Christmas

Origin and history

Christmas celebrates the Nativity, the birth of Jesus. The Gospel accounts tell that Joseph and Mary came to Bethlehem, found no room at the inn, and that the child was born and laid in a manger, while angels announced the news to shepherds. The Bible gives no date. The earliest document placing Jesus's birth on 25 December is the Chronograph of 354, a Roman calendar whose relevant part was probably written in AD 336. Most Christian churches do not claim that 25 December is the historical date, but keep it as an old tradition. In 17th-century England some Puritans condemned Christmas celebrations, and in the 19th century writers such as Washington Irving and Charles Dickens helped shape the modern focus on family, children, kindness and charity.

Customs

• Church services, including services at midnight on Christmas Eve.
• Nativity scenes, known in Rome from the 10th century; Francis of Assisi staged the first one with living people in 1223 at Greccio in Italy.
• Christmas trees, a custom that grew among Protestant Christians in Germany and Livonia (now Estonia and Latvia); guilds in Tallinn put up holiday trees as early as 1441.
• Carols, Christmas cards, special meals and gift-giving, with gift-bringers such as Santa Claus, Father Christmas and the Christkind.

How traditions differ

Most churches celebrate on 25 December in the Gregorian calendar used worldwide. Some Eastern Orthodox churches keep 25 December in the older Julian calendar, which currently falls on 7 January. In the West, Christmas opens a season, Christmastide, which traditionally lasts twelve days.

In the library

Works: A Christmas Carol · Nutcracker and Mouse-King · Christ Legends · The Bible

Great Lives: Francis of Assisi · Charles Dickens · Washington Irving

More in Christmastide

St Stephen's Day · The Twelve Days of Christmas