Why aren't Christmas and New Year's Day the same date?
score:2
Why aren't Christmas and New Year's Day the same date?
In one sense they are the same date!
The short answer is that they are simply not taking the same place within the civil calendar.
Yet on the other side of the coin, they may seem to be the same date, although their not.
This question is going to be answered in a little convoluted and complicated manner.
It is true that liturgically speaking the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ is celebrated on January 1st, while the Feast of the Nativity is celebrated on December 25th.
In the ancient days of Christendom, major feasts were celebrated for eight days. Christmas in days gone by was celebrated for eight days in a row, called liturgically an octave. Thus the Feast of Christmas columnated with the Solemnity of the Circumcision of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus in a liturgical sense of traditional minded Catholics, Christmas is one continuous liturgical feast that ends on January 1st.
The Feast of the Circumcision is a natural way to conclude the Christmas feast day, as circumcision was performed on the "eighth day" after birth, the number 8 became associated also with baptism, and baptismal fonts have from an early date often been constructed in an octagonal design.
Thus the Brit Milah of Jesus would be a fantastic way to end the Octave of Christmas. Satan hates this day for on this day Christ received the sacred name of Jesus. In the Catholic Church, January 1st remains a holy day of obligation.
Thus we can conclude the Pope Gregory XIII believed the Jesus was the Christ at the very moment of his conception in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Moreover, Christmas and the Circumcision of Christ was seen as one continuous feast!
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII (Gregorian Calendar) corrected the Julian Calendar, the first day of the year varied from country to country.
For example, England celebrated New Years Day on March 25th. Now in England, the 25th of March fell on the Feast of the Announciation. The faithful of the Middle Ages were more religiously mind than our modern society is now. This can be seen in the fact that in som pious liturgical books the Annunciation and Good Friday. This had no effect on the date of the Easter celebration which was liturgical celebrated anytime between Marsh 22nd to April 25th, depending on when the first full moon of spring occurred.
It should equally be noted tha the Romans celebrated their New Years Day on January 1st. In an other view point, Gregory XIII was restoring the first day of the civil calendar to it’s original place!
More post
- 📝 Gifts of the Holy Spirit according to Seventh Day Adventists
- 📝 Wouldn't the "spirit of Jesus" [mentioned in Acts 16:7] challenge the idea of the Trinity?
- 📝 Did the apostles believe that God is unique, eternal, infinite, omnipotent, immutable, "simple", spirit, and personal?
- 📝 Why do Christians appeal to personal gain and inducing fear when attempting to "convert" people?
- 📝 In what order were the 12 Apostles called?
- 📝 Is modern Evangelical Protestant soteriology consistent with the early Christian idea of "theosis"?
- 📝 Was James the early church leader?
- 📝 Did St. Thomas Aquinas deny the Holy Spirit proceeds immediately from the Father alone?
- 📝 What is the Catholic theological basis for the Munificentissimus Deus?
- 📝 According to LDS, do all non-LDS Christians lack the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and if so, how does this lack manifest itself in the lives of non-LDS?
- 📝 According to Catholicism what does it mean for every relationship in heaven to be perfect and fulfilling?
- 📝 If a person undergoes an emergency baptism, then recovers, do they need a "non-emergency" baptism?
- 📝 Under what conditions can a re-married Catholic couple receive the sacrament of the eucharist?
- 📝 What does it mean to be "in the Spirit"?
- 📝 Why did Origen oppose birthdays? Was this a Jewish belief?
- 📝 Are all who are saved, saved equally?
- 📝 In what sense do Mormons believe salvation is only through Christ?
- 📝 Who thinks women are not made in the image of God?
- 📝 Who are the lambs in John 21:15?
- 📝 What is the biblical and early church basis against religious tolerance?
- 📝 How does the Christology of the Baha'i faith differ from that of trinitarian Christianity?
- 📝 How can we understand Jesus's omniscience?
- 📝 Why did Jesus not write any scripture himself?
- 📝 When did the split in crufix/empty-cross sybolism occur and why did it happen?
- 📝 Does the Bible say if animals in Eden were carnivorous, or when animals on Earth became carnivorous?
- 📝 How should a Christian feel inside?
- 📝 Why the change of heart for Peter in John 18?
- 📝 How does open theology interpret 1 Peter 1:2?
- 📝 Between Protestants & Catholics what are the major disagreements with respect to Church history?
- 📝 What is meant by 'genuine affective' considering a h*m*sexual relationship?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Why aren't Christmas and New Year's Day the same date?
- 📝 Why is Easter celebrated on a different day every year and Christmas is not?
- 📝 If we will have free will and be sinless in Heaven at the same time, then why did God not create a world with sinless free creatures to begin with?
- 📝 What does the Bible say about this question- Why do Jesus and God have two seats in heaven when they are the same God?
- 📝 Why do people believe that the 7 kingdom parables and the 7 churches of revelation represent the same things?
- 📝 Why does Christmas end on the Baptism of the Lord and not on the Presentation of the Lord?
- 📝 Why is the Bible divided into Old Testament and New Testament?
- 📝 What did Protestant reformers think about the date and authorship of the New Testament?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for believing God is the same throughout the Old and New Testament?
- 📝 Was the date of Christmas just derived from Saturnalia and other winter pagan festivals?
- 📝 Why do the majority of Protestants celebrate Easter on the same day as the Catholic Church?
- 📝 What is the basis for saying Christians and Muslims worship the same God?
- 📝 Why are Matthew, Mark, and Luke called the synoptic gospels?
- 📝 How can the sun be created after day and night?
- 📝 Can somebody summarize the different "branches" of Christianity to me, and explain why they exist in the first place?
- 📝 According to those holding that Lazarus was literally raised from the dead, why did Matthew, Mark, and Luke not mention it?
- 📝 Why do we use the order "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit"?
- 📝 Why the difference in depiction of the cross between Catholics and Protestants?
- 📝 What are the main differences between 7th Day Adventists and Catholic/Protestant churches?
- 📝 If both the Orthodox and Catholic Church affirm salvation by grace through faith, why did the Protestant Reformation happen?
- 📝 Why does the (N)KJV put Jesus' name in all caps in Matthew 1:21 and Luke 1:31?
- 📝 Why does the Salvation Army not administer the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper?
- 📝 Why is the word "Ark" used for Noah's boat and the Ark of the Covenant?
- 📝 What is the origin of the Christmas tree and is it accepted in all Christian traditions?
- 📝 When did the split in crufix/empty-cross sybolism occur and why did it happen?
- 📝 What is the basis for the claim that the entire New Testament can be reconstructed apart from original and copied manuscripts?
- 📝 Why is the Lord's Prayer different in the NIV and KJV?
- 📝 When was the New Testament divided into sentences and paragraphs?
- 📝 Why Do Moses' Laws About Slavery and Punishment Not Align with the Teachings of Jesus?
- 📝 Why is rejection of the Trinity heresy, and not just wrong? (Protestant perspective)