2. What is Christmas?
The Christmas also called Easter is one of the most important festivities of
Christianity, along with Easter resurrection and Pentecost. This solemnity,
commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem, is celebrated on
December 25 in the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, some Protestant
communities and most Orthodox Churches.
English speakers use the term Christmas, whose meaning is 'mass (mass) of
Christ'.
3. Where does Christmas come from?
Although the exact date of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth is not
recorded in either the Old Testament or the New Testament (Bible),
December 25th has been significant in the ancient peoples who
celebrated during the winter solstice in the hemisphere North (since
December 21). Adoption to that date was made centuries after.
4. Important things of Christmas
• The Christmas tree
• Santa Claus
• Three wise men
• Nougat
• Roscón de reyes
5. The Christmas tree
The Christmas tree remembers the tree of Paradise whose fruits
ate Adam and Eve, and where the original sin came; And
therefore remember that Jesus Christ has become the promised
Messiah for reconciliation. But it also represents the tree of Life
or eternal life, because it is perennial type.
6. Santa Claus
Santa Claus stood out for his kindness and generosity with the poorest, always worrying
about the good of others. Being still very young, the boy lost his parents, prey to a plague
epidemic, and became the heir to a great fortune. At age 19, Nicolas decided to give all
his wealth to the needy and to go to Mira with his uncle to dedicate himself to the
priesthood. There he was appointed bishop and became patron saint of Turkey, Greece
and Russia. In addition he was named Patron of the sailors because, tells a story that,
being some of them in the middle of a terrible storm on the high seas and seeing
themselves lost, they began to pray and to ask God for the saint's help, and the waters
calmed down. St. Nicholas died on December 6th, 345. Since that date is very close to
Christmas, it was decided that this saint was the perfect figure to give gifts and treats to
the children on Christmas Day.
7. Three wise men
The Magi of the East (or simply Magi) is the name by which the
Christian tradition calls visitors who, after the birth of Jesus of
Nazareth, came from foreign countries to pay homage and deliver
gifts of great symbolic wealth: gold , Incense and mirra.
8. Nougat
The tradition of eating nougat is due to the fact that the writer and gourmet
Antonio Martínez Montiño, cook of the king Felipe II (Century XVI) that
served the nougles only for the Christmas season, also wrote in his work
"Christmas Conduits", a humorous story In which he mocked with
socarronería of the producers of the nougat, since in this story some
Easterners visited Jijona and Alicante and they told them that they already
knew the turrones and that they had world-wide fame, with that it wanted to
know as these craftsmen of the turrón defended Your product.
9. Roscón de reyes
The custom of celebrating this bull with a toroid form during the Epiphany, when the Three
Magi from the East arrived in Bethlehem to give them their three presents - Jesus, incense
and myrrh - appeared in the eleventh century, although in Spain there seems to be Than to
wait, at least, three hundred years for this tradition to arrive. The celebration, known as "the
king of the bean", consisted of choosing a child among the poorest in the town to crown him
as king and to give him gifts, clothing and food. This popular commemoration had its mirror
at the family level since the house was made the roscón where they introduced a bean and
the one who touched the piece with her, was crowned king and was in charge of chairing the
table.
