Why you think of the Roman Empire at Christmas

Well, are you also thinking of ancient Rome during the holidays? "I think about the Roman Empire all the time, but I can hardly believe that young people feel the same way," Latin teacher Barbara Wurm aka @verbis.latinis tells BuzzFeed News Germany. The TikTok trend about the Roman Empire has been around for some time. Christmas also has its origins in the Roman Empire. The Romans have always celebrated the winter solstice at Christmas time, explains the teacher. Around the 3rd century AD, Emperor Aurelian introduced 25 December as a festival in honor of the Roman sun god "Sol Invictus". The assumption: to create a commonality that unites all believers. The result was a holiday for all religions. Christianity celebrated the festival at some point and liked it so much that they wanted to keep it even after Aurelian's death. "So one of the church fathers probably decided: 'We'll celebrate the festival too - but as the birth of Christ'," says Wurm. Later, Christmas was moved to the evening of December 24 - as we know it today as Christmas Eve.