Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Christmas is the English term, that means “mass on Christ’s day,” and only recently has it meant that. The term that was mainly used before ‘Christmas’ was Yule. We don’t know for certain where the term comes from, but it may have derived from the Germanic jol or the Anglo-geol, in reference to the feast of the winter solstice.
Those are not the only two terms that are used or have been used for Christmas. For example, in Spanish, it is Navidad, Natale in Italian, and in French it is Noel. In Germany it is a little different, for example, the German word Weihnachten stands for “hallowed night,” so not exactly Christmas like the rest of the countries listed above.
Christmas has not always been a secular family holiday necessarily. It is only really been a secular family holiday since the early 20th century. It is celebrated by Christians and non-Christians, showing that it’s not a religious or Christian holiday. Any and everyone can celebrate it together.
Christmas is all about exchanging gifts and spending quality family time with your family and the ones you love. However, to make it more interesting for the children, the parents had to get creative. So they made up a character that is all about being kind, respectful, and happy, and he represents Christmas so that the kids can associate it with having fun. They decided to name their made-up children’s character, ‘Santa Claus.’ They made up the narrative that he is the one who brings them all their presents and in order to get their presents they have to be on the nice list and not the naughty list. The naughty and nice list are supposed to make kids behave correctly so they grow up to be good people. To get all their presents if they are on the nice list, they have to send Santa Claus a letter with their Christmas list inside. If they’re on the naughty list, the only “present,” they’re getting is a piece of coal.
The tradition of passing presents to family members was not always a widely acknowledged tradition. In a theological sense, Christians associated gift-giving with the feast day because it reminded them of God’s gift of Jesus to mankind, so they decided to give gifts to one another as God gave gifts to us. The actual practice of gift giving, dating all the way back to to 15th century, helped to contribute to the idea that Christmas is a secular holiday that has a focus on family, friends, and loved ones. Traditions such as singing Christmas carols help put the image that Christmas is a secular holiday into people’s heads and send Christmas cards, which was originally started back in the 19th Century in England.
However, not every country celebrates Christmas the same way, some don’t even celebrate. For example, most European countries celebrate Christmas by opening their presents on the night before Christmas, also known as Christmas Eve. While in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, they open all their gifts on the morning of Christmas Day. Given how important Christmas is as it’s one of the more major feast days for Christians, most European countries watch December 26 as a second Christmas holiday, due to the influence of the Christians.
Eastern Orthodox recognize Christmas to be on the 25th of December in their churches. But, for those who are choosing to still follow the Julian Calendar, the date falls back a little further all the way to the 7th of January on the Gregorian calendar. In the churches of the Oriental Orthodox, Christmas is celebrated in a variety of ways differing in different countries or regions. For example, the first country to recognize its official religion as Christianity was Armenia, they have a calendar of their own that has Christmas fall on the 6th of January. In Ethiopian churches, which have been a staple of Christianity and have practiced it since the 4th century, they celebrate it on the 7th of January. Similar to the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Syriac Orthodox celebrates Christmas Day on the 6th of January. Over on the Eastern side of the world, most countries or regions do not celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December or even in December at all. However, in the Western world, they celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December and celebrate it as a secular Christian holiday.
