NECKTIE DOG COLLAR XS S M L Christmas elf candy cane stripe tie adjustable cute

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Seller: sidewaysstairsco ✉️ (1,180) 100%, Location: Santa Ana, California, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 196134480746 NECKTIE DOG COLLAR XS S M L Christmas elf candy cane stripe tie adjustable cute. Check out our store for more great new, vintage, and used items! FOR SALE: A too cute, holiday-themed collar for your lovable furry friend PETSMART MERRY & BRIGHT WHITE COLLAR/TIE DOG COLLAR DETAILS: 🎁 Dress up your pooch for the Christmas paw-ty! 🐾 Tired of your furry friend feeling left out during the festive merriment? We've got the paw-fect solution for your fashion-forward fur baby. Part of PetSmart's Merry & Bright Collection this bright vivid red standard style dog collar flawlessly combines holiday cheer with an office-ready look. This adjustable collar is not only too cute, but it also features adorable embellishment that will have everyone oohing and aww-ing at your pup's impeccable fashion sense. This festive accessory has a white collar, just like a button-up dress shirt, and a charming green/red/gold candy cane-striped necktie attached. Your office Christmas party-ready dog will be dressed to impress, ready to steal the show while celebrating the most wonderful time of the year! Size: See photos for neck size measurements. We have just one available in each size. Extra Small (XS) Small (S) Medium (M) Large (L) CONDITION: New. Card packaging may have a small pen marking or cut. Please see photos. To ensure safe delivery all items are carefully packaged before shipping out. THANK YOU FOR LOOKING. QUESTIONS? JUST ASK. *ALL PHOTOS AND TEXT ARE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF SIDEWAYS STAIRS CO. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.* "PetSmart Inc. is a privately held American chain of pet superstores, which sell pet products, services, and small pets. It is the leading North American pet company, and its direct competitor is Petco.[4][5] Its indirect competitors are Amazon, Walmart, and Target.[6] As of 2020, PetSmart has more than 1,650 stores in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico.[1] Its stores sell pet food, pet supplies, pet accessories, and small pets. Stores also provide services including grooming, dog daycare, dog and cat boarding, veterinary care via in-store third-party clinics, and dog training. They also offer dog and cat adoption via in-store adoption centers facilitated by the non-profit PetSmart Charities. Founded in 1986 by Jim and Janice Dougherty, the company opened its first two stores in 1987 in Phoenix, Arizona under the name PetFood Warehouse, as warehouse-type stores that sold pet food in bulk at discount prices. Under new leadership the company changed its name to Pet Smart in 1989 and, along with expanding around the country, began a long-term shift away from visually unappealing discount warehouse stores to attractive stores that sold pet food and supplies and offered services such as grooming, adoption events, and vet visits. The company went public via an IPO in 1993, and thereafter increased its nationwide expansion and the types of goods and services it offered. After opening nearly 300 stores in the U.S., in 1996, the company expanded to Canada. Around the same time, it also bought and renamed a pet-store chain in the UK, but the over-priced purchase was a failure financially and operationally, and PETsMART sold the UK chain at a substantial loss to rival UK pet-store Pets at Home, in late 1999. The failed UK expansion brought a loss in profitability and a low point for PETsMART stock in 2000. The company's third CEO, Phil Francis, re-tooled the company by emphasizing employee training and customer service, overhauling operations and systems, redesigning stores for visual appeal, and marketing PETsMART as a one-stop shop for pet products and services. By 2002, the company had fully integrated its in-store, online, and catalog sales. Francis also led the opening of an average of 100 new stores per year from 2002 through 2009. In 2005, the company changed its name to PetSmart and refocused its branding on "pet parents" who considered their pets part of their families. Differentiating itself by emphasizing its channel-exclusive brands and its in-store services such as grooming, dog training, day care and boarding, veterinary care, and adoption centers, the company nonetheless experienced encroaching competition from big-box stores and online e-tailers. The company was acquired by a private equity consortium led by BC Partners in March 2015. In May 2017 PetSmart purchased the online pet-products e-tailer Chewy as a largely independent subsidiary. Chewy went public in an IPO in June 2019; As of March 2021, PetSmart no longer owns Chewy and they are independently operated companies. Company history Founding and expansion 1986–1993 PetSmart is originally started as Pet Food Warehouse in 1986. The initial two stores opened their doors in 1987 in Phoenix. Jim and Janice Dougherty conceived the idea of a chain of discount pet-food warehouses, and, with the initial financial backing of Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation, incorporated under the name Pacific Coast Distributing in 1986.[7][8][9] In 1987 they opened their first two superstores, in the Phoenix, Arizona area, under the name PetFood Warehouse, offering pet food in large quantities for low prices, a new concept at the time.[10][11][7][12] The stores welcomed customers and their pets, which was a first for the retail industry.[7] In 1988 they opened five additional stores in Arizona, Colorado, and Texas,[13] and PetFood Warehouse stores began working with local animal welfare groups to hold fundraising and pet adoption events.[citation needed] By 1989 PetSmart (name changed from Petfood Warehouse in 1988) continued to grow and began the search for new investors. The company also hired retail veteran Samuel J. Parker as president and CEO. Jim Dougherty retired from PetSmart in January, 1991; thereafter he was retained on a consulting basis with the company. Janice Dougherty retired in 1992. Under Parker's direction, that year the company added pet grooming services in some stores,[9] and departments for birds, fish, and small pets were added.