What does it mean the word christmas

1. ^ Several branches of Eastern Christianity that use the Julian calendar also celebrate on December 25 according to that calendar, which is now January 7 on the Gregorian calendar. Armenian Churches observed the nativity on January 6 even before the Gregorian calendar originated. Most Armenian Christians use the Gregorian calendar, still celebrating Christmas Day on January 6. Some Armenian churches use the Julian calendar, thus celebrating Christmas Day on January 19 on the Gregorian calendar, with January 18 being Christmas Eve. Some regions also celebrate primarily on December 24, rather than December 25.
2. ^ English, Adam C. (October 14, 2016). Christmas: Theological Anticipations. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 70. ISBN 978-1-4982-3933-2. According to Luke 1:26, Gabriel’s annunciation to Mary took place in the «sixth month» of Elizabeth’s pregnancy. That is, Mary conceives sixth months after Elizabeth. Luke repeats the uniqueness of the timing in verse 26. Counting six months from September 24 we arrive at March 25, the most likely date for the annunciation and conception of Mary. Nine months hence takes us to December 25, which turns out to be a surprisingly reasonable date for the birthday [of Jesus]. Someone might object that the birth could not have occurred in midwinter because it would have been too cold for shepherds in the fields keeping watch by night (Luke 2:8). Not so. In Palestine, the months of November through February mark the rainy season, the only time of the year sheep might find fresh green grass to graze. During the other ten months of the year, animals must content themselves on dry straw. So, the suggestion that shepherds might have stayed out in the fields with their flocks in late December, at the peak of the rainy season, is not only reasonable, it is most certain. … And so, besides considering the timing of the conception, we must take note of the earliest church records. We have evidence from the second century, less than fifty years after the close of the New Testament, that Christians were remembering and celebrating the birth of the Lord. It is not true to say that the observance of the nativity was imposed on Christians hundreds of years later by imperial decree or by a magisterial church ruling. The observance sprang up organically from the authentic devotion of ordinary believers. This in itself is important. But, besides the fact that early Christians did celebrate the incarnation of the Lord, we should make note that they did not agree upon a set date for the observance. There was no one day on which all Christians celebrated Christmas in the early church. Churches in different regions celebrated the nativity on different days. The late second-century Egyptian instructor of Christian disciples, Clement of Alexandria, reported that some believers in his area observed the twenty-fourth or twenty-fifth day of the Egyptian month of Parmuthi (the month that corresponds to the Hebrew month of Nisan—approximately May 20). The Basilidian Christians held to the eleventh or fifteen of Tubi (January 6 and 10). Clement made his own computations by counting backward from the death of Emperor Commodus, the son of Marcus Aurelius. By this method he deduced a birthdate of November 18. Other Alexandrian and Egyptian Christians adopted January 4 or 5. In so doing, they replaced the Alexandrian celebration of the birth of Aion, Time, with the birth of Christ. The regions of Nicomedia, Syria, and Caesarea celebrated Christ’s birthday on Epiphany, January 6. … According to researcher Susan Roll, the Chronograph or Philocalian Calendar is the earliest authentic document to place the birth of Jesus on December 25. … And we should remember that although the Chronograph provides the first record of December 25, the custom of venerating the Lord’s birth on that day was most likely established well before its publication. That is to say, December 25 didn’t originate with the Chronograph. It must have counted as common knowledge, at least in Rome, to warrant its inclusion in the Chronograph. Soon after this time, we find other church fathers such John Chrysostom, Augustine, Jerome, and Leo confirming the twenty-fifth as the traditional date of celebration.

