Who decided Christmas would be celebrated on December 25th?

Answer 1

According to Wikipedia (see related links), the earliest record was around AD 379.

A: The earliest known references point to the mid fourth century, but could have been earlier. There is no precise start date, as Christmas was honored at different times. It became firmly set on the 25th by established tradition sometime in the early Middle Ages (after ~400AD) .

Answer 2

Because Jesus was said to be born on that day.

However, most Christians accept that the date was chosen by the church hierarchy to supplant the pagan solstice festivals for the variety of gods they worshiped.

The Romans didn't like to celebrate Christmas so then the cristians thought of a way to celebrate it and then the chose the day that the Romans partyed the most. So that's why they choose twenty-fifth of December. :)

Answer 3

Santa. He was born on December 25th.

Answer#2
It is not known exactly, it is an old tradition, possibly celebrated since the beginning of the Church. Celebrations of the nativity are found in historical records in the 2nd century AD; but it was not until the 4th Century that it became an official feast day in the Church. A t this time the date of Christmas was selected to be 12 days before the Feast of Epiphany since Epiphany is on January 6th this put Christmas on December 25th.

Answer 4

The early church fathers estimated several different dates for the birth of Christ. Around 200AD Tertullian of Carthage reported the calculation that the 14th of Nisan (the day of the crucifixion according to the Gospel of John) in the year Jesus died was equivalent to March 25th in the Roman (solar) calendar.

March 25th is nine months before December 25th. Jesus was believed to have been conceived and crucified on the same day of the year and therefore born on December 25. This became the standard view in the western church by the 4th century.

Augustine writes: "For he is believed to have been conceived on the 25th of March, upon which day also he suffered; so the womb of the Virgin, in which he was conceived, where no one of mortals was begotten, corresponds to the new grave in which he was buried, wherein was never man laid, neither before him nor since. But he was born, according to tradition, upon December the 25th."

The 25th of December was chosen by the Church in the 4th Century to be the feast of Christmas sine the 25th was 12 days before the Feast of Epiphany. The number 12 is a significant number in the Bible.

Some legends claim that the Christian "Christmas" celebration was invented to compete against the pagan celebrations of December. The 25th was not only sacred to the Romans but also the Persians whose religion Mithraism was one of Christianity's main rivals at that time. The Church eventually was successful in taking the merriment, lights, and gifts from the Saturanilia festival and bringing them to the celebration of Christmas.

The exact day of the Christ child's birth has never been pinpointed. Traditions say that it has been celebrated since the year 98 AD. In 137 AD the Bishop of Rome ordered the birthday of the Christ Child celebrated as a solemn feast. In 350 AD another Bishop of Rome, Julius I, choose December 25th as the observance of Christmas.