LAST UPDATED: Dec 14, 2018 See Article History

Christmas, Christian festival celebrating the birth of Jesus. The English term
Christmas (�mass on Christ�s day�) is of fairly recent origin. The earlier term
Yule may have derived from the Germanic jol or the Anglo-Saxon geol, which referred
to the feast of the winter solstice. The corresponding terms in other
languages�Navidad in Spanish, Natale in Italian, No�l in French�all probably denote
nativity. The German word Weihnachten denotes �hallowed night.� Since the early
20th century, Christmas has also been a secular family holiday, observed by
Christians and non-Christians alike, devoid of Christian elements, and marked by an
increasingly elaborate exchange of gifts. In this secular Christmas celebration, a
mythical figure named Santa Claus plays the pivotal role.

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church year: Christmas
The word Christmas is derived from the Old English Cristes maesse, �Christ�s mass.�
There is no certain tradition of the date of Christ�s birth. Christian
chronographers of the 3rd century believed that the creation of the world took
place at the spring equinox, then�

Origin And Development

The early Christian community distinguished between the identification of the date
of Jesus� birth and the liturgical celebration of that event. The actual observance
of the day of Jesus� birth was long in coming. In particular, during the first two
centuries of Christianity there was strong opposition to recognizing birthdays of
martyrs or, for that matter, of Jesus. Numerous Church Fathers offered sarcastic
comments about the pagan custom of celebrating birthdays when, in fact, saints and
martyrs should be honoured on the days of their martyrdom�their true �birthdays,�
from the church�s perspective.

The precise origin of assigning December 25 as the birth date of Jesus is unclear.
The New Testament provides no clues in this regard. December 25 was first
identified as the date of Jesus� birth by Sextus Julius Africanus in 221 and later
became the universally accepted date. One widespread explanation of the origin of
this date is that December 25 was the Christianizing of the dies solis invicti nati
(�day of the birth of the unconquered sun�), a popular holiday in the Roman Empire
that celebrated the winter solstice as a symbol of the resurgence of the sun, the
casting away of winter and the heralding of the rebirth of spring and summer.
Indeed, after December 25 had become widely accepted as the date of Jesus� birth,
Christian writers frequently made the connection between the rebirth of the sun and
the birth of the Son. One of the difficulties with this view is that it suggests a
nonchalant willingness on the part of the Christian church to appropriate a pagan
festival when the early church was so intent on distinguishing itself categorically
from pagan beliefs and practices.

A second view suggests that December 25 became the date of Jesus� birth by a priori
reasoning that identified the spring equinox as the date of the creation of the
world and the fourth day of creation, when the light was created, as the day of
Jesus� conception (i.e., March 25). December 25, nine months later, then became the
date of Jesus� birth. For a long time the celebration of Jesus� birth was observed
in conjunction with his baptism, celebrated January 6.

Christmas began to be widely celebrated with a specific liturgy in the 9th century
but did not attain the liturgical importance of either Good Friday or Easter, the
other two major Christian holidays. Roman Catholic churches celebrate the first
Christmas mass at midnight, and Protestant churches have increasingly held
Christmas candlelight services late on the evening of December 24. A special
service of �lessons and carols� intertwines Christmas carols with Scripture
readings narrating salvation history from the Fall in the Garden of Eden to the
coming of Christ. The service, inaugurated by E.W. Benson and adopted at the
University of Cambridge, has become widely popular.

Contemporary Customs In The West

None of the contemporary Christmas customs have their origin in theological or
liturgical affirmations, and most are of fairly recent date. The Renaissance
humanist Sebastian Brant recorded, in Das Narrenschiff (1494; The Ship of Fools),
the custom of placing branches of fir trees in houses. Even though there is some
uncertainty about the precise date and origin of the tradition of the Christmas
tree, it appears that fir trees decorated with apples were first known in
Strasbourg in 1605. The first use of candles on such trees is recorded by a
Silesian duchess in 1611. The Advent wreath�made of fir branches, with four candles
denoting the four Sundays of the Advent season�is of even more recent origin,
especially in North America. The custom, which began in the 19th century but had
roots in the 16th, originally involved a fir wreath with 24 candles (the 24 days
before Christmas, starting December 1), but the awkwardness of having so many
candles on the wreath reduced the number to four. An analogous custom is the Advent
calendar, which provides 24 openings, one to be opened each day beginning December
1. According to tradition, the calendar was created in the 19th century by a Munich
housewife who tired of having to answer endlessly when Christmas would come. The
first commercial calendars were printed in Germany in 1851. The intense preparation
for Christmas that is part of the commercialization of the holiday has blurred the
traditional liturgical distinction between Advent and the Christmas season, as can
be seen by the placement of Christmas trees in sanctuaries well before December 25.

