http://rumela.com/events/christmas_index.htm


The word Christmas comes from the words Cristes maesse, or "Christ's Mass." Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus for members of the Christian religion. Most historians peg the first celebration of Christmas to Rome in 336 A.D.
In 325AD, Constantine the Great, the first Christian Roman emperor, introduced Christmas as an immovable feast on 25 December. He also introduced Sunday as a holy day in a new 7-day week, and introduced movable feasts (Easter).


In 354AD, Bishop Liberius of Rome officially ordered his members to celebrate the birth of Jesus on 25 December.

However, even though Constantine officiated 25 December as the birthday of Christ, Christians, recognizing the date as a pagan festival, did not share in the emperor's good meaning. Christmas failed to gain universal recognition among Christians until quite recently. In certain Protestant areas the celebration of Christmas was even banned. In England, Oliver Cromwell banned Christmas festivities between 1649 and 1660 through the so-called Blue Laws, believing that Christmas should be a solemn day.

When many Protestants escaped persecution from the Catholic Church by fleeing to the colonies all over the world, interest in joyous Christmas celebrations was rekindled.
Still, Christmas was not even a legal holiday
until last century.
And, keep in mind, there was no Father Christmas
(Santa Claus) figure at that time.

The popularity of Christmas was spurred on
in 1820 by Washington Irving's book
The Keeping of Christmas at Bracebridge Hall.
In 1834, Britain's Queen Victoria brought her German husband, Prince Albert, into Windsor Castle, introducing the tradition of the Christmas tree and carols that were held in Europe to the British Empire.
A week before Christmas in 1834,
Charles ****ens published A Christmas Carol
(in which he wrote that Scrooge required Cratchit to work,
and that the US Congress met on Christmas Day).

It was so popular that neither the churches nor the governments could not ignore the importance of Christmas celebrations.

In 1836, Alabama became the first state in the US to declare Christmas a legal holiday.
In 1837, T.H. Hervey's The Book of Christmas
also became a best seller.
In 1860, American illustrator Thomas Nast borrowed
from the European stories about Saint Nicholas,
the patron saint of children,
to create Father Christmas (Santa Claus).

In 1907, Oklahoma became the last US state to declare Christmas a legal holiday. Year by year,
countries all over the world started to recognize Christmas
as the day for celebrating the birth of Jesus.
According to Daniel Boorstin in his book The Americans, Christmas was largely a non-event in America until the 1860s.

1867 was the first year that Macy's department store
in New York City remained open until midnight on Christmas Eve.
1874 was the year of the first window displays with a Christmas theme at Macy's. It has snowballed from there.

The custom of sending Christmas cards started in Britain in 1840 when the first 'Penny Post' public postal deliveries began. (Helped by the new railway system, the public postal service was the 19th century's communication revolution,
just as email is for us today.)
As printing methods improved, Christmas cards were produced in large numbers from about 1860. They became even more popular in Britain when a card could be posted in an unsealed envelope for one half-penny - half the price of an ordinary letter.

Birth of Jesus

In the western world the birthday of Jesus Christ
has been celebrated on December 25th since AD 354,
partly to replace the pagan worship
that was commonplace in those days.

However, we can be fairly sure that
Jesus wasn't actually born on that date.

(See also The History of Christmas)

The Bible tells us that shepherds were staying out in the fields overnight when Jesus was born (Luke 2:8), but in that part of the world it would have been far too cold at night to do so in December. What is more likely is that He was born in the Spring, perhaps between March and May. Whatever the time of year, it is virtually impossible to identify the actual date.

This situation is further complicated by the fact that the Christian scholar Dionysius Exiguus was asked by the Pope
in AD 525 to calculate new cycles for fixing the date of Easter.

However, he decided to base his calculations on the date of Jesus's birth.
Unfortunately, it wasn't discovered until the 9th century
that he got it badly wrong, by which time it was too late
to change the calendar.

He fixed the birth in the year 1 BC or AD 1
(Historians apparently can't agree which.) and began counting from the latter. But both earlier and later scholars
agreed that Jesus was born at an earlier date.

Indeed, it was eventually established that Herod the Great
died in Spring of 4 BC. If Jesus had been born at the start
of AD 1, as we currently have it, then Jesus would have been born some 4 or 5 years after Herod died.
There is no way of accurately establishing the actual date
of his birth, but it is most likely to have been between
5 and 6 BC.

