Pagan Rome’s celebration of Saturnalia, the birthday of the invincible sun, was some three months later. How did the celebration of Jesus’ birth get pushed forward to December 25, to make it coincide blasphemously with the pagan celebration of the birthday of the sun?

The ever-shorter days of December stirred up superstitious panic among the sun worshipers, who feared that their god was dying. They burned candles and lit bonfires to help revive the ailing deity. It seemed to work. Following the winter solstice of December 21, the sun-god appeared to regain his strength as the days grew longer.

“December was the major month of pagan celebration, and Dec. 25 was the high point of the winter revelries,” explains Church Christmas Tab. “Some believe the bishop of Rome chose Dec. 25 as the birth date of Christ in order to ‘sanctify’ the pagan celebrations. What resulted was a strange mixture of the pagan and the Christian festivals that the world now calls Christmas.” The article admits: “The word ‘Christmas’ does not appear in the Bible. And Scripture gives no mandate for celebrating Jesus’ birth.”

Gift giving was a feature of Saturnalia. “You were expected at this festival to make some present to all your friends.”​—Ancient Italy and Modern Religion.