Christmas Wishes
Silver Plated Coin
This is a silver plated coin with an image of Father Christmas
The Reverse has an image of a Christmas Angel
with the words "Christmas Wishes 2015"
Give it to a Child before Christmas tell them to hold tight in their hand close their eyes
and wish for all the christmas present they would like
The coin is 40mm in diameter, weighs about 1 oz
This coin has never been removed from its air-tight acrylic coin holder
In Excellent Condition
Would make an Excellent Christmas Gift or Stocking Filler
Comes from a pet and smoke free home
Sorry about the poor quality photos.
They don't do the coin justice which looks a lot better in real life
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Christmas
Also called Noël, Nativity, Xmas
Observed by Christians, many non-Christians[1][2]
Type Christian, cultural
Significance Commemoration of the nativity of Jesus
Celebrations Gift-giving, family and other social gatherings, symbolic decoration, feasting etc.
Observances Church services
Date
December 25
(Western Christianity and part of the Eastern churches)
January 7 (O.S. Dec. 25)
(Most Oriental Orthodox and part of the Eastern Orthodox churches)
January 6
(Armenian Apostolic Church and the Armenian Evangelical Church)
January 19 (O.S. Jan. 6)
(Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem)
Frequency Annual
Related
to Christmastide, Christmas Eve, Advent, Annunciation, Epiphany,
Baptism of the Lord, Nativity Fast, Nativity of Christ, Old Christmas,
Yule, St. Stephen's Day, Boxing Day
Christmas is an annual festival
commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December
25[a] as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people
around the world.[2][3][4] A feast central to the Christian liturgical
year, it is preceded by the season of Advent or the Nativity Fast and
initiates the season of Christmastide, which historically in the West
lasts twelve days and culminates on Twelfth Night.[5] Christmas Day is a
public holiday in many countries,[6][7][8] is celebrated religiously by
a majority of Christians,[9] as well as culturally by many
non-Christians,[1][10] and forms an integral part of the holiday season
organized around it.
The traditional Christmas narrative
recounted in the New Testament, known as the Nativity of Jesus, says
that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in accordance with messianic
prophecies.[11] When Joseph and Mary arrived in the city, the inn had no
room and so they were offered a stable where the Christ Child was soon
born, with angels proclaiming this news to shepherds who then spread the
word.[12]
There are different hypotheses regarding the date of
Jesus' birth and in the early fourth century, the church fixed the date
as December 25.[b][13][14][15] This corresponds to the traditional date
of the winter solstice on the Roman calendar.[16] It is exactly nine
months after Annunciation on March 25, also the date of the spring
equinox. Most Christians celebrate on December 25 in the Gregorian
calendar, which has been adopted almost universally in the civil
calendars used in countries throughout the world. However, part of the
Eastern Christian Churches celebrate Christmas on December 25 of the
older Julian calendar, which currently corresponds to January 7 in the
Gregorian calendar. For Christians, believing that God came into the
world in the form of man to atone for the sins of humanity, rather than
knowing Jesus' exact birth date, is considered to be the primary purpose
in celebrating Christmas.[17][18][19]
The celebratory customs
associated in various countries with Christmas have a mix of
pre-Christian, Christian, and secular themes and origins.[20] Popular
modern customs of the holiday include gift giving; completing an Advent
calendar or Advent wreath; Christmas music and caroling; viewing a
Nativity play; an exchange of Christmas cards; church services; a
special meal; and the display of various Christmas decorations,
including Christmas trees, Christmas lights, nativity scenes, garlands,
wreaths, mistletoe, and holly. In addition, several closely related and
often interchangeable figures, known as Santa Claus, Father Christmas,
Saint Nicholas, and Christkind, are associated with bringing gifts to
children during the Christmas season and have their own body of
traditions and lore.[21] Because gift-giving and many other aspects of
the Christmas festival involve heightened economic activity, the holiday
has become a significant event and a key sales period for retailers and
businesses. Over the past few centuries, Christmas has had a steadily
growing economic effect in many regions of the world.
Contents
1 Etymology
1.1 Other names
2 Nativity
3 History
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Relation to concurrent celebrations
3.3 Post-classical history
3.4 Modern history
4 Observance and traditions
4.1 Church attendance
4.2 Decorations
4.3 Nativity play
4.4 Music and carols
4.5 Traditional cuisine
4.6 Cards
4.7 Commemorative stamps
4.8 Gift giving
4.9 Date according to Julian calendar
5 Economy
6 Controversies
7 See also
8 Notes
9 References
10 Further reading
11 External links
Etymology
The
English word "Christmas" is a shortened form of "Christ's Mass". The
word is recorded as Crīstesmæsse in 1038 and Cristes-messe in 1131.[22]
Crīst (genitive Crīstes) is from Greek Khrīstos (Χριστός), a translation
of Hebrew Māšîaḥ (מָשִׁיחַ), "Messiah", meaning "anointed";[23][24] and
mæsse is from Latin missa, the celebration of the Eucharist.[25]
The
form Christenmas was also used during some periods, but is now
considered archaic and dialectal.[26] The term derives from Middle
English Cristenmasse, meaning "Christian mass".[27] Xmas is an
abbreviation of Christmas found particularly in print, based on the
initial letter chi (Χ) in Greek Khrīstos (Χριστός) ("Christ"), although
some style guides discourage its use.[28] This abbreviation has
precedent in Middle English Χρ̄es masse (where "Χρ̄" is an abbreviation
for Χριστός).[27]
Other names
In addition to "Christmas", the
holiday has had various other English names throughout its history. The
Anglo-Saxons referred to the feast as "midwinter",[29][30] or, more
rarely, as Nātiuiteð (from Latin nātīvitās below).[29][31] "Nativity",
meaning "birth", is from Latin nātīvitās.[32] In Old English, Gēola
(Yule) referred to the period corresponding to December and January,
which was eventually equated with Christian Christmas.[33] "Noel" (also
"Nowel" or "Nowell", as in "The First Nowell") entered English in the
late 14th century and is from the Old French noël or naël, itself
ultimately from the Latin nātālis (diēs) meaning "birth (day)".[34]
Nativity
Main article: Nativity of Jesus
The
gospels of Luke and Matthew describe Jesus as being born in Bethlehem
to the Virgin Mary. In the book of Luke, Joseph and Mary traveled from
Nazareth to Bethlehem for the census, and Jesus was born there and
placed in a manger.[35] Angels proclaimed him a savior for all people,
and shepherds came to adore him. The book of Matthew adds that the magi
followed a star to Bethlehem to bring gifts to Jesus, born the king of
the Jews. King Herod ordered the massacre of all the boys less than two
years old in Bethlehem, but the family fled to Egypt and later returned
to Nazareth.[36]
History
See also: Date of birth of Jesus
Eastern Orthodox icon of the birth of Christ by Saint Andrei Rublev, 15th century
Nativity of Christ, medieval illustration from the Hortus deliciarum of Herrad of Landsberg (12th century)
Adoration of the Shepherds (1622) by Gerard van Honthorst depicts the nativity of Jesus
The
nativity sequences included in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke prompted
early Christian writers to suggest various dates for the
anniversary.[37] Although no date is indicated in the gospels, early
Christians connected Jesus to the Sun through the use of such phrases as
"Sun of righteousness."[37][38] The Romans marked the winter solstice
on December 25.[16] The first recorded Christmas celebration was in Rome
on December 25, AD 336.[39] In the 3rd century, the date of the
nativity was the subject of great interest. Around AD 200, Clement of
Alexandria wrote:
There are those who have determined not only
the year of our Lord's birth, but also the day; and they say that it
took place in the 28th year of Augustus, and in the 25th day of [the
Egyptian month] Pachon [May 20] ... Further, others say that He was born
on the 24th or 25th of Pharmuthi [April 20 or 21].[40]
Various
factors contributed to the selection of December 25 as a date of
celebration: it was the date of the winter solstice on the Roman
calendar and it was nine months after March 25, the date of the vernal
equinox and a date linked to the conception of Jesus (celebrated as the
Feast of the Annunciation).[41]
Christmas played a role in the
Arian controversy of the fourth century. After this controversy ran its
course, the prominence of the holiday declined for a few centuries. The
feast regained prominence after 800 when Charlemagne was crowned emperor
on Christmas Day.
In Puritan England, Christmas was banned, with
Puritans considering it a Catholic invention and also associating the
day with drunkenness and other misbehaviour.[42] It was restored as a
legal holiday in England in 1660 when Puritan legislation was declared
null and void, but it remained disreputable in the minds of some.[43] In
the early 19th century, Christmas festivities and services became
widespread with the rise of the Oxford Movement in the Church of England
that emphasized the centrality of Christmas in Christianity and charity
to the poor,[44] along with Washington Irving, Charles Dickens, and
other authors emphasizing family, children, kind-heartedness,
gift-giving, and Santa Claus (for Irving),[44] or Father Christmas (for
Dickens).[45]
Introduction
At the time of the 2nd century, the
"earliest church records" indicate that "Christians were remembering
and celebrating the birth of the Lord", an "observance [that] sprang up
organically from the authentic devotion of ordinary believers."[46]
Though Christmas did not appear on the lists of festivals given by the
early Christian writers Irenaeus and Tertullian,[22] the Chronograph of
354 records that a Christmas celebration took place in Rome eight days
before the calends of January.[47] This section was written in AD 336,
during the brief pontificate of Pope Mark.[48]
In the East, the
birth of Jesus was celebrated in connection with the Epiphany on January
6.[49][50] This holiday was not primarily about the nativity, but
rather the baptism of Jesus.[51] Christmas was promoted in the East as
part of the revival of Orthodox Christianity that followed the death of
the pro-Arian Emperor Valens at the Battle of Adrianople in 378. The
feast was introduced in Constantinople in 379, in Antioch by John
Chrysostom towards the end of the fourth century,[50] probably in 388,
and in Alexandria in the following century.[52]
Calculation hypothesis
Further information: Chronology of Jesus
Mosaic
in Mausoleum M in the pre-fourth-century necropolis under St Peter's
Basilica in Rome, interpreted by some as Jesus represented as Christus
Sol (Christ the Sun).[53]
The calculation hypothesis suggests that an
earlier holiday, the Annunciation, held on March 25 became associated
with the Incarnation.[54] Christmas was then calculated as nine months
later. The calculation hypothesis was proposed by French writer Louis
Duchesne in 1889.[55][56] The Bible in Luke 1:26 records the
annunciation to Mary to be at the time when Elizabeth, mother of John
the Baptist, was in her sixth month of pregnancy (cf. Nativity of Saint
John the Baptist).[57][58] The ecclesiastical holiday was created in the
seventh century and was assigned to be celebrated on March 25; this
date is nine months before Christmas, in addition to being the
traditional date of the equinox.[58] It is unrelated to the
Quartodeciman, which had been forgotten by this time.[59] Forgotten by
everyone except the Jews, of course, who continued to observe Passover;
also a Quartodeciman feast.
Early Christians celebrated the life
of Jesus on a date considered equivalent to 14 Nisan (Passover) on the
local calendar. Because Passover was held on the 14th of the month, this
feast is referred to as the Quartodeciman. All the major events of
Christ's life, especially the passion, were celebrated on this date. In
his letter to the Corinthians, Paul mentions Passover, presumably
celebrated according to the local calendar in Corinth.[60] Tertullian
(d. 220), who lived in Latin-speaking North Africa, gives the date of
passion celebration as March 25.[61] The date of the passion was moved
to Good Friday in 165 when Pope Soter created Easter by reassigning the
Resurrection to a Sunday. According to the calculation hypothesis, the
celebration of the Quartodeciman continued in some areas and the feast
became associated with Incarnation.[62]
The calculation
hypothesis is considered academically to be "a thoroughly viable
hypothesis", though not certain.[63] It was a traditional Jewish belief
that great men were born and died on the same day, so lived a whole
number of years, without fractions: Jesus was therefore considered to
have been conceived on March 25, as he died on March 25, which was
calculated to have coincided with 14 Nisan.[64] A passage in Commentary
on the Prophet Daniel (204) by Hippolytus of Rome identifies December 25
as the date of the nativity. This passage is generally considered a
late interpolation. But the manuscript includes another passage, one
that is more likely to be authentic, that gives the passion as March
25.[65]
In 221, Sextus Julius Africanus (c. 160 – c. 240) gave
March 25 as the day of creation and of the conception of Jesus in his
universal history. This conclusion was based on solar symbolism, with
March 25 the date of the equinox. As this implies a birth in December,
it is sometimes claimed to be the earliest identification of December 25
as the nativity. However, Africanus was not such an influential writer
that it is likely he determined the date of Christmas.[66]
The
treatise De solstitia et aequinoctia conceptionis et nativitatis Domini
nostri Iesu Christi et Iohannis Baptistae, pseudepigraphically
attributed to John Chrysostom and dating to the early fourth
century,[67][68] also argued that Jesus was conceived and crucified on
the same day of the year and calculated this as March 25.[69][70] This
anonymous tract also states: "But Our Lord, too, is born in the month of
December ... the eight before the calends of January [25 December] ...,
But they call it the 'Birthday of the Unconquered'. Who indeed is so
unconquered as Our Lord...? Or, if they say that it is the birthday of
the Sun, He is the Sun of Justice."[22]
Solstice date hypothesis
December
25 was considered the date of the winter solstice in the Roman
calendar,[16][71] though actually it occurred on the 23rd or 24th at
that time.[72] A late fourth-century sermon by Saint Augustine explains
why this was a fitting day to celebrate Christ's nativity: "Hence it is
that He was born on the day which is the shortest in our earthly
reckoning and from which subsequent days begin to increase in length.
He, therefore, who bent low and lifted us up chose the shortest day, yet
the one whence light begins to increase."[73]
Linking Jesus to
the Sun was supported by various Biblical passages. Jesus was considered
to be the "Sun of righteousness" prophesied by Malachi: "Unto you shall
the sun of righteousness arise, and healing is in his wings."[38]
Such
solar symbolism could support more than one date of birth. An anonymous
work known as De Pascha Computus (243) linked the idea that creation
began at the spring equinox, on March 25, with the conception or birth
(the word nascor can mean either) of Jesus on March 28, the day of the
creation of the sun in the Genesis account. One translation reads: "O
the splendid and divine providence of the Lord, that on that day, the
very day, on which the sun was made, March 28, a Wednesday, Christ
should be born".[22][74]
In the 17th century, Isaac Newton, who,
coincidentally, was born on December 25, argued that the date of
Christmas may have been selected to correspond with the solstice.[75]
Conversely,
according to Steven Hijmans of the University of Alberta, "It is cosmic
symbolism ... which inspired the Church leadership in Rome to elect the
southern solstice, December 25, as the birthday of Christ, and the
northern solstice as that of John the Baptist, supplemented by the
equinoxes as their respective dates of conception."[76]
History of religions hypothesis
See also: Saturnalia
The
rival "History of Religions" hypothesis suggests that the Church
selected December 25 date to appropriate festivities held by the Romans
in honor of the Sun god Sol Invictus.[54] This cult was established by
Aurelian in 274. An explicit expression of this theory appears in an
annotation of uncertain date added to a manuscript of a work by
12th-century Syrian bishop Jacob Bar-Salibi. The scribe who added it
wrote:
It was a custom of the Pagans to celebrate on the same 25
December the birthday of the Sun, at which they kindled lights in token
of festivity. In these solemnities and revelries, the Christians also
took part. Accordingly, when the doctors of the Church perceived that
the Christians had a leaning to this festival, they took counsel and
resolved that the true Nativity should be solemnised on that day.[77]
In
1743, German Protestant Paul Ernst Jablonski argued Christmas was
placed on December 25 to correspond with the Roman solar holiday Dies
Natalis Solis Invicti and was therefore a "paganization" that debased
the true church.[78] However, it has been also argued that, on the
contrary, the Emperor Aurelian, who in 274 instituted the holiday of the
Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, did so partly as an attempt to give a pagan
significance to a date already important for Christians in Rome.[79]
Hermann
Usener[80] and others[22] proposed that the Christians chose this day
because it was the Roman feast celebrating the birthday of Sol Invictus.
