Most Catholic churches will hold midnight mass on Christmas Eve on 24th, that is, in the early morning of1February 25th, while some Christian churches will hold good news and then celebrate Christmas on1February 25th. Another branch of Christianity, the Orthodox Church, celebrates Christmas on 1 7th every year.
origin
Commemorate the birth of Jesus
It is said that 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 went 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.
The establishment of Roman church
At the beginning of the 4th century, 1 6th was a double festival for churches in the eastern Roman Empire to commemorate the birth and baptism of Jesus, which was called Epiphany, also known as Epiphany, that is, God revealed himself to the world through Jesus. At that time, the only exception was the church in Lula Leng, which only commemorated the birth of Jesus and not the baptism of Jesus. Post-historians found in the calendar used by Roman Christians that the page of 354 AD1February 25th recorded: "Christ was born in Bethlehem, Judah." Through research, it is generally believed that 1 February 25th was accompanied by the Roman church which probably started in 336 AD, spread to Antioch in Asia Minor in about 375 AD and Alexandria in Egypt in 430 AD. The church in Salem accepted it the latest, while the church in Armenia still insisted that1February 6th was the birthday of Jesus.
1February 25th Japan is the birthday of Mithra, the Persian sun god (that is, god of light), and it is a pagan festival. At the same time, the sun god is also one of the gods of Roman Catholicism. This day is also the winter solstice festival of the Roman calendar. The pagans who worship the sun god regard this day as the hope of spring and the beginning of the recovery of everything. 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, but the calendars used by local churches were different, and the specific dates could not be unified, so1February 24th to the following year1June 6th was designated as Christmas Tide, and local churches 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.
the Santa Claus
In the 4th century AD, Nicholas was born in Patala, Asia Minor. His family was rich and his parents were very enthusiastic Catholic friends. Unfortunately, his parents died young. When Nicholas grew up, he donated all his wealth to poor people, and he became a monk, devoted himself to the church and served the society all his life. Nicholas later became a priest and was promoted to bishop. During his life, he did a lot of charitable work, and he liked to help the poor in secret. Santa Claus was his later nickname, and the name came from the story that he secretly sent money to help three girls.
Nicholas was honored as a saint after his death. He was an old man with a white beard wearing a red robe and a red hat. Every Christmas, he comes from the north in a sleigh pulled by deer, enters houses through the chimney, and puts Christmas presents in socks and hangs them on the children's beds or in front of the stove.
There are many Christmas customs, including secular, religious, national and Christmas-related, which vary greatly from country to country. Christmas symbols and activities that most people are familiar with, such as Christmas tree, Christmas ham, Christmas firewood, holly, mistletoe and mutual gifts.