Christmas Unwrapped: the History of Christmas

Every year1February 25th is the day when Christians commemorate the birth of Jesus, which is called Christmas.

Christmas is celebrated from 1 February 24th to the following year1June 6th. During the festival, Christians from all over the world hold grand commemorative ceremonies. Christmas was originally a Christian festival. Because people attach great importance to it, it has become a national festival. The biggest festival in the country in a year can be compared with the New Year, which is like the Spring Festival in China in the west.

Westerners use red, green and white as Christmas colors. When Christmas comes, every household should decorate it with Christmas colors. The red ones have Christmas flowers and Christmas candles. The green one is the Christmas tree. It is the main decoration of Christmas, decorated with evergreen trees such as fir and cypress that are cut down in a tower shape. Colorful lanterns, gifts and paper flowers are hung on it, and Christmas candles are lit.

The red and white contrast is Santa Claus, who is the most popular figure in Christmas activities. Before going to bed on Christmas Eve, western children should put a sock in front of the fireplace or beside the pillow, and wait for Santa Claus to put presents in the sock after they fall asleep. Playing Santa Claus is also a custom in the west.

The name "Christmas" is the abbreviation of "Christ Mass". Mass is a liturgy of the church. Christmas is a religious festival. We celebrate it as the birthday of Jesu, so it is also called Christmas. On this day, all Christian churches in the world hold special services. But there are many Christmas celebrations that have nothing to do with religion. Exchanging gifts and sending Christmas cards all make Christmas a day of universal celebration.

There is a story about the birth of Jesus. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and was born of the virgin Mary. God even sent an angel Gabriel to Yue Se in a dream, telling him not to abandon Mary because she was unmarried and pregnant, but to marry her and name the child "Jesus", which means to save the people from their sins.

When Mary was about to give birth, the Roman government issued an order that all people must declare their household registration when they came to Bethlehem. Yue Se and Mary had to obey.

When they arrived in Bethlehem, it was already dark, but they couldn't find a hotel to spend the night, only a stable could stay. Just then, Jesus was born! So Mary gave birth to Jesus only in a manger. In order to commemorate the birth of Jesus, later generations designated December 25th as Christmas, and observed mass every year to commemorate the birth of Jesus.

Christmas commemorates the birth of Jesus on December 25th, but no one knows the real date of birth. In the 19th century, with the popularity of Christmas cards and the appearance of Santa Claus, Christmas became popular.

The origin of Santa Claus

Christmas is an exciting day, especially for children. I believe everyone is familiar with Santa Claus? Once upon a time, there was an old man named Nicholas, who loved to help poor families all his life. Once he helped three poor teenagers and gave them three bags of gold to escape the misfortune of being sold. When Nicholas secretly gave one of the bags of gold to one of the women, he threw the gold through one of the windows and fell right into a stocking on the wall. So, the way to give presents in Christmas socks is to go door to door and ask for candy!

It is said that on the night of Christmas Eve, the Christmas husband's association is driving a reindeer sleigh full of gifts to send some children who have behaved well in the past year. He will quietly climb into the house from the chimney and stuff the gifts in socks hanging on the bedside. Therefore, children always hang colorful socks on the bedside, and put a cup of hot milk next to the socks to quench their thirst for hard-working Santa Claus and give themselves a big gift.

The next day, every child couldn't wait to open the ceremony and want to know what reward he got.

In 1822, after a Dutch missionary spread the story of this great philanthropist to the United States, American businessmen used this festival to publicize advertisements in a big way every year with special marketing techniques, making a lot of money, which also followed suit in Japan and other countries in Asia. Therefore, the custom of dressing up as Santa Claus to celebrate Christmas has gradually become popular all over the world.

The origin of the Christmas tree

1. It is said that in the 16th century or so, the Germans first put evergreen pine and cypress branches in the house for decoration. Later, German missionary Martin Luther put candles on fir branches in the Woods and lit them, making them look like starlight leading people to Bethlehem, just like the Magi found Jesus according to the stars in the sky two thousand years ago. Today, people have switched to small light bulbs instead of candles.

Legend has it that a long time ago, a farmer met a poor child on Christmas Day. He warmly received the child. When the child left, he broke off a pine branch and put it on the ground. The pine branch immediately turned into a tree, which was covered with gifts to thank the farmer for his kindness.

However, the Christmas tree really appeared in Christmas, first seen in Germany, and then introduced to Europe and the United States, becoming an indispensable decoration for Christmas. They usually use colorful lights, wax, gifts or angels to install Christmas trees, especially people living in the northwest of the United States. Because of the rich forest resources in the area, they will choose a real tree as a Christmas tree with the whole family. There are many kinds of Christmas trees, including natural pine and cypress Christmas trees, artificial Christmas trees and white Christmas trees. Every Christmas tree is covered with dazzling decorations, but there must be a very big star at the top of each tree, like the star that led the Magi to find Jesus. Moreover, in traditional customs, only the head of the family can hang this star of hope, and others can't step in.

The origin of Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is also known as Christmas Eve. On that night, the whole family will gather in the living room, sing Christmas songs around the Christmas tree, exchange gifts with each other, share the joys and sorrows of life in the past year, and express their inner blessings and love. On this night, I will see a group of lovely little boys or girls, playing guitars with poems in their hands, and singing poems one by one to bring good news. In the end, how did the Jiayin team come from this festival?

On the night of Jesus' birth, a shepherd who was guarding his sheep in the wilderness suddenly heard a voice coming from the sky to tell them the good news of Jesus' birth. According to the Bible, Jesus came to be the king of the world, so angels spread the news to more people through these shepherds.

