Do Adventists celebrate Christmas?

December arrives, and with it comes the question that pops up in the club group chat, at school and around the family table: do Adventists celebrate Christmas? The Seventh-day Adventist Church addresses the topic openly on adventistas.org, the portal of the South American Division (SAD), and that same portal counts about 26 direct references to Christmas in the writings of Ellen G. White, with practical counsel on gifts, offerings and even the tree. This guide brings together what those texts say, with the book, page and date of each quotation, so you can form your own view from the source and talk respectfully with people who think differently.

🎄So, do Adventists celebrate Christmas?

There is no single answer, and the Church says so openly. In the Spirit of Prophecy section of adventistas.org, the article O Natal é uma festa cristã? (Is Christmas a Christian holiday?, in Portuguese), signed by Pastor Carlos Hein and published on November 20, 2014, opens by stating that in the Adventist Church, as in other evangelical churches, there are different positions on whether to celebrate Christmas and on how to do it.

The article separates two things that often get mixed up. The Bible commands keeping the Ten Commandments, including the Sabbath, which the text calls the only day that biblically requires respect. The date of Jesus’ birth, on the other hand, comes with no command to celebrate anywhere in Scripture. Christmas is not on the list of commandments, and each Adventist family decides how to handle it.

After going through Ellen White’s writings, Pastor Hein concludes that it is a time to thank God for sending His Son into the world, regardless of the exact date of the birth, and to serve those who suffer, as in the Mutirão de Natal project. The news site Notícias Adventistas recorded the same idea on December 11, 2015: many Adventists see the date as a fitting occasion for that gratitude.

📅Why do some Seventh-day Adventists not celebrate Christmas?

The reasons appear in the official texts themselves. The 2015 Notícias Adventistas report lists the two arguments of those who prefer not to celebrate: the exact date of Jesus’ birth cannot be determined, and December 25 already existed as a pagan festival before Jesus was born. The same report states that Adventists understand Jesus was probably not born on that day. It is a serious position.

Pastor Hein’s article draws two clues from the Gospel of Luke: the shepherds were spending the night in the fields, something not done in winter, and the authorities would not have ordered a census in that season (Luke 2:1). The verse reads, in the New King James Version: “Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night” (Luke 2:8). The full story is in the article on the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem.

Ellen White looked at that same silence from another angle. In The Adventist Home, page 477, she writes that “the Bible does not give us the precise time” and compares it to the burial place of Moses, which God kept hidden to prevent idolatry.

For the very same purpose He has concealed the precise day of Christ’s birth, that the day should not receive the honor that should be given to Christ as the Redeemer of the world.Ellen G. White, The Adventist Home, p. 477 (The Review and Herald, December 9, 1884)

📜What does Ellen White say about Christmas?

Pastor Hein counts some 26 direct references to Christmas in Ellen White’s writings and warns that anyone who reads only a few quotations may conclude she rejected the date, while the full set of texts shows clear guidance on the possibility of celebrating, under certain conditions. The guide to the spirit of prophecy explains why these texts carry weight for Adventists.

The easiest way to read it all together is chapter 77 of The Adventist Home, titled “Christmas,” on pages 477 to 483 of the English edition, with passages published between 1879 and 1896, almost all of them in the Review and Herald. One, from 1884, acknowledges the pull of tradition: “you will find it a difficult matter to pass over this period without giving it some attention. It can be made to serve a very good purpose” (p. 478). Another, from 1879, criticizes holidays spent in frivolity and gluttony and proposes: “we may make the coming holidays an occasion in which to honor and glorify God” (p. 480).

🌲Can Adventists have a Christmas tree?

The question is an old one. In the Review and Herald of December 11, 1879, Ellen White wrote: “God would be well pleased if on Christmas each church would have a Christmas tree on which shall be hung offerings, great and small, for these houses of worship” (The Adventist Home, p. 482). In the same article, she mentioned letters asking whether having a Christmas tree would be like the world, and she gave the standard: “There is no particular sin in selecting a fragrant evergreen and placing it in our churches, but the sin lies in the motive which prompts to action and the use which is made of the gifts placed upon the tree.”

