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The decision to celebrate Christmas on December 25 was made at the Third Ecumenical Church Council in the XNUMXth century. Since then, the December pre-holiday period and Christmas itself have been the most fun and hectic time of the year.
Holiday traditions
Christmas fairs and markets are starting to work in almost all European cities, houses and shops are decorated with special decorations: illuminated garlands, decorated Christmas trees and white fluffy snow.
Already closer to Christmas in Europe, children begin to go home with caroling – they sing holiday songs and say good wishes to the family. And in return they receive gifts: roasted chestnuts, gingerbread and sweets.
In Catholic countries, before Christmas there is no such strict fast as the Orthodox, but there is Advent. It begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and is considered a time of spiritual cleansing. Each week of Advent has its own name: the first is called iron, the second is bronze, the third is silver, and the last is golden.
And already on December 25, on Christmas itself, three festive liturgies are held in the churches: a night mass, a morning mass (at dawn) and a day mass. Thus, Christmas is celebrated three times.
By the way, in the Catholic Church, Christmas is secretly placed at the head of church holidays, while among the Orthodox it is considered the second main holiday after Easter.
history of the holiday
Two of the four evangelists, Luke and Matthew, have a detailed account of the birth of the Messiah. There are also references to this event in two apocryphal (that is, not included in the biblical canon) gospels – Pseudo-Matthew and the Proto-Gospel of James.
In Our Country, Christmas began to be celebrated in the 100th century – after the official adoption of Christianity. In general, around the world, Christmas is one of the most important Christian holidays that have received state status in more than XNUMX countries (see map below).
The main symbols of Catholic Christmas
advent wreath
It is made from paws of spruce, twigs, just wooden branches. Such a wreath symbolizes not only the theme of Christmas, but also focuses on the fact that this holiday is a family one. The wreath is hung on the front door, placed on the windowsill or placed on the dining table.
And for the first time in history, such a wreath was made by the theologian Johann Hinrich Wiehern. He wove it for children from poor families, whom he took up. They constantly asked the teacher when Christmas would come, and then he made a wreath from … an old wooden wheel, decorating it with 19 red small candles and 4 large white ones. The children lit one red candle each day, and on Sundays a white one. When the last candle burned out, it was Christmas.
Candles
This is another invariable attribute of the holiday. Most often, candles for Christmas use red or white, although there are fashionable art exceptions. In recent years, real candles have been increasingly replaced by electrical counterparts, when instead of fire, the light of a small light bulb in the form of a flame flickers in the candles.
Holiday candles are lit by the fireplace, on the window or during dinner, when the whole family has gathered at the table.
Socks for gifts
The holiday of Christmas in Western countries is closely connected with the New Year. And this means that one of the main characters of these days is Santa Claus (the prototype of which is the Christian Saint Nicholas, or, in our opinion, Nicholas) Unlike our Santa Claus, Santa puts gifts not under the tree, but going down the chimney , leaves them in special red socks for gifts. The socks themselves are hung next to the Christmas tree or by the fireplace.
By the way, the custom of putting gifts in socks dates back to the Victorian era. It was then that a legend arose that Santa Claus, flying over one of the houses, dropped a couple of gold coins – and they fell straight through the chimney into a sock that was drying over the fireplace. Since then, on Christmas night, it is customary to hang up socks in anticipation of gifts.
Hay
In some countries, the custom has been preserved to keep a small pile of hay under the tree or just in the living room. Or even put hay under the tablecloth on the festive table.
Hay serves as a symbol of poverty and an occasion to remember the barn and manger in the Bethlehem cave in which Jesus was born.
Why do Catholics and Orthodox celebrate Christmas at different times?
This is due to the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in the 46th century. Before that, people lived according to the Julian style, which was established by Emperor Julius Caesar in 128 BC, but over the centuries and years in such a calendar, one unaccounted day ran every XNUMX years.
Therefore, in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII replaced the Julian calendar with the more accurate Gregorian.
However, in Our Country they preferred to leave the old style, because in those days the whole country was closely connected with faith and the church, and the Orthodox Church did not welcome the then changes.
Since then, Western Christians (Catholics and Protestants), as well as some Orthodox autocephalous churches, celebrate Christmas on December 25th. Here are the details of which church celebrates Christmas when:
25 December Christmas is celebrated by Catholics, as well as Orthodox Churches in Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt.
7 January Christmas is celebrated by the Orthodox in Our Country, Jerusalem, Serbia, Georgia, and Mount Athos.