The story for the Christmas season

The story for the Christmas season食品伙伴个性空间$bqC'u-al|
(Contributed by Bing Wei, Granny Betty's Story Time )

I:M&u3U0Zl"jh'w+R0Most people know that the simple meaning of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the son of God in the Christian religion. The word Christmas originated from an old English phrase, "Cristes Masse", meaningthe mass of Christ（基督弥撒）. The date, December 25, was established by Bishop Liberius of Rome in 354 AD. He selected the date to mark the official time for celebrating Christ's birth. Before then, the birth of Jesus was observed on different days and even to this day no one is certain the exact date of Christ's birth.

4m?%NXkT9ms$q0　Christmas celebrations食品伙伴个性空间E_8rpp;_1xYE

Cultural celebrations of Christmas include glittering light displays, the ever-present jolly oldSanta Claus（圣诞老人）, group celebrations and singing calledcarolling（圣诞颂歌）, baked holiday cookies and cakes, decorations ofmistletoe（槲寄生，装饰性植物）and pine wreaths, lighted, ornamented Christmas trees with wrapped presents displayed underneath. The spirit of Christmas at its heart is a festival to celebrate family, love, gratitude to others and giving presents to show appreciation to friends and loved ones.食品伙伴个性空间J$o#M(K m-m;L y

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@,yV0In Europe, typically, family and friends gather together on Christmas Eve, on Dec 24, for a big turkeydinner, completed with Christmas pudding (a rich cake with brandy source). Everyone shares their stories of the year or brings a newsletter to read out for what has happened during the past year. Games are played after the dinner. On Christmas day, Dec 25, abrunch（常用构词法：breakfast+lunch）with family is the norm, followed by some light sporting events, such as a countrywalk, to digest the heavy food.食品伙伴个性空间+Y8V7t4lx.tt

Dec 26 is called Boxing Day（节礼日，往往在这一日大家互赠礼物）in the UK, which means everyone opens their box of presents - the most joyful day for the children. In the US, having just celebrated Thanksgiving with turkey, Christmas Eve dinner is more likely to have ham on the menu with a heavy dessert. Dec 25, the Christmas Day is normally the day all the presents are opened.食品伙伴个性空间2l-d$Bo(~qY+I3X

7Og%aI+g]Uaz8R0　Christmas trees & cards食品伙伴个性空间'w]#Di q~*G x&|

The tradition of having a pine tree as a Christmas Tree is believed to come from Germany. Since the medieval time, lighting a candle on a tree is common to welcome guests. Such practice has evolved into the Christmas celebration.食品伙伴个性空间k\u3[H2e
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The formal Christmas Tree was introduced to England about 100 years ago when Queen Victoria married German Albert. The evidence of Victoria's love for Albert is not only expressed through inheriting the German tradition of having a Christmas Tree but also through the goldAlbert Statuesthat Victoria had ordered built for Albert, standing in many places in London. In America, the Christmas Tree idea was brought by German immigrants too.

The custom of sending Christmas cards was initiated in England around 1850. The first cards were decorated with elaborate designs of flowers, birds and landscapes.食品伙伴个性空间7W(G$T4E-p4P)Zn

　Santa Claus

As for Saint Nicholas, or Santa Claus, the story goes back to the third century.食品伙伴个性空间X5nk.Y`8lY0Y

bxp.D)f0Legend has it, Saint Nicholas dedicated all his life to helping mankind, especially children. He died on December 6, which marks theSaint Nicholas Day in many European countries and that was when gifts were given to children. St. Nicholas bears many different names, such asFather Christmas in the UK, San Nicolass in the Netherlands, Le Pere Noel in France, and Kriss Kringle in Germany.食品伙伴个性空间7iG ~LY-P:c

)u4~3cNp*]u ?1xQ0 He also arrives on different dates to deliver presents to children in different countries, typically from chimneys.The chimney story was this: Santa flew over house tops in a sleigh, he dropped coins by accident and they landed in some stockings hanging next to the fireplace to dry. From then on, red stockings were hung by the chimney in hopes Santa would fill them with gifts.

Most countries use fabric stocking while in others, wood shoes are also placed on earth for Santa's gift-dropping. In America, the image of Santa Claus was conceived by the famous poem "The Night Before Christmas", written by Clement Moor. Moor transformed the Santa character from a saint in a long robe to a chubby, rosy-cheeked elderly man in a red suit, riding on a sleigh pulled by a team of reindeer.食品伙伴个性空间+z@x KX3b

　Christmas carols食品伙伴个性空间.g?&{Z.[N#t

The tradition of carol singing originated from the carolling practised by the Waits in the fourteenth century. Waits were royal singers who were sent by the court to perform. in selected homes for treats, pennies and/or fun. "Carol" means a circle dance accompanied by a song. Most Christmas carols we sing now were composed around 1400-1600's.食品伙伴个性空间d'p)OK&W3^3eO

5XE"q\K F:q&{0　Jewish Chanukah食品伙伴个性空间 F*R5DUu5yY}4Ohu

The Jewish community celebratesChanukah（光明节，为纪念公元前165年犹太人战胜希腊的叙利亚侵略者并夺回圣殿） instead of Christmas in December. Chanukah (Hanukkah) is celebrated on the 25th day of Kislev, the third month of the Jewish calendar, usually falling somewhere in December on the Gregorian calendar.

{7IR g*@|h0Chanukah commemorates the cleansing of the Temple after the Jews defeated their occupation by the Syrian Greeks and is observed by lighting the candles of the menorah for eight days, one on the first, two the second and so on so forth.
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