1. ^ ^{a b} «Christmas as a Multi-Faith Festival» (PDF). BBC Learning English. December 29, 2005. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 1, 2008. Retrieved September 30, 2008.
2. ^ ^{a b} «In the U.S., Christmas Not Just for Christians». Gallup, Inc. December 24, 2008. Archived from the original on November 16, 2012. Retrieved December 16, 2012.
3. ^ «The Global Religious Landscape | Christians». Pew Research Center. December 18, 2012. Archived from the original on March 10, 2015. Retrieved May 23, 2014.
4. ^ «Christmas Strongly Religious For Half in U.S. Who Celebrate It». Gallup, Inc. December 24, 2010. Archived from the original on December 7, 2012. Retrieved December 16, 2012.
5. ^ ^{a b} Forbes, Bruce David (October 1, 2008). Christmas: A Candid History. University of California Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-520-25802-0. In 567 the Council of Tours proclaimed that the entire period between Christmas and Epiphany should be considered part of the celebration, creating what became known as the twelve days of Christmas, or what the English called Christmastide.
   On the last of the twelve days, called Twelfth Night, various cultures developed a wide range of additional special festivities. The variation extends even to the issue of how to count the days. If Christmas Day is the first of the twelve days, then Twelfth Night would be on January 5, the eve of Epiphany. If December 26, the day after Christmas, is the first day, then Twelfth Night falls on January 6, the evening of Epiphany itself.
   After Christmas and Epiphany were in place, on December 25 and January 6, with the twelve days of Christmas in between, Christians slowly adopted a period called Advent, as a time of spiritual preparation leading up to Christmas.
6. ^ Canadian Heritage – Public holidaysArchived November 24, 2009, at the Wayback Machine – Government of Canada. Retrieved November 27, 2009.
7. ^ 2009 Federal Holidays Archived January 16, 2013, at the Wayback Machine – U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Retrieved November 27, 2009.
8. ^ Bank holidays and British Summer time Archived May 15, 2011, at the Wayback Machine – HM Government. Retrieved November 27, 2009.
9. ^ Ehorn, Lee Ellen; Hewlett, Shirely J.; Hewlett, Dale M. (September 1, 1995). December Holiday Customs. Lorenz Educational Press. p. 1. ISBN 978-1-4291-0896-6.
10. ^ Nick Hytrek, «Non-Christians focus on secular side of Christmas» Archived November 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, Sioux City Journal, November 10, 2009. Retrieved November 18, 2009.
11. ^ Crump, William D. (September 15, 2001). The Christmas Encyclopedia (3 ed.). McFarland. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-7864-6827-0. Christians believe that a number of passages in the Bible are prophecies about future events in the life of the promised Messiah or Jesus Christ. Most, but not all, of those prophecies are found in the Old Testament … Born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2): «But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Juda, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.»
12. ^ Tucker, Ruth A. (2011). Parade of Faith: A Biographical History of the Christian Church. Zondervan. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-310-20638-5. According to gospel accounts, Jesus was born during the reign of Herod the Great, thus sometime before 4 BCE. The birth narrative in Luke’s gospel is one of the most familiar passages in the Bible. Leaving their hometown of Nazareth, Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem to pay taxes. Arriving late, they find no vacancy at the inn. They are, however, offered a stable, most likely a second room attached to a family dwelling where animals were sheltered—a room that would offer some privacy from the main family room for cooking, eating, and sleeping. This «city of David» is the little town of Bethlehem of Christmas-carol fame, a starlit silhouette indelibly etched on Christmas cards. No sooner was the baby born than angels announced the news to shepherds who spread the word.
13. ^ Corinna Laughlin, Michael R. Prendergast, Robert C. Rabe, Corinna Laughlin, Jill Maria Murdy, Therese Brown, Mary Patricia Storms, Ann E. Degenhard, Jill Maria Murdy, Ann E. Degenhard, Therese Brown, Robert C. Rabe, Mary Patricia Storms, Michael R. Prendergast, Sourcebook for Sundays, Seasons, and Weekdays 2011: The Almanac for Pastoral Liturgy Archived April 7, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, LiturgyTrainingPublications, 2010, p. 29.
14. ^ «The Chronography of 354 AD. Part 12: Commemorations of the Martyrs» Archived November 22, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, The Tertullian Project. 2006. Retrieved November 24, 2011.
15. ^ Roll, Susan K. (1995). Toward the Origins of Christmas. Peeters Publishers. p. 133. ISBN 978-90-390-0531-6.
16. ^ ^{a b c} Hale Bradt (2004). Astronomy Methods (PDF). p. 69. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 20, 2018..
    Roll, p. 87
    These two references say that March 25 was the equinox, and Roll refers to a work called De Solstitiis et Aequinoctiis Archived February 5, 2022, at the Wayback Machine which gives December 25 as the solstice. However, at the time of Julius Caesar the winter solstice was actually on the 23rd or 24th.
17. ^ ^{a b} Melton, J. Gordon (2011). Religious Celebrations: An Encyclopedia of Holidays, Festivals, Solemn Observances, and Spiritual Commemorations [2 volumes]: An Encyclopedia of Holidays, Festivals, Solemn Observances, and Spiritual Commemorations. ABC-CLIO. p. 39. ISBN 978-1-59884-206-7. The March 25 date, which tied together the beginning of Mary’s pregnancy and the incarnation of God in Jesus as occurring nine months before Christmas (December 25), supplied the rationale for setting the beginning of the ecclesiastical and legal year. … Both the Anglicans and the Lutherans have continued to observe the March 25 date for celebrating the Annunciation.
18. ^ The Liturgical Year. Thomas Nelson. November 3, 2009. ISBN 978-1-4185-8073-5. Retrieved April 2, 2009. Christmas is not really about the celebration of a birth date at all. It is about the celebration of a birth. The fact of the date and the fact of the birth are two different things. The calendrical verification of the feast itself is not really that important … What is important to the understanding of a life-changing moment is that it happened, not necessarily where or when it happened. The message is clear: Christmas is not about marking the actual birth date of Jesus. It is about the Incarnation of the One who became like us in all things but sin (Hebrews 4:15) and who humbled Himself «to the point of death-even death on a cross» (Phil. 2:8). Christmas is a pinnacle feast, yes, but it is not the beginning of the liturgical year. It is a memorial, a remembrance, of the birth of Jesus, not really a celebration of the day itself. We remember that because the Jesus of history was born, the Resurrection of the Christ of faith could happen.
19. ^ «The Christmas Season». CRI / Voice, Institute. Archived from the original on April 7, 2009. Retrieved April 2, 2009. The origins of the celebrations of Christmas and Epiphany, as well as the dates on which they are observed, are rooted deeply in the history of the early church. There has been much scholarly debate concerning the exact time of the year when Jesus was born, and even in what year he was born. Actually, we do not know either. The best estimate is that Jesus was probably born in the springtime, somewhere between the years of 6 and 4 BC, as December is in the middle of the cold rainy season in Bethlehem, when the sheep are kept inside and not on pasture as told in the Bible. The lack of a consistent system of timekeeping in the first century, mistakes in later calendars and calculations, and lack of historical details to cross-reference events have led to this imprecision in fixing Jesus’ birth. This suggests that the Christmas celebration is not an observance of a historical date, but a commemoration of the event in terms of worship.
20. ^ The School Journal, Volume 49. Harvard University. 1894. Retrieved April 2, 2009. Throughout the Christian world the 25th of December is celebrated as the birthday of Jesus Christ. There was a time when the churches were not united regarding the date of the joyous event. Many Christians kept their Christmas in April, others in May, and still others at the close of September, till finally December 25 was agreed upon as the most appropriate date. The choice of that day was, of course, wholly arbitrary, for neither the exact date not the period of the year at which the birth of Christ occurred is known. For purposes of commemoration, however, it is unimportant whether the celebration shall fall or not at the precise anniversary of the joyous event.
21. ^ West’s Federal Supplement. West Publishing Company. 1990. While the Washington and King birthdays are exclusively secular holidays, Christmas has both secular and religious aspects.
22. ^ ^{a b} Huckabee, Tyler (December 9, 2021). «No, Christmas Trees Don’t Have ‘Pagan’ Roots». Relevant Magazine. Retrieved December 9, 2022.
23. ^ «Poll: In a changing nation, Santa endures». Associated Press. December 22, 2006. Archived from the original on December 26, 2018. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
24. ^ ^{a b c d e} Martindale, Cyril Charles (1908). «Christmas». The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
25. ^ Schoenborn, Christoph (1994). God’s human face: the Christ-icon. p. 154. ISBN 978-0-89870-514-0.
26. ^ Galey, John (1986). Sinai and the Monastery of St. Catherine. p. 92. ISBN 978-977-424-118-5.
27. ^ «Christmas | Origin, Definition, Traditions, History, & Facts | Britannica». www.britannica.com. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
