Every year1February 25th is the day when most Christians in the world commemorate the birth of Jesus.
There was no Christmas at the beginning of the church, and it only happened about a hundred years after Jesus ascended to heaven. It is said that the first Christmas was held in A.D. 138, initiated by the Bishop of Rome, Saint Clemens. The first Christmas in the history of the church was in 336 AD. Because the Bible does not clearly remember when Jesus was born, Christmas dates vary from place to place. It was not until 440 AD that the Holy See decided1February.
The 25th is Christmas. In 1607, church leaders from all over the world gathered in Bethlehem to further confirm it. Since then, most Christians in the world have taken1February 25th as Christmas. In the 19th century, Christmas cards became popular, Santa Claus appeared, and Christmas became popular.
Because the Bible records that Jesus was born at night, it is traditionally called1February 24th as "Christmas Eve" or "Christmas Eve".
Christmas Unwrapped: the History of Christmas
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1Christmas on February 25th is a day to celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity, and it is the biggest and most popular holiday in western countries.
According to the Bible, the holy book of Christians, God decided to let his only son, Jesus Christ, be born on earth, find a mother, and then live on earth, so that people can better understand God, learn to love God and love each other better. "Christmas" means "celebrating Christ", celebrating the moment when a young Jewish woman Maria gave birth to Jesus.
According to the Bible, Maria was engaged to Joseph, a carpenter. However, before they moved in together, Joseph found out that Maria was pregnant. Joseph wanted to break up with her quietly because he was a decent man and didn't want to tell her about it and embarrass her. While he was thinking about it, the angel of God appeared in his dream and said to him, "Stop whispering and marry Maria home. The child she conceived came from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a boy, and you will name him Jesus, because he will save people from sin. "
Although the exact birthday of Jesus is not clear, it was about 2000 years ago, but the calendar divides the time into BC (before the birth of Jesus Christ) and AD. During the first 300 years after AD, Jesus' birthday was celebrated on different days. Finally, in 354 AD, church leaders designated1February 25th as the birthday of Jesus Christ.
Christmas Unwrapped: the History of Christmas
Christmas is the biggest festival in the Christian world. At the beginning of the 4th century, 1 6th was a double festival for churches in the eastern part of the Roman Empire to commemorate the birth and baptism of Jesus, which was called "epiphany" (also called "epiphany festival"), that is, God revealed himself to the world through Jesus. At that time, the only exception was the church in Jerusalem, which only commemorated the birth of Jesus and not the baptism of Jesus. Later, historians found in the calendar used by Roman Christians that the page of 354 AD1February 25th recorded: "Christ was born in Bethlehem, Judah."
After research, it is generally believed that 1 February 25th is Christmas, which probably started in the Roman church in 336 AD, spread to Antioch in Asia Minor in about 375 AD, and reached Alexandria in Egypt in 430 AD. The church in Jerusalem accepted it the latest, while the church in Armenia still insisted that1February 6th was the birthday of Jesus.
1February 25th was originally the birthday of Mitra, the Persian sun god (that is, god of light), and it was a pagan festival. At the same time, the sun god was also one of the gods of the Roman state religion. This day is also the winter solstice festival of the Roman calendar, and pagans who worship the sun god regard this day as the hope of spring and the beginning of the recovery of everything. Perhaps for this reason, the Roman church chose this day as Christmas. This is one of the measures that the church tried to christianize the pagan customs in the early days. Later, although most churches accepted 1 February 25th as Christmas Day, but the calendars used by churches in different places were different, and the specific dates could not be unified, so1February 24th to the following year1June 6th was designated as the Christmas Festival, and churches in different places could celebrate Christmas within this period according to local conditions. Since 1 February 25th was recognized as Christmas by most churches, the epiphany on 1 June 6th only commemorated the baptism of Jesus, but the Catholic Church designated1June 6th as the "Three Kings' Day" to commemorate the story of the three kings (that is, three doctors) coming to worship when Jesus was born.
With the widespread spread of Christianity, Christmas has become an important festival for Christians of all denominations and even non-Christians. In many countries in Europe and America, people attach great importance to this festival and associate it with the New Year. The excitement and solemnity of the celebration greatly surpassed the New Year and became a national holiday. 1The main commemorative activities on February 25th are all related to the legend of the birth of Jesus. 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 pay special attention to it, it has become a national festival, the biggest festival in the western countries in a year, which can be compared with the New Year, similar to the Spring Festival in China. 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 ornament of Christmas. It is decorated with evergreen trees in the form of towers, such as Chinese fir and cypress. 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.