About the only thing that these two very different occasions have in common is that they both take place in the winter. Other than that, they have no similarities whatsoever.

I don't think anyone actually holds this up as an alternative name. They are two distinctly different dates, one celebrates the birth of an important religious figure and the other is a date on the calendar that is a pivitol point in demonstrating the understanding that the world isn't flat.

As Ray Davies might say, 'Father Christmas, give me some money?'

Another theft courtesy of the Pope.It seems the Church of Rome had a hard time ramming Christianity down the throats of the people they conquered by the sword.They were particularly loathe to give up their Holy Days,and Winter Solstace,or Yule,was a big one.The reason the dates don't match exactly,Numbah,is the precession of the equinoxes.Our calander isn't entirely in tune with the cosmos.Jewish and Islamic holy days also move about for this reason.As far as the actual Birth of the historical Jesus,Biblical Scholars place it somewhere in SPRINGTIME.

Er... Winter Solstice is not Christmas, and if you're in the southern hemisphere it doesn't even happen anywhere near Christmas. I don't think anyone would call Christmas the Winter Solstice would they? Seriously?

This might make some sense if they fell on the same day, but they don't.

How pagan of people (not that its a bad thing), but isn't the Winter Solstice on the 21st?

Thanks to my Unitarian Universalist upbringing, I know how to celebrate Winter Solstice (and Hanukkah and Kwanza and Christmas). Also thanks to this world religion class of a religion, I know that Winter Solstice and Christmas have nothing to do with each other aside from both falling in December (on completely different days, for completely different reasons).

They don't even fall on the same day.