Merry Christmas from Highways & Byways

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For other uses, see Christmas (disambiguation).
"Christmas Day" redirects here. For other uses, see Christmas Day (disambiguation).
Christmas
Christmas Day

A depiction of the Nativity of Jesus with a Christmas tree backdrop
Also calledNoël, Nativity, Xmas, Yule
Observed byChristians, many non-Christians[1][2]
TypeChristian, cultural
SignificanceTraditional commemoration of the birth of Jesus
ObservancesChurch services, gift giving, family and other social gatherings, symbolic decorating
Date

• December 25
  Western Christianity and someEastern churches; secular world
• January 7
  Some Eastern churches[3][4]
• January 6
  Armenian Apostolic and Armenian Evangelical Churches[5]
• January 19
  Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem[6]

FrequencyAnnual
Related toChristmastide, Christmas Eve, Advent,Annunciation, Epiphany, Baptism of the Lord, Nativity Fast, Nativity of Christ,Yule, St. Stephen's DayChristmas or Christmas Day (Old English: Crīstesmæsse, meaning "Christ's Mass") is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ,[7][8] observed most commonly on December 25[4][9][10] as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world.[2][11][12] A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it is prepared for by the season ofAdvent or the Nativity Fast and initiates the season of Christmastide, which historically in the West lasts twelve days and culminates on Twelfth Night;[13] in some traditions, Christmastide includes an Octave.[14] Christmas Day is a public holiday inmany of the world's nations,[15][16][17] is celebrated culturally by a large number of non-Christian people,[1][18][19] and is an integral part of the holiday season.
The celebratory customs associated in various countries with Christmas have a mix of pre-Christian, Christian, and secularthemes and origins.[20] Popular modern customs of the holiday include gift giving, completing an Advent calendar or Advent wreath, Christmas music and caroling, lighting a Christingle, an exchange of Christmas cards, church services, a special meal, and the display of various Christmas decorations, including Christmas trees, Christmas lights, nativity scenes, garlands,wreaths, mistletoe, and holly. In addition, several closely related and often interchangeable figures, known as Santa Claus,Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, and Christkind, are associated with bringing gifts to children during the Christmas season and have their own body of traditions and lore.[21] Because gift-giving and many other aspects of the Christmas festival involve heightened economic activity, the holiday has become a significant event and a key sales period for retailers and businesses. The economic impact of Christmas is a factor that has grown steadily over the past few centuries in many regions of the world.
While the month and date of Jesus' birth are unknown, by the early-to-mid 4th century, the Western Christian Church had placed Christmas on December 25,[22] a date later adopted in the East,[23][24] although some churches celebrate on the December 25 of the older Julian calendar, which, in the Gregorian calendar, currently corresponds to January 7, the day after the Western Christian Church celebrates the Epiphany. The date of Christmas may have initially been chosen to correspond with the day exactly nine months after the day on which early Christians believed that Jesus was conceived,[25][26] or with one or more ancient polytheistic festivals that occurred near southern solstice (i.e., the Roman winter solstice);[27][28] a furthersolar connection has been suggested because of a biblical verse[a] identifying Jesus as the "Sun of righteousness".[25][29][30][26]