The name Christmas is short for“Christ’s Mass”．A Mass is a kind of Church service．Christmas is a religious festivaI．It is the day we celebrate as the birthday of Jesus．
There are special Christmas services in Christian churches all over the world．But many of the festivities of Christmas do not have anything to do with religion．Exchanging gifts and sending Christmas cards are the modern ways of celebrating the Christmas In the world．
The birth of Jesus had a story：In Nazareth，a city of Galilee．The vIrgin’s name was Mary was betrothed to Joseph．Before they came together，she was found with
child of the Holy Spirit．Joseph，her husband was minded to put her away secretly．While he thought about these things，Gabriel，an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a
dream and told hIm did not be afraid to take Mary as wife．And Mary，will bring forth a Son，and he shall call his name，Jesus,for he will save his people from their sins．
Before Jesus births．Joseph and Mary came to Quintus was governing Syria．So all went to be registered，everyone to his own city．Joseph also went up out of
Galilee．out of the city of Nazareth．into Judea，to the city of David．which iS called Bethlehem，because he was of the house and of the lineage of David，to be registered with Mary。 his betrothed wife， who was with child．So it was that while they were there．the days were completed for her to be delivered．And she brought forth her firstborn Son．and wrapped him in swaddling cloths．and laid him in a
manger．because there was no room for them jn the jnn．And that．Christmas IS the feast of the nativity of Jesus．is on 25th， December every year．But nobody know the acluaI birthday of Jesus．And the Christmas has become popular when Christmas cards appeared in 1 846 and the concept of a joily Santa Claus was first made popular in nineteenth Century．
The name "Christmas" is the abbreviation of "Christian Mass". Mass is a liturgy of the church. Christmas is a festival and we celebrate it as the birthday of Jesus, 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.
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 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 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 accompanied by Christmas may have started in 336 AD) spread to Antioch in Asia Minor in about 375 AD and Alexandria in Egypt in 430 AD. The church in Jerusalem accepted it the latest, while the church in Armenia still insisted that1epiphany on June 6th was the birthday of Jesus.
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1February 25th was originally the birthday of Mithra, 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 the winter solstice festival of the Roman calendar, and pagans worship the sun god.
Everyone regards 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, 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. In many countries in Europe and America, people attach great importance to this festival and associate it with the New Year, while the celebrations are lively and long.
It is more important than the New Year and has become a national holiday. 1The main commemorative activities on February 25th are all related to the legend of the birth of Jesus.