Christmas is the most important holiday in the Western Christian community. On this day we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the father of Christianity.
The holiday was set in 354, by Pope Liberius, who declared December 25 to be the birthday of Jesus.
The story of the birth of Jesus has two versions in the New Testament: one appears in the Gospel according to Matthew, and the other in the Gospel according to Luke.
According to Luke the Virgin Mary revealed that she was pregnant by an angel, and that she was conceived by the Holy Spirit, without sexual contact. The emperor Augustus who ruled the Roman Empire at that time ordered registration in the census, so Miriam and her husband Joseph left their home in Nazareth and went to sleep with Joseph's family in Bethlehem. They could not find a vacant room in the inn to sleep in, so they spent the night in the family's stable. That night a girl picks up Jesus in a manger. The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, the city of David's origin, was the fulfillment of the prophecy of the prophet Isaiah.
According to Matthew, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem (the book does not detail his parents' journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem), the three ancient sages came to visit the family. After the visit they came to Jerusalem and told King Herod that they had seen a star, which tells of the birth of a great king. They followed the star to Bethlehem, arriving at the place where Mary and Joseph were staying. They gave Jesus gifts - gold, myrrh and frankincense, and warned his parents against Herod's intentions to murder all the children in Bethlehem who were under the age of two, because of his fear of the birth of a child to compete for his chair. The family fled to Egypt and returned to Israel after Herod died. They settled in Nazareth because they feared Herod's son, Archelaus.
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Nativity Scene: a Christmas custom is to design the scene of Jesus' birth in a barn with sculpted figures of Christ, His parents and possibly also with the ancient sages. |
Among the main customs of the holiday:
Christmas tree decoration - a fir tree decorated with lights and ornaments.
Home decoration with green vegetation and mistletoe, many houses in North and South America also decorate the houses and courtyards from the outside.
Giving presents in the name of Santa Claus who arrives in a sleigh at night mounted on reindeer and places the presents under the fir tree.
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| Sancta Nicolas car in Haifa, near Santa Claus house |
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