Crismus' Comin', Honey And Other Rhymes

Product Information

Worship and Music Planning Calendar". The United Methodist Church. 2018 . Retrieved December 9, 2018. Nowak, Claire (December 23, 2019). "The Real Reason Why Christmas Colors Are Green and Red". Reader's Digest . Retrieved December 18, 2020. Lejeune, Marie Claire. Compendium of symbolic and ritual plants in Europe, p.550. University of Michigan ISBN 90-77135-04-9. Prior to Christmas Day, people decorate their homes and gardens prior to Christmas Day. These decorations may include: 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.

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. [17] 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. [18] [19] [20] Related to the winter solstice theory above, the "History of Religions" hypothesis proposes the Church chose December 25 as Christ's birthday ( dies Natalis Christi) [77] to appropriate the Roman winter solstice festival dies Natalis Solis Invicti (birthday of the Unconquered Sun), held on the same date. [63] [78] It honored the sun god Sol Invictus, whose cult was revived by the emperor Aurelian in AD 274. In Rome this yearly festival was celebrated with thirty chariot races. [78] Gary Forsythe, Professor of Ancient History, says "This celebration would have formed a welcome addition to the seven-day period of the Saturnalia (December 17–23), Rome's most joyous holiday season since Republican times, characterized by parties, banquets, and exchanges of gifts". [78] In AD 362, the emperor Julian wrote in his Hymn to King Helios that the agon Solis was a festival of the sun held at the end of the Saturnalia in late December. [79] [80] In summary, there are four different dates used by different Christian groups to mark the birth of Christ, given in the table below.

Background and symbols

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.

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. The Christmas Tree". Lutheran Spokesman. 29–32. 1936. The Christmas tree became a widespread custom among German Lutherans by the eighteenth century. Senn, Frank C. (2012). Introduction to Christian Liturgy. Fortress Press. ISBN 978-1-4514-2433-1. Archived from the original on December 31, 2015 . Retrieved December 23, 2014.Further information: Hanging of the greens A typical Neapolitan presepe or presepio, or Nativity scene. Local crèches are renowned for their ornate decorations and symbolic figurines, often mirroring daily life. Bartlett, Robert (2015). Why Can the Dead Do Such Great Things?: Saints and Worshippers from the Martyrs to the Reformation. Princeton University Press. p.154. Many popular customs associated with Christmas developed independently of the commemoration of Jesus' birth, with some claiming that certain elements are Christianized and have origins in pre-Christian festivals that were celebrated by pagan populations who were later converted to Christianity; other scholars reject these claims and affirm that Christmas customs largely developed in a Christian context. [89] [22] 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, [90] to a tamer family-oriented and children-centered theme introduced in a 19th-century transformation. [91] [92] 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. [93] [94] [95] The form Christenmas was also used during some periods, but is now considered archaic and dialectal. [28] The term derives from Middle English Cristenmasse, meaning "Christian mass". [29] 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. [30] This abbreviation has precedent in Middle English Χρ̄es masse (where "Χρ̄" is an abbreviation for Χριστός). [29] Other names

a b Roy, Christian (2005). Traditional Festivals: A Multicultural Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. p.146. ISBN 978-1-57607-089-5. Archived from the original on January 11, 2014 . Retrieved February 3, 2012.Woodforde, James (1978). The Diary of a Country Parson 1758–1802. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-281241-4.

Christmas Strongly Religious For Half in U.S. Who Celebrate It". Gallup, Inc. December 24, 2010. Archived from the original on December 7, 2012 . Retrieved December 16, 2012. 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] Various factors contributed to the choice of December 25. It was the date of the winter solstice in the Roman Empire, [42] [16] [53] [54] where most Christians lived. Christmas emerged during "the peak of state-sponsored sun worship" in the empire. [55] Since AD 274, the Roman festival Dies Natalis Solis Invicti (birthday of Sol Invictus, the 'Invincible Sun') had been held on December 25. [42] The early Church linked Jesus Christ to the Sun and referred to him as the 'Sun of Righteousness' ( Sol Justitiae) prophesied by Malachi. [51] [56] The early Christian writer Lactantius wrote "the east is attached to God because he is the source of light and the illuminator of the world and he makes us rise toward eternal life". It is for this reason that the early Christians established the direction of prayer as being eastward, towards the rising sun. [40] A late fourth-century sermon by Saint Augustine explains why the winter solstice was a fitting day to celebrate Christ's birth: Adam C. English, professor of religion at Campbell University, has argued for the veracity of December 25 as Jesus's date of birth. [75] 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. [75] [76] English assumes that Zechariah's ministry in the Temple, as described in Luke 1:5–23, took place on Yom Kippur the year before Jesus's birth; he then traces Luke's narrative through the Annunciation and the birth of John the Baptist to conclude that Jesus was born on December 25. [75] History of religions hypothesis Kirk Cameron, William Federer (November 6, 2014). Praise the Lord. Trinity Broadcasting Network. Event occurs at 01:15:14. Archived from the original on December 25, 2014 . Retrieved December 25, 2014. Western Europe celebrated Christmas December 25 as the holiest day. Eastern Europe celebrated January 6 the Epiphany, the visit of the Wise Men, as the holiest day... and so they had this council and they decided to make all twelve days from December 25 to January 6 the Twelve Days of Christmas.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) a b c Forbes, Bruce David, Christmas: a candid history, University of California Press, 2007, ISBN 0-520-25104-0, pp. 68–79. Later in the day, people may attend special church services, even if they do not usually go to church. Nearly everyone prepares and eats a special meal. This often includes roast turkey, potatoes and parsnips, and other vegetables. After the main course, Christmas pudding is often eaten. This is a heavy steamed, dense, cake-like pudding filled with dried fruit and nuts. Burning brandy is often poured over it as it is served, giving a spectacular effect. Mince pies are also popular on Christmas Day. They are sweet pastry cases filled with a mixture of dried fruit, fat and alcohol. Public Life Ehorn, Lee Ellen; Hewlett, Shirely J.; Hewlett, Dale M. (September 1, 1995). December Holiday Customs. Lorenz Educational Press. p.1. ISBN 978-1-4291-0896-6.