Modern scholar S. E. Hijmans, however, states that "While they were
aware that pagans called this day the 'birthday' of Sol Invictus, this
did not concern them and it did not play any role in their choice of
date for Christmas."[76] Moreover, Thomas J. Talley holds that the Roman
Emperor Aurelian placed a festival of Sol Invictus on December 25 in
order to compete with the growing rate of the Christian Church, which
had already been celebrating Christmas on that date first.[81] In the
judgement of the Church of England Liturgical Commission, the History of
Religions hypothesis has been challenged[82] by a view based on an old
tradition, according to which the date of Christmas was fixed at nine
months after March 25, the date of the vernal equinox, on which the
Annunciation was celebrated.[69] Adam C. English, Professor of Religion
at Campbell University, writes:[46]
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.[46]
With regard to a
December religious feast of the deified Sun (Sol), as distinct from a
solstice feast of the birth (or rebirth) of the astronomical sun,
Hijmans has commented that "while the winter solstice on or around
December 25 was well established in the Roman imperial calendar, there
is no evidence that a religious celebration of Sol on that day antedated
the celebration of Christmas".[83] "Thomas Talley has shown that,
although the Emperor Aurelian's dedication of a temple to the sun god in
the Campus Martius (C.E. 274) probably took place on the 'Birthday of
the Invincible Sun' on December 25, the cult of the sun in pagan Rome
ironically did not celebrate the winter solstice nor any of the other
quarter-tense days, as one might expect."[84] The Oxford Companion to
Christian Thought remarks on the uncertainty about the order of
precedence between the religious celebrations of the Birthday of the
Unconquered Sun and of the birthday of Jesus, stating that the
hypothesis that December 25 was chosen for celebrating the birth of
Jesus on the basis of the belief that his conception occurred on March
25 "potentially establishes 25 December as a Christian festival before
Aurelian's decree, which, when promulgated, might have provided for the
Christian feast both opportunity and challenge".[85]
Relation to concurrent celebrations
Many
popular customs associated with Christmas developed independently of
the commemoration of Jesus' birth, with some claiming that certain
elements have origins in pre-Christian festivals that were celebrated by
pagan populations who were later converted to Christianity. The
prevailing atmosphere of Christmas has also continually evolved since
the holiday's inception, ranging from a sometimes raucous, drunken,
carnival-like state in the Middle Ages,[86] to a tamer family-oriented
and children-centered theme introduced in a 19th-century
transformation.[87][88] The celebration of Christmas was banned on more
than one occasion within certain groups, such as the Puritans and
Jehovah's Witnesses (who do not celebrate birthdays in general), due to
concerns that it was too unbiblical.[89][42][90]
Prior to and
through the early Christian centuries, winter festivals were the most
popular of the year in many European pagan cultures. Reasons included
the fact that less agricultural work needed to be done during the
winter, as well as an expectation of better weather as spring
approached.[91] Celtic winter herbs such as mistletoe and ivy, and the
custom of kissing under a mistletoe, are common in modern Christmas
celebrations in the English-speaking countries.
The pre-Christian
Germanic peoples—including the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse—celebrated a
winter festival called Yule, held in the late December to early January
period, yielding modern English yule, today used as a synonym for
Christmas.[92] In Germanic language-speaking areas, numerous elements of
modern Christmas folk custom and iconography may have originated from
Yule, including the Yule log, Yule boar, and the Yule goat.[93][92]
Often leading a ghostly procession through the sky (the Wild Hunt), the
long-bearded god Odin is referred to as "the Yule one" and "Yule father"
in Old Norse texts, while other gods are referred to as "Yule
beings".[94] On the other hand, as there are no reliable existing
references to a Christmas log prior to the 16th century, the burning of
the Christmas block may have been an early modern invention by
Christians unrelated to the pagan practice.[95]
In eastern Europe
also, old pagan traditions were incorporated into Christmas
celebrations, an example being the Koleda,[96] which was incorporated
into the Christmas carol.
Post-classical history
The
Nativity, from a 14th-century Missal; a liturgical book containing texts
and music necessary for the celebration of Mass throughout the year
In
the Early Middle Ages, Christmas Day was overshadowed by Epiphany,
which in western Christianity focused on the visit of the magi. But the
medieval calendar was dominated by Christmas-related holidays. The forty
days before Christmas became the "forty days of St. Martin" (which
began on November 11, the feast of St. Martin of Tours), now known as
Advent.[86] In Italy, former Saturnalian traditions were attached to
Advent.[86] Around the 12th century, these traditions transferred again
to the Twelve Days of Christmas (December 25 – January 5); a time that
appears in the liturgical calendars as Christmastide or Twelve Holy
Days.[86]
The prominence of Christmas Day increased gradually
after Charlemagne was crowned Emperor on Christmas Day in 800. King
Edmund the Martyr was anointed on Christmas in 855 and King William I of
England was crowned on Christmas Day 1066.
The coronation of Charlemagne on Christmas of 800 helped promote the popularity of the holiday
By
the High Middle Ages, the holiday had become so prominent that
chroniclers routinely noted where various magnates celebrated Christmas.
King Richard II of England hosted a Christmas feast in 1377 at which 28
oxen and 300 sheep were eaten.[86] The Yule boar was a common feature
of medieval Christmas feasts. Caroling also became popular, and was
originally performed by a group of dancers who sang. The group was
composed of a lead singer and a ring of dancers that provided the
chorus. Various writers of the time condemned caroling as lewd,
indicating that the unruly traditions of Saturnalia and Yule may have
continued in this form.[86] "Misrule"—drunkenness, promiscuity,
gambling—was also an important aspect of the festival. In England, gifts
were exchanged on New Year's Day, and there was special Christmas
ale.[86]
Christmas during the Middle Ages was a public festival
that incorporated ivy, holly, and other evergreens.[97] Christmas
gift-giving during the Middle Ages was usually between people with legal
relationships, such as tenant and landlord.[97] The annual indulgence
in eating, dancing, singing, sporting, and card playing escalated in
England, and by the 17th century the Christmas season featured lavish
dinners, elaborate masques, and pageants. In 1607, King James I insisted
that a play be acted on Christmas night and that the court indulge in
games.[98] It was during the Reformation in 16th–17th-century Europe
that many Protestants changed the gift bringer to the Christ Child or
Christkindl, and the date of giving gifts changed from December 6 to
Christmas Eve.[99]
Modern history
17th and 18th centuries
Following
the Protestant Reformation, many of the new denominations, including
the Anglican Church and Lutheran Church, continued to celebrate
Christmas.[100] In 1629, the Anglican poet John Milton penned On the
Morning of Christ's Nativity, a poem that has since been read by many
during Christmastide.[101][102] Donald Heinz, a professor at California
State University, states that Martin Luther "inaugurated a period in
which Germany would produce a unique culture of Christmas, much copied
in North America."[103] Among the congregations of the Dutch Reformed
Church, Christmas was celebrated as one of the principal evangelical
feasts.[104]
However, in 17th century England, some groups such
as the Puritans strongly condemned the celebration of Christmas,
considering it a Catholic invention and the "trappings of popery" or the
"rags of the Beast".[42] In contrast, the established Anglican Church
"pressed for a more elaborate observance of feasts, penitential seasons,
and saints' days. The calendar reform became a major point of tension
between the Anglican party and the Puritan party."[105] The Catholic
Church also responded, promoting the festival in a more religiously
oriented form. King Charles I of England directed his noblemen and
gentry to return to their landed estates in midwinter to keep up their
old-style Christmas generosity.[98] Following the Parliamentarian
victory over Charles I during the English Civil War, England's Puritan
rulers banned Christmas in 1647.[42][106]
Protests followed as
pro-Christmas rioting broke out in several cities and for weeks
Canterbury was controlled by the rioters, who decorated doorways with
holly and shouted royalist slogans.[42] The book, The Vindication of
Christmas (London, 1652), argued against the Puritans, and makes note of
Old English Christmas traditions, dinner, roast apples on the fire,
card playing, dances with "plow-boys" and "maidservants", old Father
Christmas and carol singing.[107] During the ban, semi-clandestine
religious services marking Christ's birth continued to be held, and
people sang carols in secret.[43]
The Examination and Tryal of Old Father Christmas, (1686), published after Christmas was reinstated as a holy day in England
The
Restoration of King Charles II in 1660 ended the ban, and Christmas was
again freely celebrated in England.[43] Many Calvinist clergymen
disapproved of Christmas celebration. As such, in Scotland, the
Presbyterian Church of Scotland discouraged the observance of Christmas,
and though James VI commanded its celebration in 1618, attendance at
church was scant.[108] The Parliament of Scotland officially abolished
the observance of Christmas in 1640, claiming that the church had been
"purged of all superstitious observation of days".[109] Whereas in
England, Wales and Ireland Christmas Day is a common law holiday, having
been a customary holiday since time immemorial, it was not until 1871
that it was designated a bank holiday in Scotland.[110]
Following
the Restoration of Charles II, Poor Robin's Almanack contained the
lines: "Now thanks to God for Charles return, / Whose absence made old
Christmas mourn. / For then we scarcely did it know, / Whether it
Christmas were or no."[111] The diary of James Woodforde, from the
latter half of the 18th century, details the observance of Christmas and
celebrations associated with the season over a number of years.[112]
As
in England, Puritans in Colonial America staunchly opposed the
observation of Christmas.[90] The Pilgrims of New England pointedly
spent their first December 25th in the New World working normally.[90]
Puritans such as Cotton Mather condemned Christmas both because
scripture did not mention its observance and because Christmas
celebrations of the day often involved boisterous behavior.[113][114]
Many non-Puritans in New England deplored the loss of the holidays
enjoyed by the laboring classes in England.[115] Christmas observance
was outlawed in Boston in 1659.[90] The ban on Christmas observance was
revoked in 1681 by English governor Edmund Andros, but it was not until
the mid-19th century that celebrating Christmas became fashionable in
the Boston region.[116]
At the same time, Christian residents of
Virginia and New York observed the holiday freely. [[Pennsylvania Dutch]
settlers, predominantly Moravian settlers of Bethlehem, Nazareth, and
Lititz in Pennsylvania and the Wachovia settlements in North Carolina,
were enthusiastic celebrators of Christmas. The Moravians in Bethlehem
had the first Christmas trees in America as well as the first Nativity
Scenes.[117] Christmas fell out of favor in the United States after the
American Revolution, when it was considered an English custom.[118]
George Washington attacked Hessian (German) mercenaries on the day after
Christmas during the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776, Christmas
being much more popular in Germany than in America at this time.
With
the atheistic Cult of Reason in power during the era of Revolutionary
France, Christian Christmas religious services were banned and the three
kings cake was renamed the "equality cake" under anticlerical
government policies.[119][120]
19th century
Ebenezer Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Present. From Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, 1843.
In
the early-19th century, writers imagined Tudor Christmas as a time of
heartfelt celebration. In 1843, Charles Dickens wrote the novel A
Christmas Carol, which helped revive the "spirit" of Christmas and
seasonal merriment.[87][88] Its instant popularity played a major role
in portraying Christmas as a holiday emphasizing family, goodwill, and
compassion.[44]
Dickens sought to construct Christmas as a
family-centered festival of generosity, linking "worship and feasting,
within a context of social reconciliation."[121] Superimposing his
humanitarian vision of the holiday, in what has been termed "Carol
Philosophy",[122] Dickens influenced many aspects of Christmas that are
celebrated today in Western culture, such as family gatherings, seasonal
food and drink, dancing, games, and a festive generosity of
spirit.[123] A prominent phrase from the tale, "Merry Christmas", was
popularized following the appearance of the story.[124] This coincided
with the appearance of the Oxford Movement and the growth of
Anglo-Catholicism, which led a revival in traditional rituals and
religious observances.[125]
The Queen's Christmas tree at Windsor Castle, published in the Illustrated London News, 1848
The
term Scrooge became a synonym for miser, with "Bah! Humbug!" dismissive
of the festive spirit.[126] In 1843, the first commercial Christmas
card was produced by Sir Henry Cole.[127] The revival of the Christmas
Carol began with William Sandys's "Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern"
(1833), with the first appearance in print of "The First Noel", "I Saw
Three Ships", "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and "God Rest Ye Merry,
Gentlemen", popularized in Dickens' A Christmas Carol.
