The chimes of silver bells, green –crimson ribbons, illuminated stars, carol singing, the jolly old Santa Clause and the unique merry–making herald the arrival of Christmas – the 'supposed birth day' of Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Peace.

Sadly, most Christians join in the festivities unconscious of the day's 'heathen' origins. No one knows for sure when the observance of Christ's birthday began.

The earliest mention of December 25 for Christmas is in the Philocalian calendar of 354 A.D. The then Pope, Liberius, chose December 25 to coincide with the Roman festival of Santurnalia, which lasted from December 17 to 24, and the shortest day of the winter solstice and birth of the 'unconquered sun' Brumalia on the December 25.

The Oxford Guide to Ideas and Issues of the Bible (2001), in its entry 'Christmas' reports: Twenty–five December was by the fourth century (A.D.) the date of the winter solstice, celebrated in antiquity as the birthday of Mithras (an ancient Persian god) and of Sol Invictus (the 'unconquered' sun god).

'The heathen' origin of Christmas is plainly hinted at by Augustine when he exhorts Christians not to celebrate the day like the heathen on account of the sun, but on account of him, who made the sun.

Similarly, Pope Leo rebuked the belief that Christmas was observed because of the birth of the sun, and not because of the nativity of Christ. That apart, the Christianity's obsession with the 'December 25' when the Bible scholars agree that Jesus was not born in December deserves serious thought.

Historically, 'December 25' had borne great spiritual significance to the various civilizations. For the Babylonians, it was the birthday of the son of the Queen of Heaven. Earl W. Count in the book '4,000 years of Christmas' points out: "Christmas began the-re (Mesopotamia) over fo-ur thousand years ago…" The Egyptians celebrated the birth of the son of Isis on that day. For the Romans, it was Brumalia.

However, with the conversion of Constantine to Christianity, meaning of the event changed. "When Emperor Constantine decreed Christianity" writes Joseph Gaer in "Holidays Around the World,' "as the new faith of the Roman Empire, the Christians gave the holiday an entirely new name and an entirely new meaning."

In his book "The story of Christmas" Michael Harrison writes: "Though the celebration of the winter Solstice dates from thousands of years before Christ and was once celebrated with rites which had nothing to do with Christianity, not surprisingly, even the X-mas tree, Santa, exchanging of gifts can be traced to similar origins.

Notwithstanding its' heathen' origins, when the season greets, the whole Christendom gets sucked into the wave of consumerism, commercialism and revelry, which have nothing to do with Jesus' message.

Those Christians, who celebrate for the sake that He was born someday, if not in December, ought to think whether their merry-making is in total harmony with Jesus' message and life.

The biggest question, however, is if Jesus lived on earth today, would He celebrate Christmas at all...???