If there is a festival that is considered to be the most celebrated in the whole world, it is the New Year’s festival, second only to the Christmas Day festival which is celebrated every year on 25th December, have you ever had this question in your mind Or there is no desire to know why this Christmas festival is celebrates ? or why December 25 was fixed for this festival? We will find answers to all these questions in this article of ours today. So let’s start it with our article on Christmas Day 2023
Why do we celebrate Christmas?
Christians believe that Jesus was the son of God and that Christmas commemorates his birth. Whether they are Christians or not, people all over the world celebrate Christmas. It is a time when family and friends come together to reminisce. Christmas is a time when people give and receive gifts. The month of Christmas is named after Jesus. A Mass service is where Christians remember that Jesus died and came back to life. The ‘Christ-Mass‘ service was only allowed after sunset and before sunrise, so people did it at midnight. The name Christ-mas is shortened to Christmas.
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When Christmas Is Celebrated ?
Although December 25 (or the overdue afternoon/night time of December twenty fourth) is the date whilst most people have fun Christmas, there are a few one-of-a-kind dates as nicely!
Some church buildings (especially Orthodox and Coptic Orthodox church buildings) use a unique calendar for his or her non secular celebrations. Orthodox Churches in Russia, Serbia, Jerusalem, Ukraine and exceptional global locations use the antique ‘Julian’ calendar and people in those church buildings have amusing Christmas on January 7th. The Coptic Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas on January seventh. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church additionally celebrates Christmas on the 7th January (that’s the twenty ninth of Tahsas in their calendar).
Most human beings within the Greek Orthodox Church have an excellent time Christmas on December 25th. But some nonetheless use the Julian calendar and so have amusing Christmas on seventh January! Some Greek Catholics additionally have fun on January seventh.
The Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates Christmas on January 6th. It also celebrates Epiphany in this day.
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Where Did The Traditions Of Christmas Originate?
It is true that western people celebrate Christmas as a pagan feast. The Christmas tree is also considered a pious emblem of fertility. In the northernmost countries, when the nights are long and cold, the feast of Christmas gave birth to the traditions of Christmas. Hence, the practice of celebrating the festival with rich food and lots of candles has been rigorously followed. The decoration of fir trees with candles is also considered to be a symbol of hope that spring would arrive with new crops and abundant food.
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Where did Santa Claus come from?
Saint Nicholas is said to have created the Santa Claus myth. Poor girls were helped to get the perfect husband by Nicholas, who was a bishop in the small city of Myra. The bags full of money were secretly left at the doorsteps of poor people. People started exchanging gifts on the feast of St. Nicholas is celebrated on December 6 in western Christian countries and December 19 in the eastern churches.
Keeping the Christmas Spirit Alive
Known to be the ‘Season of Joy’, the month of December offers the quality family time all yr spherical – from Christmas to Halloween, there are unaccountable occasions to look forward to. During this time, you could supply your homely area and place of work a chunk of vintage and festive appearance. So, in case you’re a person who likes to present a makeover in your space, then here’s the time for you. Keeping your vicinity uncluttered and untidy helps you eliminate all the negativity. You also can mild up your vicinity with lights and candles, and tickle your bellies with mouth-watering dishes. From changing gifts to in the end meeting your buddies and circle of relatives individuals, this is one of the most sought-after gala’s to appearance out for. For children, this pageant way vacations, presents and merry-making. During this season, dad and mom toil hard to take their children to some type of an extravagant destination wherein they could spend some excellent time with their own family. It is the time whilst kids fill their bellies with goodies, truffles and waffles. It’s their pleasure for the presents that supply them a sleepless night time and the amazement of finding the presents within the shares that supply them butterflies within the belly. So, this season is all about creating recollections with your loved ones. What are you anticipating? Go and perform a little little bit of buying to provide your house a brand new and remarkable look.
Advent – the time before Christmas
Before Christmas, many Christians use the time of Advent to put together themselves and get prepared to rejoice the joy of Christmas, while Christians have fun of the start of Jesus, who they don’t forget is the Son of God.