In 1884, she asked parents not to treat as sin a tree placed in the church for the enjoyment of the Sabbath School students, “for it may be made a great blessing,” as long as mere amusement was never the goal. That same year, she described spending New Year’s Eve in Healdsburg, in a college hall with a tree loaded with donations for the poor. Asked whether it was in accordance with the Adventist faith, she answered: “It is with my faith” (The Adventist Home, p. 504).

These texts are about a tree in the church, and the official page Devemos armar uma árvore de Natal? (Should we put up a Christmas tree?, in Portuguese) on adventistas.org reproduces the main ones. If you set up a tree in your living room, you can use the same yardstick: the motive and what happens to the gifts.

🎁Can Adventists give Christmas gifts?

Ellen White wrote about this warmly. In the Review and Herald of December 26, 1882, she noted that “it is pleasant to receive a gift, however small, from those we love,” as long as, in giving, we do not forget “God, our best friend” (The Adventist Home, pp. 478 and 479). She recommended gifts of real benefit, such as books that help in understanding the word of God; today, a good option is the Reading Course book, presented in the guide to the Pathfinder Book of the Year.

In a December 19 reading from the devotional The Upward Look (p. 367), she asks that there be no “great ambitious stress to buy presents for Christmas and New Year’s.” In 1894, she suggested that parents explain to their children why they were changing the value of their presents and that the family offer God its best gifts, like the wise men (The Adventist Home, p. 481). The scene of the wise men with gold, frankincense and myrrh is in Matthew 2:11.

Little presents for the children may not be amiss, but the Lord’s people should not spend His money in buying costly presents.Ellen G. White, The Upward Look, p. 367 (December 19 reading)

🕯️Christmas 2026 falls on a Friday: what about the Sabbath?

In 2026, December 25 falls on a Friday. That changes the holiday plans, because Fundamental Belief 20 of the Seventh-day Adventist Church describes Sabbath observance “from evening to evening, sunset to sunset.” The Sabbath therefore begins at dusk on Christmas Day itself.

Christmas Eve dinner on the 24th falls on a Thursday and does not run into the Sabbath. Lunch on the 25th fits comfortably too, as long as the dishes, the tidying and the shopping are done before sunset. A good idea is to gather the family in the late afternoon for sundown worship with a reading of Luke 2. New Year follows the same pattern, because January 1, 2027, is also a Friday.

Cantatas and special services vary from church to church; confirm the dates with your local church and the club leadership. To put the program together, the guide to the Club Christmas cantata has a script and a rehearsal schedule.

Days checked on the calendar; start of the Sabbath according to Fundamental Belief 20. Sunset time varies by city.

🤝How can the club live out December with this standard?

Ellen White’s counsel fits a yardstick the whole club understands: Christ at the center of the celebration and eyes on those in need. A service project puts into practice Manuscript 13, from 1896, which says Christmas and New Year celebrations “can and should be held in behalf of those who are helpless,” and the step-by-step plan is in the Christmas Outreach guide. For a Secret Santa among Pathfinders, agree on a spending limit that no family will struggle to pay and suggest books, Bibles or handmade gifts.

Some families in the club prefer not to celebrate Christmas. Offer roles that do not depend on the date, such as serving in the outreach or welcoming visitors, and never single out or pressure a Pathfinder whose family sees it differently; the Counselor can sort this out privately with the parents.

💬How do you talk with someone who sees Christmas differently?

In the same church, and sometimes in the same family, some people set up a nativity scene and others spend December 25 like any other day. Both choices can come from sincere faith. Steer clear of nicknames and jokes that put the other person down: when leaders treat the topic with respect, Pathfinders learn to do the same.

If a classmate asks, a short, honest answer works well: the Bible does not give the date Jesus was born, each Adventist family decides how to spend Christmas, and what matters is the reason for the celebration. The angel’s announcement to the shepherds, in Luke 2:10-11, sums up that reason: the birth of the Savior came as news of great joy for all people.