...Christmas or Christmas Day is a holiday[4][5][6] generally observed on December 25 (with alternative days of January 7 for many Orthodox churches, January 6 for the Armenian Apostolic Church and January 19 for the Armenians of Jerusalem and the Holy Land[7]) to commemorate the birth of Jesus, the central figure of Christianity.[8][9] The date the actual birthday of Jesus is not known, and the events of Christ's birth are only recorded in two of the Canonical gospels. Christmas may have initially been chosen to correspond with either the day exactly nine months after Christians believe Jesus to have been conceived,[10] the date of the Roman winter solstice,[11] or one of various ancient winter festivals.[10][12] Christmas is central to the Christmas and holiday season, and in Christianity marks the beginning of the larger season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days.[13] Although nominally a Christian holiday, Christmas is also celebrated by an increasing number of non-Christians worldwide,[1][14][15] and many of its popular celebratory customs have pre-Christian or secular themes and origins. Popular modern customs of the holiday include gift-giving, music, an exchange of Christmas cards, church celebrations, a special meal, and the display of various decorations; including Christmas trees, lights, garlands, mistletoe, nativity scenes, and holly. In addition, in Western Christianity several figures, known as Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, and Santa Claus, among other...
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...Christmas Traditions In Beijing, about two weeks before Christmas, all the big shopping malls decorating both their insides and outsides with beautiful Christmas trees, colored ribbons and glaring illuminations, set Christmas discounting information on posters on the gates. Crazy customers with large alacrity rush into their shopping heavens to choose on-sales goods as Christmas presents for themselves, their families and friends. The scene is spectacle. It seems that Christmas is merely a shopping season and entertaining festival for Chinese. But what is the true meaning of Christmas? What are the roots of those Christmas traditions? Christmas is the abbreviation of Christ’s mass. It is the commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ for Christians. No exception, millions of people around the world celebrate Christmas on the widely accepted day, December 25th every year. They bought their Christmas presents a couple weeks before Christmas Eve, put green Christmas trees with decorations in the houses, and prepare pleasant hearts to welcome the Christ’s birth, one of the most important festivals in the year. Christmas traditions accompanying them to have great holidays during Christmas provide them a sense of warmth and satisfy. As an evergreen conifer decorated with pinecones, candy coated angels, colorful Christmas balls and fake icicles, a Christmas tree is the essential compose of the celebration of Christmas. The origination of Christmas trees can be traced to...
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...Brittany Prunsky Episodes of World War I The Christmas Truce of 1914 “Christmas Eve was, in the way of weather, everything that Christmas Eve should be’. Christmas Day itself was a perfect day. A beautiful, cloudless blue sky. The ground hard and white ... It was such a day as is invariably depicted by artists on Christmas cards - the ideal Christmas Day of fiction. And indeed, the curious manifestations taking place along considerable stretches of the British front that day had a look of the most surprising fiction” (Terraine). The wonderful events that occurred over the Christmas holiday of 1914 revealed to all that the human spirit seems to have a way of peaking through at rather disastrous times showing that even in times of chaos, a glimmer of hope can be seen through the compassion that humans undoubtedly possess. This was proven true during one of the most violent and fatal wars in history. World War I, also known as The Great War, spanned from 1914 until 1918 experiencing around 37 million war casualties (“First World War Casualties”). During the horrors of the war, an almost unexplainable incident occurred; the Christmas Truce of 1914, which restored a bit of hope in many men living in hopelessness. Neither a civilian nor a soldier during World War I could have anticipated the Christmas Truce of 1914 due to its story like characteristics. Although at times seen as merely a myth or a small incident blown widely out of proportion, this truce absolutely...
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...A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is a renowned novel about an old stingy man changing for the better with help from 3 supernatural beings. If I was creating a flag based off of A Christmas Carol the most important element of the flag would be the earth with a circle around it. At the end of stave 3 when two children come out of the Spirit of Christmas Present’s robe he says on page 77 “ This boy is Ignorance… beware this boy, for on his brow I see written which is doom, unless the writing be erased.” (Dickens). This quote has a lot of figurative meaning to it. The boy ignorance represents Dickens’ unitarian beliefs showing that you should help people out, not ignore them. The earth with a circle around it, my flag design, shows that you...
