Christmas is celebrated to remember
the birth of of Jesus Christ,
who Christians believe is the Son of God.
The name 'Christmas' comes from the
Mass of Christ (or Jesus). A Mass service (which is sometimes called Communion
or Eucharist) is where Christians remember that Jesus died for us and then came
back to life. The 'Christ-Mass' service was the only one that was allowed to
take place after sunset (and before sunrise the next day), so people had it at
Midnight! So we get the name Christ-Mass, shortened to Christmas.
Christmas is now celebrated by people
around the world, whether they are Christians or not. It's a time
when family and friends come together and remember the good things they have.
People, and especially children, also like Christmas as it's a time when
you give and receive presents!
The Date of Christmas
No one knows the real birthday of
Jesus! No date is given in the Bible, so why do we celebrate it on the 25th
December? The early Christians certainly had many arguments as to when it
should be celebrated! Also, the birth of Jesus probably didn't happen in the
year 1 but slightly earlier, somewhere between 2 BCE/BC and 7 BCE/BC (there
isn't a 0 - the years go from 1 BC/BCE to 1!).
The first recorded date of Christmas
being celebrated on December 25th was in 336, during the time of the Roman
Emperor Constantine (he was the first Christian Roman Emperor). A few years later,
Pope Julius 1 officially declared that the birth of Jesus would be celebrated
on the 25th December.
There are many different traditions
and theories as to why Christmas is celebrated on December 25th. A very early
Christian tradition said that the day when Mary was told
that she would have a very special baby, Jesus (called the
Annunciation) was on March 25th - and it's still celebrated today on the 25th
March. Nine months after the 25th March is the 25th December! March 25th was
also the day some early Christians thought the world had been made, and also
the day that Jesus died on when he was an adult.
December 25th might have also been
chosen because the Winter Solstice and the ancient pagan Roman midwinter
festivals called 'Saturnalia' and 'Dies Natalis Solis Invicti' took place in
December around this date - so it was a time when people already celebrated
things.
The Winter Solstice is the day where
there is the shortest time between the sun rising and the sun setting. It
happens on December 21st or 22nd. To pagans this meant that the winter was over
and spring was coming and they had a festival to celebrate it and worshipped
the sun for winning over the darkness of winter. In Scandinavia, and some other
parts of northern Europe, the Winter Solstice is known as Yule and is where we
get Yule Logs from.
In Eastern Europe the mid-winter festival is called Koleda.
The Roman Festival of Saturnalia
took place between December 17th and 23rd and honoured the Roman god Saturn. Dies
Natalis Solis Invicti means 'birthday of the unconquered sun' and was held on
December 25th (when the Romans thought the Winter Solstice took place) and was
the 'birthday' of the Pagan Sun god Mithra. In the pagan religion of Mithraism,
the holy day was Sunday and is where get that word from!
Early Christians might have given
this festival a new meaning - to celebrate the birth of the Son of God 'the
unconquered Son'! (In the Bible a prophesy about the Jewish savior, who
Christians believe is Jesus, is called 'Sun of Righteousness'.)
The Jewish festival of Lights, Hanukkah starts
on the 25th of Kislev (the month in the Jewish calendar that occurs at about
the same time as December). Hanukkah celebrates when the Jewish people were
able to re-dedicate and worship in their Temple, in Jerusalem, again following
many years of not being allowed to practice their religion.
Jesus was a Jew, so this could be
another reason that helped the early Church choose December the 25th for the
date of Christmas!
Christmas had also been celebrated
by the early Church on January 6th, when they also celebrated the Epiphany(which
means the revelation that Jesus was God's son) and the Baptism of Jesus. Now
Epiphany mainly celebrates the visit of the Wise Men to the baby
Jesus, but back then it celebrated both things! Jesus's Baptism was
originally seen as more important than his birth, as this was when he started
his ministry. But soon people wanted a separate day to celebrate his birth.
Most of the world uses the
'Gregorian Calendar' implemented by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. Before that the
'Roman' or Julian Calendar was used (named after Julius Caesar). The Gregorian
calendar is more accurate that the Roman calendar which had too many days in a
year! When the switch was made 10 days were lost, so that the day that followed
the 4th October 1582 was 15th October 1582. In the UK the change of calendars
was made in 1752. The day after 2nd September 1752 was 14th September 1752.
Many Orthodox and Coptic Churches
still use the Julian Calendar and so celebrate Christmas on the 7th January
(which is when December 25th would have been on the Julian calendar). And the
Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates it on the 6th January! In some part of the
UK, January 6th is still called 'Old Christmas' as this would have been the day
that Christmas would have celebrated on, if the calendar hadn't been changed.
Some people didn't want to use the new calendar as they thought it 'cheated'
them out of 11 days!
Christians believe that Jesus is the
light of the world, so the early Christians thought that this was the right
time to celebrate the birth of Jesus. They also took over some of the customs
from the Winter Solstice and gave them Christian meanings, like Holly, Mistletoe and
even Christmas
Carols!
St Augustine was the person who
really started Christmas in the UK by introducing
Christianity in the 6th century. He came from countries that used the Roman
Calendar, so western countries celebrate Christmas on the 25th December. Then
people from Britain and Western Europe took Christmas on the 25th December all
over the world!
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