Distinguishing between the 24th and 25th of Christmas

Christmas or Nativityis the day Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Judea, Israel. It is estimated that the time was between 7 BC and AD 2. In fact, Christmas and Christmas are the same. The word Noel comes from the Latin"natural"means date of birth.

Jesus is the real protagonist of Christmas.

However, the document recorded in the Gospel of Matthew says that the namei Noel comes from the title Emmanuel,Hebrew meaning“God is with us”. In English, this holiday is commonly called Christmas. This phrase can be separated into two words.“Christ”and“Mas”. “Christ”means“The Anointed Oneyesu” – the title of Jesus is also known“Mass”means mass.

Normally, Christmas is celebrated from the night of December 24th until the end of December 25th.Why is an event celebrated for two days? It is because the Jews believe that,A new day begins at sunset, so people celebrate early on the evening of the 24th (called the vigil) before officially celebrating the whole day of the 25th (called the main day's ceremony).

1. December 24th night - the "eve" of Christmas

As mentioned above, according to Roman Catholicism, the night of December 24 is the time"vigil"was organized to attract more participants. On that night, all places such as churches or each household decorated the cave with a manger, inside there was a statue of the Child Jesus and the Virgin Mary. Around it were donkeys, statues of the Three Kings, some angels, Saint Joseph...

Image of an English monk - Saint Boniface.

On the other hand, the image of December 24 is also associated with the birth of the Christmas tree. Historically, between 2000 and 1200 BC, people talked about an Epicea pine tree decorated with flowers, fruits and wheat associated with December 24, the day of the Sun's rebirth.

It is said that in the 7th century there was an English monk,Saint Boniface(born 680) on a pilgrimage came across a group of pagans gathered around a large oak tree and sacrificing a child.

The image of December 24 is also associated with the birth of the Christmas tree.

To stop the sacrifice and save the child, Boniface struck down the oak with a single blow of his fist. In its place grew a small pine tree. The saint told the pagans that the small pine tree was the tree of life and symbolized the eternal life of Christ. Since then, people have planted pine saplings for use at Christmas - a symbol of hope and new life.

2. December 25 - the main holiday of Christmas

Many people believe that December 25 is the day Jesus was actually born, so December 25 is the real Christmas. However, this is not entirely correct.

To this day, there is no document that can confirm with certainty whether Jesus was born on that day or not. All we know is that Jesus was born on a dark night in a cave, and some shepherds were informed by an angel and came to worship Jesus.

Jesus was born in a cave.

After this event, Christmas began to be celebrated by Christians. Initially, due to the prohibition and persecution of the Roman government, they secretly chose December 25 to celebrate - which coincided withSun God Day”(Feast of The Sol invictus)of the Romans.

For a long time, the Roman government could not detect the joyful Christians welcoming the event of Jesus coming to earth because they celebrated it on the same day as the great Roman national holiday at that time.

About 300 years later, in 312, Roman Emperor Constantine I abandoned polytheism and adopted Christianity. He abolished the worship of the Sun God. From then on, December 25th became the holiday to celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ.

Emperor Constantine - the convert of the Roman Empire.

However, it must alsoIn 354, Pope Libero declared December 25 as the official day to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.And when Christianity spread around the fourth century, Christmas began to be celebrated regularly and consistently.

Thus, December 25 is just a conventional day for the whole world, to commemorate a real historical event, the event of God's Son coming to earth as a human, to complete the mission of saving humanity.