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...Although Christmas and Thanksgiving are both holidays, they both have many similarities and differences. Around Thanksgiving and Christmas, most families remain so busy that their memories of these two holidays tend to blend together. These two holidays are so similar, but yet so different at the same time, both Thanksgiving and Christmas are time of giving thanks, merriments, gift exchange and family reunion but the clear differences are there purposes are not the same. It is a time where family comes together that haven’t been around the whole year. Christmas differs from Thanksgiving in food, decorations, and family tradition. During Christmas, there is a lot of running around to do. Usually, weeks before Christmas, families get together and go out and buy Christmas gifts. They also go out and buy Christmas trees, decorations, wrapping paper, and food that is going to be cooked the night before Christmas. Days before Christmas, the families gets the gift and wrap them to put under the Christmas tree. When decorating the Christmas tree you usually put your lights on which are usually red and green. You also put ornaments which could be Christmas balls or hand crafted ornaments. At the end of decorating the tree, the traditional topping for the tree is an angel or a star. The night before Christmas families gather together to make milk and cookies for Santa. The food that is usually prepared for Christmas is ham, macaroni, collard greens...
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...Christmas Christmas | A depiction of the Nativity with a Christmas tree backdrop. | Also called | Noel Nativity Yule Xmas | Observed by | Christians Many non-Christians[1] | Type | Christian, cultural | Significance | Traditional birthday of Jesus | Date | December 25 (alternatively, January 6, 7 or 19) | Observances | Church services, gift giving, family and other social gatherings, symbolic decorating | Related to | Christmastide, Christmas Eve, Advent, Annunciation, Epiphany, Baptism of the Lord, Yule | Christmas is an annual commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ, celebrated generally on December 25 as a religious and cultural holiday by billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it closes the Advent season and initiates the twelve days of Christmastide. Christmas is a civil holiday in many of the world's nations, is celebrated by an increasing number of non-Christians, and is an integral part of the Christmas and holiday season. The precise date of Jesus' birth, which some historians place between 7 and 2 BC, is unknown. By the early-to-mid 4th century, the Western Christian Church had placed Christmas on December 25, a date later adopted in the East. The date of Christmas may have initially been chosen to correspond with the day exactly nine months after early Christians believed Jesus to have been conceived, as well as the date of the southern solstice (i.e., the Roman winter solstice), with a...
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...December Holidays Christmas is a holiday that is celebrated by many across the globe. A large portion of Americans celebrate this holiday. Families usually gather around the special Christmas tree singing songs, eating various delicious holiday dishes, checking on the stockings hung up by the warm, well-lit fireplace, and tearing upon presents gifted by either Santa, friends, or family. Many children in America know of a jolly ol’ man named Santa. Santa Claus, or Saint Nick, is a Christmas legend that is very popular in America. It is told that Santa gives nice children presents, and naughty children gets a lump of coal. These are traditions done by families who celebrate Christmas, but what about families who celebrate from different places in the world? Well, they...
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...Christmas is supposed to be the time of year when everyone is filled with joy and happiness, but times have seemed to change. For majority of the country christmas is all about spending all your money of gifts for your friends and family and advertising. When christmas is really about cherishing the moments you have with the people around you. My personal views on gift giving and receiving has changed this past year. The “YES!” article by zumski Finke has helped my view as well. T’was a week before christmas, both my mom and I were waiting for my sister, Sherese, to get off the bus. Sherese walks through the door excited that she wrote a paper and received an ‘A’ as a grade. Me being the nosey person i am, asked her what her paper was about. Sure enough her paper was about what she was thankful for around christmas time. I remember her all excited telling me “ I got an ‘A’, because i wrote about how im thankful for getting tons and tons of gifts and new toys for christmas!”. Then i began to ask her “ What about spending...
