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.
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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
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