it is said that there was a goodness man went broke his domain. he lived a hard life and he has three daughters. the three daughters were being married but he didn't have money to buy dower for his daughters. on the happy chrismas eve three girls went to bed early. they didn't know that their father was so worried.
at last the chrismas father decided to help them . he besprinkled gold through the stack and the gold fell into the socks of the man's daughters. they lived a happy life from then on... chrismas socks was origined by this.
1)The story for the Christmas season Most people know that the simple meaning of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the son of God in the Christian religion. The word Christmas originated from an old English phrase, "Cristes Masse", meaningthe mass of Christ(基督弥撒). The date, December 25, was established by Bishop Liberius of Rome in 354 AD. He selected the date to mark the official time for celebrating Christ's birth. Before then, the birth of Jesus was observed on different days and even to this day no one is certain the exact date of Christ's birth.(2)Christmas celebrations Cultural celebrations of Christmas include glittering light displays, the ever-present jolly oldSanta Claus(圣诞老人), group celebrations and singing calledcarolling(圣诞颂歌), baked holiday cookies and cakes, decorations ofmistletoe(槲寄生,装饰性植物)and pine wreaths, lighted, ornamented Christmas trees with wrapped presents displayed underneath. The spirit of Christmas at its heart is a festival to celebrate family, love, gratitude to others and giving presents to show appreciation to friends and loved ones. In Europe, typically, family and friends gather together on Christmas Eve, on Dec 24, for a big turkeydinner, completed with Christmas pudding (a rich cake with brandy source). Everyone shares their stories of the year or brings a newsletter to read out for what has happened during the past year. Games are played after the dinner. On Christmas day, Dec 25, abrunch with family is the norm, followed by some light sporting events, such as a countrywalk, to digest the heavy food. Dec 26 is called Boxing Day in the UK, which means everyone opens their box of presents - the most joyful day for the children. In the US, having just celebrated Thanksgiving with turkey, Christmas Eve dinner is more likely to have ham on the menu with a heavy dessert. Dec 25, the Christmas Day is normally the day all the presents are opened.(3)Christmas trees & cards The tradition of having a pine tree as a Christmas Tree is believed to come from Germany. Since the medieval time, lighting a candle on a tree is common to welcome guests. Such practice has evolved into the Christmas celebration.The formal Christmas Tree was introduced to England about 100 years ago when Queen Victoria married German Albert. The evidence of Victoria's love for Albert is not only expressed through inheriting the German tradition of having a Christmas Tree but also through the goldAlbert Statuesthat Victoria had ordered built for Albert, standing in many places in London. In America, the Christmas Tree idea was brought by German immigrants too. The custom of sending Christmas cards was initiated in England around 1850. The first cards were decorated with elaborate designs of flowers, birds and landscapes.(4)Christmas carols The tradition of carol singing originated from the carolling practised by the Waits in the fourteenth century. Waits were royal singers who were sent by the court to perform. in selected homes for treats, pennies and/or fun. "Carol" means a circle dance accompanied by a song. Most Christmas carols we sing now were composed around 1400-1600's.
According to the Bible, the holy book of Christians, God decided to allow his only son, Jesus Christ, to be born to a human mother and live on earth so that people could understand God better and learn to love God and each other more."Christmas"- meaning"celebration of Christ"- honors the time when Jesus was born to a young Jewish woman Mary.
Christmas December 25 The history of Christmas dates back over 4000 years. Many of our Christmas traditions were celebrated centuries before the Christ child was born. The 12 days of Christmas, the bright fires, the yule log, the giving of gifts, carnivals(parades) with floats, carolers who sing while going from house to house, the holiday feasts, and the church processions can all be traced back to the early Mesopotamians. Many of these traditions began with the Mesopotamian (美索不达米亚) celebration of New Years. The Mesopotamians believed in many gods, and as their chief god - Marduk (马杜克,古代巴比伦人的主神,原为巴比伦的太阳神). Each year as winter arrived it was believed that Marduk would do battle with the monsters of chaos. To assist Marduk in his struggle the Mesopotamians held a festival for the New Year. This was Zagmuk, the New Year's festival that lasted for 12 days. The Mesopotamian king would return to the temple of Marduk and swear his faithfulness to the god. The traditions called for the king to die at the end of the year and to return with Marduk to battle at his side. To spare their king, the Mesopotamians used the idea of a "mock" king. A criminal was chosen and dressed in royal clothes. He was given all the respect and privileges of a real king. At the end of the celebration the "mock" king was stripped of the royal clothes and slain, sparing the life of the real king. The Roman's celebrated their god Saturn. Their festival was called Saturnalia which began the middle of December and ended January 1st. With cries of "Jo Saturnalia!" the celebration would include masquerades (化妆舞会) in the streets, big festive meals, visiting friends and the exchange of good-luck gifts called Strenae (lucky fruits). "Jo Saturnalia!" was a fun and festive time for the Romans, but the Christians though it an abomination (深恶痛绝) to honor the pagan (异教) god. The early Christians wanted to keep the birthday of their Christ child a solemn and religious holiday, not one of cheer and merriment as was the pagan Saturnalia. But as Christianity spread they were alarmed by the continuing celebration of pagan customs and Saturnalia among their converts. At first the Church forbid this kind of celebration. But it was to no avail (徒劳). Eventually it was decided that the celebration would be tamed and made into a celebration fit for the Christian Son of God. Some legends claim that the Christian "Christmas" celebration was invented to compete against the pagan celebrations of December. The 25th was not only sacred to the Romans but also the Persians whose religion Mithraism (密特拉教,奉祀密特拉神的宗教,纪元后最初3世纪内传至罗马帝国) was one of Christianity's main rivals at that time. The Church eventually was successful in taking the merriment, lights, and gifts from the Saturanilia festival and bringing them to the celebration of Christmas.