In
Britain, the Christmas tree was introduced in the early 19th century by
the German-born Queen Charlotte. In 1832, the future Queen Victoria
wrote about her delight at having a Christmas tree, hung with lights,
ornaments, and presents placed round it.[128] After her marriage to her
German cousin Prince Albert, by 1841 the custom became more widespread
throughout Britain.[129]
An image of the British royal family
with their Christmas tree at Windsor Castle created a sensation when it
was published in the Illustrated London News in 1848. A modified version
of this image was published in Godey's Lady's Book, Philadelphia in
1850.[130][131] By the 1870s, putting up a Christmas tree had become
common in America.[130]
In America, interest in Christmas had
been revived in the 1820s by several short stories by Washington Irving
which appear in his The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. and "Old
Christmas". Irving's stories depicted harmonious warm-hearted English
Christmas festivities he experienced while staying in Aston Hall,
Birmingham, England, that had largely been abandoned,[132] and he used
the tract Vindication of Christmas (1652) of Old English Christmas
traditions, that he had transcribed into his journal as a format for his
stories.[98]
A Norwegian Christmas, 1846 painting by Adolph Tidemand
In
1822, Clement Clarke Moore wrote the poem A Visit From St. Nicholas
(popularly known by its first line: Twas the Night Before
Christmas).[133] The poem helped popularize the tradition of exchanging
gifts, and seasonal Christmas shopping began to assume economic
importance.[134] This also started the cultural conflict between the
holiday's spiritual significance and its associated commercialism that
some see as corrupting the holiday. In her 1850 book The First Christmas
in New England, Harriet Beecher Stowe includes a character who
complains that the true meaning of Christmas was lost in a shopping
spree.[135]
While the celebration of Christmas was not yet
customary in some regions in the U.S., Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
detected "a transition state about Christmas here in New England" in
1856. "The old puritan feeling prevents it from being a cheerful, hearty
holiday; though every year makes it more so."[136] In Reading,
Pennsylvania, a newspaper remarked in 1861, "Even our presbyterian
friends who have hitherto steadfastly ignored Christmas—threw open their
church doors and assembled in force to celebrate the anniversary of the
Savior's birth."[136]
The First Congregational Church of
Rockford, Illinois, "although of genuine Puritan stock", was 'preparing
for a grand Christmas jubilee', a news correspondent reported in
1864.[136] By 1860, fourteen states including several from New England
had adopted Christmas as a legal holiday.[137] In 1875, Louis Prang
introduced the Christmas card to Americans. He has been called the
"father of the American Christmas card".[138] On June 28, 1870,
Christmas was formally declared a United States federal holiday.[139]
20th century
The Christmas Visit. Postcard, c.1910
During
the First World War and particularly (but not exclusively)[140] in
1914, a series of informal truces took place for Christmas between
opposing armies. The truces, which were organised spontaneously by
fighting men, ranged from promises not to shoot shouted at a distance in
order to ease the pressure of war for the day to friendly socializing,
gift giving and even sport between enemies.[141] These incidents became a
well known and semi-mythologised part of popular memory.[142] They have
been described as a symbol of common humanity even in the darkest of
situations and used to demonstrate to children the ideals of
Christmas.[143]
Up to the 1950s in the UK, many Christmas customs
were restricted to the upper classes and better-off families. The mass
of the population had not adopted many of the Christmas rituals that
later became general. The Christmas tree was rare. Christmas dinner
might be beef or goose – certainly not turkey. In their stockings
children might get an apple, orange, and sweets. Full celebration of a
family Christmas with all the trimmings only became widespread with
increased prosperity from the 1950s.[144] National papers were published
on Christmas Day until 1912. Post was still delivered on Christmas Day
until 1961. League football matches continued in Scotland until the
1970s while in England they ceased at the end of the 1950s.[145][146]
Under
the state atheism of the Soviet Union, after its foundation in 1917,
Christmas celebrations—along with other Christian holidays—were
prohibited in public.[147] During the 1920s, '30s, and '40s, the League
of Militant Atheists encouraged school pupils to campaign against
Christmas traditions, such as the Christmas tree, as well as other
Christian holidays, including Easter; the League established an
antireligious holiday to be the 31st of each month as a
replacement.[148] At the height of this persecution, in 1929, on
Christmas Day, children in Moscow were encouraged to spit on crucifixes
as a protest against the holiday.[149] Instead, the importance of the
holiday and all its trappings, such as the Christmas tree and
gift-giving, was transferred to the New Year.[150] It was not until the
dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 that the persecution ended and
Orthodox Christmas became a state holiday again for the first time in
Russia after seven decades.[151]
European History Professor
Joseph Perry wrote that likewise, in Nazi Germany, "because Nazi
ideologues saw organized religion as an enemy of the totalitarian state,
propagandists sought to deemphasize—or eliminate altogether—the
Christian aspects of the holiday" and that "Propagandists tirelessly
promoted numerous Nazified Christmas songs, which replaced Christian
themes with the regime's racial ideologies."[152]
As Christmas
celebrations began to be held around the world even outside traditional
Christian cultures in the 20th century, some Muslim-majority countries
subsequently banned the practice of Christmas, claiming it undermines
Islam.[153]
Observance and traditions
Further information: Christmas traditions and Observance of Christmas by country
Christmas at the Annunciation Church in Nazareth, 1965. Photo by Dan Hadani.
Christmas at the Annunciation Church in Nazareth, 1965
Dark brown – countries that do not recognize Christmas on December 25 or January 7 as a public holiday.
Light brown – countries that do not recognize Christmas as a public holiday, but the holiday is given observance.
Many Christians attend church services to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.[154]
Christmas
Day is celebrated as a major festival and public holiday in countries
around the world, including many whose populations are mostly
non-Christian. In some non-Christian areas, periods of former colonial
rule introduced the celebration (e.g. Hong Kong); in others, Christian
minorities or foreign cultural influences have led populations to
observe the holiday. Countries such as Japan, where Christmas is popular
despite there being only a small number of Christians, have adopted
many of the secular aspects of Christmas, such as gift-giving,
decorations, and Christmas trees.
Among countries with a strong
Christian tradition, a variety of Christmas celebrations have developed
that incorporate regional and local cultures.
Church attendance
Christmas
Day (inclusive of its vigil, Christmas Eve), is a Festival in the
Lutheran Churches, a holy day of obligation in the Roman Catholic
Church, and a Principal Feast of the Anglican Communion. Other Christian
denominations do not rank their feast days but nevertheless place
importance on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day, as with other Christian
feasts like Easter, Ascension Day, and Pentecost.[155] As such, for
Christians, attending a Christmas Eve or Christmas Day church service
plays an important part in the recognition of the Christmas season.
Christmas, along with Easter, is the period of highest annual church
attendance. A 2010 survey by LifeWay Christian Resources found that six
in ten Americans attend church services during this time.[156] In the
United Kingdom, the Church of England reported an estimated attendance
of 2.5 million people at Christmas services in 2015.[157]
Decorations
Main article: Christmas decoration
A
typical Neapolitan presepe or presepio, or Nativity scene. Local
crèches are renowned for their ornate decorations and symbolic
figurines, often mirroring daily life.
Nativity scenes are known from
10th-century Rome. They were popularised by Saint Francis of Assisi
from 1223, quickly spreading across Europe.[158] Different types of
decorations developed across the Christian world, dependent on local
tradition and available resources, and can vary from simple
representations of the crib to far more elaborate sets – renowned manger
scene traditions include the colourful Kraków szopka in Poland,[159]
which imitate Kraków's historical buildings as settings, the elaborate
Italian presepi (Neapolitan, Genoese and Bolognese),[160][161][162][163]
or the Provençal crèches in southern France, using hand-painted
terracotta figurines called santons.[164] In certain parts of the world,
notably Sicily, living nativity scenes following the tradition of Saint
Francis are a popular alternative to static crèches.[165][166][167] The
first commercially produced decorations appeared in Germany in the
1860s, inspired by paper chains made by children.[168] In countries
where a representation of the Nativity scene is very popular, people are
encouraged to compete and create the most original or realistic ones.
Within some families, the pieces used to make the representation are
considered a valuable family heirloom.[169]
The traditional
colors of Christmas decorations are red, green, and gold.[170][171] Red
symbolizes the blood of Jesus, which was shed in his crucifixion; green
symbolizes eternal life, and in particular the evergreen tree, which
does not lose its leaves in the winter; and gold is the first color
associated with Christmas, as one of the three gifts of the Magi,
symbolizing royalty.[172]
The official White House Christmas
tree for 1962, displayed in the Entrance Hall and presented by John F.
Kennedy and his wife Jackie.
The Christmas tree was first used by
German Lutherans in the 16th century, with records indicating that a
Christmas tree was placed in the Cathedral of Strassburg in 1539, under
the leadership of the Protestant Reformer, Martin Bucer.[173][174] In
the United States, these "German Lutherans brought the decorated
Christmas tree with them; the Moravians put lighted candles on those
trees."[175][176] When decorating the Christmas tree, many individuals
place a star at the top of the tree symbolizing the Star of Bethlehem, a
fact recorded by The School Journal in 1897.[177][178] Professor David
Albert Jones of Oxford University writes that in the 19th century, it
became popular for people to also use an angel to top the Christmas tree
in order to symbolize the angels mentioned in the accounts of the
Nativity of Jesus.[179] The Christmas tree is considered by some as
Christianisation of pagan tradition and ritual surrounding the Winter
Solstice, which included the use of evergreen boughs, and an adaptation
of pagan tree worship;[180] according to eighth-century biographer Æddi
Stephanus, Saint Boniface (634–709), who was a missionary in Germany,
took an ax to an oak tree dedicated to Thor and pointed out a fir tree,
which he stated was a more fitting object of reverence because it
pointed to heaven and it had a triangular shape, which he said was
symbolic of the Trinity.[181] The English language phrase "Christmas
tree" is first recorded in 1835[182] and represents an importation from
the German language.[180][183][184]
On Christmas, the Christ Candle in the center of the Advent wreath is traditionally lit in many church services.
Since
the 16th century, the poinsettia, a native plant from Mexico, has been
associated with Christmas carrying the Christian symbolism of the Star
of Bethlehem; in that country it is known in Spanish as the Flower of
the Holy Night.[185][186] Other popular holiday plants include holly,
mistletoe, red amaryllis, and Christmas cactus.[187]
Other
traditional decorations include bells, candles, candy canes, stockings,
wreaths, and angels. Both the displaying of wreaths and candles in each
window are a more traditional Christmas display.[188] The concentric
assortment of leaves, usually from an evergreen, make up Christmas
wreaths and are designed to prepare Christians for the Advent season.
Candles in each window are meant to demonstrate the fact that Christians
believe that Jesus Christ is the ultimate light of the world.[189]
Christmas
lights and banners may be hung along streets, music played from
speakers, and Christmas trees placed in prominent places.[190] It is
common in many parts of the world for town squares and consumer shopping
areas to sponsor and display decorations. Rolls of brightly colored
paper with secular or religious Christmas motifs are manufactured for
the purpose of wrapping gifts. In some countries, Christmas decorations
are traditionally taken down on Twelfth Night.[191]
Nativity play
Main article: Nativity play
Children in Oklahoma reenact a Nativity play
For
the Christian celebration of Christmas, the viewing of the Nativity
play is one of the oldest Christmastime traditions, with the first
reenactment of the Nativity of Jesus taking place in A.D. 1223.[192] In
that year, Francis of Assisi assembled a Nativity scene outside of his
church in Italy and children sung Christmas carols celebrating the birth
of Jesus.[192] Each year, this grew larger and people travelled from
afar to see Francis' depiction of the Nativity of Jesus that came to
feature drama and music.[192] Nativity plays eventually spread
throughout all of Europe, where they remain popular. Christmas Eve and
Christmas Day church services often came to feature Nativity plays, as
did schools and theatres.[192] In France, Germany, Mexico and Spain,
Nativity plays are often reenacted outdoors in the streets.[192]
Music and carols
Main article: Christmas music
Christmas carolers in Jersey
The
earliest extant specifically Christmas hymns appear in fourth-century
Rome. Latin hymns such as "Veni redemptor gentium", written by Ambrose,
Archbishop of Milan, were austere statements of the theological doctrine
of the Incarnation in opposition to Arianism. "Corde natus ex Parentis"
("Of the Father's love begotten") by the Spanish poet Prudentius (d.
413) is still sung in some churches today.[193] In the 9th and 10th
centuries, the Christmas "Sequence" or "Prose" was introduced in North
European monasteries, developing under Bernard of Clairvaux into a
sequence of rhymed stanzas. In the 12th century the Parisian monk Adam
of St. Victor began to derive music from popular songs, introducing
something closer to the traditional Christmas carol. Christmas carols in
English appear in a 1426 work of John Awdlay who lists twenty five
"caroles of Cristemas", probably sung by groups of 'wassailers', who
went from house to house.[194]
Child singers in Bucharest, 1841
The
songs now known specifically as carols were originally communal folk
songs sung during celebrations such as "harvest tide" as well as
Christmas. It was only later that carols began to be sung in church.
Traditionally, carols have often been based on medieval chord patterns,
and it is this that gives them their uniquely characteristic musical
sound. Some carols like "Personent hodie", "Good King Wenceslas", and
"In dulci jubilo" can be traced directly back to the Middle Ages. They
are among the oldest musical compositions still regularly sung. "Adeste
Fideles" (O Come all ye faithful) appears in its current form in the
mid-18th century.
The singing of carols initially suffered a
decline in popularity after the Protestant Reformation in northern
Europe, although some Reformers, like Martin Luther, wrote carols and
encouraged their use in worship. Carols largely survived in rural
communities until the revival of interest in popular songs in the 19th
century. The 18th-century English reformer Charles Wesley understood the
importance of music to worship. In addition to setting many psalms to
melodies, he wrote texts for at least three Christmas carols. The best
known was originally entitled "Hark! How All the Welkin Rings", later
renamed "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing".[195]
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
1:52
Performed by the U.S. Army Band Chorus
Problems playing this file? See media help.
Completely
secular Christmas seasonal songs emerged in the late 18th century. The
Welsh melody for "Deck the Halls" dates from 1794, with the lyrics added
by Scottish musician Thomas Oliphant in 1862, and the American "Jingle
Bells" was copyrighted in 1857. Other popular carols include "The First
Noel", "God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen", "The Holly and the Ivy", "I Saw
Three Ships", "In the Bleak Midwinter", "Joy to the World", "Once in
Royal David's City" and "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks".[196] In
the 19th and 20th centuries, African American spirituals and songs about
Christmas, based in their tradition of spirituals, became more widely
known. An increasing number of seasonal holiday songs were commercially
produced in the 20th century, including jazz and blues variations. In
addition, there was a revival of interest in early music, from groups
singing folk music, such as The Revels, to performers of early medieval
and classical music.
One of the most ubiquitous festive songs is
"We Wish You a Merry Christmas", which originates from the West Country
of England in the 1930s.[197] Radio has covered Christmas music from
variety shows from the 1940s and 1950s, as well as modern-day stations
that exclusively play Christmas music from late November through
December 25.[198] Hollywood movies have featured new Christmas music,
such as "White Christmas" in Holiday Inn and Rudolph the Red-Nosed
Reindeer.[198] Traditional carols have also been included in Hollywood
films, such as "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing" in It's a Wonderful Life
(1946), and "Silent Night" in A Christmas Story.[198]
Traditional cuisine
Christmas dinner setting
A
special Christmas family meal is traditionally an important part of the
holiday's celebration, and the food that is served varies greatly from
country to country. Some regions have special meals for Christmas Eve,
such as Sicily, where 12 kinds of fish are served. In the United Kingdom
and countries influenced by its traditions, a standard Christmas meal
includes turkey, goose or other large bird, gravy, potatoes, vegetables,
sometimes bread and cider. Special desserts are also prepared, such as
Christmas pudding, mince pies, Christmas cake, Panettone and Yule log
cake.[199][200] Traditional Christmas meal in Central Europe is fried
carp or other fish.[201]
Cards
Main article: Christmas card
A 1907 Christmas card with Santa and some of his reindeer
Christmas
cards are illustrated messages of greeting exchanged between friends
and family members during the weeks preceding Christmas Day. The
traditional greeting reads "wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy
New Year", much like that of the first commercial Christmas card,
produced by Sir Henry Cole in London in 1843.[202] The custom of sending
them has become popular among a wide cross-section of people with the
emergence of the modern trend towards exchanging E-cards.[203][204]
Christmas
cards are purchased in considerable quantities and feature artwork,
commercially designed and relevant to the season. The content of the
design might relate directly to the Christmas narrative, with depictions
of the Nativity of Jesus, or Christian symbols such as the Star of
Bethlehem, or a white dove, which can represent both the Holy Spirit and
Peace on Earth. Other Christmas cards are more secular and can depict
Christmas traditions, mythical figures such as Santa Claus, objects
directly associated with Christmas such as candles, holly, and baubles,
or a variety of images associated with the season, such as Christmastide
activities, snow scenes, and the wildlife of the northern winter.[205]
Some
prefer cards with a poem, prayer, or Biblical verse; while others
distance themselves from religion with an all-inclusive "Season's
greetings".[206]
Commemorative stamps
Main article: Christmas stamp
A
number of nations have issued commemorative stamps at Christmastide.
Postal customers will often use these stamps to mail Christmas cards,
and they are popular with philatelists. These stamps are regular postage
stamps, unlike Christmas seals, and are valid for postage year-round.
