Christmas

Festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ (fig.), celebrated annually on 25 December, yet on 7 January by some Churches in the Eastern Christian tradition. The date of the nativity corresponded to the the date of the winter solstice on the Roman calendar, thus at the time when daytime began to lengthen and thus symbolizing Christ as the Light that enters the World and the origin of Christmas light decorations. Other Christmas symbols include the erecting of Christmas trees, i.e. pine trees, that beside being evergreens and thus symbolize the promise of eternal life, in Christian tradition also refers to the death and resurrection of Jesus, emulated in the practice of cutting the tree down and putting it back up again; Christmas wreaths, which are circular and made of evergreen leaves, such as holly, thus symbolizing the eternal life in Jesus Christ, while the circular shape represents the Christian perpetual God, who is without beginning nor end; holly, of which the sharpness of the leaves are said to represent Jesus' crown of thorns, while the red berries symbolize the drops of blood shed for our salvation and the flame-like shape of the leaves may either indicate God's burning love or refer to God himself, who in the Bible appeared to Moses as a fire that did not consume and as a column of fire to guide his people. See also TRAVEL PICTURE (1), (2), (3) and (4), and WATCH VDO (1), (2) and (3). 回