28. ^ Christenmas, n., Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved December 12.
29. ^ ^{a b} «Christmas» in the Middle English Dictionary. Archived January 5, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
30. ^ Griffiths, Emma (December 22, 2004). «Why get cross about Xmas?». BBC News. Archived from the original on November 11, 2011. Retrieved December 12, 2011.
31. ^ ^{a b} Hutton, Ronald (2001). The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-285448-3.
32. ^ «Midwinter» in Bosworth & Toller. Archived January 13, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
33. ^ Serjeantson, Mary Sidney (1968). A History of Foreign Words in English.
34. ^ «Online Etymology Dictionary». Archived from the original on January 13, 2012. Retrieved December 13, 2011.
35. ^ Yule Archived January 13, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved December 12.
36. ^ Online Etymology Dictionary, Noel Archived January 13, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, accessed January 3, 2022
37. ^ «Толковый словарь Даля онлайн». slovardalja.net. Retrieved December 25, 2022.
38. ^ «Biblical literature» Archived April 26, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. January 22, 2011.
39. ^ Guzik, David (December 8, 2015). «Matthew Chapter 2». Enduring Word. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
40. ^ ^{a b} Hijmans, S.E., Sol: The Sun in the Art and Religions of Rome, 2009, p. 584.
41. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} English, Adam C. (October 14, 2016). Christmas: Theological Anticipations. Wipf and Stock Publishers. pp. 70–71. ISBN 978-1-4982-3933-2.
42. ^ The manuscript reads, VIII kal. Ian. natus Christus in Betleem Iudeae. («The Chronography of 354 AD. Part 12: Commemorations of the Martyrs Archived November 22, 2011, at the Wayback Machine,» The Tertullian Project. 2006.)
43. ^ «Depositio Martyrum». Archived December 25, 2021, at the Wayback Machine New Catholic Encyclopedia. The last name in the Martyrum is Pope Sylvester I (d. 335); the inclusion of Pope Mark (d. 336) and Julius I (d. 352) is clearly a later addition.
44. ^ Wainwright, Geoffrey; Westerfield Tucker, Karen Beth, eds. (2005). The Oxford History of Christian Worship. Oxford University Press. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-19-513886-3. Retrieved February 3, 2012.
45. ^ ^{a b} Roy, Christian (2005). Traditional Festivals: A Multicultural Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. p. 146. ISBN 978-1-57607-089-5. Archived from the original on January 11, 2014. Retrieved February 3, 2012.
46. ^ Pokhilko, Hieromonk Nicholas. «History of Epiphany». Archived from the original on September 23, 2016. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
47. ^ Hastings, James; Selbie, John A., eds. (2003). Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics. Vol. 6. Kessinger Publishing Company. pp. 603–604. ISBN 978-0-7661-3676-2. Archived from the original on November 22, 2018. Retrieved February 3, 2012.
48. ^ Frøyshov, Stig Simeon. «[Hymnography of the] Rite of Jerusalem». Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology.
49. ^ «Christmas and its cycle». New Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3 (2nd ed.). Catholic University of America Press. 2002. pp. 550–557.
50. ^ Hyden, Marc (December 20, 2021). «Merry Christmas, Saturnalia or festival of Sol Invictus?». Newnan Times-Herald. Retrieved February 17, 2023. Around 274 ADᵃ, Emperor Aurelian set December 25—the winter solstice at the time—for the celebration of Sol Invictus who was the ‘Unconquered Sun’ god. ‘A marginal note on a manuscript of the writings of the Syriac biblical commentator Dionysius bar-Salibi states that in ancient times the Christmas holiday was actually shifted from January 6 to December 25 so that it fell on the same date as the pagan Sol Invictus holiday,’ reads an excerpt from Biblical Archaeology. / Could early Christians have chosen December 25 to coincide with this holiday? ‘The first celebration of Christmas observed by the Roman church in the West is presumed to date to [336 AD],’ per the Encyclopedia Romanaᵃ, long after Aurelian established Sol Invictus’ festival.
    (a) «Sol Invictus and Christmas». Encyclopaedia Romana.
51. ^ McGowan, Andrew, How December 25 Became Christmas Archived December 14, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Bible History Daily, February 12, 2016.
52. ^ ^{a b} Malachi 4:2.
53. ^ Hynes, Mary Ellen (1993). Companion to the Calendar. Liturgy Training Publications. p. 8. ISBN 9781568540115. In the year 567 the church council of Tours called the 13 days between December 25 and January 6 a festival season.
54. ^ Hill, Christopher (2003). Holidays and Holy Nights: Celebrating Twelve Seasonal Festivals of the Christian Year. Quest Books. p. 91. ISBN 9780835608107. This arrangement became an administrative problem for the Roman Empire as it tried to coordinate the solar Julian calendar with the lunar calendars of its provinces in the east. While the Romans could roughly match the months in the two systems, the four cardinal points of the solar year—the two equinoxes and solstices—still fell on different dates. By the time of the first century, the calendar date of the winter solstice in Egypt and Palestine was eleven to twelve days later than the date in Rome. As a result the Incarnation came to be celebrated on different days in different parts of the Empire. The Western Church, in its desire to be universal, eventually took them both—one became Christmas, one Epiphany—with a resulting twelve days in between. Over time this hiatus became invested with specific Christian meaning. The Church gradually filled these days with saints, some connected to the birth narratives in Gospels (Holy Innocents’ Day, December 28, in honor of the infants slaughtered by Herod; St. John the Evangelist, «the Beloved,» December 27; St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, December 26; the Holy Family, December 31; the Virgin Mary, January 1). In 567, the Council of Tours declared the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany to become one unified festal cycle.
55. ^ Federer, William J. (January 6, 2014). «On the 12th Day of Christmas». American Minute. Retrieved December 25, 2014. In 567 AD, the Council of Tours ended a dispute. Western Europe celebrated Christmas, December 25, as the holiest day of the season… but Eastern Europe celebrated Epiphany, January 6, recalling the Wise Men’s visit and Jesus’ baptism. It could not be decided which day was holier, so the Council made all 12 days from December 25 to January 6 «holy days» or «holidays,» These became known as «The Twelve Days of Christmas.»
56. ^ Kirk Cameron, William Federer (November 6, 2014). Praise the Lord. Trinity Broadcasting Network. Event occurs at 01:15:14. Archived from the original on December 25, 2014. Retrieved December 25, 2014. Western Europe celebrated Christmas December 25 as the holiest day. Eastern Europe celebrated January 6 the Epiphany, the visit of the Wise Men, as the holiest day… and so they had this council and they decided to make all twelve days from December 25 to January 6 the Twelve Days of Christmas.
57. ^ ^{a b c d e} Durston, Chris (December 1985). «Lords of Misrule: The Puritan War on Christmas 1642–60». History Today. Vol. 35, no. 12. pp. 7–14. Archived from the original on March 10, 2007.
58. ^ ^{a b c} «When Christmas carols were banned». BBC. Retrieved March 11, 2022.
59. ^ ^{a b c} Rowell, Geoffrey (December 1993). «Dickens and the Construction of Christmas». History Today. 43 (12). Archived from the original on December 29, 2016. Retrieved December 28, 2016. There is no doubt that A Christmas Carol is first and foremost a story concerned with the Christian gospel of liberation by the grace of God, and with incarnational religion which refuses to drive a wedge between the world of spirit and the world of matter. Both the Christmas dinners and the Christmas dinner-carriers are blessed; the cornucopia of Christmas food and feasting reflects both the goodness of creation and the joy of heaven. It is a significant sign of a shift in theological emphasis in the nineteenth century from a stress on the Atonement to a stress on the Incarnation, a stress which found outward and visible form in the sacramentalism of the Oxford Movement, the development of richer and more symbolic forms of worship, the building of neo-Gothic churches, and the revival and increasing centrality of the keeping of Christmas itself as a Christian festival. … In the course of the century, under the influence of the Oxford Movement’s concern for the better observance of Christian festivals, Christmas became more and more prominent. By the later part of the century cathedrals provided special services and musical events, and might have revived ancient special charities for the poor – though we must not forget the problems for large: parish-church cathedrals like Manchester, which on one Christmas Day had no less than eighty couples coming to be married (the signing of the registers lasted until four in the afternoon). The popularity of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol played a significant part in the changing consciousness of Christmas and the way in which it was celebrated. The popularity of his public readings of the story is an indication of how much it resonated with the contemporary mood, and contributed to the increasing place of the Christmas celebration in both secular and religious ways that was firmly established by the end of the nineteenth century.
60. ^ Ledger, Sally; Furneaux, Holly, eds. (2011). Charles Dickens in Context. Cambridge University Press. p. 178. ISBN 978-0-19-513886-3. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
61. ^ ^{a b c} Talley, Thomas J. (1991). The Origins of the Liturgical Year. Liturgical Press. pp. 88–91. ISBN 978-0-8146-6075-1. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