[14] In 1990 mobile vet clinics were brought to stores to administer vaccinations.[9] Parker also redesigned stores to be more inviting, covering cement floors with tiles, widening and brightening aisles, and adding pet accessories and supplies.[15][8] Parker also led expansion into new markets in the southwest and California, and in 1992 PETsMART opened its 50th store and registered a profit for the first time.[14][8] In-house grooming centers, veterinary clinics, and pet adoption centers began to be included in stores to create one-stop pet stores for services and supplies,[16][14][13] and in 1992 PETsMART introduced its own private-label premium and value brands of cat and dog foods.[16] In-store obedience training was offered.[17] In 1993 Parker was elected Chairman of the company in addition to being President and CEO.[18] IPO, new services and expansion 1993–1998 In July 1993, the company went public on the NASDAQ under the ticker "PETM".[17][15] The infusion of capital allowed CEO Parker to expand aggressively across the country, and also to acquire regional and competing companies, in an effort to become the national leader in pet stores in an increasingly competitive market.[13][9][15][19] Its 100th store was opened in 1994.[7] In 1994, PETsMART Charities, Inc. – now PetSmart Charities – was formed, an independent nonprofit organization to help save the lives of homeless pets by partnering with animal shelters.[20][14] PETsMART had decided not to sell dogs and cats because of the hundreds of thousands of animals that are euthanized each year.[21] Instead, via PetSmart Charities it donates space inside its stores to local humane societies and animal shelters for them to display homeless animals that customers can adopt.[21] PetSmart Charities also offers grant funding and donations to animal-welfare programs and organizations.[20] As of 2020, the organization had facilitated the adoption of more than 9 million dogs and cats.[22] Also in 1994, PETsMART signed a deal with Banfield Pet Hospital clinics to include their veterinary clinics, initially called VetSmart, in PETsMART stores.[23][9] PetSmart received rent and a share of the profits from the clinics, and had a 20% ownership of Banfield.[23][9][24] By 1996 each new PETsMART store included a clinic,[13] and by 1997 there were vet clinics in 213 North American stores.[16] PETsMART entered the mail-order catalog business in April 1995,[25] and by 1996 had acquired the leading pet-products catalog business in North America and a major equine products catalog business.[9][16][13] PETsMART Direct, which encompassed several catalogs, was formed in October 1996.[25][18][21][26] In 1996, the company opened its first eight Canadian stores,[9] and spread to the UK by acquiring and renaming Pet City, the UK's largest pet-products chain which had 50 stores at the time.[9][27][28] Petsmart.com was initiated as an information website.[16] By end of year PETsMART had 320 stores.[16] Parker had retired as CEO in 1995, naming Mark Hansen as his successor CEO while Parker remained on as chairman.[13][29][18] Years of rapid expansion eventually exacerbated the company's lack of an adequate inventory infrastructure, resulting in heavy losses being reported in early in 1997.[30][31] Hansen resigned that year and Parker was brought back in to revive the company as chairman and CEO.[18][29][13] He initiated a series of "Back to Basics" initiatives to get the company on track,[18] and after it returned to profitability[21] he resigned again in March 1998, whereupon board member Phil Francis became president and CEO.[29][18][9] New leadership begins 1998–2000 New CEO Francis, a supermarket-chain veteran,[30] emphasized employee training and customer service,[13] and smaller stores with improved and more attractive design.[9] He led PETsMART to increasingly leave behind the warehouse concept in favor of shopper experience, eventually focusing on providing shoppers with a combination of attractive prices, variety, customer service, in-store experience, and ancillary services.[9] He also implemented major efficiencies and cost cuts in payroll, inventory, distribution, supply chain, and purchasing.[30][9] In 1998 PETsMART opened its 500th store, and by year's end had 423 stores in the U.S., 93 stores in the UK, and 18 in Canada.[16] Under Francis's direction, in 1999 the company launched an ad campaign promoting PETsMART as a one-stop shop for pet products and services.[9] Medical Management International (MMI), the holding company of Banfield Pet Hospitals, managed all vet clinics in company stores by 1999, and PETsMART acquired a 36% stake in MMI.[16] Eventually, in 2007 PetSmart sold off part of its stake in Banfield/MMI[32] and divested the rest of the stake in 2015,[33] and in 2018 the company began recruiting independent veterinary operators to house clinics inside its stores which did not yet have one.[34][35][36][37] Also in 1999, to compete with Pets.com, via a joint venture with Idealab the website Petsmart.com became an e-commerce site and a subsidiary of PETsMART.[38][30][13][39][40] In 2000 PETsMART increased its 49.9% stake[21] in Petsmart.com to 81%,[41][42] and in January 2002 acquired the site outright for an additional $9.5 million.[43][44] It fully integrated its online operations and marketing with its existing brick-and-mortar business and with its direct-marketing catalog business.[43][40][19] In December 2000 it had also acquired the domain name Pets.com from the newly defunct e-tailer, and redirected all of its web traffic to Petsmart.com.[39][45] The 1996 overpriced acquisition of the British chain store Pet City and its transformation into PETsMART UK had proved disastrous financially and operationally,[46][13] and in late 1999 PETsMART sold its acquisition back to a different UK pet retailer, Pets at Home, at a substantial loss.[47][48][13] Rejuvenation and North American growth 2000–2005 Although sales went up by over 5% in 2000, the company recorded a $31 million loss for the year,[43] and in mid 2000 its stock price hit an all-time low.[49][16][9][50] In an attempt to bolster growth, the company adopted a new vision statement, "to provide Total Lifetime Care for every pet, every parent, every time."