Christmas Holiday

Christmas is a holiday in most countries in the world today in the 21th Century. Christmas day is celebrated by both Christian and non-Christian in many countries. This is a holiday traditionally celebrating the birth of Jesus, the central figure of Christianity. Ways of celebration Christmas are including gift-giving, lights decoration on houses and on streets, Christmas trees, display of Nativity sets, church attendance, the Father Christmas/Santa Claus myth, and family gatherings.

Churches using the Gregorian calendar celebrate the holiday on December 25. Some Eastern Orthodox Churches celebrate on December 25 by the Julian calendar, which presently falls on January 7 on the Gregorian calendar. However, these dates are merely traditional of different denominations. Most scholars agree that the actual birthdate of Jesus is actually unknown.

Iin western society, Christmas is considered the most economically important holiday of the year and the most important family celebration for many people. Although Christmas occurs on a single day, many people take the entire month of December to celebrate the joy of Christmas. Many people prepare their Christmas celebration diligently by purchasing presents for loved ones, singing Christmas carols, decorating their house inside and out with lights and wreaths, and putting up beautifully decorated Christmas trees.

The popularity of Christmas can be traced back to its status as a winter festival. Winter is the time for most important holidays for many cultures in the world  because there is less agricultural work to do at this time. It is believed, that Christmas was influence by Winter festivals included the pre-Christian festivals of Yule and Saturnalia, and many other traditional pagan winter celebrations.

In Western culture, Christmas is celebrated by the exchange of gifts among friends and family members, some of the gifts being attributed to Santa Claus, who is also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Basil and Father Frost. However, many local and regional Christmas traditions are still being practiced, despite the heavy influence by various entertainment media including the American, British and Australian, as Christmas is portraited by film, popular literature, television, and other media.