They usually go on sale sometime between early October and early
December and are printed in considerable quantities.
Gift giving
Main article: Christmas gift
Christmas gifts under a Christmas tree
The
exchanging of gifts is one of the core aspects of the modern Christmas
celebration, making it the most profitable time of year for retailers
and businesses throughout the world. On Christmas, people exchange gifts
based on the Christian tradition associated with Saint Nicholas,[207]
and the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh which were given to the
baby Jesus by the Magi.[208][209] The practice of gift giving in the
Roman celebration of Saturnalia may have influenced Christian customs,
but on the other hand the Christian "core dogma of the Incarnation,
however, solidly established the giving and receiving of gifts as the
structural principle of that recurrent yet unique event", because it was
the Biblical Magi, "together with all their fellow men, who received
the gift of God through man's renewed participation in the divine
life."[210]
Gift-bearing figures
Main article: List of Christmas and winter gift-bringers by country
A
number of figures are associated with Christmas and the seasonal giving
of gifts. Among these are Father Christmas, also known as Santa Claus
(derived from the Dutch for Saint Nicholas), Père Noël, and the
Weihnachtsmann; Saint Nicholas or Sinterklaas; the Christkind; Kris
Kringle; Joulupukki; tomte/nisse; Babbo Natale; Saint Basil; and Ded
Moroz. The Scandinavian tomte (also called nisse) is sometimes depicted
as a gnome instead of Santa Claus.
Saint Nicholas, known as Sinterklaas in the Netherlands, is considered by many to be the original Santa Claus[211]
The
best known of these figures today is red-dressed Santa Claus, of
diverse origins. The name Santa Claus can be traced back to the Dutch
Sinterklaas, which means simply Saint Nicholas. Nicholas was a
4th-century Greek bishop of Myra, a city in the Roman province of Lycia,
whose ruins are 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from modern Demre in southwest
Turkey.[212][213] Among other saintly attributes, he was noted for the
care of children, generosity, and the giving of gifts. His feast day,
December 6, came to be celebrated in many countries with the giving of
gifts.[99]
Saint Nicholas traditionally appeared in bishop's
attire, accompanied by helpers, inquiring about the behaviour of
children during the past year before deciding whether they deserved a
gift or not. By the 13th century, Saint Nicholas was well known in the
Netherlands, and the practice of gift-giving in his name spread to other
parts of central and southern Europe. At the Reformation in
16th–17th-century Europe, many Protestants changed the gift bringer to
the Christ Child or Christkindl, corrupted in English to Kris Kringle,
and the date of giving gifts changed from December 6 to Christmas
Eve.[99]
The modern popular image of Santa Claus, however, was
created in the United States, and in particular in New York. The
transformation was accomplished with the aid of notable contributors
including Washington Irving and the German-American cartoonist Thomas
Nast (1840–1902). Following the American Revolutionary War, some of the
inhabitants of New York City sought out symbols of the city's
non-English past. New York had originally been established as the Dutch
colonial town of New Amsterdam and the Dutch Sinterklaas tradition was
reinvented as Saint Nicholas.[214]
Current tradition in several
Latin American countries (such as Venezuela and Colombia) holds that
while Santa makes the toys, he then gives them to the Baby Jesus, who is
the one who actually delivers them to the children's homes, a
reconciliation between traditional religious beliefs and the iconography
of Santa Claus imported from the United States.
In South Tyrol
(Italy), Austria, Czech Republic, Southern Germany, Hungary,
Liechtenstein, Slovakia, and Switzerland, the Christkind (Ježíšek in
Czech, Jézuska in Hungarian and Ježiško in Slovak) brings the presents.
Greek children get their presents from Saint Basil on New Year's Eve,
the eve of that saint's liturgical feast.[215] The German St. Nikolaus
is not identical with the Weihnachtsmann (who is the German version of
Santa Claus / Father Christmas). St. Nikolaus wears a bishop's dress and
still brings small gifts (usually candies, nuts, and fruits) on
December 6 and is accompanied by Knecht Ruprecht. Although many parents
around the world routinely teach their children about Santa Claus and
other gift bringers, some have come to reject this practice, considering
it deceptive.[216]
Multiple gift-giver figures exist in Poland,
varying between regions and individual families. St Nicholas (Święty
Mikołaj) dominates Central and North-East areas, the Starman (Gwiazdor)
is most common in Greater Poland, Baby Jesus (Dzieciątko) is unique to
Upper Silesia, with the Little Star (Gwiazdka) and the Little Angel
(Aniołek) being common in the South and the South-East. Grandfather
Frost (Dziadek Mróz) is less commonly accepted in some areas of Eastern
Poland.[217][218] It is worth noting that across all of Poland, St
Nicholas is the gift giver on the Saint Nicholas Day on December 6.
Date according to Julian calendar
Some
jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodox Church, including those of
Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Jerusalem,
mark feasts using the older Julian calendar. As of 2022, there is a
difference of 13 days between the Julian calendar and the modern
Gregorian calendar, which is used internationally for most secular
purposes. As a result, December 25 on the Julian calendar currently
corresponds to January 7 on the calendar used by most governments and
people in everyday life. Therefore, the aforementioned Orthodox
Christians mark December 25 (and thus Christmas) on the day that is
internationally considered to be January 7.[219]
However,
following the Council of Constantinople in 1923,[220] other Orthodox
Christians, such as those belonging to the jurisdictions of
Constantinople, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Antioch, Alexandria, Albania,
Cyprus, Finland, and the Orthodox Church in America, among others,
began using the Revised Julian calendar, which at present corresponds
exactly to the Gregorian calendar.[221] Therefore, these Orthodox
Christians mark December 25 (and thus Christmas) on the same day that is
internationally considered to be December 25.
A further
complication is added by the fact that the Armenian Apostolic Church
continues the original ancient Eastern Christian practice of celebrating
the birth of Christ not as a separate holiday, but on the same day as
the celebration of his baptism (Theophany), which is on January 6. This
is a public holiday in Armenia, and it is held on the same day that is
internationally considered to be January 6, because since 1923 the
Armenian Church in Armenia has used the Gregorian calendar.[222]
However,
there is also a small Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which
maintains the traditional Armenian custom of celebrating the birth of
Christ on the same day as Theophany (January 6), but uses the Julian
calendar for the determination of that date. As a result, this church
celebrates "Christmas" (more properly called Theophany) on the day that
is considered January 19 on the Gregorian calendar in use by the
majority of the world.[223]
In summary, there are four different
dates used by different Christian groups to mark the birth of Christ,
given in the table below.
Listing
Church or section Date Calendar Gregorian date Note
Armenian
Patriarchate of Jerusalem January 6 Julian calendar January
19 Correspondence between Julian January 6 and Gregorian January 19
holds until 2100; in the following century the difference will be one
day more.[citation needed]
Armenian Apostolic Church, Armenian Evangelical Church January 6 Gregorian calendar January 6
Eastern
Orthodox Church jurisdictions, including those of Constantinople,
Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Antioch, Alexandria, Albania, Cyprus,
Finland, and the Orthodox Church in America.
Also, the Ancient Church of the East and Syriac Orthodox Church.
December
25 Revised Julian calendar December 25 Revised Julian calendar
was agreed at the 1923 Council of Constantinople.[220]
Although it
follows the Julian calendar, the Ancient Church of the East decided on
2010 to celebrate Christmas according to the Gregorian calendar date.
Other Eastern Orthodox: Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, Macedonia, Belarus, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and Jerusalem.
Also, some Byzantine Rite Catholics and Byzantine Rite Lutherans.
December
25 Julian calendar January 7 Correspondence between Julian
December 25 and Gregorian January 7 of the following year holds until
2100; from 2101 to 2199 the difference will be one day more.[citation
needed]
Coptic Orthodox Church Koiak 29 or 28 (corresponding to
Julian December 25) Coptic calendar January 7 After the Coptic
insertion of a leap day in what for the Julian calendar is August
(September in Gregorian), Christmas is celebrated on Koiak 28 in order
to maintain the exact interval of nine 30-day months and 5 days of the
child's gestation.[citation needed]
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (sole date), Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church (sole date),
and P'ent'ay (Ethiopian-Eritrean Evangelical) Churches (primary date)
Tahsas
29 or 28 (corresponding to Julian December 25) Ethiopian Calendar
January 7 After the Ethiopian and Eritrean insertion of a leap day
in what for the Julian calendar is August (September in Gregorian),
Christmas (also called Liddet or Gena, also Ledet or Genna[224]) is
celebrated on Tahsas 28 in order to maintain the exact interval of nine
30-day months and 5 days of the child's gestation.[225]
Most
Protestants (P'ent'ay/Evangelicals) in the diaspora have the option of
choosing the Ethiopian calendar (Tahsas 29/January 7) or the Gregorian
calendar (December 25) for religious holidays, with this option being
used when the corresponding eastern celebration is not a public holiday
in the western world (with most diaspora Protestants celebrating both
days).[citation needed]
Most Western Christian Churches, most Eastern Catholic churches and civil calendars.
Also, the Assyrian Church of the East.
December 25 Gregorian calendar December 25 The Assyrian Church of the East adopted the Gregorian calendar on 1964.
Economy
Main article: Economics of Christmas
Christmas
decorations at the Galeries Lafayette department store in Paris,
France. The Christmas season is the busiest trading period for
retailers.
Christmas market in Jena, Germany
Christmas is
typically a peak selling season for retailers in many nations around the
world. Sales increase dramatically as people purchase gifts,
decorations, and supplies to celebrate. In the United States, the
"Christmas shopping season" starts as early as October.[226][227] In
Canada, merchants begin advertising campaigns just before Halloween
(October 31), and step up their marketing following Remembrance Day on
November 11. In the UK and Ireland, the Christmas shopping season starts
from mid-November, around the time when high street Christmas lights
are turned on.[228][229] In the United States, it has been calculated
that a quarter of all personal spending takes place during the
Christmas/holiday shopping season.[230] Figures from the U.S. Census
Bureau reveal that expenditure in department stores nationwide rose from
$20.8 billion in November 2004 to $31.9 billion in December 2004, an
increase of 54 percent. In other sectors, the pre-Christmas increase in
spending was even greater, there being a November–December buying surge
of 100 percent in bookstores and 170 percent in jewelry stores. In the
same year employment in American retail stores rose from 1.6 million to
1.8 million in the two months leading up to Christmas.[231] Industries
completely dependent on Christmas include Christmas cards, of which 1.9
billion are sent in the United States each year, and live Christmas
Trees, of which 20.8 million were cut in the U.S. in 2002.[232] For
2019, the average US adult was projected to spend $920 on gifts
alone.[233] In the UK in 2010, up to £8 billion was expected to be spent
online at Christmas, approximately a quarter of total retail festive
sales.[229]
Each year (most notably 2000) money supply in US banks is increased for Christmas shopping
In
most Western nations, Christmas Day is the least active day of the year
for business and commerce; almost all retail, commercial and
institutional businesses are closed, and almost all industries cease
activity (more than any other day of the year), whether laws require
such or not. In England and Wales, the Christmas Day (Trading) Act 2004
prevents all large shops from trading on Christmas Day. Similar
legislation was approved in Scotland in 2007. Film studios release many
high-budget movies during the holiday season, including Christmas films,
fantasy movies or high-tone dramas with high production values to hopes
of maximizing the chance of nominations for the Academy Awards.[234]
One
economist's analysis calculates that, despite increased overall
spending, Christmas is a deadweight loss under orthodox microeconomic
theory, because of the effect of gift-giving. This loss is calculated as
the difference between what the gift giver spent on the item and what
the gift receiver would have paid for the item. It is estimated that in
2001, Christmas resulted in a $4 billion deadweight loss in the U.S.
alone.[235][236] Because of complicating factors, this analysis is
sometimes used to discuss possible flaws in current microeconomic
theory. Other deadweight losses include the effects of Christmas on the
environment and the fact that material gifts are often perceived as
white elephants, imposing cost for upkeep and storage and contributing
to clutter.[237]
Controversies
Main article: Christmas controversies
Further
information: Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union,
Kirchenkampf, Antireligious campaigns in China, and Christmas in Puritan
New England
A 1931 edition of the Soviet magazine Bezbozhnik,
published by the League of Militant Atheists, depicting an Orthodox
Christian priest being forbidden to take home a tree for the celebration
of Christmastide, which was banned under the Marxist–Leninist doctrine
of state atheism.[238]
Christmas has at times been the subject of
controversy and attacks from various sources, both Christian and
non-Christian. Historically, it was prohibited by Puritans during their
ascendency in the Commonwealth of England (1647–1660), and in Colonial
New England where the Puritans outlawed the celebration of Christmas in
1659 on the grounds that Christmas was not mentioned in Scripture and
therefore violated the Reformed regulative principle of
worship.[239][240] The Parliament of Scotland, which was dominated by
Presbyterians, passed a series of acts outlawing the observance of
Christmas between 1637 and 1690; Christmas Day did not become a public
holiday in Scotland until 1958.[241][242][243] Today, some conservative
Reformed denominations such as the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland
and the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America likewise reject
the celebration of Christmas based on the regulative principle and what
they see as its non-Scriptural origin.[244][245] Christmas celebrations
have also been prohibited by atheist states such as the Soviet
Union[246] and more recently majority Muslim states such as Somalia,
Tajikistan and Brunei.[247]
Some Christians and organizations
such as Pat Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice cite alleged
attacks on Christmas (dubbing them a "war on Christmas").[248] Such
groups claim that any specific mention of the term "Christmas" or its
religious aspects is being increasingly censored, avoided, or
discouraged by a number of advertisers, retailers, government
(prominently schools), and other public and private organizations. One
controversy is the occurrence of Christmas trees being renamed Holiday
trees.[249] In the U.S. there has been a tendency to replace the
greeting Merry Christmas with Happy Holidays, which is considered
inclusive at the time of the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah,[250]
Kwanzaa, and Humanlight. In the U.S. and Canada, where the use of the
term "Holidays" is most prevalent, opponents have denounced its usage
and avoidance of using the term "Christmas" as being politically
correct.[251][252][253] In 1984, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Lynch
v. Donnelly that a Christmas display (which included a Nativity scene)
owned and displayed by the city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, did not
violate the First Amendment.[254] American Muslim scholar Abdul Malik
Mujahid has said that Muslims must treat Christmas with respect, even if
they disagree with it.[255]
The government of the People's
Republic of China officially espouses state atheism,[256] and has
conducted antireligious campaigns to this end.[257] In December 2018,
officials raided Christian churches just prior to Christmastide and
coerced them to close; Christmas trees and Santa Clauses were also
forcibly removed.[258][259]
See also
icon Christianity portal
icon Holidays portal
Christmas in July – Second Christmas celebration
Christmas Peace – Finnish tradition
Christmas Sunday – Sunday after Christmas
List of Christmas films
List of Christmas novels
Little Christmas – Alternative title for 6 January
Nochebuena
Mawlid – Birthday of Muhammad
Twin Holy Birthdays – Baháʼí religious observance
Yaldā Night – Persian festival
Christmas by medium – Christmas represented in different media
Notes
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.
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.
References
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as a Multi-Faith Festival" (PDF). BBC Learning English. December 29,
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"Christmas Strongly Religious For Half in U.S. Who Celebrate
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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.
