Christmas

Christmas celebrates the birth of Christ, who was believed to be the saviour of mankind. The word Christmas comes from the Old English word - Cristes Maesse or Christ's Mass. However, the celebrations and customs related to the day have grown up over time.

The Pagan community has always celebrated the winter solstice with a magnificent feast and a lot of merriment even before the birth of Christ. Yule is the time for the celebrations revolving around the hope of the coming spring, after the long harsh winters.

It wasn't until the fourth century, that the churches decided to celebrate the birth of Jesus and observe the same as a holiday. When it was first celebrated on January 6 according to the old Julian calendar. It continued on this day until we changed to the Gregorian calendar in 1743 and Pope Julius I chose December 25 to be the date to celebrate Christmas in an effort to adopt and absorb the traditions of the pagan Saturnalia festival and winter solstice celebration. The celebration has now spread all over the world to where ever the Christian community lives.