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...Dr. Seuss’ poem, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, exemplifies the features of a Marxist structure. The Marxist lens examines the social-economic factors and how it impacts the character’s beliefs, values, attitudes and ideas. The protagonist is Grinch, who lives isolated in a snow cave north of Whoville, where the majority of the townspeople live. Grinch “prefers” to be alienated from the community because he despises the ‘Whos’ and their annual Christmas traditions. However, it is not his preference that motivates him to resent Christmas, but his financial struggles that do not correlate to the ‘Whos’. As a result, in the celebration of Christmas, Grinch does not receive nor is able to afford gifts for others, thus, provoking him to despise the festivity of Christmas and the people who celebrate it. One example would be how the Grinch describes into great detail of the materialistic gifts the ‘Whos’ receive on Christmas, “they’d rush for their toys”, which is an example of the Grinch’s interest and observation into the activities on Christmas. From a Marxist point of view that conflicts are a result of social-economic factors, the apparent idea of the poem is made clear: money makes the world go around. In the quote, “then he slithered and slunk, with a smile most unpleasant, around the room, and he took every present”, the reader is made aware that since the Grinch does not have these lavish items in comparison to the ‘Whos’, his actions signify his belief of how materialistic...
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...they're bringing Who can live without it, I ask in all honesty? What would life be? Without a song or a dance what are we? So I say thank you for the music For giving it to me I've been so lucky, I am the girl with golden hair I wanna sing it out to everybody What a joy, what a life, what a chance Thank you for the music, the songs I'm singing Thanks for all the joy they're bringing Who can live without it, I ask in all honesty? What would life be? Without a song or a dance what are we? So I say thank you for the music For giving it to me So I say thank you for the music For giving it to me Its Christmas every where Its Christmas everywhere! There’s music in the air from east to west the bells will ring; from north to south we’ll dance and sing! Its Christmas every where there’s music in the air we celebrate the world around. Its Christmas everywhere! It can start as early as November It can last the whole month of December. Traditions shared give our spirits a...
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...Religious Traditions Yvette Stone June 2nd, 2014 REL 134 Roy Rehberg Religious Traditions Throughout the world today, there are many traditions that are observed and passed on by multiple different religions. In the Christian religion, there are several traditions that are recognized through celebrating holidays. A couple of the more common holidays celebrated by Christians are Easter and Christmas. Celebrating these holidays explains the relationship with the divine, sacred time, sacred space, and with each other. With all religions, there is always going to be conflict. In the next few paragraphs, Easter and Christmas will be explained as to why there is a relationship with the divine, sacred time, sacred space, and with each other and the issues that come with these holidays among the world today. Easter is a time to celebrate rebirth, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and in the Mormon faith the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Celebrating Easter is literally remembering our savior and redeemer Jesus Christ and what he had gone through to save all mankind. Jesus is the literal son of God, the holy one, the divine. By remembering the son of God, we are building and renewing our relationship with the divine one. Setting aside a sacred time to remember Jesus Christ and contemplating the agony, pain, grief, torture, and turmoil he went through to make it possible to return to our Father in Heaven once again is...
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...which, not being so long as to bore a reader, but also being articulated and well defined so as to construct scenes of frost covered brick alleyways in London, England, around Christmastime. The plot, which many are extremely well acquainted with, follows the miser Ebenezer Scrooge, who not only neglected to celebrate Christmas himself, but also expressed spitefulness to those who could not pay off investments. Ignoring his worker’s, Bob Cratchit, ill young child and poor family, more poverty across and beyond the city, and those who needed consolation, Scrooge was visited by the ghost of his late working partner, Jacob Marley, seven years to the day after his death, falling on Christmas Eve, and told to mend his ways, so as to avoid a miserable fate like his. Scrooge was consecutively visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past, (specifically of Scrooge’s), the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Future, where he saw how he had once had happiness, and of how there was much suffering in the world. This corresponds to the theme of the book, which is of how a moral transformation can occur when one sees others in need, or reflects on his wrongdoings in life with repentance. This internal drive to change for the better was demonstrated when Scrooge observed Bob Cratchit’s house with the Ghost of Christmas Present; at first, he commented on Cratchit’s slovenly behaviors and inefficiency, but after he regarded an ordeal with his family, he saw the tension he had caused them...