62. ^ Kelly, Joseph F., The Origins of Christmas, Liturgical Press, 2004, pp. 67–69.
63. ^ ^{a b} Bradshaw, Paul F., «Christmas» Archived January 9, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, The New SCM Dictionary of Liturgy of Worship, Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd., 2002.
64. ^ Roll, pp. 88–90.
    Duchesne, Louis, Les Origines du Culte Chrétien, Paris, 1902, 262 ff.
65. ^ Andrew McGowan. «How December 25 Became Christmas». Bible Review & Bible History Daily. Biblical Archaeology Society. Archived from the original on December 14, 2012. Retrieved February 24, 2011.
66. ^ English, Adam C. (October 14, 2016). Christmas: Theological Anticipations. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 70. ISBN 978-1-4982-3933-2. According to Luke 1:26, Gabriel’s annunciation to Mary took place in the «sixth month» of Elizabeth’s pregnancy. That is, Mary conceives sixth months after Elizabeth. Luke repeats the uniqueness of the timing in verse 26. Counting six months from September 24 we arrive at March 25, the most likely date for the annunciation and conception of Mary. Nine months hence takes us to December 25, which turns out to be a surprisingly reasonable date for the birthday [of Jesus].
67. ^ ^{a b} Bonneau, Normand (1998). The Sunday Lectionary: Ritual Word, Paschal Shape. Liturgical Press. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-8146-2457-9. The Roman Church celebrates the annunciation of March 25 (the Roman calendar equivalent to the Jewish fourteenth Nisan); hence Jesus’ birthday occurred nine months later on December 25. This computation matches well with other indications in Luke’s gospel. Christians conjectured that the priest Zechariah was serving in the temple on the Day of Atonement, roughly at the autumnal equinox, when the angel announced to him the miraculous conception of John the Baptist. At her annunciation, Mary received news that Elizabeth was in her sixth month. Sixth months after the autumnal equinox means that Mary conceived Jesus at the vernal equinox (March 25). If John the Baptist was conceived at the autumnal equinox, he was born at the summer solstice nine months later. Thus even to this day the liturgical calendar commemorates John’s birth on June 24. Finally, John 3:30, where John the Baptist says of Jesus: «He must increase, but I must decrease,» corroborates this tallying of dates. For indeed, after the birth of Jesus at the winter solstice the days increase, while after the birth of John at the summer solstice the days decrease.
68. ^ «Annunciation», New Catholic Encyclopedia 2nd edition, 2003, Catholic University of America Press.
69. ^ 1 Corinthians 5:7–8: «Our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the festival…»
    Tally, pp. 2–4.
70. ^ Roll, p. 87.
71. ^ «Christology – The Arian controversy | Britannica». www.britannica.com. Retrieved December 23, 2021.
72. ^ Roll (1995), p. 88
73. ^ Collinge, William J. (2012). Historical Dictionary of Catholicism. ISBN 978-0-8108-5755-1. Archived from the original on December 31, 2015. Retrieved December 23, 2014.
74. ^ Hippolytus and December 25th as the date of Jesus’ birth Archived September 13, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, Roll (1995), p. 87.
75. ^ Kelly, Joseph F. (2004). The Origins of Christmas. Liturgical Press. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-8146-2984-0. Online here [1] Archived February 19, 2017, at the Wayback Machine.
76. ^ Pearse, Roger (December 26, 2019). «Some notes on «De solstitiis et aequinoctis» (CPL 2277)». Roger Pearse. Retrieved April 9, 2021.
77. ^ Roll, Susan K. (1995). Towards the Origin of Christmas. Kok Pharos Publishing. p. 97, cf. note 173. ISBN 978-90-390-0531-6. Archived from the original on April 9, 2021. Retrieved April 9, 2021.
78. ^ ^{a b} Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford University Press, 2005, ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3), article «Christmas».
79. ^ Senn, Frank C. (2012). Introduction to Christian Liturgy. ISBN 978-1-4514-2433-1. Archived from the original on December 31, 2015. Retrieved December 23, 2014.
80. ^ «Bruma», Seasonal Festivals of the Greeks and Romans
    Pliny the Elder, Natural History, 18:59 Archived June 16, 2022, at the Wayback Machine (paragraph 220 in Latin Archived May 4, 2022, at the Wayback Machine)
81. ^ In a space of four yeaers, the solstice occurs latest in the Julian Calendar in the year before a leap year. In 2019, it occurred on the 22nd in the Gregorian Calendar, or December 9 in the Julian, at 4:19 AM, according to Earth’s Seasons Equinoxes, Solstices, Perihelion, and Aphelion Archived October 13, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. The number of days between successive winter solstices varied from 365.242883 to 365.242740 between the year 1 BC and AD 2000, according to Meeus, J.; Savoie, D. (1992). «The history of the tropical year». Journal of the British Astronomical Association. 102 (1): 40–42. Bibcode:1992JBAA..102…40M.. Therefore, the average value over the last 2000 years has been 365.24281 days, 0.00719 days less than an average Julian year. This means the solstice was 2000×0.00719=14.38 days later, that is, on December 23 in the middle of the day.A hundred years earlier it would have been on the 24th.
82. ^ Augustine, Sermon 192 Archived November 25, 2016, at the Wayback Machine.
83. ^ Roll, Susan K. (1995). Towards the Origin of Christmas. Kok Pharos Publishing. p. 82, cf. note 115. ISBN 978-90-390-0531-6. Archived from the original on December 31, 2015. Retrieved December 25, 2013.
84. ^ Newton, Isaac, Observations on the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John Archived September 18, 2012, at the Wayback Machine (1733). Ch. XI. A sun connection is possible because Christians considered Jesus to be the «Sun of righteousness» prophesied in Malachi 4:2: «But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.»
85. ^ ^{a b} Hijmans, S.E., Sol, the sun in the art and religions of Rome, 2009, p. 595. ISBN 978-90-367-3931-3 Archived May 10, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
86. ^ (cited in Christianity and Paganism in the Fourth to Eighth Centuries, Ramsay MacMullen. Yale:1997, p. 155).
87. ^ «Christmas Archived August 31, 2009, at the Wayback Machine», Encarta. 2009-10-31.
    Roll, Susan K. (1995). Toward the Origins of Christmas. Peeters Publishers. p. 130. ISBN 978-90-390-0531-6. Archived from the original on November 2, 2015. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
88. ^ Tighe, William J. (2003). «Calculating Christmas». Touchstone. 16 (10). Archived from the original on December 11, 2008. Retrieved November 17, 2008.
89. ^ Hermann Usener, Das Weihnachtsfest. In: Religionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen, part 1. Second edition. Verlag von Max Cohen & Sohn, Bonn 1911. (Note that the first edition, 1889, doesn’t have the discussion of Natalis Solis Invicti); also Sol Invictus (1905).
90. ^ «Although this view is still very common, it has been seriously challenged» – Church of England Liturgical Commission, The Promise of His Glory: Services and Prayers for the Season from All Saints to Candlemas (Church House Publishing 1991 ISBN 978-0-7151-3738-3) quoted in «The Date of Christmas and Epiphany» Archived April 6, 2015, at the Wayback Machine.
91. ^ Hijmans, S.E. (2009). The Sun in the Art and Religions of Rome. p. 588. ISBN 978-90-367-3931-3. Archived from the original on May 10, 2013.
92. ^ Michael Alan Anderson, Symbols of Saints: Theology, ritual, and kinship in music for John the Baptist and St. Anne (1175–1563) The University of Chicago, UMI / ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, Ann Arbor 2008, pp. 42–46, ISBN 978-0-549-56551-2.
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108. ^ ^{a b c} Restad, Penne L. (1995). Christmas in America: a History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-510980-1.
109. ^ ^{a b c} Forbes, Bruce David, Christmas: a candid history, University of California Press, 2007, ISBN 0-520-25104-0, pp. 68–79.
110. ^ Lowe, Scott C. (January 11, 2011). Christmas. John Wiley & Sons. p. 226. ISBN 978-1-4443-4145-4.
111. ^ Shawcross, John T. (January 1, 1993). John Milton. University Press of Kentucky. p. 249. ISBN 978-0-8131-7014-5. Milton was raised an Anglican, trained to become an Anglican minister, and remained an Anglican through the signing of the subscription books of Cambridge University in both 1629 and 1632, which demanded an allegiance to the state church and its Thirty-nine Articles.
112. ^ Browne, Sammy R (April 29, 2012). A Brief Anthology of English Literature, Volume 1. p. 412. ISBN 978-1-105-70569-4. His father had wanted him to practice law but Milton considered writing poetry his life’s work. At 21 years old, he wrote a poem, «On the morning of Christ’s Nativity,» a work that is still widely read during Christmas.
113. ^ Heinz, Donald (2010). Christmas: Festival of Incarnation. Fortress Press. p. 94. ISBN 978-1-4514-0695-5.
114. ^ Old, Hughes Oliphant (2002). Worship: Reformed According to Scripture. Westminster John Knox Press. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-664-22579-7. Within a few years the Reformed church calendar was fairly well established. The heart of it was the weekly observance of the resurrection on the Lord’s Day. Instead of liturgical seasons being observed, «the five evangelical feast days» were observed: Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost. They were chosen because they were understood to mark the essential stages in the history of salvation.
115. ^ Old, Hughes Oliphant (2002). Worship: Reformed According to Scripture. Westminster John Knox Press. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-664-22579-7.
