Christmas overview

History of Christmas,

Overview of Christmas,

Christmas story

Christmas with Easter and Pentecost, one of the three main feasts of the liturgical year , the Christmas season begins. with the first Vespers of  Christmas on Christmas Eve (see also Christmas Vespers ) and ends in the Roman Catholic Church with the hard Baptism of the Lord on Sunday after Epiphany of the Mr . The first liturgical highlight of the Christmas time is the midnight mass (see Christmas Eve ). Before the liturgical reform stretched the Christmas party circuit that the Advent preparation time including as to a fixed representation of the Lord on 2 February, known colloquially as "Candlemas" is named. As a religious holiday of the 25th Since December for the first 336 in Rome demonstrated. What led to this date is disputed. Discussed is the influence of the Roman sun worship . Another hypothesis explains the election date with the distance of nine months to the alleged date of the Incarnation, what texts by Western authors, the Annunciation on 25 March specify. Christians and non Christians celebrate Christmas today, mostly as a family party at a mutual gifting , this practice has been since 1535 by Martin Luther as an alternative to recent gift custom Nicholas propagated on, the more the children to Christ instead of the veneration of saints to draw interest the. In Roman Catholic families found the children continue to mess a long time at the St. Nicholas instead. There were also old and new traditions of different origins, such as nativity plays since 11 Century, also the decorated Christmas tree (16th century), the Advent (1839) and Christmas (20th century). This sparked in northern Germany , the Christ Child and Santa Claus bringer of gifts for children from as in other areas and is increasingly an alternative dar. Many countries customs are connecting with their own Christmas. In many families attend a church service on Christmas Eve is part of the usual ritual, even for non-churchgoers or religious affiliation.