Good morning friends. It’s Sunday. Free from office work. So what I did was read some article in newspaper and surf in my computer. While I’m reading I saw some articles mentioning Christmas Day. AS if everybody were planning everything for that celebration. I wonder what is all about. So what I did was I research for that and I found something about it. I want to share it with you, specially to those who are not celebrating Christmas Day but instead they have their own festive celebration like that.
The word CHRISTMAS comes from “Cristes Maesse”, an early English phrase that means” Mass of Christ”.
Christian festival celebrated on December 25, commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ and is also popular secular holiday.
According to Roman almanac, the Christian festival of Christmas was celebrated in Rome by AD 336. In the Eastern part of the Roman Empire, however, a festival on January 6 commemorated the manifestation of God in both the birth and the baptism of Jesus, except in Jerusalem, where only the birth was celebrated. During the 4th century the celebration of Christ’s birth on December 25 was gradually adopted by most Eastern churches. In Jerusalem, opposition to Christmas lasted longer, but it was subsequently accepted. In the Armenian Church, Christmas was never accepted; Christ’s birth is celebrated on January 6. After Christmas was established in the East, the baptism of Jesus was celebrated on Epiphany, January 6. In the West, however, Epiphany was the day on which the visit of the Magi to the infant Jesus was celebrated.
The traditional customs connected with Christmas have developed from several sources as a result of the coincidence of the celebration of the birth of Christ with the pagan agricultural and solar observances at mid-winter. In the Roman world, the Saturnalia (December 17) was a time of merrymaking and exchange of gifts. December 25 was also regarded as the birth date of the Iranian mystery god Mithra, the Sun of Righteousness. On the Roman New Year (January 1), houses were decorated with greenery and lights, and gifts were given to children and the poor. To these observances were added the German and Celtic Yule rites when the Teutonic tribes penetrated into Gaul, Britain, and central Europe. Food and good fellowship, the Yule log and Yule cakes, greenery and fir trees, gifts and greetings all commemorated different aspects of this festive season. Fires and lights, symbols of warmth and lasting life, have always been associated with the winter festival, both pagan and Christian. Since the Middle ages, evergreens, as symbols of survival, have been associated with Christmas.
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