Description

Christmas (which means "Feast day ofChrist")is a Christian holiday that honors the birth of Jesus(whomChristians believe is the Son of God), and a cultural holidayfornon-Christians.

The day known as Christmas Day is celebrated on the 25th dayofDecember. It is one of the most important days of the yearforChristians, along with Easter when the death and resurrectionofJesus are celebrated. The season of preparing for Christmasiscalled Advent and begins on a Sunday about four weeksbeforeChristmas. The Christmas Season (called Christmastide) endsonJanuary 6 or the Twelfth Day of Christmas, in which Epiphanyisremembered.

Christmas is celebrated all over the world, as areligiousholiday or as a time of celebration by Christiansandnon-Christians alike. The traditions are different from countrytocountry, but they nearly always include a feast, giving giftsorcards, and enjoying church or public festivities such assingingChristmas carols and songs. Santa Claus is a tradition inmanycountries of the world.

Christmastime, as it is often called, is in the winter oftheNorthern Hemisphere, at a time when there were alreadyancientfestivals. Some of the traditions that are used forChristmas areolder than Christmas, or come from other non-Christiantraditionssuch as Yule. Modern traditions of Christmas often focuson thegiving of gifts. The season for retail stores to sell gifts,food,greeting cards, Christmas trees, and decorations begins thedayabout a month before Christmas Day.

Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus. The story of howthishappened is told in part of the Bible known as the Gospels.Thereare four Gospels telling the life of Jesus. The Gospel ofLuketells the most about his birth, and the Gospel of Matthewtellsanother part of the story. The Gospel of John says that Jesuscamefrom God to bring his "Word" or message to all people.

The Gospels say that many years before Jesus' birth, prophetshadtold a promise to the Jewish people that God would send themaMessiah, or holy teacher. Christians believe that thepromisedMessiah was Jesus. His mother was a young woman calledMary, whowas engaged, but not yet married to a carpenter calledJoseph.Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant and was upset. Hewaswondering what he should do, when an angel came from God totellhim that the baby was the Holy One. The angel said that hemustname the baby. This was a sign that he would take care of itlikehis own child.

At this time, the Middle East was ruled by the Romans. Anordercame that all the people had to travel back to their hometown, toput their names on the taxation lists. Joseph took his newwife toBethlehem. There was nowhere for them to stay, except astablewhere the animals slept. This is where the baby was born.Josephcalled him Jesus, as the angel had said.

The baby Jesus had two lots of visitors. On the night hewasborn, angels told some shepherds in the fields that they wouldfinda newborn king lying in an animals' feed bin (or manger).Jesus'other visitors were some wise men who saw a new star in thesky andfollowed it, until they found the house where the family wasnowliving and gave the young child expensive gifts of gold,incenseand a precious herb called myrrh. (The wise men areoftentraditionally called the Three Kings, because there were threeveryexpensive presents but the Bible does not say how many wisementhere were.)

All these parts of the Christmas story are rememberedandcelebrated in different ways at Christmas: in pictures,songs,plays, stories and in models that are called "cribs","creches" or"presepe".