Canadian Heritage –
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10, 2009. Retrieved November 18, 2009.
Crump, William D. (September
15, 2001). The Christmas Encyclopedia (3 ed.). McFarland. p. 39. ISBN
9780786468270. 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."
Tucker, Ruth
A. (2011). Parade of Faith: A Biographical History of the Christian
Church. Zondervan. p. 23. ISBN 9780310206385. 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.
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,
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Roll, p. 87
These
two references say that March 25 was the equinox, and Roll refers to a
work called De Solstitiis et Aequinoctiis which gives December 25 as the
solstice. However, at the time of Julius Caesar the winter solstice was
actually on the 23rd or 24th.
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.
"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.
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.
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and King birthdays are exclusively secular holidays, Christmas has both
secular and religious aspects.
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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.
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.
"When Christmas carols were banned". BBC. Retrieved March 11, 2022.
Rowell,
Geoffrey (December 1993). "Dickens and the Construction of Christmas".
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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.
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.
English, Adam C. (October 14, 2016). Christmas: Theological
Anticipations. Wipf and Stock Publishers. pp. 70–71. ISBN
978-1-4982-3933-2.
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.)
"Depositio Martyrum". 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.
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.
Roy, Christian (2005). Traditional Festivals: A Multicultural
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978-1-57607-089-5. Archived from the original on January 11, 2014.
Retrieved February 3, 2012.
Pokhilko, Hieromonk Nicholas. "History
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(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.
Kelly, Joseph F., The Origins of Christmas, Liturgical Press, 2004, pp. 67–69.
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.
Roll, pp. 88–90.
Duchesne, Louis, Les Origines du Culte Chrétien, Paris, 1902, 262 ff.
Andrew
McGowan. "How December 25 Became Christmas". Bible Review & Bible
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on December 14, 2012. Retrieved February 24, 2011.
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].
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.
"Annunciation", New Catholic Encyclopedia 2nd edition, 2003, Catholic University of America Press.
1 Corinthians 5:7–8: "Our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the festival..."
Tally, pp. 2–4.
Roll, p. 87.
"Christology - The Arian controversy | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved December 23, 2021.
Roll (1995), p. 88
Collinge,
William J. (2012). Historical Dictionary of Catholicism. ISBN
9780810857551. Archived from the original on December 31, 2015.
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Hippolytus and December 25th as the
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Machine, Roll (1995), p. 87.
Kelly, Joseph F. (2004). The Origins of
Christmas. Liturgical Press. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-8146-2984-0. Online here
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Roger (December 26, 2019). "Some notes on "De solstitiis et aequinoctis"
(CPL 2277)". Roger Pearse. Retrieved April 9, 2021.
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Senn,
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2014.
"Bruma", Seasonal Festivals of the Greeks and Romans
Pliny the Elder, Natural History, 18:59 (paragraph 220 in Latin)
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 betwwen 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.
Augustine, Sermon 192 Archived November 25, 2016, at the Wayback Machine.
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.
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."
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
(cited in Christianity and Paganism in the Fourth to Eighth Centuries, Ramsay MacMullen. Yale:1997, p. 155).
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Susan K. (1995). Toward the Origins of Christmas. Peeters Publishers.
p. 130. ISBN 9789039005316. Archived from the original on November 2,
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Tighe, William J. (2003).
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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).
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.
"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 978-0-71513738-3) quoted in "The Date of Christmas
and Epiphany" Archived April 6, 2015, at the Wayback Machine.
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.
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 978-0-54956551-2.
Tucker, Karen B. Westerfield (2000).
"Christmas". In Hastings, Adrian; Mason, Alistair; Pyper, Hugh (eds.).
The Oxford Companion to Christian Thought. Oxford University Press. p.
114. ISBN 978-0-19-860024-4.
Murray, Alexander, "Medieval Christmas"
Archived December 13, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, History Today,
December 1986, 36 (12), pp. 31 – 39.
Standiford, Les (2008). The Man
Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued
His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits. Crown. ISBN
978-0-307-40578-4.
Minzesheimer, Bob (December 22, 2008). "Dickens'
classic 'Christmas Carol' still sings to us". USA Today. Archived from
the original on November 6, 2009. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
Neal,
Daniel (1822). The History of the Puritans. William Baynes and Son. p.
193. They disapproved of the observation of sundry of the
church-festivals or holidays, as having no foundation in Scripture, or
primitive antiquity.
Barnett, James Harwood (1984). The American
Christmas: A Study in National Culture. Ayer Publishing. p. 3. ISBN
978-0-405-07671-8.
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Patrick. "Place in the American Christmas," (JSTOR Archived December
15, 2018, at the Wayback Machine), Geographical Review, Vol. 80, No. 1.
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Restad, Penne L. (1995). Christmas in America: a History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-510980-1.
Forbes, Bruce David, Christmas: a candid history, University of California Press, 2007, ISBN 0-520-25104-0, pp. 68–79.
Lowe, Scott C. (January 11, 2011). Christmas. John Wiley & Sons. p. 226. ISBN 978-1-4443-4145-4.
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.
Browne, Sammy R. 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.
Heinz, Donald (2010). Christmas: Festival of Incarnation. Fortress Press. p. 94. ISBN 978-1-4514-0695-5.
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.
Old, Hughes Oliphant
(2002). Worship: Reformed According to Scripture. Westminster John Knox
Press. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-664-22579-7.
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...
Sandys, William (1852). Christmastide: its history, festivities and carols. London: John Russell Smith. pp. 119–120.
Chambers, Robert (1885). Domestic Annals of Scotland, p. 211.
"Act
dischairging the Yule vacance". The Records of the Parliaments of
Scotland to 1707. (in Middle Scots). St Andrews: University of St
Andrews and National Archives of Scotland. Archived from the original on
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Anon (May 22, 2007).
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the original (PDF) on June 3, 2013. Retrieved January 12, 2010.
Miall, Anthony & Peter (1978). The Victorian Christmas Book. Dent. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-460-12039-5.
Woodforde, James (1978). The Diary of a Country Parson 1758–1802. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-281241-4.
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.
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)
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.
Marling, Karal Ann
(2000). Merry Christmas!: Celebrating America's Greatest Holiday.
Harvard University Press. p. 44. ISBN 978-0-674-00318-7.
Smith Thomas, Nancy (2007). Moravian Christmas in the South. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-8078-3181-6.
Andrews,
Peter (1975). Christmas in Colonial and Early America. United States:
World Book Encyclopedia, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7166-2001-3.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
Kelly, Richard Michael, ed. (2003). A Christmas Carol. Broadview Press. pp. 9, 12. ISBN 978-1-55111-476-7.
Cochrane,
Robertson. Wordplay: origins, meanings, and usage of the English
language. University of Toronto Press, 1996, p. 126, ISBN 0-8020-7752-8.
Hutton,
Ronald, The Stations of the Sun: The Ritual Year in England. 1996.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 113. ISBN 0-19-285448-8.
Joe L. Wheeler. Christmas in My Heart, Volume 10, p. 97. Review and Herald Pub Assoc, 2001. ISBN 0-8280-1622-4.
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.
The Girlhood of Queen Victoria: a selection
from Her Majesty's diaries, p. 61. Longmans, Green & Co., 1912.
University of Wisconsin.
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Shoemaker,
Alfred Lewis. (1959) Christmas in Pennsylvania: a folk-cultural study.
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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.
Kelly, Richard Michael (ed.) (2003), A
Christmas Carol, p. 20. Broadview Literary Texts, New York: Broadview
Press, ISBN 1-55111-476-3.
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
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Celebrate Christmas in Diverse Ways" Archived December 10, 2006, at the
Wayback Machine, Usinfo.state.gov, November 26, 2006.
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Presbyterian Church of Watertown "Oh ... and one more thing" December
11, 2005 Archived February 25, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
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2011.
Meggs, Philip B. A History of Graphic Design. 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. p 148 ISBN 0-471-29198-6.
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Practices" (PDF). Congressional Research Service. Archived (PDF) from
the original on January 3, 2014. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
Crossland,
David (December 22, 2021). "Truces weren't just for 1914 Christmas".
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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
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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.
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.
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.
Tamkin,
Emily (December 30, 2016). "How Soviets Came to Celebrate New Year's
Like Christmas (and Why Russians Still Do)". Foreign Policy. Foreign
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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."
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.
"Somalia joins Brunei by banning Christmas celebrations 'to
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Jespersen,
Knud J. V. (June 21, 2011). A History of Denmark. Macmillan
International Higher Education. p. 91. ISBN 9780230344174. 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.
"2018 Worship and Music Planning Calendar". The United Methodist Church. 2018. Retrieved December 9, 2018.
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Ed (December 14, 2015). "What Is Church Attendance Like During
Christmastime? New Data From LifeWay Research". Christianity Today.
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2018.
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attend church at Christmas, new figures suggest". The Daily Telegraph.
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2017.
Collins, Ace, Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas, Zondervan, (2003), ISBN 0-310-24880-9 p.47.
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scoperta dei cinque presepi più belli di Bologna | Nuok". Nuok.it.
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Genova, Tigullio -sito di Paolino". Digilander.libero.it. Archived from
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Nowak,
Claire (December 23, 2019). "The Real Reason Why Christmas Colors Are
Green and Red". Reader's Digest. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
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.
Collins, Ace (April 1, 2010). Stories Behind the
Great Traditions of Christmas. Zondervan. ISBN 978-0-310-87388-4.
Retrieved December 2, 2010.
Senn, Frank C. (2012). Introduction to
Christian Liturgy. Fortress Press. p. 118. ISBN 9781451424331. 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.
"The
Christmas Tree". Lutheran Spokesman. 29–32. 1936. The Christmas tree
became a widespread custom among German Lutherans by the eighteenth
century.
Kelly, Joseph F. (2010). The Feast of Christmas. Liturgical
Press. p. 94. ISBN 9780814639320. German Lutherans brought the
decorated Christmas tree with them; the Moravians put lighted candles on
those trees.
Blainey, Geoffrey (October 24, 2013). A Short History
of Christianity. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 418. ISBN
9781442225909. 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.
Mandryk, DeeAnn (October 25, 2005). Canadian Christmas
Traditions. James Lorimer & Company. p. 67. ISBN 9781554390984. 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.
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.
Jones,
David Albert (October 27, 2011). Angels. Oxford University Press. p.
24. ISBN 9780191614910. 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).
van Renterghem, Tony. When Santa was a shaman. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 1995. ISBN 1-56718-765-X.
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.
Harper, Douglas, Christ Archived May 9, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001.
"The
Chronological History of the Christmas Tree". The Christmas Archives.
Archived from the original on December 21, 2007. Retrieved December 18,
2007.
"Christmas Tradition – The Christmas Tree Custom". Fashion
Era. Archived from the original on December 18, 2007. Retrieved December
18, 2007.
Hewitson, Carolyn (2013). Festivals. Routledge. ISBN
9781135057060. 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.
"The
Legends and Traditions of Holiday Plants". www.ipm.iastate.edu.
Archived from the original on January 22, 2016. Retrieved February 17,
2016.
"StackPath". www.gardeningknowhow.com. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
"Germany's
Advent wreath tradition, and how to make one of your own". Stripes
Europe. November 21, 2019. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
"Liturgical
Year: Symbolic Lights and Fires of Christmas (Activity)". Catholic
Culture. Archived from the original on January 13, 2012. Retrieved
December 10, 2011.
Murray, Brian. "Christmas lights and community
building in America," History Matters, Spring 2006. Archived June 29,
2010, at the Wayback Machine
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Collins, Ace (2010). Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas. Zondervan. pp. 139–141. ISBN 9780310873884.
Miles, Clement, Christmas customs and traditions, Courier Dover Publications, 1976, ISBN 0-486-23354-5, p. 32.
Miles, Clement, Christmas customs and traditions, Courier Dover Publications, 1976, pp. 47–48
Dudley-Smith, Timothy (1987). A Flame of Love. London: Triangle/SPCK. ISBN 978-0-281-04300-2.
Thomas,
John; Talhaiarn; Thomas Oliphant (1862). Welsh melodies: with Welsh and
English poetry. London: Addison, Hollier and Lucas. p. 139. OCLC
63015609.
Byrne, Eugene (December 24, 2019). "Arguably most famous
Christmas song was written by a Bristolian". BristolLive. Retrieved
November 6, 2020.
Smolko, Joanna (February 4, 2012). "Christmas
music". Grove Music Online. Oxford University Press.
doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.A2227990.
Broomfield, Andrea (2007), Food and Cooking in Victorian England: A History, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007, pp. 149–150.
Muir, Frank (1977), Christmas customs & traditions, Taplinger Pub. Co., 1977, p. 58.
"Carp for Christmas: the odd Central European tradition explained". Kafkadesk. December 9, 2018.
"Christmas card sold for record price" Archived February 5, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, BBC News. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
Schaverien,
Anna (June 19, 2021). "E-Cards Are Back, Thanks to the Pandemic". The
New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on December
28, 2021. Retrieved November 13, 2021.
"It's time to mail your holiday cards — if you can find any". NBC News. Retrieved November 13, 2021.
"History
of Christmas - Part 2". The Note Pad | Stationery & Party Etiquette
Blog by American Stationery. November 28, 2012. Retrieved December 22,
2021.
Pruitt, Sarah. "The War of Words behind 'Happy Holidays'". HISTORY. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
Collins,
Ace (April 20, 2010). Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas.
Zondervan. p. 17. ISBN 9780310873884. 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.
Trexler, Richard (May 23, 1997).
The Journey of the Magi: Meanings in History of a Christian Story.
Princeton University Press. p. 17. ISBN 978-0691011264. 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.
Collins, Ace (April 20, 2010). Stories
Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas. Zondervan. p. 17. ISBN
9780310873884. 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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
Jona
Lendering (November 20, 2008). "Saint Nicholas, Sinterklaas, Santa
Claus". Livius.org. Archived from the original on May 13, 2011.
Retrieved February 24, 2011.
"St. Basil (330–379)". Skiathosbooks.com. Archived from the original on January 12, 2012. Retrieved February 3, 2012.
Matera, Mariane. "Santa: The First Great Lie" Archived September 14, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, Citybeat, Issue 304.
"Kto
przynosi Wam prezenty? Św. Mikołaj, Gwiazdor, Aniołek, Dzieciątko czy
może Dziadek Mróz?". Bezprawnik (in Polish). December 22, 2016. Archived
from the original on December 24, 2017. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
"Nie
tylko Mikołaj, czyli kto według tradycji rozdaje prezenty w różnych
regionach Polski?". gazeta.pl (in Polish). Archived from the original on
December 24, 2017. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
Ramzy, John. "The
Glorious Feast of Nativity: 7 January? 29 Kiahk? 25 December?". Coptic
Orthodox Church Network. Archived from the original on December 28,
2010. Retrieved January 17, 2011.
Blakemore, Erin (December 26,
2019). "Why some people celebrate Christmas in January".
www.nationalgeographic.com. National Geographic Partners LLC. Retrieved
July 26, 2022.
"Christmas in Bethlehem". www.sacred-destinations.com. Archived from the original on June 16, 2010. Retrieved June 12, 2010.