[51][49][52] PETsMART began remodeling all of its stores, creating a new store format that was warmer and friendlier and organized by pet type, and adding emphasis on in-store customer service;[16][21][49][19] by the end of 2003, all stores had the new format.[9] In 2000 the company also re-prioritized and expanded its in-store services such as dog training and grooming.[51][49][16] It also acquired the pet boarding company PetsHotels Plus;[50][16] afterwards, two in-store PETsMART PetsHotels were tested in 2002 in Phoenix.[9] By the end of 2008 over 100 stores had PetsHotels offering daycare for dogs and boarding for dogs and cats,[53][14] and by 2020 there were eight stand-alone PetsHotels and hotels in 207 stores.[37] In 2001, the company laid out a three-year plan to expand in-store services and products and provide high-quality customer service,[43] and began an extensive training program for its employees, to help them identify customers' needs and provide solutions.[51] In line with its new vision statement, a new ad campaign debuted, "All You Need for the Life of Your Pet".[9] By early 2002, PETsMART's stock had recovered, more than quadrupling from its low in mid 2000.[19] By the end of 2002 there were Banfield Pet Hospitals in more than half of its 583 stores,[16] PETsMART had eight distribution centers around the country,[16] and the company embarked on a major new expansion opening an average of 100 new stores annually between 2002 and 2009.[9][43] In 2004, the company launched its PetPerks loyalty card program, which offered promotional discounts and customization to shoppers, allowing PETsMART to also individually promote services or products a given customer had not yet used and to determine the effectiveness of each promotion and the strongest customer brand loyalties.[16][9][50] The company also tested its new concept, Doggie Day Camp daycare for dogs, in a store in Pasadena.[54] Rename and rebranding 2005–2013 In 2005, PETsMART rebranded itself PetSmart and embraced a new concept and image which focused on "pet parents" and the trend of humanizing pets.[50][55][56] It introduced a major television ad campaign appealing to pet owners who treated their pets as children or considered them family members.[55][57] The rebranding emphasized the company's focus on being a petcare company which provided services as well as numerous specialty products rather than simply being a big-box discount mart.[55][54][50][16] A new store format, including revamped signage and displays, easier navigation, and in-store pet training centers, accompanied the change in focus.[43][54][16] PetSmart tightened its focus further in 2007 by exiting its equine business.[58] By 2008 PetSmart had 1000 stores in the U.S. and Canada.[43] By the mid to late 2000s PetSmart was beginning to experience significant competition from Amazon,[59][6][60][61] Walmart,[62][63] and Target;[63][6][62] Walmart had entered heavily into the pet supplies market and was also beginning to offer services such as grooming.[56][64][65] The company's direct competitor is Petco, a nationwide big-box pet supplies retailer that was sold to private equity owners in 2006.[63][66] In June 2009, Bob Moran, President and Chief Operating Officer of PetSmart, became CEO, succeeding Francis, who became executive chairman of the board until 2012.[67][68] Moran's vision was to slow the opening of new stores, and to focus instead on improving store productivity by pursuing the company's differentiation strategy, and on reaching its target market and improving its customer focus, especially regarding the humanization of animals.[9][64] In 2010 PetSmart began to launch a series of exclusive products based on partnerships with high-profile entities like GNC and Martha Stewart, leading to the GNC Pets and Martha Stewart Pets lines.[69][70] These were followed by other exclusive product partnerships, including with Bret Michaels, Toys "R" Us, Marvel Comics, and Tommy Bahama[64][71] and in 2017 with Ellen DeGeneres.[72] In a planned management succession, after four years at the helm of the company, Moran retired as CEO in June 2013 and was replaced by then President and COO David K. Lenhardt.[73][74] Private equity ownership 2014 to present Although it continued to differentiate itself by stressing and broadening its in-store services such as boarding, grooming, dog training, and veterinary care,[59][11] by 2014, with the increasing competition from online e-tailers PetSmart's profits began to slide, prompting activist investors to call for a buy-out of the company beginning in mid 2014.[75][76][77] The winner in the bidding war was a consortium of private equity investors led by BC Partners,[78][79][80] which completed a leveraged buyout of PetSmart for $8.7 billion in March 2015.[77][81][82] The company ceased trading on the NASDAQ, and Lenhardt stepped down as CEO, replaced by Michael Massey, formerly CEO of Payless ShoeSource's parent Collective Brands.[81][83][84][85] Massey and BC Partners replaced seven senior PetSmart managers and a significant portion of VP-level employees, and reorganized the company for quick decision-making.[80] Massey strategically shifted pricing, recalculated inventory shipping, reduced expenses, improved profit margins, and created a 30-person sourcing team in Asia for PetSmart's hard goods.[80] This overhaul led to an initial increase in profitability,[80] followed by declining sales in PetSmart's brick-and-mortar stores due to online competition.[86][87] To combat this PetSmart purchased the still-unprofitable yet popular pet e-commerce site Chewy as a largely independent subsidiary in May 2017 for $3.35 billion.[88][86][89][90][91] Added to its debt acquired from its 2015 leveraged buyout, this brought PetSmart's total debt load to $8 billion,[86][76][92] which reached $8.6 billion as of February 2019.[93] PetSmart CEO Massey abruptly resigned in August 2017; pending a replacement Raymond Svider, managing partner at BC Partners, served as executive chairman and oversaw the company with its senior leadership team.[94][95] In May 2018 J.K. Symancyk, previously CEO of Academy Sports + Outdoors, was appointed the new CEO.