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Yep, no one actually really knows when Jesus was born as the Bible did not say. A lot of people actually challenged if Jesus was ever even born in the winter based on the historical facts presented in the Bible. A lot of people also worked backwards from Jesus' life later on to try to figure out when hew as born.

I think celebrating Jesus' birth during this time of the year came at some point during the Roman Empire...

My grandparents and a lot of that generation where I'm from, they don't know their birthdays because there was just no proper documentation back in the day in the villages of rural China. So to me, making up a random day to celebrate a birthday is not that off

For some reason I thought he was born in June but could be making that up.

@josina: Well, I grew up in an unusual Christian environment. My dad's side of the family are something called "Old German Brethren AKA Old Order brethren"...they are kind of like Amish people! So the women wear bonnets and the men wear particular clothes, and they don't have TVs or radio or secular media (newspapers, magazines, etc). So my grandmother on that side was like that--and they take the new testament very literally, which is why women have their heads covered and they don't wear jewelry and only plain clothing (there's some bible verse against fancy clothes/jewelry/pierced ears). They also don't do Santa or Christmas trees, because they think it's sacriligious. So my parents didn't bring us up in that church (instead, they randomly picked Southern Baptist), but they were always a weird hybrid of fairly strict, biblical type Christians. So early on, we were taught what the bible actually says about the birth of Jesus (and what it doesn't say, which is a time of year).

I don't know if this is something that is taught or not taught in typical protestant Christian denominations, and I don't know what is taught in Catholicism--it would be interesting if different Bees weighed in and what they were taught in which kind of church.

I was raised Catholic, CCD religious education my whole life (after school programming only. I went to public school) and mass every Sunday. Never was this mentioned to me. I just randomly learned it as an adult.

It doesn't really matter to me, but I can definitely understand why people would balk at that and wonder what else they are not being told.

I learned this is a middle schooler at school. When I told my parents, they got SO upset and offended, it is a crystal clear memory. "Well then if you don't care about Jesus, we can just take back your presents!" "You said Christmas was fake, so obviously you don't care" etc etc. And I was like whoa, all I'm saying it, Jesus was born at another time, not that I don't believe in Jesus *eyeroll*.

Ironically at that time my parents and I were just lukewarm noncommittal Catholics; now we are all pretty serious about our Protestant faith.

I still am uneasy that all flavors of Christianity, and in particular evangelicalism, totally gloss over this and that they ignore the pagan roots of the holiday. I mean, I love Christmas and Jesus, but at least I can admit most of the traditions were co-opted.

I was raised Catholic and know I learned this at some point...not sure when. But then again, I don't think we've ever said it's Jesus' birthday, just that Christmas is when we celebrate his birth. Kind of like how Easter clearly isn't a celebration of the exact date that Jesus rose since it changes every year - it's just the time that was chosen to commemorate it.

I don't remember when I learned this. One of my friends in high school was pagan, but her parents forced to go to ccd with me. So I probably got it from her. Upon further reflection, the seasonal themes of death and rebirth don't really make sense for a religion founded that close to the equator.

I don’t think I ever learned this in catholic school. Maybe so and I just don’t remember? But I always figured it was the day we celebrated his birth not his actual birth day. I mean how could they have the correct documentation from back then right???? But I’m also a very practical person. I remember my mom getting so mad when I told her Adam and Eve could not have populated the whole entire world. She takes everything the Bible says very literally.

I knew it growing up Catholic. I always kind of side eyed people when they say "Jesus is the reason for the season." Nope. Which is not to say celebration of his birth isn't something to be revered. That statement is just untrue.

I went to Catholic school for 12 years and don't remember when exactly I learned this but it was early on in one of my religion classes. I always think of Christmas as a celebration of Jesus' birth rather than his actual birthday. Even though my family has a tradition of making a birthday cookie that we eat on Christmas Day.

@LCTBQE: @JennyPenny: Yes, I was going to say that Easter is based on a pagan holiday. The date moves each year because it is the first Sunday, after the first full moon, following the first day of Spring. That right there tells me all I need to know about the origin. Again it has always been symbolic to me so I never took the dates literally.

@Grace: This exactly!!!!!Thank you!!!!!!

@josina: my parents taught us this growing up and our church was actually against celebrating Christmas for this reason. We explain to or kids that this is the day we focus on thinking about his birth even though we don't know the date of his actual birthday