Todays Special

Christmas

Christmas

Christmas

 

 

 

Christmas is one of those holidays that just seems to be filled with cheer and wonder. Whether you are celebrating a secular or religious Christmas, your day is sure to be filled with happiness. The name ‘Christmas’ comes from the Mass of Christ. A Mass service is where Christians remember that Jesus died for us and then came back to life. The ‘Christ-Mass’ service was the only one that was allowed to take place after sunset, so people had it at midnight! So we get the name Christ-Mass shortened to Christmas. The first recorded date of Christmas being celebrated on December 25th was in 336AD, during the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine. A few years later, Pope Julius I officially declared that the birth of Jesus would be celebrated on the 25th December.
 

History

 

Christmas celebrate the birth of Jesus to the Virgin Mary as a fulfilment of the Old Testament’s Messianic prophecy. The Bible contains two accounts which describe the events surrounding Jesus’s birth. According to popular tradition, the birth took place in the stable, surrounded by farm animals. A cattle is mentioned in Luke 2:7, where it states Mary “wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a cattle, because there was no room for them in the inn” and “she wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a cattle. Shepherds from the fields surrounding Bethlehem were told of the birth by an angel, and were the first to see the child. Popular tradition also holds that three kings or wise men visited the infant Jesus in the cattle, though this does not strictly follow the biblical account. The Gospel of Matthew instead describes a visit by an unspecified number of magi, or astrologers, sometimes after Jesus was born while the family was living in a house who brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the young child Jesus. The visitors were said to be following a mysterious star, commonly known as the Star of Bethlehem, believing it to announce the birth of a king of the Jews. The commemoration of this visit, the Feast of Epiphany celebrated on January 6, is the formal end of the Christmas season in some churches.
 

Celebration of Christmas

 

Christians celebrate Christmas in various ways. In addition to this day being one of the most important and popular for the attendance of church services, there are other devotions and popular traditions. In some Christian denominations, children re-enact the events of the Nativity with animals to portray the event with more realism or sing carols that reference the event. A long artistic tradition has grown producing painted depictions of the nativity in art. Nativity scenes are traditionally set in a stable with livestock and include Mary, Joseph, the infant Jesus in the castle, the three wise men, the shepherds and sheep, the angels, and the star of Bethlehem. Some Christians also display a small re-creation of the Nativity known as a Nativity scene or crèche, in their homes, using figurines to portray the key characters of the event. Prior to Christmas Day, the Eastern Orthodox Church practices the 40-day Nativity Fast in anticipation of the birth of Jesus, while much of Western Christianity celebrates four weeks of Advent. The final preparation for Christmas are made on Christmas Eve, and many families’ major observation of Christmas actually falls in the evening of this day.
 

People make the Jesus birth idols on the Christmas day. They attend the Christmas Eve service and inviting God to just be with their. They decorate Christmas tree with the jingle bells, stars, small toys, silver bells, and snowman and with the other decorative things. They also decorate their house with the decorative lights, stars, candles etc. Children make wish list and put it in the socks. They believe Santa Claus will come at their home and fulfil their wish. They cook cakes and cookies for the Christmas Eve. People exchanging the gifts with each other. Some people preferred to go out with family and friends to enjoy the Christmas vacation.