[96] In June 2018, PetSmart transferred a 20% stake in Chewy to its BC Partners–led parent holding company, and also transferred a 16.5% holding in Chewy to a wholly owned "unrestricted subsidiary" of PetSmart;[86][97][98][99][100] these transactions kept a substantial portion of Chewy out of reach of PetSmart's creditors.[86][98][99] Chewy went public in an IPO in June 2019.[101][102][103] PetSmart used the proceeds of the IPO to pay down some of its debt.[37] Chewy remains an independent subsidiary of PetSmart, and PetSmart is its majority owner.[103][102] Leadership At its startup in 1986, founders Jim and Janice Dougherty (there were no co-founders of PetSmart, aka Petfood Warehouse) led the company and its financial backers to success as a pet retail superstore. Since 1989 the CEOs of the company have been:     W.R. (Ford) Smith (1986-1989)     Samuel J. Parker (1989–1995)[29]     Mark Hansen (1995–1997)[104][105][106]     Samuel J. Parker (interim; 1997–1998)[29]     Phil Francis (1998–2009)[18][67]     Bob Moran (2009–2013)[104][67][74]     David Lenhardt (2013–2015)[74][85]     Michael J. Massey (2015–2017)[85][94]     J.K. Symancyk (2018–present)" (wikipedia.org) "he dog (Canis familiaris[4][5] or Canis lupus familiaris[5]) is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from extinct Pleistocene wolves,[6][7] and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative.[8] The dog was the first species to be domesticated[9][8] by humans. Hunter-gatherers did this, over 15,000 years ago in Germany,[7] which was before the development of agriculture.[1] Due to their long association with humans, dogs have expanded to a large number of domestic individuals[10] and gained the ability to thrive on a starch-rich diet that would be inadequate for other canids.[11] The dog has been selectively bred over millennia for various behaviors, sensory capabilities, and physical attributes.[12] Dog breeds vary widely in shape, size, and color. They perform many roles for humans, such as hunting, herding, pulling loads, protection, assisting police and the military, companionship, therapy, and aiding disabled people. Over the millennia, dogs became uniquely adapted to human behavior, and the human–canine bond has been a topic of frequent study.[13] This influence on human society has given them the sobriquet of "man's best friend"....Pets It is estimated that three-quarters of the world's dog population lives in the developing world as feral, village, or community dogs, with pet dogs uncommon.[107][page needed] "The most widespread form of interspecies bonding occurs between humans and dogs"[108] and the keeping of dogs as companions, particularly by elites, has a long history.[14] Pet dog populations grew significantly after World War II as suburbanization increased.[14] In the 1950s and 1960s, dogs were kept outside more often than they tend to be today[109] (the expression "in the doghouse" – recorded since 1932[110] – to describe exclusion from the group implies a distance between the doghouse and the home) and were still primarily functional, acting as a guard, children's playmate, or walking companion. From the 1980s, there have been changes in the pet dog's role, such as the increased role of dogs in the emotional support of their human guardians.[111][page needed] People and their dogs have become increasingly integrated and implicated in each other's lives[112][page needed] to the point where pet dogs actively shape how a family and home are experienced.[113] There have been two significant trends occurring within the second half of the 20th century in pet dogs' changing status. The first has been "commodification", shaping it to conform to social expectations of personality and behavior.[113] The second has been the broadening of the family's concept and the home to include dogs-as-dogs within everyday routines and practices.[113] A vast range of commodity forms aims to transform a pet dog into an ideal companion.[114] The list of goods, services, and places available is enormous: from dog perfumes, couture, furniture and housing to dog groomers, therapists, trainers and caretakers, dog cafes, spas, parks and beaches and dog hotels, airlines and cemeteries.[114] Dog training books, classes, and television programs proliferated as the process of commodifying the pet dog continued.[115] The majority of contemporary dog owners describe their pet as part of the family, although some ambivalence about the relationship is evident in the popular reconceptualization of the dog-human family as a pack.[113] Some dog trainers, such as on the television program Dog Whisperer, have promoted a dominance model of dog-human relationships. However, it has been disputed that "trying to achieve status" is characteristic of dog-human interactions.[116] The idea of the "alpha dog" trying to be dominant is based on a disproved theory about wolf packs.[117][118] Pet dogs play an active role in family life; for example, a study of conversations in dog-human families showed how family members use the dog as a resource, talking to the dog, or talking through the dog; to mediate their interactions with each other.[119] Increasingly, human family-members engage in activities centered on the dog's perceived needs and interests, or in which the dog is an integral partner, such as dog dancing and dog yoga.[114] According to statistics published by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association in the National Pet Owner Survey in 2009–2010, an estimated 77.5 million people in the United States have pet dogs.[120] The same source shows that nearly 40% of American households own at least one dog, of which 67% own just one dog, 25% two dogs and nearly 9% more than two dogs. There does not seem to be any sex preference among dogs as pets, as the statistical data reveal an equal number of male and female pet dogs. Although several programs promote pet adoption, less than one-fifth of the owned dogs come from shelters.[120] A study using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to compare humans and dogs showed that dogs have the same response to voices and use the same parts of the brain as humans do. This gives dogs the ability to recognize human emotional sounds, making them friendly social pets to humans....Cultural importance Main articles: Cultural depictions of dogs and Dogs in religion Further information: List of fictional dogs Cerberus, with the gluttons in Dante's Third Circle of Hell. William Blake. Dogs were depicted to symbolize guidance, protection, loyalty, fidelity, faithfulness, alertness, and love.