Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the church... the first
evidence of the feast is from Egypt." (Catholic Encyclopaedia 1911 edition)
There is no authoritative tradition as to the day or month of Christ's birth...
The winter solstice was regarded as the birthday of the sun and at Rome a pagan festival of the nativity of 'sol invictus' was introduced by the Emperor
Aurelian on 25th December (Chambers Encyclopaedia 1970)
The Christmas card represented a convenient and sophisticated evolution of the ancient custom of giving blessings or good wishes for the New Year.
"The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain"
Prof. R. Hutton
Sol Invictus
From Wikipedia,
Sol Invictus was the official sun god of the later Roman empire. The cult was
created by Aurelian in 274, who made it an official cult alongside the
traditional Roman cults. Scholars disagree whether the new deity was a
refoundation of the ancient Latin cult of Sol, a revival of the cult of
Elagabalus or completely new. The god was favoured by emperors after
Aurelian and appeared on their coins until Constantine. The last inscription referring to Sol Invictus dates to 387 AD. and there were enough devotees in the 5th century that Augustine found it necessary to preach against them. A festival on 25 Dec. is sometimes thought to be responsible for the date of Christmas
How Did Christmas Come to Be Celebrated on December 25?
Increase Mather, A Testimony against Several Prophane and Superstitious Customs, Now Practiced by Some in New England (London, 1687), p. 35. See also Stephen Nissenbaum, The Battle for Christmas: A Cultural History of America's Most Cherished Holiday, New York: Vintage Books, 1997, p. 4.
A. Roman pagans first introduced the holiday of Saturnalia, a week long period of lawlessness celebrated between December 17-25. During this period, Roman courts were closed, and Roman law dictated that no one could be punished for damaging property or injuring people during the weeklong celebration. The festival began when Roman authorities chose "an enemy of the Roman people" to represent the "Lord of Misrule." Each Roman community selected a victim whom they forced to indulge in food and other physical pleasures throughout the week.
At the festival's conclusion, December 25th, Roman authorities believed they
were destroying the forces of darkness by brutally murdering this innocent man or woman.
B. The ancient Greek writer poet and historian Lucian (in his dialogue entitled
Saturnalia) describes the festival's observance in his time. In addition to
human sacrifice, he mentions these customs: widespread intoxication; going from house to house while singing naked; rape and other sexual license; and consuming human-shaped biscuits (still produced in some English and most German bakeries during the Christmas season).
C. In the 4th century CE, Christianity imported the Saturnalia festival hoping
to take the pagan masses in with it. Christian leaders succeeded in converting
to Christianity large numbers of pagans by promising them that they could
continue to celebrate the Saturnalia as Christians.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Volume 11 ; page 390.
"During the later periods of Roman history, sun worship gained in importance and ultimately led to what has been called a 'solar monotheism.' Nearly all the gods of the period were possessed of Solar qualities. The feast of Sol and Victus (open unconquered Sun) on December 25th was celebrated with great joy, and eventually this date was taken over by the Christians as Christmas, the birthday of Christ."
