SEE these comments at VFR. Daniel H. from Seattle writes:

Triumphant secularists love to point out that the timing of Christmas was melded with pagan celebrations of the winter solstice, as if that proved Christmas to be a fraud. But this, of course, is an impossibly juvenile response. Why is Christmas associated with the winter solstice, and not, say, the autumnal equinox or some other random astrological phenomenon? Because it is central to the Christian story that in darkest night, a light is born. It is the central theme of the Christian ethos. This idea is so central to all of Western society (thanks to Christianity), that even the most inane Hollywood schlock movie relies on that theme. It resonates with even the most degraded secularist because it is (a) oddly familiar for reasons he doesn’t understand, and (b) oddly true for reasons he refuses to acknowledge.

                                                                                                                 — Comments —

Lawrence Auster writes:

Daniel H. is correct that the Winter solstice, or a day just after it, was chosen as the birthday of Jesus Christ (whose actual birthday of course, is not known), because, as the end of the shortening of the day and the beginning of the lengthening of the day, it represents the idea that “in the darkest night, a light is born.” However, the beginning of the lengthening of the day that occurs at the Winter solstice has another and related meaning: the birth of the self, which will keep growing until it reaches its symbolic fullness at the Summer solstice, the time of maximum daylight. Jesus Christ, perfect God and perfect man, is both the perfect self, and the savior and guide and model for our imperfect selves. And this perfect self, our savior, is symbolically born at the Winter solstice, as an innocent baby, representing his blessed arrival in our lives and the beginning of our growth toward perfection in him.

Laura writes:

That is beautiful. 

Perhaps it would be more accurate to say, “it reaches its symbolic fullness near the equinox, when light and dark are balanced.” Easter is near the equinox.

Mr. Auster replies:

Interesting point. “Balance” would be a better word than “fullness.” But “fullness” corresponds with the fullness of daylight, at the summer solstice, when the “day” force (the self) is at its maximum, and the “night” force (the collective unconsciousness, or God) is at its minimum. At the summer solstice, the self, symbolically, is most powerful and at its furthest remove from God and other collective forces. At the spring equinox, the “day” force and the “night” force are in balance. At the winter solstice, the self is at its smallest and weakest, like a new born baby, it is just being born out of the “night” force and is still bathed in the “night” force:

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting.
The soul that rises with us, our life’s star [the self],
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar.
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come from God who is our home.
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!

At birth, our self is weak and small, it is bathed in the collective unconsciousness, in God, from which it comes. This is symbolized by the winter solstice.

Laura writes:

I understand what you mean by infancy and its affinity to God. But you suggest there is a natural cycle to the soul. In truth, the soul’s journey, and its relation to God at solstice, is not determined from without but from within.

Mr. Auster writes:

You are right. These symbolic ideas are not determinative. They express stages or phases of the soul. But they do not tell us the level of spiritual maturity of any given soul, how wisely it deals with the situation in which it finds itself.

Cheryl writes:

Quite coincidentally, The Catholic Knight has posted a very informed answer to this same subject. His conclusion is that early Christians were celebrating a version of Hanukkah (whence the Octave of Christmas); they translated the 25th of Kislev, the date of the start of Hanukkah on the Jewish calendar, to the 25th of December which was the calendar according to which they lived. Caesar Aurelian, during the 3rd century A.D. tried to unify the pagan religions, which all shared solstice celebrations that would have fallen between December 20 and December 23. He assigned them the common date of December 25, which would never have been the solstice, as the date to celebrate the solstice, likely because it was already the Christian holiday.

The Rev. James Jackson writes:

We should not forget that the date is connected to the feast of St. John the Baptist who said, “He must increase, and I must decrease.” So on Dec. 25, solar light begins to increase. On June 24, the light begins to decrease. This is one reason why the Fathers liked the dates for these two feasts. 

Ilion T. writes:

Another reason the early Church chose December 25 as the date of Jesus’ birth is that it followed Passover by nine months — there was a common belief amongst early Christians that Jesus’ death and conception were on the same day.

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