Facts about Christmas
Along with a Christmas tree, the interior of a home may be decorated with garlands, wreaths, and evergreen foliage, particularly holly (Ilex aquifolium or Ilex opaca) and mistletoe (Phoradendron flavescens or Viscum album).
Many Christmas stories have been popularized as movies and television specials.
Christmas in the West is traditionally observed on December 25, or January 7 in the Eastern Orthodox Churches.
Japan has adopted Santa Claus for its secular Christmas celebration, but New Year's Day is a far more important holiday.
In Australia, North and South America, and to a lesser extent Europe, it is traditional to decorate the outside of houses with lights and sometimes with illuminated sleighs, snowmen, and other Christmas figures.
King Richard II of England hosted a Christmas feast in 1377 at which 28 oxen and three hundred sheep were eaten.
Christmas Day itself was a relatively minor holiday, although its prominence gradually increased after Charlemagne was crowned on Christmas Day in 800 C.E.
Soldiers on both sides spontaneously began to sing Christmas carols and stopped fighting.
The 40-mile corridor between Boston and Worcester is called "Massachusetts Main Street."
Many dormice have a squirrel-like or chipmunk-like appearance, including a bushy and long tail.
Christmas or Christmas Day commemorates and celebrates the birth of Jesus.
By the High Middle Ages, Christmas had become so prominent that chroniclers routinely noted where various magnates "celebrated Christmas."
The Declaration of Christmas Peace has been a tradition in Finland since the Middle Ages.
The Puritans of New England disapproved of Christmas and celebration was outlawed in Boston (1659-1681).
Many fictional Christmas stories capture the spirit of Christmas in a modern-day fairy tale, often with heart-touching stories of a Christmas miracle.
Prince Albert, from Bavaria, married Queen Victoria in 1840, introducing the German tradition of the 'Christmas tree' into Windsor castle in 1841.
Several Christian denominations, notably the Jehovah's Witnesses, Puritans, and some fundamentalists, view Christmas as a pagan holiday not sanctioned by the Bible.
Christmas soon outgrew the Christological controversy that created it and came to dominate the Medieval calendar.
Northern Europe was the last part to Christianize, and its pagan celebrations had a major influence on Christmas.
The popularity of Christmas is due in large part to the "spirit of Christmas," a spirit of charity expressed through gift-giving and acts of kindness that celebrate the human heart of the Christian message.
Several have become part of the Christmas tradition in their countries of origin.
Groups visit neighborhood homes, hospitals, or nursing homes, to sing Christmas carols.
Scandinavians still call Christmas Jul (Yule or Yultid), originally the name of a 12-day pre-Christian winter festival.
Television networks add Christmas themes to their standard programming, run traditional holiday movies, and produce a variety of Christmas specials.
Radio and television programs aggressively pursue entertainment and ratings through their cultivation of Christmas themes.
During the Reformation, Protestants condemned Christmas celebration as "trappings of popery" and the "rags of the Beast."
Scrooge rejects compassion, philanthropy, and Christmas until he is visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, who show him the consequences of his ways.
After the Russian Revolution, Christmas celebration was banned in that country from 1917 until 1992.
Many stores begin stocking and selling Christmas items in October/November (and in the UK, even September/October).
The book A Christmas Carol (1843) by Charles Dickens played a major role in reinventing Christmas as a holiday emphasizing family, goodwill, and compassion (as opposed to communal celebration and hedonistic excess).
Among other classical pieces inspired by Christmas are the Nutcracker Suite, adapted from Tchaikovsky's ballet score, and Johann Sebastian Bach's Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248).
Christmas has become the greatest annual economic stimulus for many nations.
When a Puritan parliament triumphed over the King, Charles I of England (1644), Christmas was officially banned (1647).
Christmas fell out of favor in the U.S. after the American Revolution, when it was considered an "English custom."
Another impetus for official Roman support for Christmas grew out of the Christological debates at the time of Constantine.
Another tradition is for people to send Christmas cards, first popularized in London in 1842, to friends and family members.
The word Christmas is derived from Middle English Christemasse and from Old English Cristes mжsse.
The Restoration (1660) ended the ban, but Christmas celebration was still disapproved of by the Anglican clergy.
Elaios, is about 30 stades from Phigaleia, and has a cave sacred to Demeter Melaine ... the Phigalians say, they accounted the cave sacred to Demeter, and set up a wooden image in it.
Christmas pageants may include a retelling of the story of the birth of Christ.
Christmas banners may be hung from street lights and Christmas trees placed in the town square.
On Christmas Eve, a guardian angel finds him in despair and prevents him from committing suicide by magically showing him how much he meant to the world around him.
The phrase "Christmas tree" is first recorded in 1835 and represents the importation of a tradition from Germany, where such trees became popular in the late eighteenth century.
The main day for gift giving in Germany is December 24, when gifts are brought by Santa Claus or are placed under the Christmas tree.
By the 1820s, sectarian tension had eased and British writers began to worry that Christmas was dying out.
