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The English word Christmas is a shortened form of 'Christ's Mass'. [3] The word is recorded as Crīstesmæsse in 1038 and Cristes-messe in 1131. [4] Crīst (genitive Crīstes) is from the Greek Χριστός (Khrīstos, 'Christ'), a translation of the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ (Māšîaḥ, 'Messiah'), meaning 'anointed'; [5] [6] and mæsse is from the Latin missa, the celebration of the ...
“Christmas is about the birth of Jesus, and white aligns with God’s promise of life everlasting and the purity, hope and goodness that Jesus’ life and death represent,” Sawaya says.
The post The Fascinating History Behind These 24 Christmas Symbols appeared first on Reader's Digest. No Christmas celebration feels complete without a decorated tree, delicious cookies, and a ...
The idea of Christmas celebrations didn't take until the mid-1800s and the first Christmas card was commissioned only in 1843. As exchanging cards grew more popular, Victorians sought designs to ...
Neapolitan presepio at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh. The practice of putting up special decorations at Christmas has a long history. In the 15th century, it was recorded that in London, it was the custom at Christmas for every house and all the parish churches to be "decked with holm, ivy, bays, and whatsoever the season of the year afforded to be green". [4]
The greetings and farewells "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Christmas" are traditionally used in English-speaking countries, starting a few weeks before December 25 every year. Variations are: "Merry Christmas", the traditional English greeting, composed of merry (jolly, happy) and Christmas (Old English: Cristes mæsse, for Christ's Mass).
In some places, Christmas decorations are traditionally taken down on Twelfth Night, the evening of January 5 or January 6. The difference in this date is that some count Christmas Day as the first day of Christmas, whereas for others, Christmas Day is a feast day in its own right, and the first full day of the Christmas Season is December 26.
Writers such as English novelist Charles Dickens with A Christmas Carol (1843) and American writer Clement Clarke Moore with "A Visit from St. Nicholas" (1823) helped popularize Christmas as a ...