"Why Do Armenians Celebrate Christmas on January 6th?". armenianchurch.org. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
"Christmas is here- yet again!". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
<The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Faith and Order - Religious Holidays and Calendar>
Siegbert Uhlig, Encyclopaedia Aethiopica He-N, p. 538
Varga, Melody. "Black Friday, About:Retail Industry. Archived May 17, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
"Definition
Christmas Creep – What is Christmas Creep". Womeninbusiness.about.com.
November 2, 2010. Archived from the original on December 27, 2010.
Retrieved February 24, 2011.
"South Molton and Brook Street
Christmas Lights" Archived November 19, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
(November 16, 2010), View London.co.uk.
Kollewe, Julia, (November
29, 2010), "West End spree worth £250m marks start of Christmas shopping
season" Archived December 21, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, The
Guardian.
Gwen Outen (December 3, 2004). "ECONOMICS REPORT – Holiday
Shopping Season in the U.S." Voice of America. Archived from the
original on March 3, 2009.
US Census Bureau. "Facts. The Holiday
Season" December 19, 2005. (accessed November 30, 2009) Archived copy at
the Library of Congress (May 7, 2010).
US Census 2005.
Haury,
Amanda C. (November 8, 2019). "Average Cost of an American Christmas".
Investopedia. Dotdash. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
Zauzmer, Ben
(January 31, 2020). "Oscar Seasons: The Intersection of Data and the
Academy Awards". Harvard Data Science Review. 2 (1).
doi:10.1162/99608f92.6230ce9f. S2CID 213681214. Retrieved November 15,
2021.
"The Deadweight Loss of Christmas", American Economic Review, December 1993, 83 (5).
"Is Santa a deadweight loss?" Archived December 21, 2005, at the Wayback Machine The Economist December 20, 2001.
Reuters.
"Christmas is Damaging the Environment, Report Says" Archived March 12,
2007, at the Wayback Machine, December 16, 2005.
Harper, Timothy
(1999). Moscow Madness: Crime, Corruption, and One Man's Pursuit of
Profit in the New Russia. McGraw-Hill. p. 72. ISBN 9780070267008.
"Marta
Patiño, The Puritan Ban on Christmas". Timetravel-britain.com. Archived
from the original on March 1, 2011. Retrieved February 24, 2011.
Christmas
in the
Colonies[https://web.archive.org/web/20111225064533/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1868506_1868508_1868518,00.html
Archived December 25, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Time. Retrieved
December 25, 2011.
Todd, Margo (2002). The Culture of Protestantism
in Early Modern Scotland. Yale University Press. p. 187. ISBN
978-0-300-09234-9.
Daniels, Bruce Colin (1995). Puritans at Play:
Leisure and Recreation in Colonial New England. Macmillan, p. 89, ISBN
978-0-31216124-8
Roark, James; Johnson, Michael; Cohen, Patricia;
Stage, Sarah; Lawson, Alan; Hartmann, Susan (2011). Understanding the
American Promise: A History, Volume I: To 1877. Bedford/St. Martin's. p.
91. Puritans mandated other purifications of what they considered
corrupt English practices. They refused to celebrate Christmas or Easter
because the Bible did not mention either one.
"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.
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.
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 August
11, 2016.
Woolf, Nicky (December 24, 2015). "Christmas celebrations
banned in Somalia, Tajikistan and Brunei". The Guardian. Archived from
the original on August 26, 2016. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
"ACLJ, Christmas laws". Aclj.org. Archived from the original on December 25, 2013. Retrieved December 25, 2013.
Christmas controversy article – Muslim Canadian Congress.[dead link]
Feder,
Don, "In the culture, Christmas morphs into holiday" Archived April 12,
2010, at the Wayback Machine, Jewish World Review, December 13, 2000.
"The
Brits Have It Right: Forget Happy Holidays, Just Wish People Merry
Christmas". The Guardian. London. August 11, 2016. Archived from the
original on December 21, 2016. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
Jankowski,
Paul (August 11, 2016). "Is Saying 'Merry Christmas' Politically
Correct? Who Cares?". Forbes. Archived from the original on August 7,
2017. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
"If We Can't Say 'Merry Christmas'
in Canada, Multiculturalism Failed". HuffPost. August 11, 2016. Archived
from the original on September 29, 2016. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
"Lynch vs. Donnelly". Belcherfoundation.org. 1984. Archived from the original on February 16, 2006. Retrieved April 12, 2006.
Mujahid, Abdul Malik. "Treating Christmas with respect Archived April 5, 2017, at the Wayback Machine," Sound Vision.
Dillon, Michael (2001). Religious Minorities and China. Minority Rights Group International.
Buang,
Sa'eda; Chew, Phyllis Ghim-Lian (May 9, 2014). Muslim Education in the
21st Century: Asian Perspectives. Routledge. p. 75. ISBN 9781317815006.
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'.
"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.
"Santa Claus won't be
coming to this town, as Chinese officials ban Christmas". South China
Morning Post. December 18, 2018. Archived from the original on January
12, 2019. Retrieved January 11, 2019. Christmas is not a recognised
holiday in mainland China – where the ruling party is officially atheist
– and for many years authorities have taken a tough stance on anyone
who celebrates it in public. ... The statement by Langfang officials
said that anyone caught selling Christmas trees, wreaths, stockings or
Santa Claus figures in the city would be punished. ... While the ban on
the sale of Christmas goods might appear to be directed at retailers, it
also comes amid a crackdown on Christians practising their religion
across the country. On Saturday morning, more than 60 police officers
and officials stormed a children's Bible class in Guangzhou, capital of
southern China's Guangdong province. The incident came after authorities
shut down the 1,500-member Zion Church in Beijing in September and
Chengdu's 500-member Early Rain Covenant Church last week. In the case
of the latter, about 100 worshippers were snatched from their homes or
from the streets in coordinated raids.
Further reading
Bowler, Gerry, The World Encyclopedia of Christmas (October 2004: McClelland & Stewart). ISBN 978-0-7710-1535-9
Bowler, Gerry, Santa Claus: A Biography (November 2007: McClelland & Stewart). ISBN 978-0-7710-1668-4
Comfort,
David, Just Say Noel: A History of Christmas from the Nativity to the
Nineties (November 1995: Fireside). ISBN 978-0-684-80057-8
Count, Earl W., 4000 Years of Christmas: A Gift from the Ages (November 1997: Ulysses Press). ISBN 978-1-56975-087-2
Federer,
William J., There Really Is a Santa Claus: The History of St. Nicholas
& Christmas Holiday Traditions (December 2002: Amerisearch). ISBN
978-0-9653557-4-2
Kelly, Joseph F., The Origins of Christmas (August 2004: Liturgical Press). ISBN 978-0-8146-2984-0
Miles, Clement A., Christmas Customs and Traditions (1976: Dover Publications). ISBN 978-0-486-23354-3
Nissenbaum, Stephen, The Battle for Christmas (1996; New York: Vintage Books, 1997). ISBN 0-679-74038-4
Restad, Penne L. (1995). Christmas in America: A History. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-509300-1.
Rosenthal, Jim, St. Nicholas: A Closer Look at Christmas (July 2006: Nelson Reference). ISBN 1-4185-0407-6
Sammons, Peter (May 2006). The Birth of Christ. Glory to Glory Publications (UK). ISBN 978-0-9551790-1-3.
"Christmas" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). 1911. pp. 293–294.
Martindale,
Cyril (1908). "Christmas" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic
Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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Tridentine Mass of the Roman Rite of the Latin Church (1960 Calendar)
Advent
Sundays 1st2nd3rd4thRorate MassImmaculate ConceptionGreater FeriasWinter Ember Days
Christmas Season
ChristmasOctave Day of ChristmasHoly Name of Jesus
Epiphany Season
EpiphanyHoly FamilyBaptism of the LordPurification of MaryP
Lent
Pre-Lent
SeptuagesimaSexagesimaQuinquagesima
Lent
Ash WednesdaySundays 1st2nd3rd4thSpring Ember DaysSaint JosephAnnunciation
Passiontide
Passion SundayPalm SundayPHoly WeekP
Paschal Triduum
TenebraeHoly Thursday Chrism MassMass of the Lord's SupperGood FridayHoly SaturdayEaster Vigil
Easter Season
Easter SundayP OctaveSundays after Easter 1st2nd3rd4th5th6thRogation DaysPAscensionP
Pentecost Season
PentecostSummer
Ember DaysTrinity SundayCorpus ChristiPSacred HeartSaint John the
BaptistSaints Peter and PaulPrecious
BloodVisitationTransfigurationAssumptionNativity of MaryExaltation of
the CrossPAutumn Ember DaysMaternity of MaryChrist the KingAll Saints'
DayAll Souls' DayPresentation of Mary
Legend P = Ordinary Procession according to the Roman Ritual
Legend Italic font marks the 10 holy days of obligation in the universal calendar which do not normally fall on a Sunday.
Older calendars 1955pre-1955TridentineLiturgical coloursRankingComputusEaster cycleicon Catholicism portal
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Algeria Holidays, observances, and celebrations in Algeria
January
New Year's Day (1)Yennayer (12)
February
Valentine's Day (14)Tafsut (28)
March
International Women's Day (8)Victory Day (19)World Water Day (22)Maghrebi Blood Donation Day (30)Spring vacation (2 last weeks)
April
April Fools' Day (1)Knowledge Day (16)Berber Spring (20)Earth Day (22)Election Day (Thursday)
May
International Workers' Day (1)World Press Freedom Day (3)Mother's Day (last Sunday)
June–July–August
Summer vacation (varies)
June
Children's Day (1)Father's Day (21)
July
Independence Day (5)
September
International Day of Peace (21)
October
International Day of Non-Violence (2)Halloween (31)
November
Revolution Day (1)
December
Christmas Eve (24)Christmas (25)New Year's Eve (31)Winter vacation (2 last weeks)
Varies (year round)
Hijri
New Year's Day (Muharram 1)Ashura (Muharram 10) Ashura in AlgeriaMawlid
(Rabi' al-Awwal 12) Mawlid in AlgeriaRamadan (Ramadan 1)Laylat al-Qadr
(Ramadan 27)Eid al-Fitr (Shawwal 1)Day of Arafah (Dhu al-Hijjah 9)Eid
al-Adha (Dhu al-Hijjah 10)
Bold indicates major holidays commonly celebrated in Algeria, which often represent the major celebrations of the month.
See also: Lists of holidays.
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Public holidays in Australia
New Year's DayAustralia DayGood FridayEaster SaturdayEaster MondayAnzac DayKing's BirthdayLabour DayChristmas DayBoxing Day
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Holidays in Canada
Nationwide statutory holidays
New Year's DayGood FridayCanada DayLabour DayChristmas Day
Statutory holidays for
federal employees
Easter MondayVictoria DayNational Day for Truth and ReconciliationThanksgivingRemembrance DayBoxing Day
Indigenous holidays
National Indigenous Peoples DayNational Day for Truth and Reconciliation
Anishinaabe GiizhigadGoose BreakHobiyeePestie'wa'taqetimkQuviasukvik
Other common holidays
April
Fools' DayAugust Civic HolidayCommonwealth DayEarth DayEmancipation
DayFather's DayFlag DayGrandparents' DayGroundhog Day/Daks
DayHalloweenInternational Women's DayMother's DayNational Family
WeekNational Peacekeepers' DaySaint Patrick's DayTartan DayValentine's
DayWhite Ribbon Day
Alberta Family DayBritish Columbia Family
DayManitoba Louis Riel DayNew Brunswick Family DayLoyalist
DayNewfoundland & Labrador Discovery DayMemorial DayOrangemen's
DaySaint George's DayNova Scotia Davis DayHeritage DayNunavut Nunavut
DayOntario Family DayLoyalist DayPrince Edward Island Gold Cup Parade
DayIslander DayQuébec Construction HolidayGoose BreakNational Patriots
DaySaint-Jean-Baptiste DaySaskatchewan Family DayYukon Discovery Day
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Hong Kong Public holidays in Hong Kong
New
Year's DayLunar New Year (first 3 days of the period)Ching Ming
FestivalGood FridayHoly SaturdayEaster MondayBuddha's BirthdayLabour
DayTuen Ng FestivalHong Kong SAR Establishment DayMid-Autumn FestivalPRC
National DayChung Yeung FestivalChristmas DayBoxing Day
Flag-map of Hong Kong.svg
Cancelled
Queen's BirthdayLiberation DayDouble Ten DayRemembrance Day
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Indonesia Public holidays in Indonesia
New
Year's DayChinese New YearDay of SilenceIsra and Mi'rajGood
FridayLabour DayWaisak DayAscension DayPancasila DayCollective DaysEid
al-FitrEid al-AdhaIndependence DayIslamic New YearProphet's
BirthdayChristmas
Flag map of Indonesia.svg
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Republic of Ireland Public holidays in the Republic of Ireland
New
Year's DaySaint Brigid's DaySaint Patrick's DayEaster MondayMay DayJune
HolidayAugust HolidayOctober HolidayChristmas DaySaint Stephen's Day
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Malaysia Public holidays in Malaysia
National holidays
Chinese
New YearLabour DayWesak DayEid al-FitrEid al-AdhaMerdeka
DayMuharramAgong's BirthdayMalaysia DayMuhammad's BirthdayChristmas
Flag map of Malaysia.svg
State holidays
(differ by states)
New
Year's DayYang di-Pertua Negeri Sembilan's BirthdaySultan of Kedah's
BirthdayThaipusamFederal Territory DayAnniversary of Installation of the
Sultan of TerengganuSultan of Johor's BirthdayIsra and
Mi'rajDeclaration of Malacca City as Historical CityGood FridaySultan of
Terengganu's BirthdayFirst Day of RamadanDay of Nuzul Al-QuranTadau
KaamatanGawai DayakDeclaration of George Town as World Heritage
SitePenang State Governor's BirthdayRaja of Perlis's BirthdaySarawak
Independence DayHol Day of Sultan Iskandar of JohorSabah State
Governor's BirthdayMalacca State Governor's BirthdaySarawak State
Governor's BirthdaySultan of Pahang's BirthdayDeepavaliSultan of Perak's
BirthdaySultan of Kelantan's BirthdaySultan of Selangor's
BirthdayChristmas Eve
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Mexico Public holidays in Mexico
Statutory holidays
Año
NuevoDía de la ConstituciónNatalicio de Benito JuárezDía del TrabajoDía
de IndependenciaDía de la RevoluciónTransmisión del Poder Ejecutivo
