Why does christians celebrate christmas

This is where Christmas and the Advent season that precedes it come in. Nothing could be more worthy of our reflection than the fact that God came for us.

When Jesus was born in that manger, God became a human being to come to our rescue. We celebrate Christmas as a chance to break away and reflect on what matters. American consumerism influences Christianity in ways we should all notice. But even with that warning, Christmas is an opportunity for us to follow Jesus better.

The Bible is the story of a gift: God gave us his Son. We give gifts to families and loved ones. We collect gifts for our community at the church. We collect for the mercy fund to bless our members and neighbors year-round. Christians are called to be generous at all times, but Christmas is an opportunity to refocus and step up our game. During this time, unemployment was high and gang rioting by the disenchanted classes often occurred during the Christmas season.

This catalyzed certain members of the upper classes to begin to change the way Christmas was celebrated in America. The sketches feature a squire who invited the peasants into his home for the holiday.

In contrast to the problems faced in American society, the two groups mingled effortlessly. The family was also becoming less disciplined and more sensitive to the emotional needs of children during the early s. As Americans began to embrace Christmas as a perfect family holiday, old customs were unearthed.

People looked toward recent immigrants and Catholic and Episcopalian churches to see how the day should be celebrated.

In the next years, Americans built a Christmas tradition all their own that included pieces of many other customs, including decorating trees, sending holiday cards and gift-giving. Although most families quickly bought into the idea that they were celebrating Christmas how it had been done for centuries, Americans had really re-invented a holiday to fill the cultural needs of a growing nation.

The legend of Santa Claus can be traced back to a monk named St. Nicholas who was born in Turkey around A. Nicholas gave away all of his inherited wealth and traveled the countryside helping the poor and sick, becoming known as the protector of children and sailors. The iconic version of Santa Claus as a jolly man in red with a white beard and a sack of toys was immortalized in , when political cartoonist Thomas Nast drew on Moore's poem to create the image of Old Saint Nick we know today.

But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. The history of Christmas trees goes back to the symbolic use of evergreens in ancient Egypt and Rome and continues with the German tradition of candlelit Christmas trees first brought to America in the s.

Discover the history of the Christmas tree, from the earliest winter Christmas traditions around the world are diverse, but share key traits that often involve themes of light, evergreens and hope.

Probably the most celebrated holiday in the world, our modern Christmas is a product of hundreds of years of both secular and religious traditions Long before there was a Grinch who stole Christmas, there was Krampus, the devilish half-man, half-goat that helps out jolly St. Nicholas by stuffing naughty Austrian children in sacks and dragging them to hell. Yes, the true history of Christmas is as colorful Today, he is thought of mainly as the jolly man in red who brings toys to good girls and boys on Christmas Eve, but his story stretches all the way back to the 3rd That is, if we allow the Bible to teach us what idolatry is, as well as what is true and legitimate worship.

Such would be in contrast to required holy days for the Israelites in the Old Testament in passages like Leviticus In fact, as I argued in my blogpost on the Sabbath, the New Testament gives us good reason to think Christians are not even bound to practice a seventh-day rest. Both Romans —6 and Colossians —17 instruct us against requiring the observance of special days.

Moreover, this was done without it being explicitly commanded. I also note that the nativity stories in both Matthew and Luke give precedent for ascribing to Christ special honor at his birth. It is biblical, therefore to commemorate the birth of Jesus with feasting and celebrating. But it is also biblical not to do so. Both views are justifiable for Christians, and should be respected within the community of faith. I have already discussed the wrong reasons for abstaining—or at least, reasons for abstaining that I find unconvincing: the alleged pagan roots of Christmas and a lack of an explicit biblical command to observe it.

A right reason for abstaining might be something like not wanting to partake in something that should be special and glorifying to God but has become corrupted by materialism and consumerism. It is certainly appropriate, and even necessary, for Christians to feel grieved by the way Christmas is celebrated, where we, through our actions if not our words, encourage our children to feel more excitement over what is under the tree than who was in the manger.

And the proper response is usually not to abandon those things, but to reclaim them in a constant reaffirmation of the lordship and supremacy of Jesus over all things.

For those of us whose consciences are moved each Christmas when we see those around us and ourselves paying more regard to gifts and gluttony than we do to God and the giving of his Son, perhaps we would do well to exercise restraint during the holiday season. But make no mistake, the meaning of Christmas—the birth of Jesus—is and ought to be the cause of great celebration. But on Christmas, we do. The official report is Robert J. Braidwood and Linda S. Images of the three figurines A, B, and C , can be found on pages —, with discussion of circumcision on — To celebrate people had a mid-winter festival to celebrate the sun 'winning' over the darkness of winter.

So it was a good time to have a celebration with things to eat and drink before the rest of the winter happened. We still have New Year celebrations near this time now!

In Scandinavia, and some other parts of northern Europe, the time around the Winter Solstice is known as Yule although the word Yule only seems to date to about the year In Eastern Europe the mid-winter festival is called Koleda.

Shab-e Chelleh means 'night of forty' as it happens forty nights into winter. The word Yalda means 'birth' and comes from early Christians living in Persia celebrating the birth of Jesus around this time. The Romans also thought that the Solstice took place on December 25th. It's also thought that in the Roman emperor Aurelian created 'Dies Natalis Solis Invicti' meaning 'birthday of the unconquered sun' also called 'Sol Invictus' and it was held on December 25th.

However, there are records going back to around of early Christians connecting the Nisan 14 to the 25th March, and so 25th December was a 'Christian' festival date many years before 'Sol Invictus'!

More recent studies have also found that the 'Sol Invictus' connection didn't appear until the 12th century and it's from one scribbled note in the margins of a manuscript. There's also evidence that 'Sol Invictus' might also have happened in October and not December anyway!

Christmas had also been celebrated by the early Church on January 6th, when they also celebrated the Epiphany which means the revelation that Jesus was God's son and the Baptism of Jesus. Now Epiphany mainly celebrates the visit of the Wise Men to the baby Jesus , but back then it celebrated both things! Jesus's Baptism was originally seen as more important than his birth, as this was when he started his ministry. The Jewish festival of Lights, Hanukkah starts on the eve of the Kislev 25 the month in the Jewish calendar that occurs at about the same time as December.

Hanukkah celebrates when the Jewish people were able to re-dedicate and worship in their Temple, in Jerusalem, again following many years of not being allowed to practice their religion.

Jesus was a Jew, so this could be another reason that helped the early Church choose December the 25th for the date of Christmas! The Gregorian calendar is more accurate than the Roman calendar which had too many days in a year! When the switch was made 10 days were lost, so that the day that followed the 4th October was 15th October