没有人真的了解,在公元336年基督教领袖设定12月25日这个日期是为了试图夺去农神节的光彩,,农神节是罗马的异教徒一个受欢迎的在冬至庆祝的节日.最早的圣诞节的庆祝仅仅是一个简单的弥撒,随着时间的推移,圣诞节取代了许多国家的其它的节日,在这个过程中大量的传统被吸收到庆祝活动中来,(我们在后面的文章中可以看到)

No one really knows. What is known is that Christian¹ leaders in 336 A.D. set the date to December 25 in an attempt to eclipse² a popular pagan holiday in Rome (Saturnalia) that celebrated³ the winter solstice. Originally, the celebration of Christmas involved a simple mass, but over time Christmas has replaced a number of other holidays in many other countries, and a large number of traditions have been absorbed into the celebration in the process (as we will see in later sections).