Advent is normally a length of four Sundays and weeks in advance than Christmas. In many Orthodox and Eastern Catholics Churches Advent lasts for forty days, starting on November fifteenth.
In Orthodox Churches which rejoice Christmas on seventh January, Advent start on twenty 8th November!
During Advent many people fast (don’t consume sure meals). The styles of meals human beings give up is based upon on their church manner of lifestyles and in which within the global they stay.
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After Christmas – The 12 Days of Christmas and Epiphany
Christmas celebrations after Advent are usually a feast. The 12 days of Christmas were known as The 12 days of Christmas! Twelfth Night is when the celebrations ended on January 5th. The 12 days of Christmas were a time of celebration. On January 6th, people remember the visit of the Wise Men to Jesus when he was a baby and the crucifixion of Jesus when he was an adult. Some people leave their Christmas decorations up until Candlemas, while others take them down at the end of Twelfth Night.
Candlemas – The End of Christmas
You may suppose that Christmas ends even as you are taking the Christmas Decorations down – but it would not! After each Christmas and the season of Epiphany, the end of the Christmas celebrations come on February second, forty days after Christmas, with Candlemas.
Candlemas, additionally referred to as the ‘Presentation of Jesus at the Temple’ or the ‘Feast of the Purification of the Virgin (or Mary)’ is the while some Christians endure in mind the time when Mary and Joseph took the infant Jesus to the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem to give thanks to God for giving them a son.
It’s a completely vital day in some Orthodox and Catholic church buildings.
The call Candlemas comes from ‘Candle Mass’ due to the fact in masses of Candlemas offerings, the candles are blessed to be used in church homes all through the coming yr or are given out to human beings for them to use in their houses and personal prayers.
In many Catholic church buildings, it’s a time whilst human beings consider and renew promises they have made to the church and rejoice some of the prophecies which have been given about Jesus.
In many Eastern/Orthodox church buildings, an all night time vigil is hung on the night time earlier than the candle blessing rite. In the morning, the candles are blessed and are given out to human beings.
What is the history of jesus christ ?
The birth of Jesus happened in Israel around 2000 years ago. It is thought to be an important event that took place on earth, as the calculation of time itself got divided by that happening as BC and AD, the year of the Lord. He was the son of a poor carpenter in Bethlehem and was christened Jesus of Nazareth. He began preaching in public when he was 30 years old, spreading love, guiding people in the path of virtue and performing miracles to help the poor, sick and the needy. People began coming to him in large numbers. The Roman governor was pressured to put him to death by the Jewish priests. Jesus was tortured and crucified. As Jesus rose from death on the third day, he journeyed around for 40 days and then ascended to the heaven with his body, in front of many of his disciples. The news spread quickly. People began hailing him as ‘Jesus Christ,’ and Jesus, the Messiah, and started following his teachings in huge numbers. Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire in about three centuries.
Legend of christmas
Christ’s Mass is the religious service of Jesus. There is an interesting history behind it. The day of Jesus’s birth was not mentioned in the Bible, but he was celebrated as Easter and his rising from death was. December 25 was chosen as the day of Jesus’ birth by Pope Julius I of the 4th century. Initially, this day was known as the Feast of Nativity. It spread to Egypt, England, and northern Europe by the 8th century. It spread throughout the Christian world as a joyous occasion. Christmas is believed to be the day when the three wise men found the newborn Jesus in the manger.
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Celebrations on Christmas
Christmas is a time for religious worship and celebrations. Billions of people all over the globe look forward to this occasion and celebrate it with their family and friends. Churches and homes are decorated for the occasion and ready to welcome baby Jesus. Thousands of people attend midnight mass and prayer services in churches. In churches, homes and even in public places, a crib is set up for the birth of Jesus in a traditional nativity scene. Group singing of Christmas carols, the devotional songs, is a tradition that is followed in many places. Large and small decorated Christmas trees are set up at public places. Santa Claus is an important part of Christmas celebrations as he arrives on Christmas Eve with lots of gifts for the children. During Christmas time, public places are well-lit. People wear new clothes, offer prayers to the Lord, exchange Merry Christmas greetings with one another, share gifts, visit friends and relatives, and enjoy the day with sumptuous feasts.
