Christmas is a Christian festival celebrating the birth of Jesus. It is celebrated each year on the 25th of December but the celebrations usually last till the New Year. People feast with family and friends, exchange gifts, decorate Christmas trees and sing Christmas carols.
One of the most common treats found around Christmas is the mince pie. They were originally filled with meat, such as lamb, rather than the jams, dried fruits and spices mix as they are today. They were also first made in an oval shape to represent the manger that Jesus slept in as a baby, with the top representing his swaddling clothes. Sometimes they even had a 'pastry baby Jesus' on the top!
The children usually wait for a mythical person named Santa Claus to come and give them presents. A lot of people dressed as Santa can be seen around the streets.
They give children candy canes and toys. If you hear a loud ‘Ho Ho Ho’ it probably means there is a Santa around somewhere.
Christmas colours are usually red, white, gold, blue and green, each having a meaning associated to it.
Green: Evergreen plants, like Holly, Ivy and Mistletoe have been used for thousands of years to decorate and brighten up buildings during the long dark winter. They also reminded people that spring would come and that winter wouldn't last forever!
Red: An early use of red at Christmas were the apples on the evergreen tree.
Red is also the colour of Holly berries and Bishop's robes. The robes would have been worn by St. Nicholas and then also became Santa's uniform!
White: White is often associated with purity and peace in western cultures. The snow of winter is also very white!
White is used by most churches as the colour of Christmas, when the altar is covered with a white cloth.
Blue: The colour blue is often associated with Mary, the mother of Jesus. In medieval times blue dye and paint was more expensive than gold! So it would only be worn by Royal families and very rich people. Mary was often painted wearing blue to show she was very important.
Gold is the colour of the Sun and light - both very important in the dark winter. Gold was also one of the presents brought to the baby Jesus by one of the wise men and traditionally it's the color used to show the star that the wise men followed.
Happy or Merry Christmas?
We wish people a 'Happy Birthday', and if you're in the USA in November and
December you might say 'Happy Holidays', so why do we say 'Merry Christmas' more often than 'Happy Christmas'?!
The term 'Merry Christmas' might well have been made very popular in 1843 from two different sources.
The first Christmas Card, sent in 1843 by Sir Henry Cole, had this wording on it: "A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You".
There's also the carol "God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen" which dates back to the 16th century in England. In the English language of the time, the phrase 'Rest You Merry' didn't mean simply to be happy; 'rest' meant "to keep, cause to continue to remain" and 'merry' could mean "pleasant, bountiful, prosperous".
So you could write the first line as "May God keep you and continue to make you successful and prosperous, Gentlemen" but that would be hard to sing! Hence, 'Merry Christmas!'
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