The Meaning of Christmas:
Christmas (literally, the Mass of Christ) is a traditional holiday in
the Christian calendar which takes place around the end of December and
celebrates the nativity of Jesus Christ. Christmas is also celebrated
as a secular holiday throughout much of the world, including countries
with small Christian populations, such as Japan. The precise date of
the birth and historicity of Jesus are much debated.
Christmas
Dates of Celebration
Christmas is celebrated on December 25 in all Christian churches
(Eastern Rite, Roman & Protestant). Since most Eastern Orthodox
churches have not accepted either the Gregorian calendar or the Revised
Julian Calendar reforms, the Ecclesiastic December 25 will fall on the
civil date of January 7 for the years from 1900 to 2099.
Traditionally
in the United Kingdom the Christmas season ran for twelve days
following Christmas Day. These twelve days of Christmas, a period of
feasting and merrymaking end on Twelfth Night, the Feast of the
Epiphany. This period corresponds with the liturgical season of
Christmas.
The
Christmas period in some countries, including the United States and the
United Kingdom, in practice now begins many weeks before Christmas,
which allows for shopping and get-togethers, and extends beyond
Christmas Day up to New Year's Day. This later holiday has its own
parties, and in Scotland, Hogmanay —which occurs at the New Year— is
celebrated more than Christmas.
Countries
that celebrate Christmas on December 25th recognize the previous day as
Christmas Eve, and some of them follow Christmas day with Boxing Day.
In the Netherlands, Germany, and Scandinavia, Christmas Day and Boxing
Day are called First and Second Christmas Day.
Christmas
Customs and Celebrations
An enormous number of customs surround Christmas, and vary from country
to country. Many aspects, such as the Christmas tree, holly, the
Christmas ham, the Yule Log, and the giving of presents were
appropriated from the earlier Asatru pagan midwinter holiday of Yule
and the traditional celebrations of the Winter solstice, which were
very popular in northern Europe long before the arrival of
Christianity. (Other major pagan holidays similarly appropriated
include Easter and Halloween.) Rather than attempting to suppress these
popular feast days, the Christian missionaries simply gave them a new
Christian interpretation, while permitting most of the associated
customs to continue with little or no modification. A few Christian
churches, most notably the Jehovah's Witnesses and some Puritan groups,
thus view Christmas as a pagan holiday not sanctioned by the Bible and do not celebrate it.
In most Western countries, Christmas celebrations have both religious and secular aspects.
