Christmas Day is celebrated as a major festival and public holiday in countries around the world, including many whose populations are mostly non-Christian. In some non-Christian areas, periods of former colonial rule introduced the celebration (e.g. Hong Kong); in others, Christian minorities or foreign cultural influences have led populations to observe the holiday. Countries such as Japan, where Christmas is popular despite there being only a small number of Christians, have adopted many of the cultural aspects of Christmas, such as gift-giving, decorations, and Christmas trees. A similar example is in Turkey, being Muslim-majority and with a small number of Christians, where Christmas trees and decorations tend to line public streets during the festival. [167] In the western world celebrated on 25th" is not correct. For UK,US and Canada and probably a lot others it might be true, german and I think spanish speaking countries not. European History Professor Joseph Perry wrote that likewise, in Nazi Germany, "because Nazi ideologues saw organized religion as an enemy of the totalitarian state, propagandists sought to deemphasize—or eliminate altogether—the Christian aspects of the holiday" and that "Propagandists tirelessly promoted numerous Nazified Christmas songs, which replaced Christian themes with the regime's racial ideologies." [164] The festive season has arrived, with sleigh bells ringing and the timely smattering of snow glistening on our streets.

What is Christmas? - BBC Bitesize

A further complication is added by the fact that the Armenian Apostolic Church continues the original ancient Eastern Christian practice of celebrating the birth of Christ not as a separate holiday, but on the same day as the celebration of his baptism ( Theophany), which is on January 6. This is a public holiday in Armenia, and it is held on the same day that is internationally considered to be January 6, because since 1923 the Armenian Church in Armenia has used the Gregorian calendar. [242] Christmastide, Christmas Eve, Advent, Annunciation, Epiphany, Baptism of the Lord, Nativity Fast, Nativity of Christ, Old Christmas, Yule, St. Stephen's Day, Boxing Day However, in 17th century England, some groups such as the Puritans strongly condemned the celebration of Christmas, considering it a Catholic invention and the "trappings of popery" or the "rags of the Beast". [57] In contrast, the established Anglican Church "pressed for a more elaborate observance of feasts, penitential seasons, and saints' days. The calendar reform became a major point of tension between the Anglican party and the Puritan party." [116] The Catholic Church also responded, promoting the festival in a more religiously oriented form. King Charles I of England directed his noblemen and gentry to return to their landed estates in midwinter to keep up their old-style Christmas generosity. [109] Following the Parliamentarian victory over Charles I during the English Civil War, England's Puritan rulers banned Christmas in 1647. [57] [117] The film made a modest box office dent upon release. But many viewers who found the film over the years, usually on home video, appreciated its impressive puppets, offbeat rhythm and many seasonal earworms. Audience support led to multiple rereleases, elevating the film from a cult classic to a must-watch movie during both Halloween and Christmas.I imagine this chap https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Park_(Mr._Christmas) will be very upset to find out NO days are Christmas! Daemonik ( talk) 11:22, 5 December 2019 (UTC) On the last of the twelve days, called Twelfth Night, various cultures developed a wide range of additional special festivities. The variation extends even to the issue of how to count the days. If Christmas Day is the first of the twelve days, then Twelfth Night would be on January 5, the eve of Epiphany. If December 26, the day after Christmas, is the first day, then Twelfth Night falls on January 6, the evening of Epiphany itself. Kirk Cameron, William Federer (November 6, 2014). Praise the Lord. Trinity Broadcasting Network. Event occurs at 01:15:14. Archived from the original on December 25, 2014 . Retrieved December 25, 2014. Western Europe celebrated Christmas December 25 as the holiest day. Eastern Europe celebrated January 6 the Epiphany, the visit of the Wise Men, as the holiest day... and so they had this council and they decided to make all twelve days from December 25 to January 6 the Twelve Days of Christmas. a b Roy, Christian (2005). Traditional Festivals: A Multicultural Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. p.146. ISBN 978-1-57607-089-5. Archived from the original on January 11, 2014 . Retrieved February 3, 2012.

Is it Christmas?

In the 17th century, Isaac Newton, who, coincidentally, was born on December 25, argued that the date of Christmas may have been selected to correspond with the solstice. [85]

How likely is a white Christmas?

Technically, 2021 was the last white Christmas in the UK with 6% of stations recording snow falling, but less than 1% of stations reported any snow lying on the ground. Before that 2020 was also a white Christmas, with 6 % of weather stations recording snow falling, however, only 4 % of stations reported any snow lying on the ground.

Christmas’ went from a cult classic to How ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ went from a cult classic to

I interpreted this comic to be about statistics: it boasts an impressively high accuracy rate, but is actually (indeed, by design) completely useless at it's purported purpose (telling you whether it's Christmas). How to lie with statistics!:) L-Space Traveler ( talk) 14:12, 27 September 2023 (UTC) Also this flowchart: 1723: Meteorite Identification - I am currently to absent-minded to get a proper wording for the relation right. -- Lupo ( talk) 14:57, 3 December 2019 (UTC) The average number of days in a year in the Gregorian calendar is exactly 365.2425, not 365.25. Leap years are skipped in years divisible by 100 except in years divisible by 400. Programmerjake ( talk) 18:12, 4 December 2019 (UTC) Nightmare” characters now make regular appearances at the Disney parks during Halloween and Christmas, greeting young visitors and appearing on seasonal merchandise. Disney films even more explicitly dealt with death: The popular Pixar film “Coco” starred several skeletons, and the studio even released a fully animated version of “Frankenweenie,” based on Burton’s short film of the same name. Burton has even gone on to direct more children’s films for Disney, including “Alice in Wonderland” and “Dumbo,” his dark streak dampened but still intact. Saint Nicholas, known as Sinterklaas in the Netherlands, is considered by many to be the original Santa Claus [231]

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Every year, people ask me about including multiple definitions of Christmas, but I think for my own sanity it's going to keep looking just at 12/25.;) Konklone ( talk) 00:57, 3 December 2019 (UTC) Roger Ebert said as much in his glowing three-and-a-half star review of the film in 1993: “This is the kind of movie older kids will eat up; it has the kind of offbeat, subversive energy that tells them wonderful things are likely to happen.”

Is it Christmas? - explain xkcd 2236: Is it Christmas? - explain xkcd

The rival "History of Religions" hypothesis suggests that the Church selected December 25 date to appropriate festivities held by the Romans in honor of the Sun god Sol Invictus. [63] This cult was established by Aurelian in 274. An explicit expression of this theory appears in an annotation of uncertain date added to a manuscript of a work by 12th-century Syrian bishop Jacob Bar-Salibi. The scribe who added it wrote:

What is a white Christmas?

In eastern Europe also, pre-Christian traditions were incorporated into Christmas celebrations there, an example being the Koleda, [107] which shares parallels with the Christmas carol. In America, interest in Christmas had been revived in the 1820s by several short stories by Washington Irving which appear in his The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. and "Old Christmas". Irving's stories depicted harmonious warm-hearted English Christmas festivities he experienced while staying in Aston Hall, Birmingham, England, that had largely been abandoned, [144] and he used the tract Vindication of Christmas (1652) of Old English Christmas traditions, that he had transcribed into his journal as a format for his stories. [109] A Norwegian Christmas, 1846 painting by Adolph Tidemand