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Know Christmas - origin, Jesus birthday, Santa Claus, pictures, history and more |
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Written by CKonline
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Page 1 of 6  Christmas (literally, the Mass of Christ) is a holiday in the Christian calendar, usually observed on December 25, which celebrates the birth of Jesus.
According to the Christian gospels, Jesus was born to Mary in Bethlehem, where she and her husband Joseph had traveled to register in the Roman census. Christ's birth, or nativity, was to fulfill the prophecies of Judaism that a messiah would come, from the house of David, to redeem the world from sin. The precise chronology of Jesus' birth and death as well as the historicity of Jesus are still debated.
In many countries throughout the world Christmas is recognized as a national holiday. In 1890 the United States government recognized Christmas Day on December 25th of every year as a national holiday.
In predominantly Christian countries, Christmas has become the most economically significant holiday of the year, and it is also celebrated as a secular holiday in many countries with small Christian populations. It is largely characterized by exchanging gifts within families, and by gifts brought by Father Christmas or Santa Claus, a big jolly man with a white beard, or other folk figures. Local and regional Christmas traditions are still rich and varied, despite the widespread influence of American and British Christmas motifs disseminated through literature, television and other media.
The word Christmas is a contraction of Christ's Mass, derived from the Old English Cristes m?sse and refering to the religious ceremony of mass. It is often abbreviated Xmas, probably because X or Xt have often been used as a contraction for Christ. The English letter X resembles the Greek letter Χ (chi), the first letter of Christ in Greek (Χριστός transliterated as [Christos]). Crimbo is an informal synonym used in British English.
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Know Christmas
