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Do Mormons Celebrate Christmas and Easter?
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints keeps Christmas as the season of Christ’s birth and Easter as the celebration of his resurrection, with Easter Sunday services.
On this page
Yes. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints treats Christmas as a season to remember the birth, life, Atonement, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and it treats Easter as the Christian holiday of his resurrection. Members hold Easter Sunday services. The church’s Christmas topic does not make a tree a doctrine.
Key points
- Gospel Topics, Christmas, says the season is a time to reflect on the blessings that come because of the birth, life, Atonement, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. (1)
- The same topic quotes Thomas S. Monson, then president of the church: because he came, death has lost its sting, and we will live again because he came. (1)
- Gospel Topics, Easter, says Easter is the Christian holiday celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and that Latter-day Saints conduct Easter Sunday services. (2)
- The Easter topic says they do not follow Ash Wednesday, Lent, or Holy Week. Easter bunnies and eggs have no religious significance and are not officially discouraged. (2)
- Luke 2:11
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
Luke 2:11 · King James VersionOpen source says that unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. (3) The Resurrection of Jesus is the Christian account of the third day. - What the church teaches about who that Christ is sits on What do Mormons believe? and Do Mormons believe in the Trinity?.
Do Mormons celebrate Christmas?
Gospel Topics, Christmas, is the church’s own page. (1) On that pageThe Christmas season is a time to reflect and act upon the blessings and opportunities we have because of the birth, life, Atonement, and Resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Gospel Topics, Christmas · English, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsOpen source:
The Christmas season is a time to reflect and act upon the blessings and opportunities we have because of the birth, life, Atonement, and Resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
that page · English, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The page quotes Thomas S. Monson, “Because He Came,” a First Presidency Christmas devotional on December 4, 2011. He said that when we keep the spirit of Christmas, we keep the Spirit of Christ, and that because he came, death has lost its sting, the grave its victory, and we will live again because he came. Those sentences are the church’s published reason for the day: the birth the New Testament tells.
Luke 2:11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
Luke 2:11 · King James VersionOpen source says a Saviour is born in the city of David, Christ the Lord. (3) Latter-day Saints affirm that birth and also teach that his life neither began in Bethlehem nor ended on Calvary, which What do Mormons believe? quotes from “The Living Christ.” Celebrating the day is not the same question as whether the Son is one being with the Father.
Do Mormons have a Christmas tree?
The church’s Christmas topic does not mention a tree, and it does not forbid one. Its words are about remembering the birth, life, Atonement, and Resurrection. A tree is not a doctrine on that page. The page’s instruction is to give of ourselves because the Father gave his Son.
Do Mormons celebrate Easter?
Gospel Topics, Easter, calls Easter the Christian holiday celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. (2) It says Latter-day Saints affirm that Jesus Christ was resurrected and lives today with a glorified body of flesh and bone. On that pageLatter-day Saints conduct Easter Sunday services but do not follow the religious observances of Ash Wednesday, Lent, or Holy Week.
Gospel Topics, Easter · English, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsOpen source:
Latter-day Saints conduct Easter Sunday services but do not follow the religious observances of Ash Wednesday, Lent, or Holy Week.
that page · English, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Chapels are often decorated with white lilies. The sacrament is passed, as on other Sundays. Some families include Easter bunnies and eggs for children. The topic says those traditions are not officially discouraged, though they have no religious significance. The focus, it says, is religious: the promise of eternal life through Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:3–415:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
15:4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
1 Corinthians 15:3–4 · King James VersionOpen source says Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day. (4) The Resurrection of Jesus follows the Gospels on that morning. The church’s Easter page also points members to Book of Mormon accounts of the crucifixion and the resurrection. That book is Latter-day Saint scripture. The Book of Mormon is the page for what it claims about Jesus in ancient America.
Do Mormons celebrate birthdays and Halloween?
The Christmas topic and the Easter topic do not mention birthdays or Halloween, and they do not publish a ban. This page does not add a rule those topics do not print. The days they do describe are Christmas and Easter, in the words above.
Frequently asked questions
Do Mormons celebrate Christmas?
Yes. The church’s Christmas topic calls the season a time to remember the birth, life, Atonement, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and it quotes a First Presidency Christmas devotional.
Do Mormons celebrate Easter?
Yes. They hold Easter Sunday services. They do not observe Ash Wednesday, Lent, or Holy Week. The topic says bunnies and eggs are not officially discouraged and have no religious significance.
What country is mostly Mormon?
The Christmas and Easter topics do not name a country or a percentage of members. This page does not invent one. The teaching those pages do publish is about the birth and the resurrection.
Keep reading
References
- Gospel Topics, Christmas
The Christmas season is a time to reflect and act upon the blessings and opportunities we have because of the birth, life, Atonement, and Resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Gospel Topics, Christmas · English, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsOpen source (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Quotes Thomas S. Monson, “Because He Came,” First Presidency Christmas devotional, December 4, 2011.) - Gospel Topics, Easter
Latter-day Saints conduct Easter Sunday services but do not follow the religious observances of Ash Wednesday, Lent, or Holy Week.
Gospel Topics, Easter · English, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsOpen source (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Easter Sunday services, and no Ash Wednesday, Lent, or Holy Week.) - Gospel of Luke, 2:11
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
Luke 2:11 · King James VersionOpen source. King James Version - First Letter to the Corinthians, 15:3–415:3
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
15:4And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
1 Corinthians 15:3–4 · King James VersionOpen source. King James Version
See also
- Are Mormons Christians? — Latter-day Saints worship Jesus Christ and use his name. Their teaching of God, of Jesus, and of salvation is not the Nicene confession, so they are not a denomination inside Trinitarian Christianity.
- Do Mormons Believe in the Trinity? — No. Latter-day Saints teach that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are three separate beings, one in purpose. That is not the Nicene confession of one God in three persons.
- Do Mormons Believe They Will Become Gods? — Gospel Principles says exaltation is the kind of life God lives. The King Follett sermon says God was once as we are now, and that the faithful must learn to be gods. Isaiah 43:10 says no God was formed after the LORD.
- Do Mormons Practice Polygamy? — Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints do not enter plural marriage today. Doctrine and Covenants 132 taught it. The 1890 Manifesto told the Saints to stop.
- Is Jesus God? Where Jesus Claimed to Be God — Yes. Jesus is truly God and truly human. He forgave sins, applied God’s name and honor to himself, and received Thomas’s confession that he is Lord and God.