Christmas, one of the biggest festivals, although Christmas is a festival of Christian society but is celebrated by people of all religions simultaneously all over the world. On Christmas Day, we decorate our houses, send Christmas wishes to our loved ones, and have a lot of fun, but in the midst of all this, are we forgetting the reasons for celebrating Christmas? Are we telling our children the history of Christmas? Or as a student, are we trying to know why we celebrate Christmas? Or why Christmas is celebrated only on 25th December? Let us know the answer to all these questions, let’s start with the question that what is Christmas for Kids…
What is Christmas for Kids
Christmas we all love it everyone waits patiently for the month of December to come around so we can start thinking about what gifts were going to get, where we're going to go shopping for our friends and family, and what ornaments and trimmings will be hanging from the tree. Everyone feels festive singing Christmas carols out in the cold crisp weather unless you live in California or Florida or somewhere like that, in which case you can Carol in your shorts. The Christmas season also serves up all kinds of tasty snacks and treats and provides lots of parties to go to. Then there are the Christmas lights and all the cool decorations and maybe most importantly there's Christmas vacation no school for a week, but aside from all the trappings of the holiday season what exactly is Christmas? I mean why are we doing all the celebrations? Does it have something to do with Santa Claus, the reindeer? why does it happen in December? How did all of this start?
What is Christmas and why it is celebrated?
To understand Christmas the first step is to understand the word itself. The literal meaning of Christmas is mass on Christ's day, mass referring to people gathering together as in a massive people, and Christ's Day referring to the day that Jesus was born. That's right at its core Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ also known as the Messiah, the Savior, the Son of God, and many other names. It is commonly accepted that Jesus Christ was born on December 25th, which is why we celebrate that day. Though the exact date of his birth is not known for sure for people who were Christians Christmas is a very holy day and a religious celebration but for others, Christmas is celebrated in a more secular or non-religious way no matter how you commemorate Christmas. It's one of the most popular holidays in the world, a day when millions of people catch up with family take time off from work or school, and exchange gifts and well wishes.
Birth of Lord Jesus
In Germany Christmas is known as Yule, which refers to the winter solstice or the start of winter. It's called Navidad in Spanish, Natali in Italian, and Noel in French which are all forms of the word Nativity meaning birth. So we know that Christmas is celebrated all over the world but where was Jesus himself actually born?
The birth of Jesus took place in a town called Bethlehem south of Jerusalem and a country now known as Palestine. In the nativity scene that we're all familiar with Jesus is depicted as a small baby in a barn or cave or stable sometimes lying in a manger which is a trough from which cows or horses feed Jesus is usually seen surrounded by his mother the Virgin Mary, his father Joseph, an angel, and the Three Magi or wise men who come bearing gifts such as gold frankincense which is a type of incense and myrrh which is an embalming oil the gifts of the three wise men must be why we all give each other presents for Christmas. Though I don't know too many kids who'd be happy opening up a box of myrrh on Christmas morning maybe an Xbox was summer on the side.
Why 25th December?
While Christmas Day is December 25th, some people start their celebration earlier in the month on the first Sunday of December which is the beginning of Advent during Advent season a candle is lit on each of the Sundays before Christmas resulting in four candles total. There are many theories as to why December 25th became known as the day Christ was born. It does seem like the ideal day to celebrate because it gives us a chance to carry the holiday all the way through until New Year's Day. Providing a whole week of vacation and fun but as much as we love our resulting holiday season that's probably not why it was chosen a more common theory as to why Christmas is celebrated on the 25th of December. Is that there was a holiday in the Roman Empire that commemorated the Sun starting to reappear and the amount of daylight beginning to increase this celebration signaled spring would soon be on the way.
Another explanation revolves around the theory that the world was created on the spring equinox or March 21st as that theory goes four days later on March 25th light was created and Jesus was conceived which means that nine months later or December 25th Jesus would have been born. Either way, the New Testament never mentions an actual date and it wasn't until about 220 ad that December 25th first got its designation as the day of Christ's birth for many years. The birth of Christ was actually celebrated on January 6th which was the day he was baptized, that day is known as the Epiphany everyone knows the song the twelve days of Christmas with the swans a-swimming and the Lords a-leaping well what that song refers to? Are the twelve days after Christmas that end on January 6th the day of the Epiphany, so when you celebrate the twelve days of Christmas you're celebrating December twenty-fifth through January sixth.
Tradition Associates with Christmas
There are almost too many symbols and traditions associated with Christmas to explore here but there are some main ones that we can dive into. Some of these traditions are religious in nature and some more secular of course you'd have no Christmas without Jesus himself, without his birth there'd be no birthday to celebrate. His birth is so widely celebrated because in the Christian religion he's considered the son of God born as a human being to save God's children but you've also got Frosty the Snowman and Santa Claus or Saint Nick there is mistletoe and Christmas trees and wreaths hung on the front door. You've got ornaments the nativity scene Christmas caroling gifts on Christmas morning Alicia's eggnog and twinkling Christmas lights, of course, you can't talk about Christmas without mentioning Santa Claus. So how did he become associated with Christmas?
The Story of Santa Claus?
Well Santa is based on a guy named St. Nicholas, who lived in Turkey in the 4th century. He was a kind man who gave out gifts to the poor and people who needed help, and he was known for wearing red and white robes. At some point in history pious and generous, St. Nicholas transformed into jolly old St. Nick or Santa Claus. Then you've got Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer Rudolph can be traced back to a poor advertising writer, who was hired in 1939 by a store called Montgomery Ward to write a cheery Christmas poem to hand out to customers. The resulting poem was the song we all know and love today a classic, while the precise origin of the Christmas tree is unknown the ritual of bringing one into our house to celebrate the holiday can be traced back to the 16th century.
The Christmas Traditions
Germany, the Evergreen was chosen because it stays green which represents the everlasting nature of Christ himself. The first Christmas tree lights were actually candles that were hung on the tree to talk about a fire hazard in Germany. The Christmas tree is known as Tannenbaum. Other traditions on Christmas include the midnight mass in which Christians marked the start of the holiday at midnight by going to church to pray, watching a procession like candles, and more than you've got the tradition of mistletoe, which actually came before Christianity. The Romans used the plant as a symbol of peace love and understanding. They even started the tradition of hanging it inside the house, later on, Christians incorporated it into their holiday by encouraging people to kiss underneath. A sprig of the plant and frosty he dates back to a 1950 song recorded by a famous singer named Gene Autry Frosty, is an all-American creation but in the 70 years since his creation, his spirit of win Time cheer has spread over the world and remained a staple of the holiday. Today he's the only Christmas tradition we can think of with a corncob pipe and a button nose.
There are so many traditions and celebrations that go along with the Christmas season that we can't cover them all here maybe you have something that you do with your family or friends that will become the next big Christmas tradition like the Christmas tree or mistletoe. Either way, Christmas is a great time of year where everyone around the world can come together and celebrate the spirit of the season.