Father Christmas predates the Santa Claus character, and was first recorded in the fifteenth century, but was associated with holiday merrymaking and drunkenness.
Radio stations broadcast Christmas carols and Christmas songs, including classical music such as the "Hallelujah chorus" from Handel's Messiah.
Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is the tale of the rich and miserly curmudgeon Ebenezer Scrooge.
The Egyptian Christmas celebration on January 6 was adopted as Epiphany, one of the most prominent holidays of the year during Early Middle Ages.
Around the world, gypsum is extensively used in concrete for the construction of highways, bridges, and various other structures.
Most economists agree, however, that Christmas produces a deadweight loss under orthodox microeconomic theory, due to the surge in gift-giving.
More businesses and stores close on Christmas Day than any other day of the year.
Other popular holiday plants include holly, red amaryllis, and Christmas cactus (Zygocactus), all featuring the brilliant combination of red and green.
Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, who Christians believe is the son of God. His birth date is unknown because there is little information about his early life. There is disagreement among scholars on when Jesus was born. Christians celebrate Jesus' birthday on December 25.
Sometimes people use mango leaves to decorate their homes. In Southern India, Christians often put small oil burning clay lamps on the flat roofs of their homes to show their neighbors that Jesus is the light of the world. Christians in Goa love to celebrate Christmas!
Orthodox Churches in Russia, Serbia, Jerusalem, Ukraine, Ethiopia and other countries use the old 'Julian' calendar and people in those churches celebrate Christmas on January 7th. Most people in the Greek Orthodox Church celebrate Christmas on December 25th.
Many people in the United States celebrate Christmas Day on December 25. The day celebrates Jesus Christ's birth. It is often combined with customs from pre-Christian winter celebrations. Many people erect Christmas trees, decorate their homes, visit family or friends and exchange gifts.
Theodore Roosevelt
The first recorded date of Christmas being celebrated on December 25th was in 336, during the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine (he was the first Christian Roman Emperor). A few years later, Pope Julius I officially declared that the birth of Jesus would be celebrated on the 25th December.
Christmas Facts. Christmas Day is celebrated by millions of Christians around the world, usually on December 25th. It is also a popular holiday celebrated by non-Christians. Christmas Day is an annual celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.
Only about half see Christmas mostly as a religious holiday, while one-third view it as more of a cultural holiday. Virtually all Christians (96%) celebrate Christmas, and two-thirds see it as a religious holiday. ... They are also less likely to attend Christmas religious services and to believe in the virgin birth.Dec 19, 2013
Christmas Eve (Wigilia), Christmas Day, and Boxing Day (or St Stephen's Day) are important days that are celebrated in many Polish homes. Christmas preparations begin days before December 25. ... It is customary to break and give the Christmas wafer (oplatek), which is made of flour and water, to loved ones.
People in Poland also like kissing under the mistletoe! In Polish Happy/Merry Christmas is 'Wesołych Świąt'. Happy/Merry Christmas in lots more languages.
Sharing of the oplatek (pronounced opwatek) is the most ancient and beloved of all Polish Christmas traditions. Oplatek is a thin wafer made of flour and water, similar in taste to the hosts that are used for communion during Mass. The Christmas wafer is shared before Wigilia, the Christmas Eve supper.
Saint Nicholas, also known as Santa Claus, was born in an unknown month of 270 AD so he would now be 1,747 years old.Nov 7, 2017
In the 1930s a certain American soft drinks company decided Santa should be dressed in red as part of a marketing campaign and that has stuck. It's often thought that Father Christmas and Santa Claus are one and the same person. ... He travelled in his red robes giving gifts to the poor, in particular children.Dec 4, 2009
A big part of the Christmas celebrations in Germany is Advent. Several different types of Advent calendars are used in German homes. As well as the traditional one made of card that are used in many countries, there are ones made out of a wreath of Fir tree branches with 24 decorated boxes or bags hanging from it.
Christmas Eve - Heiliger Abend (also Heiligabend) December 24th begins as a regular workday. But by 2:00 pm, often even earlier, businesses close in preparation for the holiday celebration, a large part of which occurs on Christmas Eve in Germany. The traditional evening meal includes carp and potato salad.
A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer such as spruce, pine, or fir or an artificial tree of similar appearance, associated with the celebration of Christmas.
Christmas Eve (Heiliger Abend) is celebrated in Germany on December 24. It is the last day of Advent and the start of the Christmas season. Many people spend the afternoon and evening decorating Christmas trees, attending church services, eating traditional dishes and opening Christmas presents.
The traditional Christmas meal features duck, goose, rabbit or a roast. This main dish is accompanied by German delicacies such as apple and sausage stuffing, red cabbage and potato dumplings. Dessert typically includes Christmas Stollen, considered one of the best Christmas pastries in the world!
There are more Christians in South Korea (the Republic of Korea) than in many other Asian countries such as China and Japan, so Christmas is celebrated more widely. (Christians make up about 25-30% of the population.) However, the other 70% of people in South Korea are Buddhist (about 25%) or don't have a religion.