The important thing is that he was born,
and his nominal birthdate of December 25th seems as good
as any to celebrate his birth and his message.

It also a wonderful catalyst for enjoying the precious
and simple pleasures of being, if only for a brief time,
close together in the warm familiarity of friends and family, renewing relationships and sharing memories.

Tradition

From November onwards, it is impossible to forget that Christmas is coming. Colored lights decorate many town
centers and shops, along with shiny decorations,
and artificial snow painted on shop windows.

In streets and shops, 'Christmas trees' (real or plastic evergreen 'conifer' trees) will also be decorated with lights and Christmas ornaments.

Shopping centers become busier as December approaches
and often stay open till late. Shopping center speaker
systems systems will play Christmas 'carols' -
the traditional Christmas Christian songs, and groups
of people will often sing carols on the streets
to raise money for charity.
Most places of work will hold a short Christmas party
about a week before Christmas. Although traditional
Christmas foods may be eaten, drink (and plenty of it)
means that little work will be done after the party!

By mid-December, most homes will also be decorated with Christmas trees, colored lights and paper or plastic decorations around the rooms.
These days, many more people also decorate garden trees
or house walls with colored electric lights,
a habit which has long been popular in USA.

In many countries,
most people post Christmas greeting cards to their friends
and family, and these cards will be hung on the walls of
their homes. In UK this year, the British Post Office
expects to handle over 100 million cards EACH DAY,
in the three weeks before Christmas.

Traditionally, Christmas cards showed religious pictures - Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus,
or other parts of the Christmas story.

Today, pictures are often jokes, winter pictures, Father Christmas, or romantic scenes of life in past times.

((Ms. Rapunzel))

Great post; You GO GURL
The KING of kings, being born in a humble stable. Jesus walked with,talked with and showed the people of HIS day, The eternal Love of God...Never judged, just taught. Never hated, just Loved...Many times ridiculed, forgave.Three great examples of Jesus`s forgiveness 1. Father forgive them, for they know not what they do. 2. Let him among you without sin, throw the first stone. Woman , Where are your accusers,neither do I accuse thee, go and sin no more. 3 Asking Peter 3 times if Peter loved Him. Peter took offence at the third time he was asked the question, but Peter then also realized that he had also denied Jesus Christ 3 times...Jesus tells Peter: Feed my sheep. A lot of people won`t look at this posting as for pertaining to Christmas. When you have Jesus Christ in your heart, as your saviour and master of your life,everydays Christmas. When you accept the above into your life, you will see what I mean. So, yes in my opinion, this pertains to Christmas. God`s Blessing upon you all. Merry Christmas.

Mr.Rara...
you are quite a rare one indeed...

thank you so much for sharing
your powerful positive energy
and for helping spread the glad tidings, teachings
& blessings of our Lord Jesus Christ

and what about Yule?

well yules last name was tide and he does a mean laundry ...

well thought out I see

hey what can i say ..i have to figure out what to do with this 132 I.Q..

but of course, word association and all....it's a good quality to have.

To God be The Glory!
(( Ms Rapunzel))
I`m just glad God uses me now and again.
Folks, one key thing you need to know: To have Jesus Christ in your life.....It is RELATIONSHIP, not religion.
The religious will persecute you. Look out for those stones, especially when you make a mistake.
RELATIONSHIP with Jesus Christ won`t. Jesus knows your heart.
Why? Because your relationship with Jesus Christ is personal.
Believe me, this year has been a class A bummer for me this year. My wife went home to be with the Lord earlier this year, in Jan.
I broke my leg in Sept. ( 3 months ago yesterday to the day.)
The main thing that has gotten me through this year, Is my faith in God, and my personal relationship with Jesus Christ being in my life. To God be the Glory.

dear intelligent lady

if you are interested in the yule tide


you are more than welcome
to use your intelligence and
do some research on that subject

just like i did
on the "subject of Christmas


take care and I hope the findings in this thread
are of interest and excitement to you...
as they are to me....
the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ

hahahahahaha

yes, it was well thought out
with an element of humor
thrown in for good measure

hey rapunzel, great post hun

hi Jason

///thanks sweetheart

it is fun to make plays on words...
you just have to get to know us a bit

now if he would only post an actual photo of himself
i will be happy ...i hate talking to a blank canvas

hope you have a wonderfull cchristmas hun

not my thing at all

i only watched about two seconds
of the trash

in my opinion that is
total irreverence to the Lord




please keep that sort of stuff
in the appropriate thread.