Europe that many Protestants changed the gift bringer to the [[Christ Child]] or ''[[Christkindl]]'', and the date of giving gifts changed from December 6 to Christmas Eve.<ref name="ADS">Forbes, Bruce David, ''Christmas: a candid history'', University of California Press, 2007, {{ISBN|0-520-25104-0}}, pp. 68–79.</ref>