[172] In ancient Mesopotamia, from the Old Babylonian period until the Neo-Babylonian, dogs were the symbol of Ninisina, the goddess of healing and medicine,[173] and her worshippers frequently dedicated small models of seated dogs to her.[173] In the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian periods, dogs were used as emblems of magical protection.[173] In China, Korea and Japan, dogs are viewed as kind protectors.[174] In mythology, dogs often serve as pets or as watchdogs.[174] Stories of dogs guarding the gates of the underworld recur throughout Indo-European mythologies[175][176] and may originate from Proto-Indo-European religion.[175][176] In Greek mythology, Cerberus is a three-headed, dragon-tailed watchdog who guards the gates of Hades.[174] Dogs are also associated with the Greek goddess Hecate.[177] In Norse mythology, a dog called Garmr guards Hel, a realm of the dead.[174] In Persian mythology, two four-eyed dogs guard the Chinvat Bridge.[174] In Welsh mythology, Annwn is guarded by Cŵn Annwn.[174] In Hindu mythology, Yama, the god of death, owns two watchdogs who have four eyes. They are said to watch over the gates of Naraka.[178] A black dog is also considered to be the vahana (vehicle) of Bhairava (an incarnation of Shiva).[179] In Christianity, dogs represent faithfulness.[174] Within the Roman Catholic denomination specifically, the iconography of Saint Dominic includes a dog, after the saint's mother dreamt of a dog springing from her womb and becoming pregnant shortly after that.[180] As such, the Dominican Order (Ecclesiastical Latin: Domini canis) means "dog of the Lord" or "hound of the Lord" (Ecclesiastical Latin: Domini canis).[180] In Christian folklore, a church grim often takes the form of a black dog to guard Christian churches and their churchyards from sacrilege.[181] Jewish law does not prohibit keeping dogs and other pets. Jewish law requires Jews to feed dogs (and other animals that they own) before themselves and make arrangements for feeding them before obtaining them.[citation needed] The view on dogs in Islam is mixed, with some schools of thought viewing them as unclean,[174] although Khaled Abou El Fadl states that this view is based on "pre-Islamic Arab mythology" and "a tradition to be falsely attributed to the Prophet."[182] Therefore, Sunni Malaki and Hanafi jurists permit the trade of and keeping of dogs as pets." (wikipedia.org) "A dog collar is a piece of material put around the neck of a dog. A collar may be used for restraint, identification, fashion, protection, or training (although some aversive training collars are illegal in many countries [1][2]). Identification tags and medical information are often placed on dog collars.[3] Collars are often used in conjunction with a leash for restraining a dog. Collars can be traumatic to the trachea if the dog pulls against the restraint of the leash, causing severe pressure to the neck. Use of a harness instead of a collar may be beneficial for dogs prone to tracheitis or those with a collapsed trachea. Conversely, dog breeds with slender necks or smaller heads may easily slip out of collars that are too loose. This can be avoided by using a dog collar which tightens to distribute pressure around the neck when training the dog not to pull.[4] Any style of dog collar must be properly fitted to ensure safety and collars should not be worn when the dog is unattended. Basic collars Collars are made with a variety of materials, most commonly leather or nylon webbing. Less common materials can include polyester, hemp, metal, or "oilcloth" (vinyl woven with cotton). Collars can be decorated in a variety of ways with a variety of materials. The basic collars for everyday wear are:     Buckle collars, also called flat collars,[6] with a buckle similar to a belt buckle, or a quick-release buckle, either of which holds the collar loosely around the dog's neck. Identification is commonly attached to such a collar; it also comes with a loop to which a leash can be fastened. This is the most standard collar for dogs. A flat collar should fit comfortably tight on the dog's neck. It should not be so tight as to choke the dog nor so loose that they can slip out of it. Generally, two fingers should be able to fit underneath the collar" (wikipedia.org) "A candy cane is a cane-shaped stick candy often associated with Christmastide,[1] as well as Saint Nicholas Day.[2] It is traditionally white with red stripes and flavored with peppermint, but the canes also come in a variety of other flavors and colors. History A record of the 1837 exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, where confections were judged competitively, mentions "stick candy".[3] A recipe for straight peppermint candy sticks, white with colored stripes, was published in The Complete Confectioner, Pastry-Cook, and Baker, in 1844.[4] However, the earliest documentation of a "candy cane" is found in the short story "Tom Luther's Stockings", published in Ballou's Monthly Magazine in 1866. Described as "mammoth" in size, no mention of color or flavor was provided.[5] The Nursery monthly magazine mentions "candy-canes" in association with Christmas in 1874,[6] and Babyland magazine describes "tall, twisted candy canes" being hung on a Christmas tree in 1882.[7] Religious affiliation A common story of the origin of candy canes says that in 1670, in Cologne, Germany, the choirmaster at Cologne Cathedral, wishing to remedy the noise caused by children in his church during the Living Crèche tradition of Christmas Eve, asked a local candy maker for some "sugar sticks" for them.[8][9][10][11] In order to justify the practice of giving candy to children during Mass, he asked the candy maker to add a crook to the top of each stick, which would help children remember the shepherds who visited the infant Jesus.[8][9][10] In addition, he used the white color of the converted sticks to teach children about the Christian belief in the sinless life of Jesus.[8][9][10] From Germany, candy canes spread to other parts of Europe, where they were handed out during plays reenacting the Nativity.