That Christmas is the day of Christ's birth itself was a sore subject after the Gregorian leap. From Hervey's Book of Christmas ( https://www.gutenberg.org/cac

That Christmas is the day of Christ's birth itself was a sore subject after the Gregorian leap. From Hervey's Book of Christmas ( https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42622/pg42622-images.html https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/42622/pg42622-images.ht... ): > In various parts of England, bees are popularly said to express their veneration for the Nativity by "singing," as it is called, in their hives at midnight, upon Christmas Eve: and in some places, particularly in Derbyshire, it is asserted that the watcher may hear the ringing of subterranean bells.... > We must not omit to mention that these supposed natural testimonies to the triumph of the time have been in some places used as means of divination on a very curious question. The change of style introduced into our calendars nearly a century ago, and by which Christmas Day was displaced from its ancient position therein, gave great dissatisfaction on many accounts, and on none more than that of its interference with this ancient festival. The fifth and sixth of January continued long to be observed as the true anniversary of the Nativity and its vigil; and the kneeling of the cattle, the humming of the bees, and the ringing of subterranean bells, were anxiously watched for authentications on this subject.