Now the Roman records do not throw any light on the life of Jesus Christ and the mystery starts from whether Jesus was a historical figure. But the world celebrates December 25th as Jesus Christ’s birthday. Santa Claus comes on a sledge driven by a reindeer and distributes sweets and plays with children throwing snow on them. Jesus was born at Bethlehem and lived in Palestine all through as recorded in the Bible. But snow games, sledge and reindeer are unheard of things in Palestine. Obviously Santa Claus and December 25th celebrations have their origin in Pre-Christian Europe and not in Arabia or Israel or Palestine. According to Britanica Encyclopaedia, “ the reason why Christmas came to be celebrated on December 25 remains uncertain, but most probably the reason is that early Christians wished the date to coincide with the pagan Roman festival marking the “birthday of the unconquered sun” (natalis solis invicti); this festival celebrated the winter solstice, when the days again begin to lengthen and the sun begins to climb higher in the sky. “The traditional customs connected with Christmas have accordingly developed from several sources as a result of the coincidence of the celebration of the birth of Christ with the pagan agricultural and solar observances at midwinter. In the Roman world the Saturnalia (December 17) was a time of merrymaking and exchange of gifts. “December 25 was also regarded as the birth date of the Iranian mystery god Mithra, the Sun of Righteousness. “On the Roman New Year (January 1), houses were decorated with greener y and lights, and gifts were given to children and the poor. To these observances were added the German and Celtic Yule rites when the Teutonic tribes penetrated into Gaul, Britain, and central Europe. Food and good fellowship, the Yule log and Yule cakes, greenery and fir trees, and gifts and greetings all commemorated different aspects of this festive season. Fires and lights, symbols of warmth and lasting life, have always been associated with the winter festival of the pagans.” In other words Christmas is the Pagan Mid-winter festival which in India is called the Makara Sankranti which also falls during this time. It may also be noted that Hindu Makara Sankranti used to fall on 1st Januaray before Pope Gregory XIII introduced the present Gregorian calendar in 1584 by skipping 11 days and later in a day each was eliminated in 1700, 1800 and 1900. This resulted in Makara Sankranti falling on 1st January every year to be shifted to 14th January as is seen today. Similarly the Hindu Solar New Year which used to fall on 1st April before 1584 got shifted to 14th April as is seen today. Thus the Hindu Makara Sankranti and Hindu Solar New Year Days were also festival days in Europe till recently.
