To the fabled first century.
The central event of history is the surprise move of the Father of sending His dearly beloved Son into this pagan setting.
Born in a stable, His first bed a feeding trough, He begins a revolution that still baffles citizens of Babylon.
(Luke 1-3) His birth is not officially dated.
We still say it is "around" 2000 years ago.
That's close enough.
Not so for Babylon, for whom dates and places and outward forms are most important.
When the Babylonian system is later "baptized" and admitted into the church, it is decided that a feast honoring God's Son would be very nice next to the feast honoring the son of Semiaramis (Saturn).
A special "mass" will be said, and the "Christ-mass" is born.
In subsequent years pagan rituals such as gift-giving and tree-decorating are added, until today the holiday, as everything originating from Babylon, is clothed in utter confusion.
But let no one speak against it...
The Catholic Encyclopedia freely admits, "Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church.
Irenaeus and Tertullian omit it from their list of feasts.
" As we indicated earlier, the December 25 date is purely of pagan origin.
Again