The christmas

The Latin word “Nātiuiteð” (from Latin nātīvitās ), meaning” the birth” , refers to the celebration of birth of Jesus Christ.(Old English: Crīstesmæsse, meaning “Christ’s Mass”) is an annual commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ

The date of birth of Jesus(25 December) is not based on the Bible, but on Roman celebration (on the end of every year around the winter’solstice ), festivals held in
honor of two sun gods:the Roman god, Sol , and the Persian god Mithras; and the” Saturnalia” feast organized in honor of the god Saturn ( the god of agriculture),who began on December  17th and ended on 24 which was the gifts-giving day too.
In the houses and on the streets you could hear the noise of the revelers . After the feasts of Saturnalia followed the celebration of the “first day of January “(which lasted three days)
Pope Julius I declared December 25 the day of Christ’s birth in 350 a.d.( December 25 of the older Julian calendar, corresponds to January in the modern-day Gregorian calendarandar) so replace the pagan symbols with Christian ones (sun symbol has been replaced by Christ called Sol Invictus “Sun of Righteousness” and the solar disk becomes aura of saints ) .

In the seventeenth century a law in the parliament of England forbade the celebration of Christmas ;the reason:there is no biblical or historical reason to believe that the birth of Jesus on December 25.

The practice of putting up special decorations at Christmas began in the 15th century,in London,where it was the custom at Christmas for every house and all the parish churches to be “decked with holm, ivy,bays, and whatsoever the season of the year afforded to be green”
Nativity scenes are known from 10th-century Rome. They were popularised by Saint Francis of Asissi from 1223, quickly spreading across Europe.

The myth of Santa Claus has its origins in the character of St. Nicholas, the old man who use to made gifts to the children ;Archbishop of Myra ( a city in Asia Minor, Turkey) was called by the Dutch ” Sinterklaas” , then by Americans , Santa Claus .  Santa Claus has no connection with Jesus Christ and the Christmas.

The earliest extant specifically Christmas hymns appear in 4th-century Rome. In the 12th century an Parisian monk began to derive music from popular songs, introducing something closer to the traditional Christmas carol. Christmas seasonal songs emerged in the late 18th century. “Deck The Halls” dates from 1784,and the American “Jingle Bells” was copyrighted in 1857.

The use of the “Christmas tree” are the ancient origins, various cultures used to decorate the various “Paradise Trees” with ribbons and colored objects , torches , small bells , votive animals , as well as the belief that lights that illuminated them correspond to as many souls. They also adorned the various trees with cosmic symbols of the Sun , the Moon, the planets and the stars. (In particular,the fir tree was sacred to Wotan ,powerful god of the Germans .)

In the Middle Ages the pagan cults were seen as a foreshadowing of the Christian revelation . Besides the meaning of the power offered by God to the nature the Christmas tree became a symbol of Christ , understood as lifeblood , for the Church, represented as a garden built by God on earth.
The image of the tree as a symbol of life has very ancient origins and finds confirmation in
different religions .

The only thing that associates it with the Bible may be the uzance to put a star on top of Christmas tree, symbolizing the polar star, the star that announced the birth of Jesus
(I never understood why “we need to kill” every year a lot of trees to make decorations.)

This very popular holiday became “important” in non-Christian countries like Japan,
China, Turkey, Lebanon, Indonesia, where the Christmas fever swept the populations that use the celebration as an excuse to shop and to celebrate.
Christmas ,in Western countries lost the religious significance, becoming a pure commercial celebration.The new churches are now the shopping malls where you can hear Christmas carols,can see Christmas trees and Santa Claus.

Celebrating Christmas can be a cause of stress. The loan of the money to make gifts (often very expensive) ,to have abundant food, working the overtime to get more money may be reasons that make these holidays do not bring you happiness.

The Bible describes the true spirit of Christmas in 2 Corinthians 9:7:
Each do as decided in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion,
because God loves a cheerful giver.
merry christmas

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