Hello, and welcome to the history of Rome.

For as far back as I can remember, Christmas has been celebrated on the 25th of December.

I'm sure this is true for most of you, and in fact, unless one of you out there is

1700 years old, I'd wager that this was true for all of you.

Christmas, as we all know, is officially the birth date of Jesus Christ.

And how was it that the 25th of December was chosen from all the dates on the calendar

when there was no mention in the Bible as to the exact date of his birth?

The 25th of December, pretty random.

Where did that come from?

I guess we'd be pretty far off topic if the Romans didn't have something to do with it,

so I suppose it won't come as a shock when I say that the Romans had something to do

with it.

But we have to go back a little further than the Romans even, and work out a little astronomy

first to really understand the significance of the date.

For as long as there has been civilization, there have been holidays and festivals.

Days or weeks where work was put aside in honor of this or that God, and to celebrate this

or that seasonal transition.

The particulars change over time and place, but there are a few constants that seem to

pop up over and over again, not just in Western civilization, but everywhere.

For example, some sort of holiday or festival is invariably found at the beginning of

spring in celebration of the return of life from its long winter dormancy.

In agricultural societies, there is inevitably some sort of harvest festival, with communities

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