Later, people followed the example of angels and spread the news of Jesus' birth everywhere on Christmas Eve. Until today, the good news has become an indispensable program for Christmas.

Usually, the good news team consists of about twenty young people, plus a little girl dressed as an angel and a Santa Claus. On Christmas Eve, after about nine o'clock, one family began to give good news. Whenever the good news team goes to a family, they will sing some familiar Christmas songs first, then the little girl will read the Bible to let the family know that tonight is the day of Jesus' birth, then everyone will pray together and sing a poem or two, and then the generous Santa Claus will send Christmas gifts to the small hall in that family, and the whole process of reporting good news will be completed!

The whole activity of reporting good news will last until about four o'clock the next morning.

The legend of Santa Claus

The legend of Santa Claus appeared in Scandinavia thousands of years ago. In Norse mythology, Odin, the god of wisdom, art, poetry and war, rode on his eight-legged horse to ride around the ends of the earth in winter, punishing evil and promoting good, and distributing gifts. At the same time, his son, Thor, dressed in red, used lightning as a weapon to fight the gods of ice and snow in the dark and finally defeated the cold. According to pagan legend, Santa Claus is a descendant of Odin. There are also legends that Santa Claus came from St.Nicholas, so Santa Claus is also called St. Nicholas. Because most of these stories promote the Christian spirit, their origins and story plots are mostly forgotten, but Santa Claus lives in people's spiritual world forever.

Every Christmas day, Santa Claus rides on the constellation Aries, and the holy boy comes to the world with a Christmas tree. With the change of the world, writers and artists begin to describe Santa Claus as the image we are familiar with today, dressed in red and with a white beard. At the same time, different countries and cultures have different interpretations of Santa Claus. In Germany, it is said that he dressed as a holy boy and put nuts and apples in children's shoes. He travels around in a two-wheeled carriage and observes people's behavior, especially children. If he behaves well, he will get many prizes such as apples, nuts and sugar. Bad boys get a whip. Parents have a brainwave to use this legend to encourage their children to obey. It has greatly surpassed the New Year and become a national holiday. Santa Claus has become the most popular symbol and tradition of Christmas. The image of a happy old elf who drives reindeer and pulls a sleigh full of toys and gifts from house to house to give gifts to every child has been deeply left in people's memory.

1 1 At the end of the century, religious soldiers from Italy brought back the relics of Saint Nicholas to Italy and built a church in the port city of Bari to commemorate him. Soon Christians from all over the world flocked to make a pilgrimage to the saint. These pilgrims brought the story of Saint Nicholas back to their native land, so the legend about Santa Claus has its own characteristics in various countries.

/kloc-In the 20th century, Saint Nicholas' Day appeared in Europe, which mainly focused on exchanging gifts and charitable activities. Germany, France and the Netherlands regard1February 6th as a religious memorial day to give gifts to children and the poor.

When the Dutch colonists came to America, they took their Bishop Sintirklass with them. Sintirklass was dressed in a red cassock and rode a white horse. The American image of Sintirklass gradually evolved into a happy old elf. At first, American writer Washington Irving described him as a round and fat Dutch old man in his comedy The History of new york. 1823, the poet Clement Moore continued to dramatize the image of Sintirklass/Saint Nicholas in his poem Impression of St.Nicholas. This is the Santa Claus you saw at the beginning of this article.

1Thomas Nash, a cartoonist in the 1960s, drew a fat and kind Santa Claus as an illustration of Harper's Week. The image of Santa Claus began to take root in the minds of the American people. With the passage of time, the image of Santa Claus has spread back to Europe, South America and all over the world.

Many countries have preserved their own customs and legends about Santa Claus. According to Dutch legend, Santa Claus Sintirklass also took an assistant named Black Peter and arrived in a boat on1February 6th. He took a big book with him, which described the performance of all Dutch children in the past year. Good children give them gifts, and bad children are taken away by his assistant.

Santa Claus in Germany also carries an assistant named Knecht Ruprecht, Krampus or Pelzebock, with a big bag of gifts on his shoulder and a stick in his hand. A good boy can receive his gift, but a naughty boy will teach him a few sticks.

Santa Claus in Italy is called La Befana; French Santa Claus is called Father Christmas or Perenoel; Santa Claus in Switzerland is called Christkindl or Christchild; Santa Claus in Scandinavia is called julenisse or Juletomite; Santa Claus in Britain, like France, is also called Father Christmas. His image is more solemn and thinner than other Santas. Santa Claus in North America takes a sleigh pulled by reindeer to give presents to children.

Legend about Christmas stockings

A long time ago, there was a kind-hearted nobleman whose wife died of illness, leaving him and his three daughters behind. The aristocrat tried many inventions and failed, but he ran out of money, so they had to move to a farmhouse to live, and his daughters had to cook, sew and clean themselves.

A few years passed, and the daughters gradually reached the age of marriage, but the father became more depressed because he had no money to buy dowry for his daughters. One night, after washing clothes, the daughters hung stockings in front of the fireplace to dry. Saint Nicholas learned about their father's situation and came to their door that night. He saw from the window that the whole family was asleep, and he also noticed the girls' stockings. Immediately, he took out three small packets of yellow gold from his pocket and threw them down the chimney one by one, just falling into the girls' stockings.

The next morning, the daughters woke up to find that their stockings were full of gold, which was enough for them to buy a dowry. The nobleman was able to see his daughters get married with his own eyes, and lived a happy life from then on.

Later, children all over the world inherited the tradition of hanging Christmas stockings. Children in some countries have other similar customs, such as in France, children put their shoes by the fireplace and so on.

By the way, Christmas is less than half a month away. I wish you a merry Christmas in advance.