Why are we celebrating Christmas on the 25th of December?
The day Mary was told that she would have a very special baby, known as the Annunciation, is still celebrated today. March 25 is nine months after December 25. Some early Christians thought the world was created on March 25 and that Jesus was born on the same day. He had passed away. The date was chosen because it was close to the March/Spring equinox. According to the Jewish calendar, Jesus died on Nisan 14. The Jewish calendar is based on the moon and rotates with the Gregorian calendar. The Syrian saint taught that Jesus was born on Nisan 10! The Gregorian calendar marked these ‘movable’ dates with a fixed date of 25 March.
The seasons are Solstice, Yalda and Saturnalia.
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The shortest time between sunrise and sunset is on the winter solstice. It happens in the Northern Hemisphere on December 21 or 22. The summer and winter solstices are in the Southern Hemisphere. For pre-Christian/Pagans, this meant that the days would get longer and the nights shorter, a sign of a change in the seasons. The mid-winter festival was celebrated to celebrate the victory of the sun over winter. Animals that were kept for food were often killed to feed them during the winter and some drinks that had been prepared before the harvest would also be ready to drink. It was a good time to celebrate with food and drink. We still have New Year’s Eve.
Some more dates!
On January 6th, the early Church celebrated Christmas and the revelation that Jesus was God’s son. This was based on a calculation of Jesus’ death from the 6th April not to the 25th March. The visit of the Wise Men to the baby Jesus was celebrated back in the day. When Jesus started his ministry, his Baptism was seen as more important than his birth. The Jewish festival of lights begins on the eve of the Kislev 25 (the month in the Jewish calendar that occurs at about the same time as December). After many years of not being allowed to practice their religion, the Jewish people were able to re-dedicate and worship in their Temple in Jerusalem. The early Church may have been helped by the fact that Jesus was a Jew.
Pope Gregory XIII implemented the Gregorian calendar in 1582. The calendar was named after Julius Caesar. The Roman calendar had too many days in a year, but the Gregorian calendar is more accurate. The day after the switch was made was 15th October 1582. The calendar was changed in the UK in 1752. The day after September 2nd was September 14th. Christmas is celebrated on the 7th of January, which is when December 25th would have been on the calendar. The 6th of January is celebrated by the Armenian Apostolic Church. If the calendar hadn’t been changed, January 6th would have been the day that Christmas would have celebrated in the UK. Some people didn’t want to use the new calendar because they thought it cheated them out of 11 days.
The birth of Jesus was celebrated by the early Christians because they believed that he was the light of the world. Holly, Mistletoe and even Christmas Carols were given Christian meanings when they took over some of the customs from the Winter Solstice.
St Augustine of Canterbury changed into the person who likely started out the big party of Christmas in massive factors of England by way of introducing Christianity to the regions run by means of manner of the Anglo-Saxons in the sixth century (different Celtic components of Britain were already Christian but there are not many documents approximately if or how they celebrated the shipping of Jesus). St Augustine of Canterbury emerge as despatched thru Pope Gregory the Great in Rome and that church used the Roman Calendar, so western international locations have fun Christmas on the 25th December. Then people from Britain and Western Europe took Christmas at the 25th December everywhere within the worldwide!
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When was Jesus born?
There’s a sturdy and realistic cause why Jesus might not had been born within the wintry weather, however within the spring or the fall! It can get very cold inside the wintry weather and it isn’t going that the shepherds would had been preserving sheep out at the hills (as those hills can get quite lots of snow from time to time!).
During the spring (in March or April) there may be a Jewish opposition called ‘Passover‘. This festival recollects whilst the Jews had escaped from slavery in Egypt about 1500 years earlier than Jesus have become born. Lots of lambs would have been desired at some point of the Passover Festival, to be sacrificed in the Temple in Jerusalem. Jews from all around the Roman Empire traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival, so it would have been an exquisite time for the Romans to take a census. Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem for the census (Bethlehem is prepared six miles from Jerusalem).