116. ^ Carl Philipp Emanuel Nothaft (October 2011). «From Sukkot to Saturnalia: The Attack on Christmas in Sixteenth-Century Chronological Scholarship». Journal of the History of Ideas. 72 (4): 504–505. JSTOR 41337151. However, when Thomas Mocket, rector of Gilston in Hertfordshire, decried such vices in a pamphlet to justify the parliamentary ‘ban’ of Christmas, effective since June 1647…
117. ^ Sandys, William (1852). Christmastide: its history, festivities and carols. London: John Russell Smith. pp. 119–120.
118. ^ Chambers, Robert (1885). Domestic Annals of Scotland, p. 211.
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121. ^ Miall, Anthony & Peter (1978). The Victorian Christmas Book. Dent. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-460-12039-5.
122. ^ Woodforde, James (1978). The Diary of a Country Parson 1758–1802. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-281241-4.
123. ^ Mather, Cotton (December 25, 1712). Grace defended. A censure on the ungodliness, by which the glorious grace of God, is too commonly abused. A sermon preached on the twenty fifth day of December, 1712. Containing some seasonable admonitions of piety. And concluded, with a brief dissertation on that case, whether the penitent thief on the cross, be an example of one repenting at the last hour, and on such a repentance received unto mercy? (Speech). Boston, Massachusetts: B. Green, for Samuel Gerrish. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
124. ^ Stephen W. Nissenbaum, «Christmas in Early New England, 1620–1820: Puritanism, Popular Culture, and the Printed Word», Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society 106:1:79 (January 1, 1996)
125. ^ Innes, Stephen (1995). Creating the Commonwealth: The Economic Culture of Puritan New England. W.W. Norton & Company. p. 145. ISBN 978-0-393-03584-1.
126. ^ Marling, Karal Ann (2000). Merry Christmas!: Celebrating America’s Greatest Holiday. Harvard University Press. p. 44. ISBN 978-0-674-00318-7.
127. ^ Smith Thomas, Nancy (2007). Moravian Christmas in the South. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-8078-3181-6.
128. ^ Andrews, Peter (1975). Christmas in Colonial and Early America. United States: World Book Encyclopedia, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7166-2001-3.
129. ^ Christmas in France. World Book Encyclopedia. 1996. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-7166-0876-9. Carols were altered by substituting names of prominent political leaders for royal characters in the lyrics, such as the Three Kings. Church bells were melted down for their bronze to increase the national treasury, and religious services were banned on Christmas Day. The cake of kings, too, came under attack as a symbol of royalty. It survived, however, for a while with a new name—the cake of equality.
130. ^ Mason, Julia (December 21, 2015). «Why Was Christmas Renamed ‘Dog Day’ During the French Revolution?». HistoryBuff. Archived from the original on November 1, 2016. Retrieved November 18, 2016. How did people celebrate the Christmas during the French Revolution? In white-knuckled terror behind closed doors. Anti-clericalism reached its apex on 10 November 1793, when a Fête de la Raison was held in honor of the Cult of Reason. Churches across France were renamed «Temples of Reason» and the Notre Dame was «de-baptized» for the occasion. The Commune spared no expense: «The first festival of reason, which took place in Notre Dame, featured a fabricated mountain, with a temple of philosophy at its summit and a script borrowed from an opera libretto. At the sound of Marie-Joseph Chénier’s Hymne à la Liberté, two rows of young women, dressed in white, descended the mountain, crossing each other before the ‘altar of reason’ before ascending once more to greet the goddess of Liberty.» As you can probably gather from the above description, 1793 was not a great time to celebrate Christmas in the capital.
131. ^ Hutton, Ronald (February 15, 2001). The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-157842-7.
132. ^ Forbes, Bruce David (October 1, 2008). Christmas: A Candid History. —University of California Press. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-520-25802-0. What Dickens did advocate in his story was «the spirit of Christmas». Sociologist James Barnett has described it as Dickens’s «Carol Philosophy», which «combined religious and secular attitudes toward to celebration into a humanitarian pattern. It excoriated individual selfishness and extolled the virtues of brotherhood, kindness, and generosity at Christmas. … Dickens preached that at Christmas men should forget self and think of others, especially the poor and the unfortunate.» The message was one that both religious and secular people could endorse.
133. ^ Kelly, Richard Michael, ed. (2003). A Christmas Carol. Broadview Press. pp. 9, 12. ISBN 978-1-55111-476-7.
134. ^ Cochrane, Robertson. Wordplay: origins, meanings, and usage of the English language. University of Toronto Press, 1996, p. 126, ISBN 0-8020-7752-8.
135. ^ Hutton, Ronald, The Stations of the Sun: The Ritual Year in England. 1996. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 113. ISBN 0-19-285448-8.
136. ^ Joe L. Wheeler. Christmas in My Heart, Volume 10, p. 97. Review and Herald Pub Assoc, 2001. ISBN 0-8280-1622-4.
137. ^ Earnshaw, Iris (November 2003). «The History of Christmas Cards». Inverloch Historical Society Inc. Archived from the original on May 26, 2016. Retrieved July 25, 2008.
138. ^ The Girlhood of Queen Victoria: a selection from Her Majesty’s diaries, p. 61. Longmans, Green & Co., 1912. University of Wisconsin.
139. ^ Lejeune, Marie Claire. Compendium of symbolic and ritual plants in Europe, p.550. University of Michigan ISBN 90-77135-04-9.
140. ^ ^{a b} Shoemaker, Alfred Lewis. (1959) Christmas in Pennsylvania: a folk-cultural study. Edition 40. pp. 52, 53. Stackpole Books 1999. ISBN 0-8117-0328-2.
141. ^ Godey’s Lady’s Book, 1850. Godey’s copied it exactly, except he removed the Queen’s tiara, and Prince Albert’s moustache, to remake the engraving into an American scene.
142. ^ Kelly, Richard Michael (ed.) (2003), A Christmas Carol, p. 20. Broadview Literary Texts, New York: Broadview Press, ISBN 1-55111-476-3.
143. ^ Moore’s poem transferred the genuine old Dutch traditions celebrated at New Year in New York, including the exchange of gifts, family feasting, and tales of «sinterklass» (a derivation in Dutch from «Saint Nicholas», from whence comes the modern «Santa Claus») to Christmas.The history of Christmas: Christmas history in America Archived April 19, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, 2006.
144. ^ «Americans Celebrate Christmas in Diverse Ways» Archived December 10, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, Usinfo.state.gov, November 26, 2006.
145. ^ First Presbyterian Church of Watertown «Oh … and one more thing» December 11, 2005 Archived February 25, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
146. ^ ^{a b c} Restad, Penne L. (1995), Christmas in America: a History, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 96. ISBN 0-19-510980-5.
147. ^ «Christian church of God – history of Christmas». Christianchurchofgod.com. Archived from the original on December 19, 2010. Retrieved February 24, 2011.
148. ^ Meggs, Philip B. A History of Graphic Design. 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. p 148 ISBN 0-471-29198-6.
149. ^ Jacob R. Straus (November 16, 2012). «Federal Holidays: Evolution and Current Practices» (PDF). Congressional Research Service. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 3, 2014. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
150. ^ Crossland, David (December 22, 2021). «Truces weren’t just for 1914 Christmas». The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved December 24, 2021.
151. ^ Baxter, Keven (December 24, 2021). «Peace for a day: How soccer brought a brief truce to World War I on Christmas Day 1914». Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on December 24, 2021. Retrieved December 24, 2021.
152. ^ «The Real Story of the Christmas Truce». Imperial War Museums. Retrieved December 24, 2021.
153. ^ «Christmas Truce 1914». BBC School Radio. Retrieved December 24, 2021.
154. ^ Weightman, Gavin; Humphries, Steve (1987). Christmas Past. London: Sidgwick and Jackson. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-283-99531-6.
155. ^ Harding, Patrick (2003). The Xmas Files: Facts Behind the Myths and Magic of Christmas. London: Metro Publishing.
156. ^ «When was the last time football matches in Britain were played on Christmas Day?». The Guardian. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved October 23, 2014.
157. ^ Connelly, Mark (2000). Christmas at the Movies: Images of Christmas in American, British and European Cinema. I.B.Tauris. p. 186. ISBN 978-1-86064-397-2. A chapter on representations of Christmas in Soviet cinema could, in fact be the shortest in this collection: suffice it to say that there were, at least officially, no Christmas celebrations in the atheist socialist state after its foundation in 1917.
158. ^ Ramet, Sabrina Petra (November 10, 2005). Religious Policy in the Soviet Union. Cambridge University Press. p. 138. ISBN 978-0-521-02230-9. The League sallied forth to save the day from this putative religious revival. Antireligioznik obliged with so many articles that it devoted an entire section of its annual index for 1928 to anti-religious training in the schools. More such material followed in 1929, and a flood of it the next year. It recommended what Lenin and others earlier had explicitly condemned—carnivals, farces, and games to intimidate and purge the youth of religious belief. It suggested that pupils campaign against customs associated with Christmas (including Christmas trees) and Easter. Some schools, the League approvingly reported, staged an anti-religious day on the 31st of each month. Not teachers but the League’s local set the programme for this special occasion.
