Christmas Around the World
Who celebrates Christmas and holidays like Christmas?
Christmas is primarily a Christian holiday, although some people who aren’t Christians celebrate Christmas anyway simply because they enjoy the spirit of the season, the fellowship and the family traditions that arise from the celebration.
Laura Legend explains worldwide Christmas celebrations...
Christians around the world celebrate Christmas in honor of the birth of Jesus Christ, the son of God. Of course nobody knows specifically when Christ was born; however, Christmas day is the day dedicated to the celebration of his birth.
Before the birth of Christ, a holiday celebration, actually celebrating the New Year, was a custom in Mesopotamia. In Persia and Babylon the festival of Sacaea was customary and the ancient Greeks had a similar celebration. Saturnalia was a pagan celebration in ancient Rome. A European feast was held to celebrate the end of winter.
The celebration of Christmas was brought about by Christians. Customs from many different cultures have become part of the holiday festivities; however, worshiping, celebrating and glorifying Christ is the purpose of the Christmas holiday.
Many people call Hanukkah the Jewish Christmas, but in reality, other than being a religious celebration, Christmas and Hanukkah are very different both in terms of tradition and customs as well as in meaning.
Hanukkah is the Jewish festival that celebrates, not the birth of Christ, but the religious victory that occurred when the Maccabees took back the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and rededicated it after it had been occupied by the Seleucid Empire. The victory and rededication enabled the free practice Judaism which had been previously outlawed by the Seleucid monarchy.
Common worldwide Christmas traditions include cultural festivities which are simply a culture’s way of celebrating. Other Christmas traditions around the world include the German custom of decorating a Christmas tree which is said to symbolize the Garden of Eden, exchanging of gifts which is attributed to the wise men’s gifts given at the time of Christ’s birth, and Christmas stockings and Santa which are derived from the legend of St. Nicholas, a Christian bishop who was known for his generous gift giving.
Christians in different parts of the world have various traditions for celebrating Christmas, but one thing is in common. Christ is the reason for the Christmas season.