The word Christmas comes from England in the 10th to 12th centuries AD. Its meaning refers to "Christ's mass", that is, "a meal for Christ." This ceremony comes from the "Last Supper" in the New Testament. The word "Christ's mass" is a patchwork of Greek and Latin, because Christ comes from the Greek Χρ?στ?, which originally meant only the "anointed one" of the Jews, and by extension the savior; and mass comes from Latin. Missa, originally meaning dismissal, was extended to a Christian church thanksgiving gathering. So it is sometimes abbreviated to "Xmas". This may be because Some people think this may be due to the rise of Western multiculturalism in recent years, in order to respect people of other faiths and dilute the religious color of Christmas. The Dutch name is similar to the English name, called Kerstmis, often shortened to Kerst. Christmas is called Navidad in Spanish, Natal in Portuguese, Bo?e Narodzenie in Polish, No?l in French, Natale in Italian, and Nadal in Catalan, which means "birth." ”, reflecting the meaning of Christmas more clearly. In contrast, the German name is Weihnachten, which means "holy night".
Christmas is just a celebration day for Christians to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ (jīdū) whom they believe in. The celebration of Christmas originated at the same time as Christianity and is speculated to have begun in the 1st century AD. But the date of Christmas has not been determined for a long time, because the exact birth date of Jesus is controversial. Except for the New Testament, there is no record mentioning Jesus; the New Testament does not know the date, of course No one knows the exact date. During the first 300 AD, Jesus' birthday was celebrated on different days. Writers before the 3rd century AD wanted to set Christmas around the vernal equinox. It was not until the mid-3rd century AD that Christianity was legalized in Rome. In 354 AD, the Bishop of Rome designated December 25 on the Julian calendar as the birth day of Jesus. The current date of Christmas is inseparable from the creation of the Christian era. The AD era was created in the 5th century AD. Later, the day of Christmas was determined according to the Gregorian calendar, that is, the "Gregorian calendar" of the AD era. The calendar divided time into BC (before the birth of Jesus Christ) and BC according to the assumed dates. A.D. (A.D. is the Latin abbreviation, meaning "the age of our Lord Jesus"). Later, although most churches accepted December 25 as Christmas, the specific dates could not be unified due to the different almanacs used by churches in various places, so December 24 to January 6 of the following year was designated as Christmas. Christmas Tide, churches in various places can celebrate Christmas during this period according to local specific conditions. The Western churches, including the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Church and the Protestant Church, determine Christmas on December 25 of the Gregorian calendar. The date of Christmas determined by the Orthodox Church is January 7 of the Gregorian calendar (actually called "Epiphany"). This is related to the fact that the Orthodox Church did not accept the Gregorian calendar reform and the revised Julian calendar, so Christmas was placed in 1900. The period from 2099 to 2099 will be postponed to January 7. Bulgaria and Romania are also Orthodox dioceses, but the date of Christmas follows Western European customs of December 25, but Easter follows the Orthodox customs. The Armenian Apostolic Church, the oldest Christian church, determines January 6th in the Gregorian calendar. At the same time, the Armenian Church pays more attention to Epiphany than Christmas. Therefore, at Christmas, most Western churches will first hold midnight mass on Christmas Eve, December 24, that is, in the early morning of December 25, while some Christian churches will hold good news and then celebrate Christmas on December 25. Festival. Christmas is also a public holiday in the Western world and many other regions, such as Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore in Asia. The non-Christians of the world simply view Christmas as a secular cultural holiday.
The Christmas dinner is just like the Chinese New Year dinner during the Spring Festival. European and American people also pay attention to the whole family sitting under the Christmas tree and having a festive meal during Christmas.
The custom of eating turkey for Christmas dinner began in 1620. This custom is prevalent in the United States. The British Christmas dinner is roast goose, not turkey. Austrians love to have a Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. The whole family gathers with relatives and friends to go to the restaurant in groups to have a Christmas dinner. Among them, turkey, bacon, roasted beef and pork legs are essential, accompanied by Famous wine and food made everyone happy.
The origin of eating turkey at Christmas
Roast turkey is an indispensable dish on the traditional Christmas table. In some Asian countries, turkey may be eaten only on Christmas Day every year to celebrate the festival; but in Europe and the United States, especially the American continent, turkey is a very common meat, and it is eaten on both Thanksgiving and Christmas. On this big day, turkey is a traditional food.
Turkey is a specialty of the Americas. It had been domesticated by the Indians before Europeans arrived in the Americas. The name of turkey is "Türkiye" in English.
Because Europeans think it looks like Turkish clothing: black body and red head. Europeans like to eat roast goose very much. After immigrating to the Americas, I had a request to eat geese before I could raise them, so I ate turkeys. I found that turkeys are more delicious than geese. And there are a lot of turkeys in North America. As a result, roasted turkey has become a staple dish for Americans and is a must during important holidays. This custom has a history of more than 300 years. It is said that on Christmas Day 1620, a large number of immigrants from England arrived at Plymouth Mountain on the American continent. At that time, there were few products there, only turkeys scattered all over the mountains and fields, so they caught turkeys as the main dish for the festival. Therefore, in addition to ham, sweet potatoes, vegetables, plum pudding, fruit cake, and cocktails, of course the "good friend" turkey is indispensable in the Christmas dinner!
The most traditional preparation of turkey is very simple. You only need to fully coat the inside and outside of the turkey with salt and peppercorns, and then bake it in the oven for about 3 hours. Turkey has been eaten for nearly four hundred years. The "Dinner" in "Christmas Dinner" and "Thanks giving Dinner", a Thanksgiving meal that symbolizes harvest and reunion, does not originally refer to dinner. Instead, it should be eaten at noon. Because Thanksgiving is the Thursday of the fourth week of November every year. It's very close to Christmas, the big holiday of the year. And Christmas is a day to give thanks for the coming of Jesus. Therefore, the turkey dinner, a symbol of thanksgiving, extends to Christmas.