[9][11] The candy cane became associated with Christmastide.[1] Production As with other forms of stick candy, the earliest canes were manufactured by hand. Chicago confectioners the Bunte Brothers filed one of the earliest patents for candy cane making machines in the early 1920s.[12] In 1919, in Albany, Georgia, Robert McCormack began making candy canes for local children and by the middle of the century, his company (originally the Famous Candy Company, then the Mills-McCormack Candy Company, and later Bobs Candies) had become one of the world's leading candy cane producers. Candy cane manufacturing initially required significant labor that limited production quantities; the canes had to be bent manually as they came off the assembly line to create their curved shape and breakage often ran over 20 percent. McCormack's brother-in-law, Gregory Harding Keller, was a seminary student in Rome who spent his summers working in the candy factory back home. In 1957, Keller, as an ordained Roman Catholic priest of the Diocese of Little Rock, patented his invention, the Keller Machine,[13] which automated the process of twisting soft candy into spiral striping and cutting it into precise lengths as candy canes.[14] Use during Saint Nicholas Day On Saint Nicholas Day celebrations, candy canes are given to children as they are also said to represent the crosier of the Christian bishop, Saint Nicholas;[2] crosiers allude to the Good Shepherd, a name sometimes used to refer to Jesus of Nazareth." (wikipedia.org) "In English-speaking cultures, a Christmas elf is a diminutive elf that lives with Santa Claus at the North Pole and acts as his helper. Christmas elves are usually depicted as green- or red-clad, with large, pointy ears and wearing pointy hats. They are most often depicted as humanoids, but sometimes as furry mammals with tails. Santa's elves are often said to make the toys in Santa's workshop and take care of his reindeer, among other tasks. They were first introduced in literature by Louisa May Alcott in 1856. Santa is much older, emerging in U.S. folklore in the early 17th century from St. Nicholas with attributes of various European Christmas traditions, especially from English Father Christmas and Dutch Sinterklaas. The association of Christmas presents with elves has precedents in the first half of the 19th century with the Scandinavian nisse or tomte, and St Nicholas himself is called an elf in A Visit from St. Nicholas (1823). Origin [icon]    This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2020) The origins of the elf are said to have been derived from Norse mythology, which refers to the álfar, also known as huldufólk 'hidden folk'. The elf character is most likely to have combined this Norse legend with other Scandinavian and Celtic cultures and myths regarding elves, fairies and nature spirits. In various regions of Europe there were similar supernatural beings that can be connected to elves, such as kobolds from Germany and house spirits named brownies in Scotland. In Medieval Europe, elves were seen as nefarious and were often linked to demons. The Christmas elf appeared in literature as early as 1850 when Louisa May Alcott completed, but never published a book titled Christmas Elves. The image of the elves in the workshop was popularized by Godey's Lady's Book, with a front cover illustration for its 1873 Christmas issue showing Santa surrounded by toys and elves with the caption "Here we have an idea of the preparations that are made to supply the young folks with toys at Christmas time".[1] During this time, Godey's was immensely influential to the birth of Christmas traditions, having shown the first widely circulated picture of a modern Christmas tree on the front cover of its 1850 Christmas issue. Additional recognition was given in Austin Thompson's 1876 work "The House of Santa Claus, a Christmas Fairy Show for Sunday Schools".[1] St. Nicholas as an elf In the 1823 poem A Visit from St. Nicholas (more commonly known today as 'Twas the Night Before Christmas), often attributed to Clement Clarke Moore, Santa Claus himself is described in line 45 as follows: "He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf".[2] Prior to the influence of St. Nicholas in Sweden, the job of giving out gifts was done by the Yule goat. By 1891, the saint had merged with Tomten, which was previously an elfish / dwarfish farm guardian. Following the work of Jenny Nyström, this hybrid figure became known as Jultomten.[3] Contemporary pop culture In the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and Ireland, the modern legend of Santa Claus typically includes diminutive elves at Christmas; green-clad elves with pointy ears and pointy hats as Santa's employees / assistants. They make the toys in Santa's workshop located in the North Pole. In recent years, other toys—usually high-tech toys like computers, video games, DVDs, and DVD players, and even mobile phones—have also been depicted as being ready for delivery, but not necessarily made, in the workshop as well. In this portrayal, elves slightly resemble nimble and delicate versions of the dwarfs of Norse myth. In more recent movies (e.g. The Santa Clause series and The Christmas Chronicles), the elves' jobs also include operating police and air forces protecting the North Pole, helping Santa outside the Pole when he is captured by the real-world police, and as Santa's secret-service-like bodyguards (Fred Claus). The elves are generally said to live for hundreds, or even thousands, of years, despite the fact that in some cases they appear eternally youthful as children. In films and television     This section may contain irrelevant references to popular culture. Please remove the content or add citations to reliable and independent sources. (January 2022) Christmas elves have had their role expanded in modern films and television. They are generally portrayed in live-action films either by little actors, children, forced perspective to make normal-sized actors appear diminutive, or computer-generated imagery (CGI); otherwise by traditional animation, stop-motion animation, or computer animation according to the format of the film. For instance:     The 1932 Disney traditional animation short film Santa's Workshop, features Santa Claus and his elves preparing for Christmas.