159. ^ Zugger, Christopher Lawrence (2001). Catholics of the Soviet Empire from Lenin Through Stalin. Syracuse University Press. p. 210. ISBN 978-0-8156-0679-6. As observed by Nicholas Brianchaninov, writing in 1929–1930, after the NEP and just as the worst of collectivization was beginning, the Soviets deemed it necessary to drive into the heads of the people the axiom that religion was the synthesis of everything most harmful to humanity. It must be presented as the enemy of man and society, of life and learning, of progress. … In caricatures, articles, Bezbozhnik, Antireligioznik, League of Militant Atheists propaganda and films. School courses [were give] on conducting the struggle against religion (how to profane a church, break windows, objects of piety). The young, always eager to be with the latest trend, often responded to such propaganda. In Moscow in 1929 children were brought to spit on the crucifixes at Christmas. Priests in Tiraspol diocese were sometimes betrayed by their own young parishioners, leading to their imprisonment and even death, and tearing their families apart.
160. ^ Tamkin, Emily (December 30, 2016). «How Soviets Came to Celebrate New Year’s Like Christmas (and Why Russians Still Do)». Foreign Policy. Foreign Policy. Retrieved January 6, 2022.
161. ^ Goldberg, Carey (January 7, 1991). «A Russian Christmas—Better Late Than Never: Soviet Union: Orthodox Church celebration is the first under Communists. But, as with most of Yeltsin’s pronouncements, the holiday stirs a controversy». Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved November 22, 2014. For the first time in more than seven decades, Christmas—celebrated today by Russian Orthodox Christians—is a full state holiday across Russia’s vast and snowy expanse. As part of Russian Federation President Boris N. Yeltsin’s ambitious plan to revive the traditions of Old Russia, the republic’s legislature declared last month that Christmas, long ignored under atheist Communist ideology, should be written back into the public calendar. «The Bolsheviks replaced crosses with hammers and sickles,» said Vyacheslav S. Polosin, head of the Russian legislature’s committee on religion. «Now they are being changed back.»
162. ^ Perry, Joseph (December 24, 2015). «How the Nazis co-opted Christmas: A history of propaganda». The Washington Post. Archived from the original on January 6, 2016. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
163. ^ «Somalia joins Brunei by banning Christmas celebrations ‘to protect Islam’«. The Daily Telegraph. December 24, 2015. Archived from the original on May 29, 2018. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
164. ^ Jespersen, Knud J. V. (June 21, 2011). A History of Denmark. Macmillan International Higher Education. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-230-34417-4. It is quite normal to go to church on Christmas Eve, and many people like to celebrate a christening or wedding in church. The Church is especially important at the end of a life; by far the majority of funerals are still conducted in a church by a minister.
165. ^ Alkan, Sena (December 19, 2015). «The history behind Christmas and Turkey». Daily Sabah. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
166. ^ «2018 Worship and Music Planning Calendar». The United Methodist Church. 2018. Retrieved December 9, 2018.
167. ^ Stetzer, Ed (December 14, 2015). «What Is Church Attendance Like During Christmastime? New Data From LifeWay Research». Christianity Today. Archived from the original on January 29, 2018. Retrieved December 9, 2018.
168. ^ Bingham, John (October 27, 2016). «British families only attend church at Christmas, new figures suggest». The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on December 27, 2017. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
169. ^ Collins, Ace, Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas, Zondervan, (2003), ISBN 0-310-24880-9 p.47.
170. ^ Internet Archive Susan Topp Weber, Nativities of the World, Gibbs Smith, 2013
171. ^ «Alla scoperta dei cinque presepi più belli di Bologna | Nuok». Nuok.it. January 24, 2013. Archived from the original on December 27, 2013. Retrieved December 25, 2013.
172. ^ «Presepi in Liguria: provincia di Genova, Tigullio -sito di Paolino». Digilander.libero.it. Archived from the original on December 27, 2013. Retrieved December 25, 2013.
173. ^ «Holidays at the Museums: Carnegie Museum of Natural History». Carnegiemnh.org. November 26, 2013. Archived from the original on December 27, 2013. Retrieved December 25, 2013.
174. ^ Bershad, David; Carolina Mangone, The Christian Travelers Guide to Italy Archived December 25, 2022, at the Wayback Machine, Zondervan, 2001.
175. ^ «The Provençal Nativity Scene». Simplytreasures.com. Archived from the original on September 14, 2012. Retrieved December 25, 2013.
176. ^ Seaburg, Carl, Celebrating Christmas: An Anthology Archived December 25, 2022, at the Wayback Machine, iUniverse, 2003.
177. ^ Bowler, Gerry, The World Encyclopedia of Christmas Archived December 25, 2022, at the Wayback Machine, Random House LLC, 2012.
178. ^ Carol King (December 24, 2012). «A Christmas Living Nativity Scene in Sicily». Italy Magazine. Archived from the original on December 26, 2013. Retrieved December 25, 2013.
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180. ^ These Strange German Ways. Edelweiss Publishing Company. 1989. p. 122.
181. ^ Nowak, Claire (December 23, 2019). «The Real Reason Why Christmas Colors Are Green and Red». Reader’s Digest. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
182. ^ Norris, Rebecca (October 29, 2019). «Here’s the History Behind Why Red and Green Are the Traditional Christmas Colors». Country Living. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
183. ^ Collins, Ace (April 1, 2010). Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas. Zondervan. ISBN 978-0-310-87388-4. Retrieved December 2, 2010.
184. ^ Senn, Frank C. (2012). Introduction to Christian Liturgy. Fortress Press. p. 118. ISBN 978-1-4514-2433-1. The Christmas tree as we know it seemed to emerge in Lutheran lands in Germany in the sixteenth century. Although no specific city or town has been identified as the first to have a Christmas tree, records for the Cathedral of Strassburg indicate that a Christmas tree was set up in that church in 1539 during Martin Bucer’s superintendency.
185. ^ «The Christmas Tree». Lutheran Spokesman. 29–32. 1936. The Christmas tree became a widespread custom among German Lutherans by the eighteenth century.
186. ^ Kelly, Joseph F. (2010). The Feast of Christmas. Liturgical Press. p. 94. ISBN 978-0-8146-3932-0. German Lutherans brought the decorated Christmas tree with them; the Moravians put lighted candles on those trees.
187. ^ Blainey, Geoffrey (October 24, 2013). A Short History of Christianity. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 418. ISBN 978-1-4422-2590-9. Many Lutherans continued to set up a small fir tree as their Christmas tree, and it must have been a seasonal sight in Bach’s Leipzig at a time when it was virtually unknown in England, and little known in those farmlands of North America where Lutheran immigrants congregated.
188. ^ Mandryk, DeeAnn (October 25, 2005). Canadian Christmas Traditions. James Lorimer & Company. p. 67. ISBN 978-1-55439-098-4. The eight-pointed star became a popular manufactured Christmas ornament around the 1840s and many people place a star on the top of their Christmas tree to represent the Star of Bethlehem.
189. ^ Wells, Dorothy (1897). «Christmas in Other Lands». The School Journal. 55: 697–8. Christmas is the occasional of family reunions. Grandmother always has the place of honor. As the time approaches for enjoying the tree, she gathers her grandchildren about her, to tell them the story of the Christ child, with the meaning of the Christ child, with the meaning of the Christmas tree; how the evergreen is meant to represent the life everlasting, the candle lights to recall the light of the world, and the star at the top of the tree is to remind them of the star of Bethlehem.
190. ^ Jones, David Albert (October 27, 2011). Angels. Oxford University Press. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-19-161491-0. The same ambiguity is seen in that most familiar of angels, the angel on top of the Christmas tree. This decoration, popularized in the nineteenth century, recalls the place of the angels in the Christmas story (Luke 2.9–18).
191. ^ Becker, Udo (January 1, 2000). The Continuum Encyclopedia of Symbols. A & C Black. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-8264-1221-8. In Christianity, the Christmas tree is a symbol of Christ as the true tree of life; the candles symbolize the «light of the world» that was born in Bethlehem; the apples often used as decorations set up a symbolic relation to the paradisal apple of knowledge and thus to the original sin that Christ took away so that the return to Eden-symbolized by the Christmas tree-is again possible for humanity.
192. ^ Crump, William D. (2006). The Christmas Encyclopedia. McFarland & Company. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-7864-2293-7. the evergreen tree (itself symbolic of eternal life through Christ)
193. ^ Socias, James (June 24, 2020). Handbook of Prayers. Midwest Theological Forum. ISBN 978-1-936045-54-9.
194. ^ Kitch, Anne E. (2004). The Anglican Family Prayer Book. Morehouse Publishing. p. 125.
195. ^ ^{a b} van Renterghem, Tony. When Santa was a shaman. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 1995. ISBN 1-56718-765-X.
