Christmas (literally, the Mass of Christ) is a holiday in the Christian calendar [3], usually observed on December 25, which celebrates the birth of Jesus [4]. According to the Christian gospels, Jesus was born to Mary in Bethlehem, where she and her husband Joseph had traveled to register in the Roman census. Christ's birth, or nativity, was to fulfill the prophecies of Judaism that a messiah would come, from the house of David, to redeem the world from sin. The precise chronology of Jesus' birth and death as well as the historicity of Jesus are still debated.
In predominantly Christian countries, Christmas has become the most economically significant holiday of the year, and it is also celebrated as a secular holiday in many countries with small Christian populations. It is largely characterized by exchanging gifts within families, and by gifts brought by Father Christmas or Santa Claus [5], a big jolly man with a white beard, or other folk figures. Local and regional Christmas traditions are still rich and varied, despite the widespread influence of American and British Christmas motifs disseminated through literature, television and other media.
The word Christmas is a contraction of Christ's Mass, derived from the Old English Cristes mæsse and refering to the religious ceremony of mass. It is often abbreviated Xmas, probably because X or Xt have often been used as a contraction for Christ (X resembles the Greek letter Χ (chi), the first letter of Christ in Greek (Χριστός [Christos]). Crimbo is an informal synonym used in British English.
Historians are unsure exactly when Christians first began celebrating the Nativity of Christ. Most scholars believe that December 25 was only adopted in the 4th century as a Christian holiday by the Roman Emperor Constantine [20], to encourage a common religious festival for both Christians and Pagans.
Early Christians celebrated more the subsequent Epiphany [21], when the baby Jesus was visited by the Magi (and this is still a primary time for celebration in Spain). Efforts to assign a date for his birth, though better known from writings from some centuries later, would have been important to all Christians then, no less than now.
The Romans honored Saturn, the ancient god of agriculture, each year beginning on December 17 in a festival called the Saturnalia. This festival lasted for seven days and included the winter solstice, which at that time fell on December 25 (today, following calendar reform, it falls on December 21). During Saturnalia the Romans feasted, postponed all business and warfare, exchanged gifts, and temporarily freed their slaves. With the lengthening of daylight, these and other winter festivities continued through January 1, the festival of Kalends, when Romans marked the day of the new moon and the first day of the month and religious year (the secular year began in March).
By the 4th century another factor was also at work. Many Romans also celebrated the solstice on December 25 with festivities in honor of the rebirth of Sol Invictus, the "Invincible Sun God," or with rituals to glorify Mithra, the ancient Persian god of light (see Mithraism). Sol Invictus was a religion to which both Constantine himself before his confession of Christianity, and his predecessor Diocletian, who had rebuilt the Roman Empire, were especially devoted, and to whom the latter had attributed his military successes (though Constantine saw Christ as having delivered him from the former Roman order's designs: Diocletian at one time had had Constantine living under his eye, against his will, separating him from his father). Constantine is therefore assumed to have found it convenient to find a common major festival for both Sol Invictus and Christianity.
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The story of Christ's birth has been handed down for centuries, based primarily on the Christian gospels [22] of Matthew and Luke. The gospels of Mark and John do not address the childhood of Jesus, and those of Matthew and Luke highlight different events.
According to Luke, Mary learned from an angel that she was with child, by virtue of impregnation by the Holy Spirit without intercourse. Shortly thereafter, she and her husband Joseph left their home in Nazareth to travel to Joseph's ancestral home, Bethlehem, to enroll in the census ordered by the Roman emperor, Augustus. Finding no room in inns in the town, they set up primitive lodgings in a stable. There Mary gave birth to Jesus in a manger or stall. Christ's birth in Bethlehem of Judea, the home of the house of David from which Joseph was descended, fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah.
Matthew's gospel begins by recounting the genealogy and virgin birth of Jesus, and then moves to the coming of the Wise Men [23] from the East to where Christ was staying after his birth in Bethlehem. This mentions no trek to Bethlehem from Nazareth, and is often cited as a contradiction, but logically is not contradictory, as it makes no statement that they did not take a journey. The wise men, or Magi, first arrived in Jerusalem and reported to the king of Judea, Herod the Great, that they had seen a star, now called the Star of Bethlehem, heralding the birth of a king. Further inquiry led them to Bethlehem of Judea and the home of Mary and Joseph. They presented Jesus with treasures of "gold, frankincense and myrrh". While staying the night, the Wise Men had a dream that contained a divine warning that King Herod had murderous designs on the child. Resolving to hinder the ruler, they returned home without notifying Herod of the success of their mission. Matthew then reports that the family next fled to Egypt to escape the murderous rampage of Herod, who had decided to have all children of Bethlehem under two killed in order to eliminate any local rivals to his power. After Herod's death, Jesus and his family returned to Bethlehem.
Another aspect of Christ's birth which has passed from the gospels into popular lore is the announcement by angels to nearby shepherds of Jesus' birth. Some Christmas carols refer to the shepherds observing a huge star directly over Bethlehem, and following it to the birthplace. The Magi, who Matthew reports seeing a giant star as well, have been variously translated as "wise men" or as "kings". They are supposed to have come from Arabia or Persia, where they could have gotten their gifts of "gold, frankincense and myrrh". Some astronomers and historians have proposed to explain what combination of traceable celestial events might explain the appearance of a giant star that had never before been seen, but there is no agreement among them.
Text and pictures courtesy of wikipedia, links courtesy of the internet.
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