What is Christmas?

Christmas was traditionally a Christian festival celebrating the birth of Jesus, but in the early
20th century, it also became a secular family holiday, observed by Christians and non-
Christians alike. The secular holiday is often devoid of Christian elements, with the mythical
figure Santa Claus playing the pivotal role.
When is Christmas celebrated?
Christmas is celebrated by many Christians on December 25 in the Gregorian calendar.
For Eastern Orthodox churches that continue to use the Julian calendar for liturgical
observances, this date corresponds to January 7 on the Gregorian calendar. Gifts are
exchanged on Christmas Eve in most European countries and on Christmas morning in North
America.
How is Christmas celebrated?
Christians and non-Christians participate in some of the most popular Christmas traditions,
many of which have no origins in Christianity. These customs include decorating
evergreen trees—or, in India, mango or bamboo trees; feasting (picnics and fireworks are
popular in warm climates); and exchanging gifts on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning.
Does Christmas have pagan roots?
In ancient Rome, December 25 was a celebration of the Unconquered Sun, marking the
return of longer days. It followed Saturnalia, a festival where people feasted and exchanged
gifts. The church in Rome began celebrating Christmas on December 25 in the 4th century
during the reign of Constantine, the first Christian emperor, possibly to weaken pagan
traditions.
Did Christmas start in Germany?
Christmas did not start in Germany, but many of the holiday’s traditions began there,
including decorating trees. The celebration of Christmas started in Rome about 336, but it
did not become a major Christian festival until the 9th century.
The day following Thanksgiving—commonly referred to as Black Friday—has become one of
the busiest shopping days of the year in the United States. National chain stores traditionally
offer limited money-saving specials on a wide variety of goods in an effort to lure shoppers
into stores while offering similar deals online.

It is believed by many that the term Black Friday derives from the concept that businesses
operate at a financial loss, or are “in the red,” until the day after Thanksgiving, when
massive sales finally allow them to turn a profit, or put them “in the black.” However, this is
untrue.

A more accurate explanation of the term dates back to the early 1960s, when police officers
in Philadelphia began using the phrase “Black Friday” to describe the chaos that resulted
when large numbers of suburban tourists came into the city to begin their holiday shopping
and, in some years, attend Saturday’s annual Army-Navy football game. The huge crowds
created a headache for the police, who worked longer shifts than usual as they dealt with
traffic jams, accidents, shoplifting, and other issues.

Within a few years, the term Black Friday had taken root in Philadelphia. City merchants
attempted to put a prettier face on the day by calling it “Big Friday.”

The phrase “Black Friday” to signify a positive boost in retail sales didn’t grow nationwide
until the late 1980s, when merchants started to spread the red-to-black profit narrative.
Black Friday was described as the day stores began to turn a profit for the year and as the
biggest shopping day in the United States. In truth, most stores saw their largest sales on
the Saturday before Christmas.

Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).
The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago, mostly in the area that is now Ireland, the United
Kingdom and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1.
This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold
winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on
the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead
became blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed
that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.
In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the
otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions
about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these
prophecies were an important source of comfort during the long, dark winter.
To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered
to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts
wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each
other’s fortunes.
When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished
earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.
Thanksgiving is one of the most popular holidays in the United States, but formally
establishing the day on which it is to be observed was difficult and fraught with controversy.
By federal law, Americans have celebrated Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday in
November since 1942, but numerous other dates were designated in the past.
It is believed that America’s first Thanksgiving, actually a harvest feast that brought together
53 Pilgrims and some 90 Native Americans, occurred in the fall of 1621. Beginning in 1668,
the holiday was celebrated on November 25, but that lasted only a few years. In 1789
Pres. George Washington decreed Thursday, November 26, as a day of public thanksgiving,
but, in the years that followed, the holiday bounced informally from month to month and
date to date. The last Thursday in November became the norm in 1863 with a declaration by
Pres. Abraham Lincoln.
In 1939 some Americans had the option of celebrating Thanksgiving on two different dates.
Because that year had five Thursdays in November, retailers asked Pres. Franklin D.
Roosevelt to push the holiday back a week in order to give people more time for holiday
shopping. Roosevelt agreed, but many saw the move as nothing but a money grab by
retailers, and several governors declared that the holiday would be celebrated in their states
on the traditional last Thursday. The battle was finally settled when Congress passed a law in
December 1941 that made Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday of November.