What are the origins and distinctive ancient traditions of Christmas?

Every year, 65438+February 25th is the day when Christians commemorate the birth of Jesus, which is called Christmas.

From 65438+February 24th to the following year, 65438+1October 6th is Christmas. During the festival, Christians from all over the world will hold grand commemorative ceremonies. Christmas was originally a Christian holiday. Because people attach great importance to it, it has become a national festival. The biggest festival of the year in China can be compared with the Spring Festival, just like the Spring Festival in China in the west.

Westerners use red, green and white as Christmas colors. When Christmas comes, every family should decorate it with Christmas colors. The red ones have Christmas flowers and Christmas candles. The green one is the Christmas tree. It is the main decoration of Christmas, decorated with evergreen trees such as fir and cypress that have been cut into towers. Colorful lanterns, gifts and paper flowers are hung on it, and Christmas candles are lit.

The contrast between red and white is Santa Claus, who is the most popular figure in Christmas activities. Before going to bed on Christmas Eve, western children should put a sock in front of the fireplace or beside the pillow. When they fall asleep, Santa Claus will put presents in the sock. Playing Santa Claus is also a custom in the west.

The name "Christmas" is the abbreviation of "Christian Mass". Mass is a church service. Christmas is a religious holiday. We celebrate it as the birthday of Jesus, so it is also called Christmas. On this day, all Christian churches in the world hold special ceremonies. But many Christmas celebrations have nothing to do with religion. Exchanging gifts and sending Christmas cards make Christmas a day of universal celebration.

There is a story about the birth of Jesus. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. God even sent the angel Gabriel to Yue Se in his dream, telling him not to abandon Maria just because she was unmarried and pregnant, but to marry her and name the child "Jesus", which means to save people from sin.

When Maria was about to give birth, the Roman government issued an order that everyone must declare their household registration when they came to Bethlehem. Yue Se and Mary had to obey.

When they arrived in Bethlehem, it was already dark, but they couldn't find a hotel for the night, only a stable could stay. Just then, Jesus was born! So Mary only gave birth to Jesus in a manger. In order to commemorate the birth of Jesus, later generations designated1February 25th as Christmas, and held mass every year to commemorate the birth of Jesus.

Christmas commemorates the birth of Jesus on1February 25th, but no one knows his real date of birth. /kloc-In the 9th century, with the popularity of Christmas cards and the appearance of Santa Claus, Christmas became popular.

The origin of Santa Claus

Christmas is an exciting day, especially for children. I believe everyone is familiar with Santa Claus? Once upon a time, there was an old man named Nicholas who loved to help poor families all his life. Once he helped three poor teenagers and gave them three bags of gold, which saved them from being sold. When Nicholas secretly gave a bag of gold to one of the women, he threw the gold out of a window and fell into a sock on the wall. Therefore, the way to give gifts by wearing Christmas stockings is to ask for candy from door to door!

It is said that on the night of Christmas Eve, the Santa Husbands Association will drive reindeer sleigh full of gifts to send some children who have behaved well in the past year. He would sneak into the house from the chimney and stuff gifts into socks hanging on the bedside. Therefore, children always hang colorful socks on the bedside and put a cup of hot milk next to them to quench their thirst for hard-working Santa Claus and give themselves a big gift.

The next day, every child can't wait to open the ceremony and want to know what reward he got.

1822, after a Dutch missionary spread the story of this great philanthropist to the United States, American businessmen used this festival every year to publicize advertisements with special marketing techniques and made a lot of money. Japan and other Asian countries followed suit. Therefore, the custom of dressing up as Santa Claus to celebrate Christmas has gradually become popular all over the world.

The origin of Christmas tree

1. It is said that around16th century, Germans first placed evergreen pine and cypress branches in their houses as decorations. Later, German missionary Martin Luther put candles on fir branches in the forest and lit them, making them look like starlight leading people to Bethlehem, just as the Magi found Jesus according to the stars in the sky two thousand years ago. Today, people have switched to light bulbs instead of candles.

Legend has it that a long time ago, a farmer met a poor child at Christmas. He received the child warmly. When the child left, he broke a pine branch and put it on the ground. The pine branch immediately turned into a tree, and the tree was covered with gifts to thank the farmer for his kindness.

However, the Christmas tree really appeared at Christmas, first seen in Germany, and then introduced to Europe and America, becoming an indispensable ornament for Christmas. They usually use colorful lights, wax, gifts or angels to install Christmas trees, especially people living in the northwest of the United States. Because the local forest resources are rich, they will choose a real tree as a Christmas tree with their whole family. There are many kinds of Christmas trees, including natural pine and cypress trees, artificial Christmas trees and white Christmas trees. Every Christmas tree is covered with dazzling decorations, but there must be a very big star at the top of each tree, just like the star that guided the Magi to find Jesus. Moreover, in traditional customs, only the head of the family can hang this star of hope, and no one else can intervene.

The origin of Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is also called Christmas Eve. That night, the whole family will gather in the living room, sing Christmas songs around the Christmas tree, exchange gifts, share the joys and sorrows of life in the past year, and express their inner blessings and love. On this night, I will see a group of lovely little boys or girls, playing guitars with poems in their hands, singing poems one after another, bringing good news. How on earth did the Jiayin team come from this festival?

On the night of Jesus' birth, a shepherd was guarding his flock in the wilderness when he suddenly heard a voice from the sky telling them the good news of Jesus' birth. According to the Bible, Jesus came to be the king of the world, so angels spread the news to more people through these shepherds.

Later, people followed the example of angels and spread the news of the birth of Jesus everywhere on Christmas Eve. Until today, good news has become an indispensable program for Christmas.

Usually, the good news team consists of about twenty young people, plus a little girl dressed as an angel and Santa Claus. On Christmas Eve, after about nine o'clock, a family began to hear good news. Whenever the good news team goes to a family, they will sing some familiar Christmas songs first, then the little girl will read the Bible to let the family know that tonight is the birthday of Jesus, then everyone will pray together and sing a poem or two, and then the generous Santa Claus will send Christmas presents to the small hall of that family, and the whole good news process will be completed!

The whole good news activity will last until about four o'clock the next morning.