Christmas

Christmas is one of the most important festivals of Christianity , along with Easter Resurrection and Pentecost. This feast , which commemorates the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem , is celebrated on December 25 in the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, some Protestant communities and the Romanian Orthodox Church. Instead, it is celebrated on January 7 in other Orthodox churches that did not accept the amendment made to the Julian calendar to move to the Gregorian calendar known as , name derived from its reformer Pope Gregory XIII. English speakers use the term Christmas , meaning ' misa ( mass ) of Christ. In some Germanic languages , such as German, the festival is called Weihnachten , meaning ' blessed night ' . The Christmas holidays are proposed, as the name suggests , celebrate the Nativity ( ie birth) of Jesus of Nazareth. There are several theories about how they came to celebrate Christmas on December 25 , arising from various modes of inquiry, according to some known data , on what date Jesus would have been born .

Formation of Christmas as December holiday

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, one Christmas is not included in the list of Christian festivals of Irenaeus or Tertullian list on the same topic, which are the oldest known lists. The earliest evidence of concern for the date of Christmas is located in Alexandria, about the year 200 AD, when Clement of Alexandria states that certain "very curious" Egyptian theologians assign not only the year but also the actual day of birth of Christ as Coptic Pashons 25 (20 May) in the twenty-eighth year of Augustus. From 221, in the work Chronographiai, Sextus Julius Africanus popularized the December 25 as the date of Jesus' birth. By the time of the First Council of Nicaea in 325, the Alexandrian Church had already set the Des nativitatis et epifanae.

Adoption of the date of Christmas as December 25

There are several theories about the origin of December 25 as Christmas Day . According defends William J. Thige , in the third century and the birth of Christ would be held on December 25 , even before the Romans celebrate the feast of the invincible Sun (Sol Invictus ) . According to other authors , the celebration of this feast on December 25 is due to the ancient celebration of the annual birth of the Sun-god at the winter solstice ( invicti natalis Solis ), adapted by the Catholic Church in the third century AD. C. to allow conversion of peoples paganos. In Antioch , probably in 386, John Chrysostom urged the community to join the celebration of the birth of Christ with the December 25 , 5 although part of the community and kept that day at least ten years before. In the Roman Empire, the celebrations of Saturn during the solstice , which were the main social event, reached its peak on 25 diciembre.6 To make it easier for the Romans could become Christians without abandoning their festivities , Pope Julius I called the 350 that the birth of Christ was celebrated on the same date , 7 Pope Liberius finally decreed this day as the birth of Jesus of Nazareth in 354. The first mention of a Christmas feast on that date in Constantinople , dating from 379 , under Gregory Nazianzen . The feast was introduced in Antioch about 380. In Jerusalem, Egeria , in the fourth century , witnessed the Feast of the Presentation , forty days after January 6 , February 15 , it must have been the date of the birth. The December feast reached Egypt in the V century [citation needed] . Some maintain that December 25 was adopted only in the fourth century as a Christian holiday after the Roman emperor Constantine the Great converted to Christianity to encourage a common religious festival and convert pagans to Christianity. A careful reading of historical records indicates that the first mention of such a feast in Constantinople did not happen until 379 , under Gregory Nazianzen . In Rome, it can be confirmed only when a document about the year 350 is mentioned, but no mention of the penalty by the Emperor Constantine.

Prohibition of Christmas celebration

During the Protestant Reformation, the celebration of the birth of Christ was banned by some Protestant churches , calling it " traps papists " and even " Claws of the Beast " due to his relationship with Catholicism and ancient paganism . After the parliamentary victory over King Charles I during the English Civil War in 1647 , the English Puritan rulers banned Christmas celebrations . The people rebelled making several riots to take major cities such as Canterbury, where the doors decorated with slogans that spoke of the sanctity of the party. The Restoration of 1660 ended the ban, but many of the members , not content reformist clergy, rejected Christmas celebrations , using Puritan arguments. In the colonial era of the United States , the New England Puritans rejected Christmas and celebration was outlawed in Boston from 1659-1681 . At the same time , Christian residents of Virginia and New York followed the celebrations freely. Christmas fell out of favor in the United States after the Revolution, because it was considered an English custom . In the 1820s , sectarian tension had eased in Britain and some British writers began to worry, because Christmas was dying out . I figured since Christmas as a time of celebration honest, they made efforts to revive the party. The book of Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol , published in 1843 , played a major role in reinventing Christmas party , emphasizing family , goodwill , compassion and family celebration. Christmas was declared a federal holiday in the United States in 1870 , signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant, but it's still a party strongly disputed by the various Puritan leaders of the nation. Today, some independent Baptist churches , congregations paraprotestantes some radical character and the sect of Jehovah's Witnesses (founded by Charles Taze Russell ) do not celebrate Christmas , because they consider it a pagan holiday and its celebration is not listed as prescribed in the Bible. In addition , they reject that on December 25 is the actual date of Christ's birth . It is noteworthy that the Jehovah's Witnesses in the beginning itself celebrating Christmas , not in a religious way as such , but a way of socializing among its members that date. The change in attitude towards this festival was due apparently to the new distinctive teachings of their new religious leader , Judge Joseph Franklin Rutherford.

