Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the liturgical year in Christianity, it follows the season of Advent (which begins four Sundays before) or the Nativity Fast, and initiates the season of Christmastide, which historically in the West lasts twelve days and culminates on Twelfth Night. Christmas Day is a public holiday in many countries, is celebrated religiously by a majority of Christians, as well as culturally by many non-Christians, and forms an integral part of the holiday season surrounding it.
Christmas is celebrated to remember the birth of Jesus Christ, who Christians believe is the Son of God.The name 'Christmas' comes from the Mass of Christ (or Jesus). A Mass service (which is sometimes called Communion or Eucharist) is where Christians remember that Jesus died and then came back to life. The 'Christ-Mass' service was the only one that was allowed to take place after sunset (and before sunrise the next day), so people had it at Midnight! So we get the name Christ-Mass, shortened to Christmas.
Christmas is now celebrated by people around the world, whether they are Christians or not. It's a time when family and friends come together and remember the good things they have. People, and especially children, also like Christmas as it's a time when you give and receive presents! |
 |
A very early Christian tradition said that the day when Mary was told that she would have a very special baby, Jesus (called the Annunciation) was on March 25th - and it's still celebrated today on the 25th March. Nine months after the 25th March is the 25th December!March 25th was also the day some early Christians thought the world had been made, and also the day that Jesus died on when he was an adult and they thought that Jesus was conceived and had died on the same day of the year. Jesus died on Nisan 14 in the Jewish calendar - the date of the Jewish festival of Passover. The Jewish calendar is lunar (based on the moon, rather than fixed dates) and so it moves around compared with dates on 'fixed' calendars like the Gregorian (or earlier Julian) calendar.
The main source for the dating, of the conception of Jesus being on the 25th March, was an early church historian called Sextus Julius Africanus (c160 – c240) who's quoted as suggesting this in the year 221. However, much of the quotes/works of Sextus Julius Africanus come from later documents. Saint Ephrem the Syrian (306 – 373) taught that Jesus was conceived on Nisan 10! So March 25th became a 'fixed' date to mark these 'moveable' dates on the Jewish calendar. |