[4]     Santa's elves feature prominently in the Rankin-Bass 1964 stop-motion TV special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. A distinctive, colorful costume design was created, with red, green, blue, or pink outfits topped with cone-shaped hats.[5] Most elves fit the short, plump stereotype, but for diversity, one elf is taller and thinner than the others and wears horn-rimmed glasses. The special was sponsored by General Electric, and the elves were featured in the GE small appliance commercials.[6]     In the 1985 live action feature One Magic Christmas, there are no elves; Santa runs his toy factory using "Christmas angels", who are deceased adults.     In the 1985 live-action Santa Claus: The Movie, the elves are a type of craft guild making traditional toys by hand and looking after Santa's reindeer.[7]     In the 1994 live action feature The Santa Clause and its sequels, Santa's elves are portrayed by children or teenagers, despite being hundreds of years old. Bernard, the number one elf, was portrayed by sixteen-year-old David Krumholtz. By the time the second sequel was made in 2006, Krumholz was too old to play an elf and was starring as an adult in his own television series, so the number two elf was promoted to number one.     The Christmas Elves are featured in the 1998 TV movie Like Father, Like Santa.     The 2003 live-action Will Ferrell comedy Elf pays homage to the 1964 Rudolph special by copying the colorful costume design for the elves, who are all portrayed by forced perspective of the normal-sized actors.[8][9]     In the 2007 live-action Fred Claus, most elves, such as head elf Willie (John Michael Higgins), are created by forced perspective. The single exception is Santa's bookkeeper Charlene (Elizabeth Banks), who is a human-sized elf.     Disney used the theme of Christmas elves for their 2009 short film, Prep & Landing, which tells the tale of an elite group of elves that make houses ready for Santa's deliveries. It was the first holiday television special made by Walt Disney Animation Studios.[10]     The Christmas Elves were featured in the 2011 computer-animated Arthur Christmas.     In the 2012 DreamWorks Animation computer-animated film Rise of the Guardians, elves are very short beings who wear pointy hat-like clothes and assist Santa at the North Pole, but they don't make the toys, the elves are only led to believe this, as yetis are actually responsible for making the toys in the film.     The Christmas Chronicles (2018) portrays the elves as diminutive CGI creatures with their own language, spoken also by Santa. They are about two feet tall with a two-head total body proportion, large eyes, and long, pointed ears. Their bodies are covered with a thin coat of fur and they have S-shaped hairy tails, giving them a somewhat rodent-like appearance. In the 2020 sequel The Christmas Chronicles 2, they are divided into two camps, with one faction of "naughty elves" led by Belsnickel, who plots to overthrow Santa. In literature Valentine D'Arcy Sheldon's children's picture book, The Christmas Tree Elf,[11] tells the origin story of how Santa met his elves. It also introduces Blink the elf, who introduces Santa to the elves and saves Christmas by extinguishing a Christmas tree fire. A strong connection to Christmas and elves can be found in the popular fairy tale The Elves and the Shoemaker published by the Brothers Grimm in 1812. In this tale a shoemaker, who had not been able to meet the demand to make more shoes, is greeted by several elves just before Christmas to finish all the shoes for him. Around the world Further information: Companions of Saint Nicholas In European countries, Santa has differing helpers depending on the country. In the Netherlands and Belgium, St. Nicholas is accompanied by Zwarte Piet (Black Peter) whose inclusion has become a controversial issue for the Blackface depiction of the character.[12] In Germany, the companions are the Knecht Ruprecht and in Luxembourg, they are known as Hoesecker.[13] In Nordic countries, Christmas Elves are considered nisser and not elves and they will usually wear only red instead of the green and red outfits that they are known for in English speaking countries." (wikipedia.org) "The Christmas season[2] or the festive season[3] (also known as the holiday season or the holidays) is an annual period recognized in many Western and other countries that is generally considered to run from late November to early January. It is defined as incorporating at least Christmas Day, New Year's Day, and sometimes various other holidays and festivals. It also is associated with a period of shopping which comprises a peak season for the retail sector (the "Christmas (or holiday) shopping season") and a period of sales at the end of the season (the "January sales"). Christmas window displays and Christmas tree lighting ceremonies when trees decorated with ornaments and light bulbs are illuminated are traditions in many areas. In Western Christianity, the Christmas season is traditionally synonymous with Christmastide,[4][5] which runs from December 25 (Christmas Day) to January 5 (Twelfth Night or Epiphany Eve), popularly known as the 12 Days of Christmas.[6][4] As the economic impact involving the anticipatory lead-up to Christmas Day grew in America and Europe into the 19th and 20th centuries, the term "Christmas season" began to also encompass the liturgical Advent season,[7] the period observed in Western Christianity from the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day until Christmas Eve. The term "Advent calendar" continues to be widely known in Western parlance as a term referring to a countdown to Christmas Day from the beginning of December (although in retail planning the countdown to Christmas usually begins at the end of the summer season, and the beginning of September). Beginning in the mid-20th century, as the Christian-associated Christmas holiday and liturgical season, in some circles, became increasingly commercialized and central to American economics and culture while religio-multicultural sensitivity rose, generic references to the season that omitted the word "Christmas" became more common in the corporate and public sphere of the United States,[8] which has caused a semantics controversy[9] that continues to the present. By the late 20th century, the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah and the new African American cultural holiday of Kwanzaa began to be considered in the U.S. as being part of the "holiday season", a term that as of 2013 had become equally or more prevalent than "Christmas season" in U.S. sources to refer to the end-of-the-year festive period.