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...Holiday Celebrations Around the World/Family Traditions By Cathy Abraham/2003 HOLIDAYS CELEBRATIONS AROUND THE WORLD Curriculum Goal – Children will explore different ways in which people celebrate holidays, and foster respect for other cultures and traditions. Vocabulary: - Chanukah - Kwanzaa - Dreidel - Christmas - Ramadan Letter of the Week: C Colors of the Week: Red and Green Concepts: - Families celebrate holidays in different ways – and that’s okay - People celebrate holidays based on what they believe and where they are from - Customs and traditions are things that families do every year - People eat different kinds of food when they celebrate - A family tradition is a way of celebrating Sensory Table Ideas: Curling ribbon and blunt, round-end scissors. Teach children how to curl ribbon. Art Activities: - Children cut out a pine tree (Christmas Tree) pattern. Decorate. - Make a collage from old Christmas cards, wrapping paper scraps, etc - Christmas/holiday cookie cutter prints - Make Holiday gift wrapping paper (sponge painting, etc.) - Passover candle menorah (made out of handprint) - Kwanzaa placemat (weave even-sized red and green strips of paper) - Snoglobe (babyfood jar, silver glitter, small winter or holiday theme décor minature figure glued to the bottom. Add water. Glue babyfood jar shut) - Star of David Ornament (Children make 2 triangles out of 6 craft sticks. Glue. Place one triangle over the other at an angle, going the other way) - Pipecleaner candycanes...
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..."Christmas Day" redirects here. For other uses, see Christmas (disambiguation) and Christmas Day (disambiguation). Christmas A depiction of the Nativity with a Christmas tree backdrop. Also called Noel Nativity Yule Xmas Observed by Christians Many non-Christians[1] Type Christian, cultural Significance Traditional birthday of Jesus Date December 25 (alternatively, January 6, 7 or 19)[2][3][4] (see below) Observances Church services, gift giving, family and other social gatherings, symbolic decorating Related to Christmastide, Christmas Eve, Advent, Annunciation, Epiphany, Baptism of the Lord, Yule Christmas (Old English: Crīstesmæsse, literally "Christ's mass") is an annual commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ,[5][6] celebrated generally on December 25[2][3][4] as a religious and cultural holiday by billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it closes the Advent season and initiates the twelve days of Christmastide.[7] Christmas is a civil holiday in many of the world's nations,[8][9][10] is celebrated by an increasing number of non-Christians,[1][11][12] and is an integral part of the Christmas and holiday season. The precise date of Jesus' birth, which some historians place between 7 and 2 BC, is unknown.[13][14] By the early-to-mid 4th century, the Western Christian Church had placed Christmas (with the first Christmans at Rome "a few years after the Council of Nicaea")[15] on December 25, a date later adopted...
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...Brianna Jackson Period 3 12/15/15 Les Fêtes Christmas is one of the most important festivals. It is celebrated ever year on 25th December. It was on this day that Lord Jesus Christ was born. Christians wear new clothes and attend special prayers in the church on Christmas. The churches are lit up on the 'Christmas eve, an evening before Christmas. On Christmas, Christians sing carols and pray together in the church. All the family members decorate Christmas trees with toys, decorative lights, balloons and candles. Children believe that it is Santa Claus who brings gifts for them. Christmas is a festival of joy and peace. But Christmas is celebrated differently in many countries. Variations during this time include different meals, ideas of Santa, and celebrations. Two countries that both celebrate Christmas yet do it differently is the united states and France. In France, a Nativity crib is often used to help decorate the house. French cribs have clay figures in them. During December some towns and cities, such as Marseilles, have fairs that sell Nativity figures. In French Merry Christmas is 'Joyeux Noël'. Yule Logs made out of Cherry Wood are often burned in French homes. The log is carried into the home on Christmas Eve and is sprinkled with red wine to make the log smell nice when it is burning. There is a custom that the log and candles are left burning all night with some food and drinks left out in case Mary and the baby Jesus come past during the night. In France...
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