196. ^ Fritz Allhoff, Scott C. Lowe (2010). Christmas. John Wiley & Sons. His biographer, Eddius Stephanus, relates that while Boniface was serving as a missionary near Geismar, Germany, he had enough of the locals’ reverence for the old gods. Taking an axe to an oak tree dedicated to Norse god Thor, Boniface chopped the tree down and dared Thor to zap him for it. When nothing happened, Boniface pointed out a young fir tree amid the roots of the oak and explained how this tree was a more fitting object of reverence as it pointed towards the Christian heaven and its triangular shape was reminiscent of the Christian trinity.
197. ^ Harper, Douglas, Christ Archived May 9, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001.
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200. ^ Hewitson, Carolyn (2013). Festivals. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-05706-0. It is said to resemble the star of Bethlehem. The Mexicans call it the flower of the Holy Night, but usually it is called poinsettia after the man who introduced it to America, Dr Joel Poinsett.
201. ^ «The Legends and Traditions of Holiday Plants». www.ipm.iastate.edu. Archived from the original on January 22, 2016. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
202. ^ «StackPath». www.gardeningknowhow.com. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
203. ^ «Germany’s Advent wreath tradition, and how to make one of your own». Stripes Europe. November 21, 2019. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
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207. ^ ^{a b c d e} Collins, Ace (2010). Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas. Zondervan. pp. 139–141. ISBN 978-0-310-87388-4.
208. ^ Miles, Clement, Christmas customs and traditions, Courier Dover Publications, 1976, ISBN 0-486-23354-5, p. 32.
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210. ^ Clancy, Ronald M. (2008). Sacred Christmas Music: The Stories Behind the Most Beloved Songs of Devotion. Sterling Publishing Company. p. 40. ISBN 978-1-4027-5811-9. Luther sought reforms in music, as he sought change in theology, ethics, ritual, and art. He loved polyphony and wanted music that moved people by fusing faith and song. He encouraged a greater participation by the congregation in singing, and he simplified the music from choir plainsong to easy harmony … Luther published hundreds of hymn texts to be sung to popular melodies and simple chants. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Reformation extended the range of religious choral music beyond the liturgy, and the informal group singing of songs was highly encouraged, leading to a greater familiarity with Christmas hymns.
211. ^ Dudley-Smith, Timothy (1987). A Flame of Love. London: Triangle/SPCK. ISBN 978-0-281-04300-2.
212. ^ Thomas, John; Talhaiarn; Thomas Oliphant (1862). Welsh melodies: with Welsh and English poetry. London: Addison, Hollier and Lucas. p. 139. OCLC 63015609.
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216. ^ Muir, Frank (1977), Christmas customs & traditions, Taplinger Pub. Co., 1977, p. 58.
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220. ^ «It’s time to mail your holiday cards — if you can find any». NBC News. Retrieved November 13, 2021.
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223. ^ Collins, Ace (April 20, 2010). Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas. Zondervan. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-310-87388-4. Retrieved April 10, 2012. The legend of St. Nicholas, who became the bishop of Myra in the beginning of the fourth century, is the next link in the Christmas-gift chain. Legend has it that during his life the priest rode across Asia Minor bestowing gifts upon poor children.
224. ^ Trexler, Richard (May 23, 1997). The Journey of the Magi: Meanings in History of a Christian Story. Princeton University Press. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-691-01126-4. Archived from the original on December 31, 2015. Retrieved April 10, 2012. This exchange network of ceremonial welcome was mirrored in a second reciprocity allowing early Christians to imagine their own magi: the phenomenon of giving gifts.
225. ^ Collins, Ace (April 20, 2010). Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas. Zondervan. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-310-87388-4. Retrieved April 10, 2012. Most people today trace the practice of giving gifts on Christmas Day to the three gifts that the Magi gave to Jesus.
226. ^ Berking, Helmuth (March 30, 1999). Sociology of Giving. SAGE Publications. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-85702-613-2. For the Enlightenment educationalist, gift-giving turned out to be a relic of a pagan custom, namely, the Roman Saturnalia. After the introduction of the Julian calendar in Rome, the 25th of December became the day of Sol invictus when people greeted the winter solstice. It was the day of the Sun’s rebirth, and it was the day of the Christmas festivities – although it was only in the year 336 AD that it appears to have become established as the day of Jesus’s birth (see Pannenberg 1989: 57). The Eastern Church adopted this date even later, towards the end of the 4th century, having previously regarded the 6th of January as the day of gift-giving, as it still is in the Italian community of Befana. The winter solstice was a time of festivity in every traditional culture, and the Christian Christmas probably took its place within this mythical context of the solar cult. Its core dogma of the Incarnation, however, solidly established the giving and receiving of gifts as the structural principle of that recurrent yet unique event. ‘Children were given presents as the Jesus child received gifts from the magi or kings who came from afar to adore him. But in reality it was they, together with all their fellow men, who received the gift of God through man’s renewed participation in the divine life’ (ibid.: 61).
227. ^ Seward, Pat; Lal, Sunandini Arora (2006). Netherlands. Marshall Cavendish. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-7614-2052-1. Until quite recently, the celebrations focused solely on Saint Nicholas, or Sinterklaas (SIN-ter-klahs), as the Dutch call him. … Interestingly, the American Santa Claus was born out of the Dutch Sinterklaas.
228. ^ Domenico, Roy Palmer (2002). The regions of Italy: a reference guide to history and culture. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-313-30733-1. Saint Nicholas (Bishop of Myra) replaced Sabino as the patron saint of the city… A Greek from what is now Turkey, he lived in the early fourth century.
229. ^ Collins, Ace (2009). Stories Behind Men of Faith. Zondervan. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-310-56456-0. Retrieved June 20, 2015. Nicholas was born in the Greek city of Patara around 270 AD. The son of a businessman named Theophanes and his wife, Nonna, the child’s earliest years were spent in Myra… As a port on the Mediterranean Sea, in the middle of the sea lanes that linked Egypt, Greece and Rome, Myra was a destination for traders, fishermen, and merchant sailors. Spawned by the spirit of both the city’s Greek heritage and the ruling Roman government, cultural endeavors such as art, drama, and music were mainstays of everyday life.
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262. ^ «The Regulative Principle of Worship». Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Retrieved April 12, 2022. Those who adhere to the Regulative Principle by singing exclusively the psalms, refusing to use musical instruments, and rejecting «Christmas», «Easter» and the rest, are often accused of causing disunity among the people of God. The truth is the opposite. The right way to move towards more unity is to move to exclusively Scriptural worship. Each departure from the worship instituted in Scripture creates a new division among the people of God. Returning to Scripture alone to guide worship is the only remedy.
263. ^ Minutes of Session of 1905. Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America. 1905. p. 130. WHEREAS, There is a growing tendency in Protestant Churches, and to some extent in our own, to observe days and ceremonies, as Christmas and Easter, that are without divine authority; we urge our people to abstain from all such customs as are popish in their origin and injurious as lending sacredness to rites that come from paganism; that ministers keep before the minds of the people that only institutions that are Scriptural and of Divine appointment should be used in the worship of God.
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275. ^ Buang, Sa’eda; Chew, Phyllis Ghim-Lian (May 9, 2014). Muslim Education in the 21st Century: Asian Perspectives. Routledge. p. 75. ISBN 978-1-317-81500-6. Subsequently, a new China was found on the basis of Communist ideology, i.e. atheism. Within the framework of this ideology, religion was treated as a ‘contorted’ world-view and people believed that religion would necessarily disappear at the end, along with the development of human society. A series of anti-religious campaigns was implemented by the Chinese Communist Party from the early 1950s to the late 1970s. As a result, in nearly 30 years between the beginning of the 1950s and the end of the 1970s, mosques (as well as churches and Chinese temples) were shut down and Imams involved in forced ‘re-education’.
276. ^ «Alarm over China’s Church crackdown». BBC. December 18, 2018. Archived from the original on January 5, 2019. Retrieved January 11, 2019. Among those arrested are a prominent pastor and his wife, of the Early Rain Covenant Church in Sichuan. Both have been charged with state subversion. And on Saturday morning, dozens of police raided a children’s Bible class at Rongguili Church in Guangzhou. One Christian in Chengdu told the BBC: «I’m lucky they haven’t found me yet.» China is officially atheist, though says it allows religious freedom.
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1

