English Heritage has been criticised for promoting the widely-discredited theory that Christmas is celebrated on the date of a co-opted pagan celebration.
The heritage organisation posted on X that Christmas is celebrated on the date of a Roman sun god’s festival, but quickly took the post down after receiving backlash from historians.
A spokesman later explained: “We quickly realised we got this wrong and deleted the posts.”
A historical researcher, Chris McBride, commented on the post: “You are one of the highest, most important historical bodies in the country. Guardians of historical knowledge. How can you still not know this is utter nonsense? This has nothing to do with why Christmas is on December 25th.”
Theologian Revd Canon Andrew Davison commented: “I have no problem with Christianity adapting pagan insights – moving from the shadows of things to the things themselves – it’s just that the evidence is against this being an example of any such thing. English Heritage, are you interested in historical accuracy?”
Tom Holland, author of ‘Dominion’ — which charts the influence of Christianity across Western culture and society — and co-host of The Rest is History podcast, posted simply: “Please make it stop.”
Historian Dr Bijan Omrani told The Telegraph it “is extremely unlikely” that this is why Christmas is celebrated on 25 December.
He explained: “December 25 appears to have been chosen because it was nine months after the day...
English Heritage has been criticised for promoting the widely-discredited theory that Christmas is celebrated on the date of a co-opted pagan celebration. The heritage organisation posted on X tha...