From a simple etymological perspective, nittel comes from the word “natalis”, which means “birth of” in Latin. But its not what you think. The date in late December was celebrated by sun worshippers (of whom there were many, all over the Mediterranean basin, 1900 years ago) as natalis invictus, the birth of the invincible sun, as that was the day the days began to get noticeably longer. Mithraism was more popular than christianity for a long time in the Roman empire, and they celebrated this particular day. Most scholars of early christianity will accede that if jesus was a historical figure, December 25 was not his birthday, and was adapted as such, like many pagan holidays (Samhain, Eoastre, etc.) to make the “new” religion more palatable to European and Levantine pagans.
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