Is it OK to say Xmas?

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Christmas is also known on paper as XMAS. But some people just don’t agree with the spelling of the holiday. They believe it takes the Christ out of Christmas, saying it’s a modern and disrespectful abbreviation that focuses on the commercialization of this Christian holiday.

Is Xmas biblical?

When was Jesus actually born?

The date of birth of Jesus is not stated in the gospels or in any historical reference, but most biblical scholars assume a year of birth between 6 and 4 BC.

Which country has Christmas first?

New Zealand is the first country to see the sun on Christmas morning. According to the Greenwich Observatory, New Zealand’s Balleny Islands are the first land to have sunrise each day.

Why is it called Christmas in July?

Christmas in July is an unofficial holiday. Folks that live in the southern hemisphere usually celebrate the season of giving during summer. July is the peak month of their winter and thus, the name.

What does God say about Christmas?

Jesus said in John 4:24 that true worshipers of God obey Him in spirit and in truth—which means according to the truth of God’s Word (John 17:17). Many know Christmas is pagan but insist on continuing to celebrate it. Some will answer that it means so much to the children and that it brings families together.

Is Christmas God’s birthday?

The short answer is no. It is not believed Jesus was born on the day Christmas is globally celebrated. … The holiday was celebrated as the Roman pagan solstice, or «birthday of the unconquered sun,» which began on December 17 and ended December 25. When Jesus was really born can be assumed based on Scripture.

Is Christmas really Jesus birthday?

Although most Christians celebrate December 25 as the birthday of Jesus Christ, few in the first two Christian centuries claimed any knowledge of the exact day or year in which he was born.

Where is Christmas banned?

In 1659 the Puritan government of the Massachusetts Bay Colony actually banned Christmas. So how did one of the largest Christian holidays come to be persecuted in the earliest days of New England? Christmas in 17th century England actually wasn’t so different from the holiday we celebrate today.

How long was Christmas banned in Russia?

After the 1917 Revolution, Christmas was banned throughout Russia, along with other religious celebrations. It wasn’t until 75 years later, in 1992, that the holiday was openly observed.

What country has the longest Christmas?

Filipinos love an excuse to party, and Christmas is the biggest, longest party of all. In the Philippines, they start celebrating three months early, giving them the longest Christmas season in the world! It starts as soon as the «Ber-Months» do — SeptemBER, OctoBER, NovemBER and… DecemBER!

Why do we celebrate Jesus birth on December 25?

The Roman Christian historian Sextus Julius Africanus dated Jesus’ conception to March 25 (the same date upon which he held that the world was created), which, after nine months in his mother’s womb, would result in a December 25 birth.

Where did Jesus get born?

Bethlehem lies 10 kilometres south of the city of Jerusalem, in the fertile limestone hill country of the Holy Land. Since at least the 2nd century AD people have believed that the place where the Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, now stands is where Jesus was born.

What does the Bible say about a Christmas tree?

What is the different between Xmas and Christmas?

1. Christmas or Christmas Day is the holiday which is celebrated by Christians as the birth of Jesus Christ while Xmas is the abbreviation of the word. … The word “Christmas” is the spelling most preferred by most Christians while businesses and advertisements prefer to use the word “Xmas” because it is more concise.

What does the MAS mean in Christmas?

The –mas in Xmas comes from the Old English word for mass, as in a church service, especially one in the Roman Catholic Church including a celebration of the Eucharist.

Is Xmas a Scrabble word?

No, xmas is not in the scrabble dictionary.

Was Jesus actually born on the 25th of December?

Dec. 25 is not the date mentioned in the Bible as the day of Jesus’s birth; the Bible is actually silent on the day or the time of year when Mary was said to have given birth to him in Bethlehem. The earliest Christians did not celebrate his birth. … By the mid-4th century, the birthday celebration had been moved to Dec.

What is Jesus real name?

Jesus’ name in Hebrew was “Yeshua” which translates to English as Joshua.

Do we really know when Jesus was born?

But nobody really knows exactly when Jesus was born. Related: Why does Christianity have so many denominations? Some scholars think that he was born between 6 B.C. and 4 B.C., based partly on the biblical story of Herod the Great. … In 2008, astronomer Dave Reneke argued that Jesus was born in the summer.

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