For Westerners, Christmas is just like the Spring Festival for Chinese people. It is the most important festival of the year.
What is Christmas? In fact, it was originally a religious festival, a festival for Christians to commemorate the birth of the Holy Lord Jesus. Therefore, Christmas is also called Jesus Christmas, the Nativity of the Lord, etc.
In 1607 AD, church leaders from all over the world gathered in the southern Palestinian city of Bethlehem for a meeting and designated December 25 as Christmas. Since then, Christians around the world have regarded this day as Christmas.
At Christmas, people carry out various activities, exchange wishes, and Santa Claus delivers gifts to add to the holiday atmosphere.
Christmas is also a time for family reunions in the West. Most homes will decorate an evergreen tree with colored lights and decorations to create a festive atmosphere to express people’s warm congratulations on Christmas. But at Christmas, why have a Christmas tree?
It is said that the Christmas tree first appeared in the Saturnalia during the ancient Roman period. During the festival, the ancient Romans worshiped the god of agriculture and prayed for a good harvest. On this day, buying and selling in the market stops, slaves are temporarily freed, people exchange gifts with each other, and banquets and carnivals continue day and night in every family.
Because they admired the trees in the forest so much, they took the trees home and decorated them in various ways. There is also a legend that the Christmas tree first appeared on the Saturnalia in the middle of the ancient Roman month. A German missionary, Nicholas, used a vertical tree to worship the Holy Child. Later, the Germans regarded the first day of the month as the festival of Adam and Eve, and put up the paradise tree symbolizing the Garden of Eden, hung cookies representing the holy bread on it to represent atonement, and lit candles to symbolize Christ.
It is also said that the religious reformer Martin Luther, in order to have a starry Christmas night, decorated a Christmas tree decorated with candles at home, and people began to follow suit.