FederalNavidad
Civic holidays
Día del EjércitoDía de la
BanderaAniversario de la Expropiación petroleraHeroica Defensa de
VeracruzCinco de MayoNatalicio de Miguel HidalgoDía de la MarinaGrito de
DoloresDía de los Niños HéroesConsumación de la IndependenciaNatalicio
de José Ma. Morelos y PavónDescubrimiento de América
Festivities
Día
de los Santos ReyesDía de San ValentínDía del NiñoDía de las MadresDía
del MaestroDía del estudianteDía del PadreDía de Todos los SantosDía de
los Fieles DifuntosDía de la Virgen de GuadalupeLas PosadasNochebuenaDia
de los Santos Inocentes
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Myanmar Public holidays in Myanmar
National holidays
New
Year's DayIndependence DayKaren New YearUnion DayPeasants' DayFull Moon
Day of TabaungArmed Forces DayThingyanLabour DayFull Moon Day of
KasonMartyrs' DayFull Moon Day of KasonFull Moon Day of ThadingyutFull
Moon Day of TazaungmonNational DayChristmasNew Year's EveEid
al-AdhaDiwali
flag Myanmar portal
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Public holidays in New Zealand
New
Year's DayJanuary 2Waitangi DayGood FridayEaster SundayEaster
MondayAnzac DayKing's BirthdayMatarikiLabour DayChristmas DayBoxing Day
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Philippines Public holidays in the Philippines
Regular holidays
New
Year's DayMaundy ThursdayGood FridayDay of ValorLabor DayIndependence
DayEid'l FitrNational Heroes' DayEid'l AdhaBonifacio DayChristmasRizal
Day
Special non-working days
Chinese New YearEDSA Revolution
AnniversaryBlack SaturdayNinoy Aquino DayAll Saints' Day and All Souls'
DayFeast of the Immaculate ConceptionChristmas EveLast day of the year
Italicized: Movable holiday
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South Africa Public holidays in South Africa
New
Year's DayHuman Rights DayGood FridayFamily DayFreedom DayWorkers'
DayYouth DayNational Women's DayHeritage DayDay of
ReconciliationChristmas DayDay of Goodwill
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Public holidays in Sri Lanka
Jan–Mar
Thai PongalDuruthu Poya DayIndependence DayNavam Poya DayMaha ShivratriMadin Poya Day
Apr–Jun
Sinhala
and Tamil New Year Day eveSinhalese New Year/Tamil New YearBak Poya
DayGood FridayMay DayVesak Poya DayDay following Vesak Poya
DayId-Ul-Fitr (Ramazan Festival Day)Poson
Jul–Sep
Esala Poya DayId-Ul-Alha (Hadji Festival Day)Nikini Poya DayBinara Poya Day
Oct–Dec
Vap Poya DayDeepavali Festival DayMilad-Un-Nabi (Holy Prophet’s Birthday)Ill Poya DayUnduvap Poya DayChristmas Day
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Thailand Public holidays in Thailand
National holidays
New
Year's DayMagha PujaChakri Memorial DaySongkranLabour DayRoyal
Ploughing Ceremony and Farmer's DayVesakKing Vajiralongkorn's
BirthdayAsanha BuchaPhansaQueen Sirikit's BirthdayKing Bhumibol
Adulyadej's Memorial DayKing Chulalongkorn DayKing Bhumibol Adulyadej's
BirthdayConstitution DayNew Year's Eve
Flag map of Thailand.svg
Region-based holidays
Chinese New YearEid al-FitrEid al-AdhaChristmas
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Ukraine Public holidays in Ukraine
New
Year's Day (1 Jan)(Julian) Christmas (7 Jan)Day of Resistance to
Occupation of Crimea and Sevastopol (26 Feb)International Women's Day (8
Mar)Orthodox Easter (moveable)Orthodox Pentecost (moveable)Labour Day
(1 May)Victory Day over Nazism (9 May)Constitution Day (28
June)Statehood Day (28 July)Independence Day (24 Aug)Defenders of
Ukraine Day (14 Oct)(Gregorian and Revised Julian) Christmas (25 Dec)
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United Kingdom Public holidays in the United Kingdom
All regions
New Year's DayMay Bank HolidaySummer Bank HolidayChristmas DayBoxing Day
England and Wales
Good FridayEaster MondaySpring Bank Holiday
Northern Ireland
Saint Patrick's DayEaster MondayEaster TuesdaySpring Bank HolidayBattle of the Boyne (Orangemen's Day)
Scotland
2nd JanuaryGood FridaySt Andrew's Day (optional)
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United States Federal holidays in the United States
Current
New
Year's DayMartin Luther King Jr. DayWashington's BirthdayMemorial
DayJuneteenthIndependence DayLabor DayColumbus DayVeterans
DayThanksgiving DayChristmas Day
Proposed
Flag Day
(1950)Election Day/Democracy Day (1993, 2005, 2014)Malcolm X Day
(1993–1994)Cesar Chavez Day (2008)Susan B. Anthony Day (2011)Native
American Day (2013)Rosa Parks Day (2021)
Related
Uniform Monday Holiday Act
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United States Holidays, observances, and celebrations in the United States
January
New Year's Day (federal)Martin Luther King Jr. Day (federal)
Birthday
of Eugenio María de Hostos (PR)Confederate Heroes Day (TX)Eve of Three
Kings' Day (PR, religious)Feast of Epiphany / Feast of Theophany
(religious)Fred Korematsu Day (AZ, CA, FL, HI, VA)Idaho Human Rights Day
(ID)Inauguration Day (federal quadrennial)Kansas Day (KS)Makar
Sankranti / Pongal (religious)Robert E. Lee Day (FL)Stephen Foster
Memorial Day (36)The Eighth (LA)Three Kings' Day (PR, VI,
religious)World Religion Day (religious)
January–February
Super Bowl Sunday
Chinese New Year / Lunar New Year (NY, cultural, religious)Vasant Panchami (religious)
February
American Heart Month
Black History Month
Washington's Birthday (federal)Valentine's Day
Birthday
of Luis Muñoz Marín (PR)Candlemas (religious)Charles Darwin Day /
Darwin Day (CA, DE)Day of Remembrance (CA, OR, WA, cultural)Georgia Day
(GA)Groundhog DayImbolc (religious)Lincoln's Birthday (CA, CT, IL, IN,
MO, NY, WV)National Girls and Women in Sports DayNational Freedom Day
(36)Nirvana Day (religious)Presentation of Our Lord to the Temple
(religious)Promised Reformer Day (religious)Ronald Reagan Day (CA)Rosa
Parks Day (CA, MO)Saviours' Day (religious)Susan B. Anthony Day (CA, FL,
NY, WI, WV, proposed federal)Tu B’shvat (religious)
February–March
Mardi Gras
Ash
Wednesday (PR, religious)Carnival (PR, VI, religious)Clean Monday
(religious)Courir de Mardi Gras (religious)Intercalary Days
(religious)Mahashivaratri (religious)Purim (religious)Shrove Tuesday
(religious)Super Tuesday
March
Irish-American Heritage Month
Colon Cancer Awareness Month
Women's History Month
Saint Patrick's Day (religious)Spring break (week)
Annunciation
of the Virgin Mary / Annunciation of the Theotokos (religious)Casimir
Pulaski Day (IL)Cesar Chavez Day (CA, CO, TX, proposed
federal)Emancipation Day in Puerto Rico (PR, cultural)Evacuation Day
(Suffolk County, MA)Harriet Tubman Day (NY)Hola Mohalla (religious)Holi
(NY, religious)L. Ron Hubbard’s Birthday (religious)Lailat al-Mi'raj
(religious)Liberation and Freedom Day (Charlottesville, VA,
cultural)Mardi Gras (AL (in two counties), LA)Maryland Day (MD)National
Poison Prevention Week (week)Nowruz (cultural, religious)Ostara
(religious)Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole Day (HI)Promised Messiah Day
(religious)Saint Joseph's Day (religious)Seward's Day (AK)Texas
Independence Day (TX)Town Meeting Day (VT)Transfer Day (VI)Trans Day of
Visibility (cultural)
March–April
Easter (religious)
Good
Friday (CT, NC, PR, NJ, VI, religious)Hanuman Jayanti (religious)Holy
Thursday (PR, VI, religious)Holy Week (PR, religious, week)Lazarus
Saturday (religious)Mahavir Janma Kalyanak (religious)Mesha Sankranti /
Hindu New Year (religious)Palm Sunday (PR, religious)Passover
(religious, week)Easter Monday / Bright Monday (VI, religious)Ramnavami
(religious)Chandramana Uugadi / Souramana Uugadi (religious)
April
Arab American Heritage Month
Confederate History Month
420April
Fools' DayArbor DayBirthday of José de Diego (PR)Confederate Memorial
Day (AL, MS)Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust
(week)Earth DayEmancipation Day (cultural)Thomas Jefferson's Birthday
(AL)Lag B’Omer (religious)Last Friday of Great Lent (religious)Pascua
Florida (FL)Patriots' Day (MA, ME)Ridván (religious)San Jacinto Day
(TX)Siblings DayWalpurgis Night (religious)Yom Ha'atzmaut (cultural,
religious)
May
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
Jewish American Heritage Month
Memorial Day (federal)Mother's Day (36)Cinco de Mayo
Ascension
of Baháʼu'lláh (religious)Ascension of Our Lord (religious)Caliphate
Day (religious)Declaration of the Bab (religious)Harvey Milk Day
(CA)International Workers' Day / May Day (CA, unofficial, proposed
state)Law Day (36)Loyalty Day (36)Malcolm X Day (CA, IL, proposed
federal)Military Spouse DayNational Day of Prayer (36)National Day of
ReasonNational Defense Transportation Day (36)National Maritime Day
(36)Peace Officers Memorial Day (36)Pentecost (religious)Shavuot
(religious)Truman Day (MO)Vesak / Buddha's Birthday (religious)
June
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgender Pride Month
Juneteenth (federal, cultural)Father's Day (36)
Bunker
Hill Day (Suffolk County, MA)Carolina Day (SC)Fast of the Holy Apostles
(religious)Flag Day (36, proposed federal)Helen Keller Day (PA)Honor
America Days (3 weeks)Jefferson Davis Day (AL, FL)Kamehameha Day
(HI)Litha (religious)Martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev Sahib (religious)Odunde
Festival (Philadelphia, PA, cultural)Senior Week (week)Saint John's Day
(PR, religious)West Virginia Day (WV)
July
Independence Day (federal)
Asalha
Puja Day (religious)Birthday of Don Luis Muñoz Rivera (PR)Birthday of
Dr. José Celso Barbosa (PR)Emancipation Day in the U.S. Virgin Islands
(VI, cultural)Guru Purnima (religious)Khordad Sal (religious)Lā Hoʻihoʻi
Ea (HI, unofficial, cultural)Martyrdom of the Báb (religious)Parents'
Day (36)Pioneer Day (UT)Puerto Rico Constitution Day (PR)
July–August
Summer vacation
Tisha B'Av (religious)
August
American
Family Day (AZ)Barack Obama Day in Illinois (IL)Bennington Battle Day
(VT)Dormition of the Theotokos (religious)Eid-e-Ghadeer (religious)Fast
in Honor of the Holy Mother of Lord Jesus (religious)Feast of the
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (religious)Hawaii Admission Day /
Statehood Day (HI)Krishna Janmashtami (religious)Lammas
(religious)Lyndon Baines Johnson Day (TX)Naga Panchami
(religious)National Aviation Day (36)Paryushana (religious)Raksha
Bandhan (religious)Transfiguration of the Lord (religious)Victory Day
(RI)Women's Equality Day (36)
September
Prostate Cancer Awareness Month
Childhood Cancer Awareness Month
Labor Day (federal)
Brazilian
Day (NY, cultural)California Admission Day (CA)Carl Garner Federal
Lands Cleanup Day (36)Constitution Day (36)Constitution Week
(week)Defenders Day (MD)Elevation of the Holy Cross (religious)Feast of
San Gennaro (NY, cultural, religious)Ganesh Chaturthi (religious)Gold
Star Mother's Day (36)His Holiness Sakya Trizin’s Birthday
(religious)Mabon (religious)National Grandparents Day (36)National
Payroll Week (week)Nativity of Mary / Nativity of the Theotokos
(religious)Native American Day (proposed federal)Patriot Day (36)
September–October
Hispanic Heritage Month
Chehlum
Imam Hussain (religious)OktoberfestPitri Paksha (religious)Rosh
Hashanah / Feast of Trumpets (TX, NY, religious)Shemini Atzeret
(religious)Simchat Torah (religious)Vijaya Dashami (religious)Yom Kippur
/ Day of Atonement (TX, NY, religious)
October
Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Disability Employment Awareness Month
Italian-American Heritage and Culture Month
Filipino American History Month
LGBT History Month
Columbus Day (federal)Halloween
Alaska
Day (AK)Child Health Day (36)General Pulaski Memorial
DayGerman-American DayIndigenous Peoples' Day (VT)International Day of
Non-ViolenceLeif Erikson Day (36)Missouri Day (MO)Nanomonestotse
(cultural)National School Lunch Week (week)Native American Day in South
Dakota (SD)Nevada Day (NV)Spirit Day (cultural)Sweetest DaySukkot /
Feast of Tabernacles (religious, week)Virgin Islands–Puerto Rico
Friendship Day (PR, VI)White Cane Safety Day (36)
October–November
Birth of the Báb (religious)Birth of Baháʼu'lláh (religious)Day of the Dead (VI)Diwali (NY, religious)Mawlid al-Nabi (religious)
November
Native American Indian Heritage Month
Veterans Day (federal)Thanksgiving (federal)
Ascension
of ‘Abdu’l Baha (religious)All Saints' Day (religious)Beginning of the
Nativity Fast (religious)Beltane / Samhain (religious)Barack Obama Day
in Alabama (Perry County, AL)D. Hamilton Jackson Day (VI)Day after
Thanksgiving (24)Day of the Covenant (religious)Discovery of Puerto Rico
Day (PR)Election Day (CA, DE, HI, KY, MT, NJ, NY, OH, PR, VA, WV,
proposed federal)Family Day (NV)Guru Nanak Gurpurab (religious)Hanukkah
(religious)Lā Kūʻokoʻa (HI, unofficial, cultural)Martyrdom of Guru Tegh
Bahadur (religious)Native American Heritage Day (MD, WA,
cultural)Presentation of the Theotokos to the Temple (religious)Trans
Day of Remembrance (cultural)Unthanksgiving Day (cultural)
December
Christmas (religious, federal)New Year's Eve
Advent
Sunday (religious)Alabama Day (AL)Birthday of Guru Gobind Singh Sahib
(religious)Bodhi Day (religious)Chalica (religious)Christmas Eve (KY,
NC, SC, PR, VI)Day after Christmas (KY, NC, SC, TX,
VI)FestivusHumanLightHanukkah (religious, week)Immaculate Conception
(religious)Indiana Day (IN)Kwanzaa (cultural, week)Milad Syedna Mohammed
Burhanuddin (religious)National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day
(36)Nativity of Jesus (religious)Old Year's Night (VI)Pan American
Aviation Day (36)Pancha Ganapati (religious, week)Rosa Parks Day (OH,
OR)Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God (religious)Wright Brothers Day
(36)Yule (religious)Zartosht No-Diso (religious)
Varies (year round)
Eid
al-Adha (NY, religious)Eid al-Fitr (NY, religious)Islamic New Year
(religious)Yawm al-Arafa (religious)Hajj (religious)Laylat al-Qadr
(religious)Navaratri (religious, four times a year)Obon (religious)Onam
(religious)Ramadan (religious, month)Ghost Festival (religious)Yawm
Aashura (religious)
Legend:
(federal) = federal holidays,
(abbreviation) = state/territorial holidays, (religious) = religious
holidays, (cultural) = holiday related to a specific racial/ethnic group
or sexual minority, (week) = week-long holidays, (month) = month-long
holidays, (36) = Title 36 Observances and Ceremonies
See also: Lists
of holidays, Hallmark holidays, Public holidays in the United States,
Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands.
