Accordingly, the Church celebrates the birth of John the Baptist by a festival of his "nativity", assigned exactly six months before the Nativity of Christ, since John was six months older than Jesus. By the late sixth century, the Nativity of John the Baptist (24 June) had become an important feast, counterbalancing at midsummer the midwinter feast of Christmas. With the spread of Christianity, some of the local Germanic solstice celebrations (Midsummer festivals) were incorporated into St. John's Day festivities, notably for the evening before.