christmas is a christian holiday that celebrates the birth of jesus christ no one knows the exact date of christ's birth but most christians observe christmas on december 25 on this day many go to church where they take part in special religious services during the christmas season they also exchange gifts and decorate their homes with holly mistletoe and christmas trees the word christmas comes from cristes maesse an early english phrase that means mass of christ the story of christmas comes chiefly from the gospels of saint luke and saint matthew in the new testament
the history of christmas dates back over 4000 years many of our christmas traditions were celebrated centuries before the christ child was born the 12 days of christmas the bright fires the yule log the giving of gifts carnivals(parades) with floats carolers who sing while going from house to house the holiday feasts and the church processions can all be traced back to the early mesopotamians
many of these traditions began with the mesopotamian celebration of new years the mesopotamians believed in many gods and as their chief godmarduk each year as winter arrived it was believed that marduk would do battle with the monsters of chaos to assist marduk in his struggle the mesopotamians held a festival for the new year this was zagmuk the new year's festival that lasted for 12 days
the persians and the babylonians celebrated a similar festival called the sacaea part of that celebration included the exchanging of places the slaves would become the masters and the masters were to obey the ancient greeks held a festival similar to that of the zagmuksacaea festivals to assist their god kronos who would battle the god zeus and his titans
the roman's celebrated their god saturn their festival was called saturnalia which began the middle of december and ended january 1st with cries of jo saturnalia the celebration would include masquerades in the streets big festive meals visiting friends and the exchange of goodluck gifts called strenae (lucky fruits) the romans decked their halls with garlands of laurel and green trees lit with candles again the masters and slaves would exchange places
jo saturnalia was a fun and festive time for the romans but the christians thought it an abomination to honor the pagan god the early christians wanted to keep the birthday of their christ child a solemn and religious holiday not one of cheer and merriment as was the pagan saturnalia
some legends claim that the christian christmas celebration was invented to compete against the pagan celebrations of december the 25th was not only sacred to the romans but also the persians whose religion mithraism was one of christianity's main rivals at that time the church eventually was successful in taking the merriment lights and gifts from the saturanilia festival and bringing them to the celebration of christmas
the exact day of the christ child's birth has never been pinpointed traditions say that it has been celebrated since the year 98 ad in 137 ad the bishop of rome ordered the birthday of the christ child celebrated as a solemn feast in 350 ad another bishop of rome julius i choose december 25th as the observance of christmas
the birth of jesus had a story in nazareth a city of galilee the virgin's name was mary was betrothed to joseph before they came together she was found with child of the holy spirit joseph her husband was minded to put her away secretly while he thought about these things gabriel an angel of the lord appeared to him in a dream and told him did not be afraid to take mary as wife and mary will bring forth a son and he shall call his name jesus for he will save his people from their sins
before jesus births joseph and mary came to quirnius was governing syria so all went to be registered everyone to his own city joseph also went up out of galilee out of the city of nazareth into judea to the city of david which is called bethlehem because he was of the house and of the lineage of david to be registered with mary his betrothed wife who was with child so it was that while they were there the days were completed for her to be delivered and she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn
and that christmas is the feast of the nativity of jesus is on 25th december every year but nobody knows the actual birthday of jesus and the christmas has become popular when christmas cards appeared in 1846 and the concept of a jolly santa claus was first made popular in nineteenth century
the custom of giving gifts to relatives and friends on a special day in winter probably began in ancient rome and northern europe in these regions people gave each other small presents as part of their yearend celebrations
in the 1800's two more christmas customs became populardecorating christmas trees and sending christmas cards to relatives and friends many wellknown christmas carols including silent night and hark the herald angels sing were composed during this period in the united states and other countries santa claus replaced saint nicholas as the symbol of gift giving
the word xmas is sometimes used instead of christmas this tradition began in the early christian church in greek x is the first letter of christ's name it was frequently used as a holy symbol
圣诞节名称基督弥撒缩写弥撒教会种礼拜仪式耶诞节宗教节作耶稣诞辰庆祝名耶诞节天世界基督教会举行特礼拜仪式圣诞节欢庆活动宗教半点关联交换礼物寄圣诞卡圣诞节成普天庆日子
圣诞节基督教世界节日4世纪初1月6日罗马帝国东部教会纪念耶稣降生受洗双重节日称显节epiphany称显现节帝通耶稣世显示时耶路撒冷教会例外里纪念耶稣诞生纪念耶稣受洗
历史学家罗马基督徒日历中发现公元 354年12月25日页记录着:基督降生犹伯利恒研究般认12月25日作圣诞节开始公元336年罗马教会12月25日原波斯太阳神(光明神)密特拉(mithra)诞辰异教徒节日时太阳神罗马国教众神天
罗马历书冬节崇拜太阳神异教徒天作春天希万物复苏开始原罗马教会选择天作圣诞节教会初期力图异教徒风俗惯基督教化措施然数教会接受12月25日圣诞节教会历书具体日期统12月24日第二年1月6日定圣诞节节期(christmas tide)教会根具体情况段节期庆祝圣诞节
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