Christmas

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Christmas

• Key words-
• Advent
• Incarnation
• Nativity
• Epiphany

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Advent

• Advent is the four week period leading up to
  Christmas
• It begins on November 30th or the nearest Sunday
  to this day
• The word Advent means arrival and advent is a
  period of preparation for the celebration of
  Jesus birth or the Incarnation.
• Advent marks the beginning of the Churchs year.

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Advent

• Advent is a solemn season and in the past it was
  celebrated in the same way as Lent, with fasting
  and penitence.
• One of the customs associated with Advent is
  making Advent wreaths. These are rings of
  evergreens such as holly and ivy, with four red
  candles in them.One candle is lit on each Sunday
  of Advent until, at Christmas, all four are
  burning.

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A special birth

• The Bible tells us of an angels message to Mary,
  a young woman, a virgin, living in Nazareth that
  she had been chosen to be the mother of this
  special child
• There are two accounts of this event one in the
  Gospel of Luke and the other in the Gospel of
  Matthew

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The Nativity Play

• At Christmas, many young children act out the
  events of that first Christmas in Nativity plays
  (nativity means birth)
• The first such play took place on Christmas Eve
  in 1223 when Francis of Assisi and his followers
  climbed the rocky hillside above their village of
  Greccio in Italy, and prepared a manger.

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The Nativity Play

• Local people came to join them, carrying burning
  torches to light up the night.
• Oxen and donkeys were led in and the joy and
  hardship of Jesus birth were acted out
• As the villagers watched, St Francis began to
  tell the story of the first Christmas, taking the
  part of each character in turn.
• Francis was determined that ordinary men and
  women should understand what it meant for Gods
  son to be poor, in a place where animals were
  sheltered.

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Epiphany

• Matthews Gospel tells of three visitors from the
  East who brought gifts to Jesus soon after his
  birth.
• Today, Christians still celebrate the coming of
  these three to visit Jesus (Matthew, chapter 2,
  verses 1 12) on the feast of Epiphany (6th
  January).
• Epiphany means to make obvious or to reveal.
• The visitors recognised Jesus as the true King
  and saviour, the rescuer of the world.

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Epiphany

• They showed the importance of Jesus by the gifts
  they gave him-
• Gold a gift for kings
• Frankincense a sweet smelling incense used in
  worship it was to show that Jesus is to be
  worshipped
• Myrrh a spice that was used to prepare dead
  bodies for burial this gift is seen as
  foretelling that Jesus, the rescuer, had to die
  in order to save the world

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SoWhat is Christmas?

• Christmas is one of the most important festivals
  of the Christian year
• Christmas celebrates the incarnation, when God
  came to earth in human form.
• No one actually knows exactly when Jesus was
  born, and it is actually more likely to have been
  in spring than winter

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So What is Christmas?

• The date of Christmas was fixed by Pope Gregory
  as late as 354 C.E.
• Christmas was placed at this time to absorb pagan
  festivals of the winter solstice on 21st
  December.
• It also incorporated the Roman festival of
  Saturnalia and the Northern European Yule
  festival.
• The practice of putting models of the manger in
  Churches was started , as said, by St Francis of
  Assisi

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SoWhat is Christmas?

• The practice of giving presents has two origins
• 1. The festival of St. Nicholas, the patron saint
  of children takes place on 6th December and it
  commemorates this event
• OR
• 2. The visit of the wise men to Bethlehem when
  they brought gifts to Jesus is remembered.
• Most Christians now give cards and presents as
  part of the Christmas ritual

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SoWhat is Christmas?

• Christmas is the second most important festival
  of the Christian calendar after Easter.
• Some Christians have an advent calendar at home
  which they use in the build up to Christmas.
• The word Christmas comes from the old English
  Chrestes Maesoes, which means Christs mass.
• Many Christians go to Midnight Mass (Holy
  Communion or the Eucharist) starting normally at
  11.30 on Christmas Eve and running through to
  12.30 on Christmas morning.