Christmas Meaning Essay

1130 Words5 Pages
Christmas means, to most people today, a chance to eat, party and give gifts. The word Christmas comes from the Old English phrase ‘Cristes Maesse’ which means the mass of Christ. The most popular explanation for Christmas is that it celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. The first record of the celebration was in Rome in AD360 but it wasn’t until AD440 that the Christian Church made the date of the celebration the 25th of December. However some other people believe that Christmas is not a celebration of Christ as even though Historians doe believe he was born on the 25th they are unsure of which month and it is likely it is a summer month. The Church may have chosen the 25th of December so as to compete with pagan rituals. It is also suggested that Christmas is actually the celebration of Greek God Mithra rather than the birth of Jesus. Many Christmas customs that we have today began long before the birth of Jesus and originated from earlier festivals which were nothing to do with the Christian Church. Christmas today may be based on Christian beliefs but they are no longer practised by the majority in Britain. Today is commercialized to such an extent that Christmas preparations now start in September, which is when most shops start to sell Christmas items. Christmas used to be about midnight mass, carol singing, giving gifts to the less fortunate, decorating the tree, making sweet and being a family. Today we would rather spend the months and weeks leading up to Christmas spending money on Luxury items, food and toys. It’s now less of a family time where everyone is counted but more of a time where material items matter. For this reason many people today believe that Christmas’ meaning is lost. In a BBC question time where listeners could ring in Radio One asked if the public thought the meaning of Christmas is lost. Mary Bucket from Liverpool was one of the
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