Christmas is a sacred holiday and a popular time to celebrate with loved ones. It is celebrated by people all over the world. People around the globe have been celebrating this holiday in many different ways, over many years. Christians have celebrated Christmas Day as Jesus’s birthday. Christians get together with family members to exchange gifts, decorate a Christmas tree, share a family meal, attend church, and wait for Santa.
Christmas has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1870. In the early years of Christianity, Christmas wasn’t celebrated on the 25th of December. Christians only celebrated Jesus on Easter. The bible doesn’t say when Jesus was born, so church officials decided on a day in the middle of all the other holiday traditions, hoping the new holiday would be embraced as a new tradition.
Before the holiday was called “Christmas” it was called “The Feast of the Nativity”. In Greece and Russia, Orthodox Christians celebrated Christmas 13 days after the 25th. This is the day that is believed when the 3 wise men found Jesus in the Manger. Christmas soon became the time when Upperclass people repay society by entertaining the less fortunate. In 1645, Oliver Cromwell and his forces took over England. They vowed to rid England of decadence and they also decided to cancel Christmas. The holiday soon came back to the people as Charles II returned the throne. Around 1816, English writer, Charles Dickens, wrote the classic holiday story, A Christmas Carol.
As Americans started to embrace the Christmas spirit, they made up their own traditions to fit the growing need of the country. People give gifts, sing Christmas carols, send cards, and wait for Santa to arrive. Santa has been around since 280 A.D. His name was St. Nicholas. He was known for his generosity and kindness to the people. One of the popular stories he is known for is The Evil Butcher. This story is a lot like the classic Gingerbread House. According to The Saint Nicholas Center, this is how the story goes, “Three small children were gleaning in the fields. As they worked and played, they wandered off into the town. Walking about and exploring, the children forgot the time. When it was late and the sun going down, the children were hungry, tired, and lost. They came to a lighted butcher's shop, knocked, and said, 'We are lost and hungry. May we eat and sleep?' 'Oh, yes,' came the reply, 'do come in.' As they enter, the butcher takes a sharp knife, cuts them up, and puts them in a large salting tub. Seven years pass. A knock comes on the door. Bishop Saint Nicholas appears, saying to the evil butcher, 'Open your large salting tub!' The saint puts his hand on the tub and, appealing to God, says, 'Rise up, children.' The little children awake and stand up. Their families joyfully welcome them home.”
This is one of the stories that made Saint Nicholas the protector of the children. After this famous legend, many other names were featured on holidays. Christkind or Kris Kringle would deliver gifts to all of the kind Swiss and German children. In Scandinavia, an elf named Jultomten was believed to send gifts on a sleigh pulled along by goats. In France, Pere Noel would fill the shoes of little France children. La Befana, who is a witch that rides broomsticks down chimneys in Italy, delivers toys for the children. According to all of these different religions and countries, people love to celebrate by giving gifts.
The winter season is the best season amongst the 4 that occur in Canada. The winter season has the most spirit, is the most comfortable, and is the safest health wise. The winter season has holidays that every kid impatiently waits for, and has outdoor …
In the novel A Christmas Carol Dickens shows that there is much poor and poverty going on in the world. In the novel a families are exposed of going through poverty and being poor, Bob Cratchit and his wife and Tiny Tim and his other …
Christmas is more than just a celebration; for most Filipino-Christians it is a way of welcoming the coming of their savior Jesus Christ. Being in a country were catholic is dominant, church plays a big role when it comes to Christmas, for the nine dawns …
Analysis of “Eating Christmas in the Kalahari” Richard Lee’s piece, “Eating Christmas in the Kalahari,” describes his experience living with the ! Kung Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert in south central Africa, but it does more than just reiterate a three year stint with a …
Halloween vs. Christmas the best holidays These are both one of the most important holidays to the United States maybe even to the world. They bring people joy, happiness, and it mostly brings people together to celebrate. These two holidays are very important in different …
Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol illustrates many themes of the Victorian era. Poverty, charity and greed are major themes of this work. This essay highlights examples of these themes as portrayed by Dickens. (more…)
In 1163, a quarrel began between the British King Henry II and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket. The men had been good friends, but each felt that his interests should be of primary concern to the nation and that the other should acquiesce to …
This assignment was required to watch the documentary called “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas”, and to explain the theoretical perspective that was assigned to us. The two theoretical perspective that will be talked about more in depth in this essay is psychoanalytic theory and trait …
Gift to audience: “One starry night just before Christmas, a gift wrapper, ribbon, card and box were sitting beside the fireplace and a gift joined them. ” Said Gift Gift sits beside other characters. Ribbon suddenly stands up. Ribbon to characters: “Christmas is only a …
