The early Christian church was faced with many obstacles as it tried to spread its message of Christ's birth and his divine nature. In many countries, local traditions were too entrenched to be challenged by the burgeoning religion, so the church merely took the path of least resistance and gave existing rituals and symbols Christian meanings. It was this approach that led to Pope Julius the First's setting of the date of Jesus ' birth as 25 December, a date that marked the Winter Solstice in the Roman Astronomical calendar. This happened in the year 366 AD and was a major factor in the spread of the gospel. By 529 AD, the 12 days from Christmas Day to Epiphany [From the Greek, meaning to show. ] on 6 January were all public holidays. However, to the dismay of many Christians, the celebrations became a confusion of many different winter traditions rather than the wholly religious one originally envisaged. Instead of just attending a simple mass to celebrate the sacred event, the new converts were likely to indulge in feasting and merrymaking. In the years to come, it was the pagan feasting that would be most closely associated with Christmas in