Christmas is now popular all over the world. Everyone is immersed in a happy festive atmosphere on December 25 every year. Where is the origin of Christmas, what are the symbols and how to celebrate it? Xiaobian will take you to know today.
1、 Origin of Christmas
Christmas originated in Bethlehem, a city in the West Bank of Palestine.
1. Place of origin:
(1) Bethlehem is located 10 kilometers south of Jerusalem, with a population of about 30000. The city is the capital of Bethlehem province and the center of local culture and tourism
(2) Division: in 1967, Israel seized Bethlehem and the whole west bank from Jordan. On December 24, 1995, Bethlehem was classified as "area a" and became an area fully controlled by the Palestinian autonomous government.
2. Origin: December 25 every year is the day when Christians commemorate the birth of Jesus, which is called Christmas.
(1) The term "Christmas" is generally considered to be the South China region that first accepted Christian culture in Greater China
(2) The earliest use of Christmas in English was called Christmas, or "Christ mass". It is said that Constantine the great of the Roman Empire converted to Christianity after winning the battle of the murvey bridge in 312. However, he inherited his father's faith and believed in the Babylonian Sun God Tammuz, whose birthday was December 25. So Constantine adopted this day as the birthday of Jesus' birth
(2) The Christmas festival begins on December 24 and ends on January 6 of the following year. During the festival, Christians in all countries hold grand commemorative ceremonies. Christmas was originally a Christian festival. Due to people's special attention, it has become a national festival. The biggest festival in the country in a year can be compared with the new year. It is similar to the Spring Festival in China in the West.
3. Festival celebration methods:
(1) Westerners take red, green and white as Christmas colors. When Christmas comes, every family should use Christmas colors to decorate. The red ones have Christmas flowers and Christmas candles. The green one is the Christmas tree. It is the main ornament of Christmas. It is decorated with towering evergreen trees such as fir and cypress. Colorful lanterns, gifts and paper flowers are hung on it, and Christmas candles are lit.
(2) In all Chinese and ethnic Chinese societies, the proportion of Christians in Hong Kong, Macao and overseas Chinese is high. In fact, non Christians have never been used to celebrating Christmas. However, after the reform and opening up, with the introduction of European and American popular culture, many shopping malls hope to promote business opportunities through "Christmas festival", encourage people to shop and "celebrate Christmas" Non Christians in Chinese mainland have also become popular.
2、 What are the symbols of Christmas
1. Christmas party
Christmas is an essential program, including family style, friend style and lover style song like party. A good time for friendship, family affection and love parties. Wearing christmas hats, singing Christmas songs and talking about everyone's Christmas wishes.
2. Christmas dinner
Christmas, as a celebration of Chongqing, cannot be without delicious food. Christmas turkey dinner is the regular main course. In the past, people might make it by themselves in the microwave oven. Now, many people eat in restaurants outside during the festival. Businesses will also take advantage of the opportunity to earn customers' money. Of course, there are many Christmas foods, gingerbread, candy and so on.
3. Christmas hat
It's a red hat. It's said that when you sleep at night, in addition to sleeping safely and a little warm, you will find more gifts from your loved ones in the hat the next day. In the carnival night, it is the protagonist of the whole audience. No matter where you go, you will see all kinds of red hats, some with shiny tips and some with glittering gold.
4. Christmas socks
In the early days, it was a pair of big red socks. Most of them were OK, because Christmas socks were used to hold gifts. Children's favorite things. In the evening, they would hang their socks by the bed and wait for the gift the next morning. What if someone gives away a car for Christmas? Then you'd better ask him to write a check and put it in his socks.
5. Christmas card
It is a greeting card for Christmas and new year. It is printed with pictures about the story of Jesus' birth and words like 'celebrate Christmas and happy New Year'.
6. Good news
Christmas Eve refers to the evening of December 24 to the morning of December 25. The church organized some Choir (or composed spontaneously by believers) to sing Christmas carols door-to-door or under windows, called "good news", which means to reproduce the good news of the birth of Jesus to the shepherds in the suburbs of Bethlehem. " The "good news" is called Christmas waits. This activity often goes on until dawn. More and more people are singing, and the streets are full of songs.
7. Ode
The hymn sung at Christmas is called 'Christmas Carol'. There are many Christmas carols, and most of the music scores are from the famous works of famous musicians. He often sings "joy to the world!", "angels we have heard on high", "it came to be midnight clear", "O little town of Bethlehem", "while shepherds watched their flocks" and "far in the manger" (away in the manger), angels, from the realms of glory, hark! The herald angels sing, I hear the bells on Christmas day, and so on, including silent night The most famous. It is said that in 1818, there lived an unknown country priest named oppendorf in a small town in Austria. On Christmas this year, Moore found that the pipe of the organ in the church had been bitten by a mouse, and it was too late to repair it. How to celebrate Christmas? Moore was unhappy about it. He suddenly remembered the gospel of Luke It is recorded in the Bible that when Jesus was born, the angels reported good news to the shepherds on the outskirts of Bethlehem and sang a hymn: 'glory to God in the highest place and peace on earth to those who pleased him.' he had an idea and wrote a hymn based on these two scriptures, which was named "peaceful night" After Moore wrote the lyrics, he showed them to the town's primary school teacher gelub and asked him to compose music. Gelub was very moved after reading the lyrics. He composed a good song and sang in the church the next day. It was very popular. Later, two businessmen passed by here and learned the song. They sang for William IV, king of Prussia. After listening to it, William IV highly praised it and ordered the Christmas Eve to be sung In addition, conditional churches will sing music works such as the Messiah (also known as the Savior) by the famous German musician Handel every Christmas, so as to strengthen the festive atmosphere of the festival through these music worship activities.
8. Santa Claus
It is said that he was the bishop of Myra city in Asia Minor. His name was St. Nicholas. After his death, he was respected as a saint. He was an old man with a white beard in a red robe and a red hat. Every Christmas, he drove a deer drawn sleigh from the north, entered each house from the chimney, put Christmas gifts in socks and hung them on the children's bedside or in front of the stove. Therefore, when westerners celebrate Christmas, their parents Christmas gifts for children are put in socks and hung on the head of the children's bed on Christmas Eve. The next day, the first thing for children to wake up is to look for gifts from Santa Claus on the head of the bed. Now, Santa Claus has become a symbol of good luck. He is not only an indispensable figure for the Christmas festival, but also an indispensable figure for celebrating the new year.
9. Christmas tree
It is said that a farmer received a hungry and cold child on a snowy Christmas night and asked him to have a rich Christmas dinner. When the child said goodbye, he broke a fir branch and inserted it on the ground and blessed it: "every year on this day, gifts are full, leaving this beautiful fir Village to repay your kindness." after the child left, the farmer found that the branch turned into a small tree, Only then did he realize that he was receiving an angel of God. This story became the source of the Christmas tree. In the west, whether Christians or not, a Christmas tree should be prepared for Christmas to increase the festive atmosphere. The Christmas tree is usually made of evergreen trees such as fir and cypress, symbolizing the longevity of life. The tree is decorated with various lights, colorful flowers, toys and stars, Hang up all kinds of Christmas gifts. On Christmas Eve, people sing and dance around the Christmas tree and have fun.
10. Christmas gifts
It refers to the gifts given by Westerners to postmen or servants at Christmas. It is usually put in a small box, so it is called 'Christmas box' in English.