In the autumn (in September or October) there can be the Jewish competition of ‘Sukkot’ or ‘The Feast of Tabernacles’. It’s the competition it’s miles cited the most instances in the Bible! It is at the same time as Jewish human beings keep in mind that they trusted God for all they’d after they had escaped from Egypt and spent 40 years in the barren area. It moreover celebrates the end of the harvest. During the opposition, Jews stay out of doors in temporary shelters (the word ‘tabernacle’ come from a latin word which means ‘income space’ or ‘hut‘).
Many people who have studied the Bible, expect that Sukkot might be a probable time for the beginning of Jesus as it might in form with the define of there being ‘no room within the inn’. It additionally could have been an amazing time to take the Roman Census as many Jews went to Jerusalem for the opposition and they would have introduced their very very own tents/shelters with them! (It would no longer had been realistic for Joseph and Mary to maintain their own shelter as Mary become pregnant.)
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The possibilities for the Star of Bethlehem appears to element either spring or autumn.
The feasible dating of Jesus starting also can be taken from at the same time as Zechariah (who changed into married to Mary’s cousin Elizabeth) modified into on duty within the Jewish Temple as a Priest and had an first-rate revel in. There is an notable article on the courting of Christmas based totally on the dates of Zechariah’s experience, at the weblog of theologian, Ian Paul (goes to each other web website). With the ones dates, you get Jesus being born in September – which additionally suits with Sukkot!
In the Bible, John 1:14 says “The Word became flesh and made his residing amongst us…”. In Greek the phrase for ‘living’ is ‘eskēnōsen’ (ἐσκήνωσεν) which means that that ‘to pitch and stay in a tent/encampment’. In Hebrew this interprets as ‘mishkan’ (‘מִשְׁכַּן’ which means that to stay and it is also the call given to the Tabernacle which have become wherein God ‘dwelled’ within the Jewish and Christian religion for the duration of the Jews time in the barren region within the e-book of Exodus) and/or ‘sukkah‘ So John seems to have genuinely been drawing in this analogy saying that Jesus ‘pitched his tent’ as a human and additionally quite in all likelihood he is making the hyperlink to the time of Jesus’s begin. John truely knew both Jesus and Mary and so would have mentioned whilst Jesus come to be born!
The yr that Jesus become born isn’t always recognized. The calendar gadget we’ve got were given now modified into created in the 6th Century by way of the use of a monk called Dionysius Exiguus. He modified into simply searching for to create a better system for operating out while Easter need to be celebrated, primarily based on a brand new calendar with the beginning of Jesus being within the twelve months 1. However, he made a mistake in his maths and so have been given the possible year of Jesus’s starting incorrect!
Most scholars now assume that Jesus become born among 2 BCE/BC and 7 BCE/BC, likely in three or 4 BCE/BC. Before Dionysius’s new calendars, years had been generally dated from the reigns of Roman Emperors. The new calendar have become more broadly used from the eighth Century when the ‘Venerable Bede of Northumbria’ used it in his ‘new’ records e-book! There isn’t any 12 months ‘zero’. Bede commenced dating matters earlier than the yr 1 and used 1 BCE/BC because the first twelve months earlier than 1. At that time in Europe, the variety zero didn’t exist in maths – it most effective arrived in Europe in the 11th to 13th centuries!
So whenever you celebrate Christmas, remember that you’re celebrating a real event that passed off about 2000 years ago, that God despatched his Son into the arena as a Christmas present for every person!
As properly as Christmas and the solstice, there are a few other festivals which may be held in late December. Hanukkah is well known by using Jews; and the competition of Kwanzaa is widely known by means of some Africans and African Americans takes place from December twenty 6th to January 1st.
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, Christmas 2023 Celebrations & Significance
Christmas is all about going to a mall and admiring the Christmas tree. The twinkling lights around the Christmas tree and the gifts hanging to greet, meet and visit held this magical image in the hearts of the people. There are many Christmas carols and stories associated with the Christmas tree.
I not only hope but have full faith that you must have liked our article on Christmas Day 2023 very much, Happy Christmas Day 2023 to you and your family, may God bring lots of happiness in your life.
