December 25: The Birthday That History Refuses to Confirm
December 25: The Birthday That History Refuses to Confirm
An interfaith editorial for Sights and Sounds of Ndon-Eyo II Etinan
Every December, the world pauses. Streets glow, churches overflow, carols rise, and a single claim hums beneath it all: Jesus was born today.
But history clears its throat and quietly says: We don’t know that.
This is not an attack on faith. It is a confrontation with comfort. And in an age where religion is increasingly weaponized, truth—especially inconvenient truth—matters.
When Faith Outran Memory
The earliest followers of Jesus did not celebrate his birthday.
They preached his message. They remembered his death. They expected his return.
For nearly three centuries, Christians argued over when—or whether—Jesus’ birth should even be marked. There was no sacred date passed down, no whisper from Bethlehem carefully preserved. If December 25 were known, it would not have taken Rome 300 years to find it.
The truth is uncomfortable but clear:
December 25 enters Christianity late—very late.
Not as memory, but as strategy.
Rome, Power, and the Politics of Light
By the 4th century, Christianity was no longer hunted—it was rising. But Rome already had its sacred calendar. December was claimed by Saturnalia and the cult of the Unconquered Sun. Light conquering darkness. Renewal. Hope.
So the Church did what institutions do when they expand:
It reframed.
The sun was replaced with the Son.
The festival remained.
This wasn’t fraud—it was adaptation. But adaptation must not masquerade as history.
Islam’s Quiet Disagreement with the Calendar
Islam enters the conversation centuries later—and does something radical.
It refuses the birthday.
The Qur’an speaks of Jesus (ʿĪsā ibn Maryam) with reverence, but without ritualized anniversaries. No December. No January. No candles.
Instead, it offers context.
Mary gives birth under a date palm. Fresh dates fall. She eats. She rests.
Historians don’t argue about symbolism here—they argue about seasons. Dates don’t ripen in winter. They ripen in late summer.
Suddenly, the Qur’anic account aligns not only with climate, but with the Gospel’s shepherds in open fields. With Roman census logic. With geography.
Ironically, Islamic narrative ends up closer to historical probability than Christian tradition—not by denying Jesus, but by refusing to mythologize his timeline.
Two Religions, Two Choices
Here lies the real divide:
Christianity institutionalized memory.
Islam restrained it.
One built a calendar.
The other preserved a message.
Neither denies Jesus.
Both honor him.
But only one turned his birth into a global date.
And history asks a hard question:
Did Jesus ask for this?
Why This Debate Makes People Uncomfortable
Because dates become identity.
And identity becomes power.
In Nigeria—where faith lines already bleed—December 25 is no longer just theology. It is cultural dominance, economic pressure, and moral signaling.
To question the date is seen as heresy.
But history is not heresy.
It is humility.
A Call for Interfaith Honesty
This editorial is not asking Christians to cancel Christmas.
It is asking believers—Christian and Muslim alike—to stop confusing tradition with truth.
Celebrate if you must.
But do not claim certainty where none exists.
Do not weaponize a date history never confirmed.
Jesus deserves better than propaganda.
Faith deserves better than fear.
And society deserves a conversation grounded in fact, not folklore.
The final truth history leaves us with:
Jesus was born.
Miraculously.
In a warm season.
Not on December 25.
And acknowledging that does not weaken faith—
It purifies it.
— Sights and Sounds of Ndon-Eyo II Etinan
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