Toward the end of the 18th century the practice of giving gifts to family members
became well established. Theologically, the feast day reminded Christians of God�s
gift of Jesus to humankind even as the coming of the Wise Men, or Magi, to
Bethlehem suggested that Christmas was somehow related to giving gifts. The
practice of giving gifts, which goes back to the 15th century, contributed to the
view that Christmas was a secular holiday focused on family and friends. This was
one reason why Puritans in Old and New England opposed the celebration of Christmas
and in both England and America succeeded in banning its observance.

The tradition of celebrating Christmas as a secular family holiday is splendidly

illustrated by a number of English �Christmas� carols such as �Here We Come A-
Wassailing� or �Deck the Halls.� It can also be seen in the practice of sending
Christmas cards, which began in England in the 19th century. Moreover, in countries
such as Austria and Germany, the connection between the Christian festival and the
family holiday is made by identifying the Christ Child as the giver of gifts to the
family. In some European countries, St. Nicholas appears on his feast day (December
6) bringing modest gifts of candy and other gifts to children. In North America the
pre-Christmas role of the Christian saint Nicholas was transformed, under the
influence of the poem �A Visit from St. Nicholas� (or � �Twas the Night Before
Christmas�), into the increasingly central role of Santa Claus as the source of
Christmas gifts for the family. While both name and attire�a version of the
traditional dress of bishop�of Santa Claus reveal his Christian roots, and his role
of querying children about their past behaviour replicates that of St. Nicholas, he
is seen as a secular figure. In Australia, where people attend open-air concerts of
Christmas carols and have their Christmas dinner on the beach, Santa Claus wears
red swimming trunks as well as a white beard.

Christmas decorations lighting up Donegall Square, Belfast, N.Ire.

Christmas decorations lighting up Donegall Square, Belfast, N.Ire.
Geray Sweeney/Tourism Ireland
In most European countries, gifts are exchanged on Christmas Eve, December 24, in
keeping with the notion that the baby Jesus was born on the night of the 24th. The
morning of December 25, however, has become the time for the exchange of gifts in
North America. In 17th- and 18th-century Europe the modest exchange of gifts took
place in the early hours of the 25th when the family returned home from the
Christmas mass. When the evening of the 24th became the time for the exchange of
gifts, the Christmas mass was set into the late afternoon of that day. In North
America the centrality of the morning of the 25th of December as the time for the
family to open presents has led, with the exception of Catholic and some Lutheran
and Episcopal churches, to the virtual end of holding church services on that day,
a striking illustration of the way societal customs influence liturgical practices.

Given the importance of Christmas as one of the major Christian feast days, most
European countries observe, under Christian influence, December 26 as a second
Christmas holiday. This practice recalls the ancient Christian liturgical notion
that the celebration of Christmas, as well as that of Easter and of Pentecost,
should last the entire week. The weeklong observance, however, was successively
reduced to Christmas day and a single additional holiday on December 26.

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Nativity Scene, Adoration of the Magi, Church of the Birth of the Virgin Mary,
Montenegro
Why Is Christmas in December?
No one knows when Jesus was born, so why celebrate his birth on December 25?

Contemporary Customs In Eastern And Oriental Orthodoxy

Eastern Orthodox churches honour Christmas on December 25. However, for those that
continue to use the Julian calendar for their liturgical observances, this date
corresponds to January 7 on the Gregorian calendar. The churches of the Oriental
Orthodox communion celebrate Christmas variously. For example, in Armenia, the
first country to adopt Christianity as its official religion, the church uses its
own calendar; the Armenian Apostolic Church honours January 6 as Christmas. In
Ethiopia, where Christianity has had a home ever since the 4th century, the
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church celebrates Christmas on January 7. Most of the
churches of the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East celebrate
Christmas on December 25; at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, however, the
Syriac Orthodox celebrate Christmas on January 6 with the Armenian Apostolic
Church. Congregations of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria follow the date
of December 25 on the Julian calendar, which corresponds to Khiak 29 on the ancient
Coptic calendar.