Christmas baking recipes
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Christmas is celebrated by many Christians on December 25 in the Gregorian calendar. Christians and non-Christians participate in some of the most popular Christmas traditions, many of which have no origins in Christianity. In ancient Rome, December 25 was a celebration of the Unconquered Sun, marking the return of longer days. It followed Saturnalia, a festival where people feasted and exchanged gifts. Christmas did not start in Germany, but many of the holiday’s traditions began there, including decorating trees.
The corresponding terms in other languages—Navidad in Spanish, Natale in Italian, Noël in French—all probably denote nativity. Origin and development The early Christian community distinguished between the identification of the date of Jesus’ birth and the liturgical celebration of that event. The actual observance of the day of Jesus’ birth was long in coming. The precise origin of assigning December 25 as the birth date of Jesus is unclear. The New Testament provides no clues in this regard. Christmas began to be widely celebrated with a specific liturgy in the 9th century but did not attain the liturgical importance of either Good Friday or Easter, the other two major Christian holidays. Christmas carols with Scripture readings narrating salvation history from the Fall in the Garden of Eden to the coming of Christ.
None of the contemporary Christmas customs have their origin in theological or liturgical affirmations, and most are of fairly recent date. Advent wreath—made of fir branches, with four candles denoting the four Sundays of the Advent season—is of even more recent origin, especially in North America. Advent calendar, which provides 24 openings, one to be opened each day beginning December 1. According to tradition, the calendar was created in the 19th century by a Munich housewife who tired of having to answer endlessly when Christmas would come. The first commercial calendars were printed in Germany in 1851. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Toward the end of the 18th century the practice of giving gifts to family members became well established.
Theologically, the feast day reminded Christians of God’s gift of Jesus to humankind even as the coming of the Wise Men, or Magi, to Bethlehem suggested that Christmas was somehow related to giving gifts. England and America succeeded in banning its observance. Germany, the connection between the Christian festival and the family holiday is made by identifying the Christ Child as the giver of gifts to the family. Santa Claus as the source of Christmas gifts for the family.