In the novel A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge is a man who is portrayed as very cold hearted, “the cold within him froze his features”. He always kept attention to himself and never cared about anyone else. The whole town knew him as a bad …
“Caitlyn, get downstairs now! ” The Making of Christmas Dinner “Caitlyn, get downstairs now! ” frantically screamed my mother. The sound of her nervous voice made me spring from the bed and quickly scramble down the stairs to the kitchen. As I slid around the …
Prose coursework: How does Dickens develop the character of scrooge throughout the novel? In the story A Christmas Carol , my reaction changed towards Scrooge through each stave. In the first opening stave. You felt as if Scrooge was an inconsiderate. Horrible man. Throughout the …
In the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, retailers stock their inventory with dozens of Christmas items in anticipation of the holiday rush. When Christmas has passed, the store is left with Christmas items that did not sell. To make room for the next …
In his novel A House for Mr. Biswas, V.S. Naipaul has created a very lively and realistic atmosphere of ex-patriot Indian community that is living separate from its culture, while trying to live the same cultural atmosphere. (more…)
To be surprised is for the flow of life to reach you personally, to be a participant in the unpredictability of life, for better or for worse. To never be surprised is to live an incredibly sheltered life, or to be completely insensitive to the …
Independence Day is a holiday that is celebrated by millions of Americans each year to celebrate our freedoms, and show pride in our country. The Fourth of July is a holiday that in my family is day where we all come together; therefore, we have …
To my valued employees, I believe that all of us are fully or somehow aware of the current economic crises that hit the world, but I know that we can surpass all of these if we hold on strong. You should know that amongst all …
“A Christmas Carol” written by Charles Dickens is known all over the world, and is also translated into many different languages. This story is usually told around Christmas time. People use it as an allegory to remind each other the lessons that the three spirits …
A CHRISTMAS STORY A Christmas Story is an American comedy and family movie. The release date of the movie is 18 November 1983 in the United States of America. It’s about the child, Ralphie Parker who wanted to get a Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range …
Scrooge has changed after the three spirits showed him what happened, what was happening and what was going to happen. Before the three spirits casted by Jacob Marley came, Scrooge was a selfish, dismal man, he thought that Christmas was a waste of time and …
In my country, Korea, having same holiday Thanksgiving called by Chu-Seok. Thanksgiving is upon us. I have to say, fall is one of my most favorite times of the year – first Halloween, then Thanksgiving, and then Christmas, all right in a row. The decorations, …
Halloween is an annual holiday that occurs every October Thirty first. Halloween is one of the oldest holidays that dates back to over two thousand years ago. The first believed people to celebrate Halloween were the Celts. The Celts would light bonfires and wear costumes. …
When it comes to Christmas, what more can we say…Of course if it is the most be loved holiday of the year, a celebration of hope, understanding, sharing and the list remains open. Let’s forget about the “materialist” face of Christmas, about worries concerning the …
During 1843 Charles Dickens wrote a novel ‘A Christmas Carol’. The novel was influences by the experience Charles Dickens had of the social divide of the rich and the poor during the Victorian times. Charles Dickens had a terrible childhood, his family spent several years …
For the first time in her life, Catherine Benson faced the prospect of spending Christmas alone. With a mixture of fond thoughts of the past and the sadness, she recalled the Christmas’s of her childhood happy times full of love, laughter and family togetherness. However, …
Ho! Ho! Ho! Christmas is the most happiest time of the year. Christmas light are always a joy to see. It never fails to lighten up my mood, especially the Oregon Zoo Lights! Presents, presents are one of the best thing about Christmas. Whether you’re …
A narrator takes a journey of discovery into the true meaning of Christmas, with Easter in view. This play was designed as a vehicle for participation by all age groups of a Sunday School, who appear in sequence from youngest to oldest. There are 2 …
The Different Customs and Moral Principles of the Filipino Nation Reading books has many benefits both mentally and morally. Firstly, your mind will be active and engaged into old age, and reading can help you forget the problems in your life, and get you captivated …
A Little Christmas Dinner Christmas is the time of year renowned for bringing families together in a way no other holiday can quite muster up to. Family togetherness feels like a cup of hot chocolate on the first cold night of the year; heart warming. …
Abstract Editorial research has been developed since about 2005 by some professionals in the field such Scholar Ansary or Babaii because there are many following journals of editorials citing their previous development such as Fartousi and Dumanig (2012), Ansary and Babaii(2009) and so on. Out …
Saturday, December 25, 2021
Celebrations: Gift -giving, family and other social gatherings, symbolic decoration, feasting etc
Significance: Commemoration of the nativity of Jesus
Observed by: Christians, many non-Christians
Also called: Noël, Nativity, Xmas
Save time and let our verified experts help you.
Hire writer
