The Christian communities which keep Christmas (as the Roman Catholic, Greek, Armenian, and indeed all Episcopalian churches, and the Lutherans) would probably agree in laying more stress on keeping a day in memory of the Nativity, than on success in selection of the actual and precise date of the event. Indeed in the parallel case it does not appear that Good Friday and Easter lose anything of their respective associations from their variableness in different years. Although as regards Christmas an ingenious case on behalf of the month of October has been made out from what is known concerning the course of Abia, (Luke i. 5.) it does not seem possible to arrive at any certain conclusion. By the 5th century, however, whether from the influence of some tradition, or from the desire to supplant heathen festivals of that period of the year, such as the Saturnalia, the 25th of December had been generally agreed upon. Augustine expressly mentions this date (De Tri,n. iv. 5); and Chrysostom seems to speak of it as a custom imported from the West within ten years. Before that time it appears to have been kept conjointly with the feast of the Epiphany on the 6th of January. It is generally considered to rank third among the festivals of the church (Easter and Whitsuntide alone being placed above it) and to have a joy peculiarly its own.

In all civilized countries the annual recurrence of Christmas has been celebrated with festivities of various kinds. In none, however, was it more joyfully welcomed than in England, where even still the “old honour” has not altogether fled. In that country it was the custom on Christmas eve, after the usual devotions were over, to light large candles and throw on the hearth a huge log, called the Yule Log or Christmas Block. At court, and in the houses of the wealthy, an officer, named the Lord of Misrule, was appointed to superintend the revels; and in Scotland a similar functionary used to be appointed under the title of the Abbot of Unreason, till the year 1555, when the office was abolished by Act of Parliament. The reign of the Lord of Misrule began on All-Hallow eve, and lasted till Candlemas day. The favourite pastimes over which he presided were gaming, music, conjuring, dipping for nuts and apples, dancing, fool plough, hot cockles, blind-man’s buff, &c.; and various Christian preachers (as, for instance, St Bernard) have taken occasion to remonstrate with their flocks for paying too great attention to the festive character of the season, and too little to its more solemn aspects. The favourite dishes for breakfast and supper at this season were the boar’s head with an apple or orange in the mouth, and set off with rosemary, plum-pudding, and mince pies. The houses and churches were decked with evergreens, especially with mistleto, to which a traditionary sacredness has attached since the days of the Druids.

As might be ∙∙xpected, this festival has been illustrated by many fine and admirable outpourings of devotion in the way of services, and of Christian oratory, hymnology, and art. The services must be sought in the liturgies and office-books of different communities. Among preachers who have dwelt with striking impressiveness on the ideas and associations of this sacred season may be specially named St Leo, St Chrysostom, St Bernard, Matthias Faber, Bourdaloue, Bishop Andrewes, Dr Mill, Dr Newman. Mediaeval Latin hymns may be found in Archbishop Trench’s Sacred Latin Poetry (London, 1849) and in Daniel’s Thesaurus Hymnologicus. Many of these have been paraphrased with great effect by German Lutherans, and of late years, with considerable success, by English compilers of hymn-books. Among the most popular original contributions to the English hymns of the season must be mentioned those of Charles Wesley, Tate, Byrom, Heber, and Keble. The Nativity has been represented by a host of great painters; and it is the inspiring theme of a large part of Handel’s greatest triumph, the Messiah.

Discussions of the questions concerning the actual date of the Nativity and other matters respecting Christmas may be found in Tillemont, Histoire de Γ Église (tome i.); Martigny, Dictionnaire des Antiquités Chrétiennes (Paris, 1865); Caspari, Chronological and Geographical Introduction to the Life of Christ (Engl, trans. 1876); Wordsworth’s Greek Testament (1872); Creswell, Dissertations (1840); Pearson, Minor Works, vol. ii. (1844); Ellicott, Lectures on the Life of Christ (1861); Smith and Cheetham, Dictionary of Christian Antiquities (1876); A. Macmillan's Greek Testament (1876,)