No Christian Holidays December 25

The birth date of Jesus is not recorded in the Bible. For this reason, not all Christian denominations agree on the same date. The origins of this celebration, on December 25, are located in the customs of the ancient peoples who celebrated during the winter solstice (from December 21), a related party to the god or gods of the sun, as Apollo and Helios (Rome and Greece), Mitra (in Persia), Huitzilopochtli (Tenochtitlan), among others. Some cultures believed that the sun god was born on December 21, the shortest day of the year and the days became longer as the god grew older. In other cultures it was believed that the sun god died that day, only to return to another cycle. The Romans celebrated on December 25 Party " Natalis Solis Invicti " or " birth of the unconquered sun " , associated with the birth of Apollo. December 25 was considered as day of the winter solstice , which the Romans called haze , when Julius Caesar introduced his calendar in 45 a. C. , December 25 must be located between 21 and 22 December our Gregorian Calendar . In this event , the idea of December 25 as the birth date of Jesus Christ was taken. Another Roman festival called Saturnalia , honoring Saturn, lasted about seven days and included the winter solstice . For this celebration the Romans postponed all business and warfare, were exchanging gifts, and temporarily freed their slaves. Such traditions resemble current Christmas traditions and used to establish a link between the two holidays. The Germans and Scandinavians celebrated on December 26, the birth of Frey, the Norse god of the rising sun , rain and fertility. In these celebrations adorning an evergreen tree , representing the tree Yggdrasil or the Universe , a custom that became the Christmas tree, when Christianity came to Northern Europe . The Aztecs celebrated during the winter, the advent of Huitzilopochtli , the god of sun and war in Panquetzaliztli month , roughly equivalent to the period from 7 to 26 December our calendar. "For that reason and taking the coincidence of dates , the first evangelists , the Augustinians , promoted the replacement of characters and so the pre-Hispanic god disappeared and kept holding , giving Christian characteristics. "

The Incas celebrated Inti or rebirth of the sun god , the party was called Capac Raymi or Festival of the mighty sun which by extension also covered and gave name to the month , hence this was the first month of the Inca calendar. This party was the counterpart of June Inti Raymi , since December 23 is the austral summer solstice and the Inti Raymi solstice happens in the austral winter. In the austral summer solstice the Sun reaches its greatest power ( is old ) and dies, but is reborn to reach maturity in June, then declines until December, and so the life cycle of the sun is completed This party had a connotation of birth , for an initiation ceremony into adulthood of young men of the empire, such initiation was known as Warachikuy was performed.

Christmas Traditions
Christmas is the most famous , although the Church considers it the most important Christian holiday Easter . And for that reason it is one that contains more traditions : The Christmas Eve ( December 24 - December 25 ) is a feast ranging from the day before Christmas until after midnight . It is celebrated in honor of the birth of Christ which took place at midnight at the beginning of December 25 , similar to the Jewish feast of Passover the way . Traditionally turkey, cod, pork, lamb and other dishes, depending on where it is held or the traditions of the family eats . Traditionally in Christian families or gatherings of Christians often make a prayer at midnight in honor of the birth of Jesus and in gratitude to God. The cribs , cribs or nativity scenes consist of the representation of the birth of Jesus, by a model of Bethlehem and its vicinity , in which the main figures are the stable where Jesus , the Holy Family , was born animals and shepherds, also 3 wise men and a star with a trail that also usually placed on top of the Christmas tree. According to tradition, St. Francis of Assisi was its inventor. In Argentina , Mexico , Colombia , Guatemala , Panama , Nicaragua , Costa Rica , Paraguay , Venezuela , Peru , Chile and Bolivia , the figure of the child is not placed until the arrival of Christmas , when his birth , and then be ' lulled ' is placed between Joseph and Mary.

 The Advent wreath , wreath made from branches of cypress or pine tied with a red ribbon in which four candles are placed usually red which mark the four Advent Sundays before Christmas Day , families gather around him every Sunday, a candle is lit and prayers and carols in preparation for the birth of Jesus are recited. This tradition is more prevalent in the Catholic Church and the crown should be blessed in the Church. The carols , songs or songs alluding to the birth of Christ or the Holy Family. Some like Silent Night have multiple language versions or rhythms, with the same or different n ame .

The Christmas tree, a decorative element for which is often used a conifer (or artificial trees ) decorated with ornaments . Being an evergreen tree symbolizes the love of God. It originated in Germany where the evangelist St. Boniface established tradition. The holiday villas , representations of people in time of snow. Las Posadas are a number of festivals, recalling the journey of St. Joseph and the Virgin Mary came to Bethlehem . These celebrations take place from 16 to 24 December in Mexico and neighboring countries .

The Ninth Aguinaldos , Catholic custom in which families or groups of people gather to pray the novena , from 16 to 24 December , consume typical Christmas dishes such as custard and donuts or sing carols, besides having fun , and make games theme of Christmas and New Year. It was written by Fray Fernando Larrea Jesus in the eighteenth century.