History books tell us that Easter was not celebrated by early Christians and that it is based on ancient pagan practices. The Encyclopœdia Britannica says:

“There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament. . . . The sanctity of special times was an idea absent from the minds of the first Christians.”b

19. (a) Was Christmas celebrated by the earliest Christians? (b) What memorial did Jesus instruct his followers to keep?

¹⁹ What about Christmas? By checking reference works in a public library, you will find that it was unknown among the earliest Christians. Jesus instructed his followers to observe a memorial of his death, not of his birth. (1 Corinthians 11:24-26) Says The Catholic Encyclopedia: “Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the church. . . . The first evidence of the feast is from Egypt.”e