北京 昆明 公里:各位大哥，各位大姐！！！

圣诞节起源

　　“圣诞节”这个名称是“基督弥撒”的缩写。弥撒是教会的一种礼拜仪式。耶诞节是一个宗教节。我们把它当作耶苏的诞辰来庆祝，因而又名耶诞节。这一天，世界所有的基督教会都举行特别的礼拜仪式。但是有很多圣诞节的欢庆活动和宗教并无半点关联。交换礼物，寄圣诞卡，这都使圣诞节成为一个普天同庆的日子。

　　圣诞节是基督教世界最大的节日。4世纪初，1月6日是罗马帝国东部各教会纪念那稣降生和受洗的双重节日、称为“主显节”Epiphany，亦称“显现节”即上帝通过那稣向世人显示自己。当时只有那路拉冷的教会例外，那里只纪念耶稣的诞生而不纪念那稣的受洗。后来历史学家们在罗马基督徒习用的日历中发现公元 354年12月25日页内记录着：“基督降生在犹大的伯利恒。”经过研究，一般认为12月25日伴为圣诞节可能开始于公元336年的罗马教会）约在公元375年传到小亚细亚的安提阿，公元 430年传到埃及的亚历山大里亚，那路撒冷的教会接受得最晚，而亚美尼亚的教会则仍然坚持1月6日主显节是那稣的诞辰。12月25日原来是波斯太阳神（即光明之神）密特拉（Mithra）的诞辰，是一个异教徒节日，同时太阳神也是罗马国教众神之一。这一天又是罗马历书的冬至节，崇拜太阳神的异教徒都把这一天当作春天的希望，万物复苏的开始。可能由于这个原因，罗马教会才选择这一天作为圣诞节。这是教会初期力图把异教徒的风俗习惯基督教化的措施之一。后来，虽然大多数教会都接受12月25日为圣诞节，但又固各地教会使用的历书不同，具体日期不能统一，于是就把12月24日到第二年的1月6日定为圣诞节节期（Christmas Tide），各地教会可以根据当地具体情况在这段节期之内庆祝圣诞节。自从12月25日被大多数教会公认为圣诞节后，原来1月6日的主显节就只纪念耶稣受洗了，但天主教会又把1月6日定为“三王来朝节”，以纪念耶稣生时东方三王（即三位博士）来朝拜的故事。随着基督教的广泛传播，圣诞节已成为各教派基督徒，甚至广大非基督徒群众的一个重要节日。在欧美许多国家里，人们非常重视这个节日，把它和新年连在一起，而庆祝活动之热闹与隆重大大超过了新年，成为一个全民的节日。12月25日的主要纪念活动都与那稣降生的传说有关。

　　耶苏的出生是有一段故事的，耶苏是因着圣灵成孕，由童女马利亚所生的。神更派遣使者加伯列在梦中晓谕约瑟，叫他不要因为马利亚未婚怀孕而不要她，反而要与她成亲，把那孩子起名为“耶苏”，意思是要他把百姓从罪恶中救出来。
　　当马利亚快要临盆的时候，罗马政府下了命令，全部人民到伯利恒务必申报户籍。约瑟和马利亚只好遵命。他们到达伯利恒时，天色已昏，无奈两人未能找到旅馆渡宿，只有一个马棚可以暂住。就在这时，耶苏要出生了！於是马利亚唯有在马槽上，生下耶苏。后人为纪念耶苏的诞生，便定十二月二十五为圣诞节，年年望弥撒，纪念耶苏的出世。
　　圣诞节便是於十二月二十五日纪念耶苏的诞生，但真实的诞生日就没有人知道了。十九世纪，圣诞卡的流行、圣诞老人的出现，圣诞节也开始流行起来了。

Symbols of Christmas
Origins of Christmas symbols and traditions

We take for granted that many "things" are part of the Christmas season. But have you ever stopped to wonder why? Why do we kiss under the mistletoe? Why do we hang up stockings? Read on to find out where many of these traditions came from.

Candles - Before there was Christmas, there was a celebration for a sun god called Balder. Fires were built to give the sun god strength to come back to life. Later, in Victorian times, candles were placed in windows of homes to let the poor know there was shelter available for them there.

Candy Canes - The shape of the candy cane is that of the shepherd's staffs. An upside-down candy cane is in the shape of the letter "J" for Jesus. The traditional colours of the candy cane are white and red. The white signifies purity and the red signifies the blood Jesus shed for mankind.

Christmas Carols - People used to dance to celebrate the shortest day of the year. Once the hymns they danced to were translated from their original Latin, they sang as well. These songs evolved into the singing of Christmas carols. The most famous carol is Silent night.

Christmas Tree - Trees were first decorated in Germany. They used candies, fruit, and paper roses. The star we put at the top of the tree signifies the star the three wise men followed to Bethlehem.

Mistletoe - Legend has it that all the ancient gods promised to take care of the sun god and placed spells on everything to keep him well. However, they forgot to place a spell on mistletoe. The god of evil made an arrow out of mistletoe and killed the sun god. The other gods brought the sun god back to life. The mistletoe promised not to hurt anyone again and became the emblem of love, which is why we kiss under it. Another belief is that we kiss under it because of the Scandinavians who associated mistletoe with their goddess of love, Frigga.

Santa Claus - Originally a Christian born in Turkey in the 4th. century, St. Nicholas was generous to the poor and loved children. The modern day image of Santa Claus being a chubby man in a red suit came from the story The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore.

Stockings - There is a story that St. Nicholas dropped gold coins down a chimney of a house where three poor girls lived who had no money for their weddings. The coins landed in their stockings which they had set out by the fire to dry.

Wreaths - Wreaths are circular to represent the love of God which has no beginning and no end.

耶稣的生日..圣诞节过三天之后就是复活节..再给你一个额外的知识

耶稣基督的生日