Christmas

Christmas  Christmas The year's most celebrated holiday is celebrated on December 25th, both in homes and churches worldwide. The meaning for Christmas is to recognize Christ's birth, of which the exact date is not known. During the fourth century the Bishop of Rome set December 25th as Christ's birth date. Some authorities claim that the choice of December 25th was made because it coincided with Chanukah, Mithraic's feast of the sun god, and the people of northern Europe's winter solstice feast. Holiday Greenery Evergreens, the symbol of eternal life, have long been used for Christmas time decorations. The Christmas wreath represents everlasting life and God's endless love for us. Kissing under a mistletoe supposedly started out when early Roman enemies stopped fighting when they met under a mistletoe. Holly is the most known Christmas greenery, and there are several legends about it. One is that Jesus' crown was made of holly, and the holly berries represented his blood. The Christmas tree: The Christmas tree is an evergreen trimmed with lights, decorations, and tinsel, is derived from a "paradise tree", or the tree in the Garden of Eden. (Encarta 2000) The use of the Christmas tree began early in the 17th century, in Strasbourg, France, spreading from there through Germany and then into northern Europe. In 1841 Prince Albert christmas, tree, people, gift, children, giving, encarta, different, served, presents, made, known, holly, feast, early, during, 25th, year's, under, through, three, started, set, santa, same, named, mistletoe, life, legends, holiday, great, gifts, germany, food, followed, filled, decorated, december, day, date, christ's, christ, child, celebrated, bishop, although, 2000, york's, wreath, worldwide, world