vte
Winter solstice and midwinter festivals
Africa
Goru: Mali (Dogon)Dzon'ku Nu†: West Africa (Papaws)
Americas
Inti Raymi°: Peru (Inca†)Jonkonnu°: Caribbean° (African American)Soyal: US (Zuni, Hopi)We Tripantu: Chile (Mapuche)
Asia
Amaterasu†:
JapanChoimusDeygān, Maidyarem°: (Zoroastrian)Dōngzhì, Tōji: (East
Asian)Lohri, Pongal, Makar Sankranti°: India (Hindu)Sanghamitta Day: Sri
Lanka (Buddhist)Şeva Zistanê: (Kurdish)Yalda: Iran (Persian)
Europe
Beiwe:
(Saami)Brumalia†: Ancient GreeceChristmas: Roman Empire°
(Christian)Dies Natalis Solis Invicti†: Roman EmpireDeuorius Riuri†:
GaulHogmanay°: ScotlandKorochun°: (Slavs)Malkh-Festival°: (Nakh
peoples)Mōdraniht†: Western Germany (Matres and Matrones)Midvinterblót†:
Sweden (Norse)Montol Festival, Mummer's Day°: Cornwall
(Celts)Saturnalia†: RomeWren's Day°: Ireland, Isle of Man, Wales
(Celts)Yule, Jul°: (Germanic)Ziemassvētki: Baltic (Romuva)
Oceania
Matariki°: New Zealand (Māori)
† dagger indicates extinction. ° degree symbol indicates changes in date, name or location. ( ) indicate demographic
Authority control Edit this at Wikidata
National libraries
France (data)GermanyIsraelUnited StatesJapanCzech Republic
Other
Historical Dictionary of SwitzerlandInternet Encyclopedia of UkraineNational Archives (US)SUDOC (France) 1İslâm Ansiklopedisi
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ven
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Rollplay Steam Train Ride-On ToyPrice:$116.99
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Kidzone 12V 2-Speed Electric Ride On Bumper CarPrice:$209.96
Kidzone 12V 2-Speed Electric Ride On Bumper Car
Singing Machine Karaoke MachinePrice:$74.99
Singing Machine Karaoke Machine
Kids Easel Double-Sided Magnetic Whiteboard & ChalkboardPrice:$79.99
Kids Easel Double-Sided Magnetic Whiteboard & Chalkboard
Hey! Play! Deluxe Painted Wooden Train Set TablePrice:$79.99
Hey! Play! Deluxe Painted Wooden Train Set Table
Kidzlane Dance MatPrice:$59.99
Kidzlane Dance Mat
SUNLIN Dance Mixer Rhythm Step Play MatPrice:$49.99
SUNLIN Dance Mixer Rhythm Step Play Mat
Fire 7 Kids TabletPrice:$99.99
Fire 7 Kids Tablet
ThinkFun Gravity Maze Marble Run Brain GamePrice:$17.41
ThinkFun Gravity Maze Marble Run Brain Game
Trekassy Swing Set with 40-Inch Saucer Tree SwingPrice:$199.99
Trekassy Saucer Swing Set
Ninja Warrior Obstacle Course for Kids BackyardPrice:$129.95
Ninja Warrior Obstacle Course for Kids Backyard
CTSC Stainless Steel 95-Foot Zip Line KitPrice:$169.99
CTSC Stainless Steel 95-Foot Zip Line Kit
Baby Joy 3-in-1 Slide for KidsPrice:$139.99
Baby Joy 3-in-1 Slide for Kids
ArmoGear Electronic Boxing Toy for KidsPrice:$73.99
ArmoGear Electronic Boxing Toy for Kids
KLASK: The Magnetic Award-Winning Party Game of Skill - for Kids and AdultsPrice:$59.99
KLASK: The Magnetic Award-Winning Party Game of Skill
STEM Toys Remote Control Car/Robot/Tank Building SetsPrice:$69.99
STEM Toys Remote Control Car/Robot/Tank Building Sets
LEGO Super Mario Adventures with Mario Starter Course Building KitPrice:$47.99
LEGO Super Mario Adventures with Mario Starter Course Building Kit
LEGO Super Mario Adventures with Luigi Starter Course Building KitPrice:$47.99
LEGO Super Mario Adventures with Luigi Starter Course Building Kit
KidKraft Ultimate Corner Wooden Play Kitchen with Lights & SoundsPrice:$187.90
KidKraft Ultimate Corner Wooden Play Kitchen with Lights & Sounds
Little Tikes First Washer_DryerPrice:$31.99
Little Tikes First Washer/Dryer
Husqvarna Kids Toy Battery Operated Leaf Blower + Lawn Trimmer Line + ChainsawPrice:$105.99
Husqvarna Kids Toy Battery Operated Leaf Blower + Lawn Trimmer Line + Chainsaw
Qaba Ride-On Walking Rolling Kid's HorsePrice:$149.99
Qaba Ride-On Walking Rolling Kid’s Horse
Smart TeddyPrice:$199.95
Smart Teddy
Educational Insights GeoSafari Jr. Talking Wildlife CameraPrice:$45.49
Educational Insights GeoSafari Jr. Talking Wildlife Camera
TEUVO Pet Care Play SetPrice:$29.89
TEUVO Pet Care Play Set Doctor Kit
Crayola Light Up Tracing PadPrice:$23.14
Crayola Light Up Tracing Pad
Flybay Kids Makeup KitPrice:$25.89
Flybay Kids Makeup Kit
Monobeach Princess TentPrice:$38.95
Monobeach Princess Tent
Seckton Kids Selfie CameraPrice:$36.99
Seckton Kids Selfie Camera
Educational Insights GeoSafari Jr. Talking MicroscopePrice:$33.99
Educational Insights GeoSafari Jr. Talking Microscope
Lite-Brite Ultimate Value SetPrice:$19.99
Lite-Brite Ultimate Value Set
CENOVE Flower Garden Building ToyPrice:$32.99
CENOVE Flower Garden Building Toy
Ryan’s World Secret Agent Mystery Mission CasePrice:$59.99
Ryan’s World Secret Agent Mystery Mission Case
Playskool Sit ‘n SpinPrice:$34.99
Playskool Sit ‘n Spin
Geospace Original Walkaroo StiltsPrice:$69.99
Geospace Original Walkaroo Stilts
Story Time ChessPrice:$39.99
Story Time Chess
Emotional Rollercoaster Anger Management Board Game for KidsPrice:$35.95
Emotional Rollercoaster Anger Management Board Game for Kids
Tamagotchi OnPrice:$260.00
Tamagotchi On
LEGO Disney Ariel, Belle, Cinderella and Tiana’s Storybook Adventures Building KitPrice:$24.98
LEGO Disney Ariel, Belle, Cinderella and Tiana’s Storybook Adventures Building Kit
BEST LEARNING My First Piano BookPrice:$22.98
BEST LEARNING My First Piano Book
YEEBAY Punching Bag for KidsPrice:$44.99
YEEBAY Punching Bag for Kids
Top Race 3-in-1 Remote Control DIY Construction Trucks SetPrice:$29.99
Top Race 3-in-1 Remote Control DIY Construction Trucks Set
iPlay, iLearn Electronic Punching Boxing GamePrice:$29.99
iPlay, iLearn Electronic Boxing Game
Force1 Scoot Hand Operated Drone for KidsPrice:$24.99
Force1 Scoot Hand Operated Drone for Kids
Step2 Extreme Roller CoasterPrice:$419.99
Step2 Extreme Roller Coaster
USA Toyz Kid Nitro Race Car Building ToysPrice:$19.99
USA Toyz Kid Nitro Race Car Building Toys
Action Air Inflatable Waterslide Shark Bounce HousePrice:$332.99
Action Air Inflatable Waterslide Shark Bouncer
CalmMax TrampolinePrice:$259.99
CalmMax Trampoline
Eezy Peezy Monkey Bars Climbing TowerPrice:$149.99
Eezy Peezy Monkey Bars Climbing Tower
HOMILY Gatling Bubble GunPrice:$41.99
HOMILY Gatling Bubble Gun
Paw Patrol Adventure Bay Bath PlaysetPrice:$24.99
Paw Patrol Adventure Bay Bath Playset
Yookidoo Submarine Spray Station Bath ToyPrice:$34.93
Yookidoo Submarine Spray Station Bath Toy
XXTOYS Dino Egg Dig KitPrice:$18.99
XXTOYS Dino Egg Dig Kit
Ben Franklin Toys Talking Toy Cash RegisterPrice:$59.66
Ben Franklin Toys Talking Toy Cash Register
Halovin Dinosaur Shooting GamePrice:$39.99
Halovin Dinosaur Shooting Game
Sharpshooter Dual Shot Basketball Arcade GamePrice:$249.99
Sharpshooter Dual Shot Basketball Arcade Game
Little Tikes Easy Score Basketball SetPrice:$35.99
Little Tikes Easy Score Basketball Set
Triumph Fire ‘n Ice LED Light-Up 54” Air Hockey TablePrice:$171.12
Triumph Fire ‘n Ice LED Light-Up 54” Air Hockey Table
NHL Stanley Cup Hockey Table GamePrice:$199.95
NHL Stanley Cup Hockey Table Game
iPlay, iLearn 2-in-1 RC Baseball & Tennis Pitching MachinePrice:$39.99
iPlay, iLearn 2-in-1 Remote Control Baseball & Tennis Pitching Machine
iPlay, iLearn Kids Golf Toys SetPrice:$25.49
iPlay, iLearn Kids Golf Toys Set
Franklin Sports Football Target Toss GamePrice:$19.59
Franklin Sports Football Target Toss Game
Franklin Sports Kids Folding Hockey 2 Goal SetPrice:$59.99
Franklin Sports Kids Hockey 2 Goal Set
Franklin Sports Youth Football Goal-Post SetPrice:$45.89
Franklin Sports Youth Football Goal Post Set
Marvel Avengers Action FiguresPrice:$46.95
Marvel Avengers Action Figures
Playskool Heroes Marvel Super Hero Adventures Ultimate Super Hero SetPrice:$25.50
Playskool Heroes Marvel Super Hero Adventures Ultimate Super Hero Set
Spider-Man Mask and Web Shooter SetPrice:$21.24
Spider-Man Mask and Web Shooter Set
Batman Pop Up Batmobile TentPrice:$27.99
Batman Pop Up Batmobile Tent
Spider-Man Chair Desk with Storage BinPrice:$39.99
Spider-Man Chair Desk with Storage Bin
Marvel Super Hero Adventures Iron Man with HulkbusterPrice:$49.99
Marvel Super Hero Adventures Iron Man with Hulkbuster
LEGO Minifigures Marvel StudiosPrice:$59.99
Marvel Studios LEGO Minifigures
Wonder Forge Marvel I Can Do That! GamePrice:$24.99
Wonder Forge Marvel I Can Do That! Game
Marvvel Super Hero Adventures Jetquarters Vehicle MultipackPrice:$50.68
Marvel Super Hero Adventures Vehicle Multipack
DC Comics Batman 3-in-1 Batcave PlaysetPrice:$44.99
DC Comics Batman 3-in-1 Batcave Playset
Marvel 3-Pack Avengers Short Sleeve Superhero Tee Shirt SetPrice:$24.99
Marvel 3-Pack Avengers Short Sleeve Superhero Tee Shirt Set
Marvel Avengers 4-Pack Graphic T-Shirt SetPrice:$26.99
Marvel Avengers 4-Pack Graphic T-Shirt Set
Gross Gummy Candy LabPrice:$14.97
Gross Gummy Candy Lab
Klutz The Klutz Book of Paper Airplanes Craft Kit & Lego Chain ReactionsPrice:$33.98
Klutz Book of Paper Airplanes Craft Kit & Lego Chain Reactions
Ravensburger Gravitrax Starter SetPrice:$59.95
Ravensburger Gravitrax Starter Set
Barbie's Dream HousePrice:$192.99
Barbie Dreamhouse
Baby Alive DollPrice:$39.59
Baby Alive Interactive Baby Grows Up Doll
Rainbow High Hair StudioPrice:$68.54
Rainbow High Hair Studio
LOL Surprise OMG Sunshine Gurl Fashion DollPrice:$33.21
LOL Surprise OMG Sunshine Gurl Fashion Doll
Na Na Na Surprise Teens Fashion DollPrice:$25.10
Na Na Na Surprise Teens Fashion Doll
Splashin'kids Inflatable Tummy Time Premium Water MatPrice:$18.97
Splashin’kids Inflatable Tummy Time Premium Water Mat
Simplay3 Two Sided Rock and Roll Teeter Totter and Climbing BridgePrice:$99.99
Simplay3 Two Sided Rock and Roll Teeter Totter and Climbing Bridge
Montessori Toys for Babies 3-in-1 Soft Baby Toys BundlePrice:$35.99
Montessori Toys for Babies 3-in-1 Soft Baby Toys Bundle
What are Christmas Gifts for Kids Who Have Everything?
It's
always difficult to find gifts for kids who have everything. In these
cases, we typically recommend going with a custom kid's gift so that
your present is sure to be unique.
Children that are into
superheroes could be a great target for these customizable options from
Everfan. On their site are some awesome personalized capes and more.
A
customizable kid's blanket is something that you could get creative
with which will also serve a purpose. But one of my favorite suggestions
is to find a personalized storybook for the child you're shopping for.
With
a personalized storybook, you'll be able to create something that kids
will be excited to go back and revisit time and time again. And because
there's a solid amount of options out there, you should be able to find a
story that revolves around something your giftee is passionate about.
Plus,
we all know the importance of reading to children. A recent study done
by Ohio State University emphasized this. So book giving is always a
winning idea.
What are the Best Christmas Gifts for Kids in 2022?
Toy
trends change pretty drastically year over year. But the best selling
toys of this year have both new and familiar products.
Melissa & Doug children's toys continue to rank highly thanks to both their educational and fun factors.
The
SHASHIBO Shape Shifting Box is becoming extremely popular of late. This
puzzle cube is comprised of 36 rare earth magnets that give it the
ability to transform into 70 different shapes. And it's available in a
wide variety of styles to suit each child's taste.
And as you
can probably guess, LEGO sets are as popular as ever. As are LOL
Surprise Dolls. The Rainbow High set of figures seems to be gaining
momentum as a top gift this year too. And, of course, Pokemon toys and
Pokemon cards are always going to be hot-ticket items.
What are Some Gift Ideas for Kids That are Not Toys?
Sometimes
the best gift idea for a kid isn't a toy at all. Practical things such
as backpacks and lunchboxes, or fun and cute bedding items could be a
huge hit if they're needed. Or getting adorable furniture for their
rooms could be an easy win too.
Outdoor furniture is something
that will be appreciated when the weather gets warmer. And toy chests
and storage always come in handy when all of those Christmas gifts begin
to take over their room.
What are Some Small Christmas Gifts for Children's Friends?
It's
always cute when kids are excited to exchange Christmas gifts with
their friends. But as parents, that's not typically something you want
to invest much money into. Luckily, there are some great ideas online
for small Christmas gifts for your children's friends.
When
researching kids' friend's gifts, some thoughtful options pop up such as
matching necklaces and bracelets. Going with matching best friends
t-shirts is always a super cute option too.
Kids love to play
with and exchange Pokemon cards. They're pretty inexpensive. So buying a
few packs for your little one to hand out could be a fun idea. But one
of the best (and cheapest) ideas is to have your child hand out some
delicious Christmas candy. No kid is going to be disappointed by that!