Christmas (literally, the Mass of Christ) is a holiday in the Christian calendar, usually observed on December 25, which celebrates the birth of Jesus. According to the Christian gospels, Jesus was born to Mary in Bethlehem, where she and her husband Joseph had travelled to register in the Roman census. Christ's birth, or nativity, was said by his followers to fulfill the prophecies of Judaism that a messiah would come, from the house of David, to redeem the world from sin. ...
From the Old English words Cristes moesse, 'the mass or festival of Christ'. The first celebration took place in Rome about the middle of the fourth century. The exact date of the Nativity is not known, but even in pre-Christian times the period from December 25 to January 6 — now known as "The Twelve Days of Christmas" — was considered a special time of year. The abbreviation Xmas, thought as sacrilegious by some, is entirely appropriate. ...
The annual celebration of Christ's birthday, CHRISTMAS is identified with a celestial event in which "the star of Bethlehem" appeared in the sky long ago. The spirit of the annual event marks a period of time when many express thankfulness and merriment. ...
This is held on DEC-25, the nominal date of the birth of Yeshua of Nazareth, after whose life the Christian religion is patterned. The western church uses the Gregorian calendar and the eastern church uses the Julian calendar. So Christmas is celebrated on two different days.
Christmas is the feast commemorating the birth of Christ. It is fixed in the liturgical year as December 25 and is preceded by four week of fast called Advent. The Gospels recount a census that compelled Joseph and Mary to journey to "the town of David which is called Bethlehem" and while they were there she was delivered of a child. "And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the in. ...
Christmas Day and its festival are a curious blend of Christian, Jewish, Roman, Western pagan, and perhaps other institutions. It arose as a Christian festival as part of the adaptation of the early Christian Church to the world in which it grew up. The accounts given of the birth of Christ present obvious difficulties against regarding this date as that of his actual birth, and it was looked upon rather as a commemorative festival. ...
Christmas is the time when we celebrate the birth of Jesus. God's Blessings to All .
The beautiful painting above is by:
Jan Bruegel the Elder and Peter Paul Rubens. Madonna in a Garland of Flowers. (The garland was painted by Jan Bruegel the Elder) c.1616-1618. Oil on wood. Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany.
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