[8][10][11] "Holiday season" has also spread in varying degrees to Canada;[12] however, in the United Kingdom and Ireland, the phrase "holiday season" has been the subject of some controversy.[13] History Winter solstice Midwinter sunset at Stonehenge The winter solstice may have been a special moment of the annual cycle for some cultures even during Neolithic times. This is attested by physical remains in the layouts of late Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeological sites, such as Stonehenge in England and Newgrange in Ireland. The primary axes of both of these monuments seem to have been carefully aligned on a sight-line pointing to the winter solstice sunrise (Newgrange) and the winter solstice sunset (Stonehenge). It is significant that the Great Trilithon was oriented outwards from the middle of the monument, i.e. its smooth flat face was turned towards the midwinter Sun.[14] Roman Saturnalia Saturnalia was an ancient Roman festival in honor of the deity Saturn, the god of time, held on December 17 of the Julian calendar and later expanded with festivities through December 23. The holiday was celebrated with a sacrifice at the Temple of Saturn, in the Roman Forum, and a public banquet, followed by private gift-giving, continual partying, and a carnival atmosphere that overturned Roman social norms: gambling was permitted, and masters provided table service for their slaves.[15] The poet Catullus called it "the best of days."[16] Feast of the Nativity: Christmas An Advent wreath and Christmas pyramid adorn a dining table. Main articles: Christmas and Christmastide The earliest source stating December 25 as the date of birth of Jesus was Hippolytus of Rome (170–236), written very early in the 3rd century, based on the assumption that the conception of Jesus took place at the Spring equinox which he placed on March 25, to which he then added nine months.[17] There is historical evidence that by the middle of the 4th century, the Christian churches of the East celebrated the birth and Baptism of Jesus on the same day, on January 8, while those in the West celebrated a Nativity feast on December 25 (perhaps influenced by the Winter solstice); and that by the last quarter of the 4th century, the calendars of both churches included both feasts.[18] The earliest suggestions of a feast of the Baptism of Jesus on January 6 during the 2nd century comes from Clement of Alexandria, but there is no further mention of such a feast until 361, when Emperor Julian attended a feast on January 6 that year.[18] In the Christian tradition, the Christmas season is a period beginning on Christmas Day (December 25). In some churches (e.g., the Lutheran Churches and the Anglican Communion), the season continues through Twelfth Night, the day before the Epiphany, which is celebrated either on January 6 or on the Sunday between January 2 and 8. In other churches (e.g., the Roman Catholic Church), it continues until the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which falls on the Sunday following the Epiphany, or on the Monday following the Epiphany if the Epiphany is moved to January 7 or 8. If the Epiphany is kept on January 6, the Church of England's use of the term Christmas season corresponds to the Twelve Days of Christmas, and ends on Twelfth Night. This short Christmas season is preceded by Advent, which begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day, coinciding with the majority of the commercialized Christmas and holiday season. The Anglican Communion follows the Christmas season with an Epiphany season lasting until Candlemas (February 2), which is traditionally the 40th day of the Christmas–Epiphany season;[19] meanwhile, in the Lutheran Churches and the Methodist Churches, Epiphanytide lasts until the first day of Lent, Ash Wednesday.[20] Commercialisation and broadened scope The Pew Research Center found that as of 2014, 72% of Americans support the presence of Christian Christmas decorations, such as the nativity scene, on government property; of that 72%, "survey data finds that a plurality (44%) of Americans say Christian symbols, such as nativity scenes, should be allowed on government property even if they are not accompanied by symbols from other faiths."[21] Six in ten Americans attend church services during Christmastime, and "among those who don't attend church at Christmastime, a majority (57%) say they would likely attend if someone they knew invited them."[22] In the United States, the holiday season "is generally considered to begin with the day after Thanksgiving and end after New Year's Day". According to Axelrad, the season in the United States encompasses at least Christmas and New Year's Day, and also includes Saint Nicholas Day. The U.S. Fire Administration[23] defines the "winter holiday season" as the period from December 1 to January 7. According to Chen et al.,[24] in China, the Christmas and holiday season "is generally considered to begin with the winter solstice and end after the Lantern Festival". In some stores and shopping malls, Christmas merchandise is advertised beginning after Halloween or even earlier in late October, alongside Halloween items. In the UK and Ireland, Christmas food generally appears on supermarket shelves as early as September or even August, while the Christmas shopping season itself starts from mid-November, when the high street Christmas lights are switched on.[25][26] Secular icons and symbols, such as Santa Claus, the Nutcracker, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman, are on display in addition to Christian displays of the nativity. Public holiday celebrations and observances similarly range from midnight mass to Christmas tree lighting ceremonies, Santa Claus parades, church services, decorations, traditions, festivals, outdoor markets, feasts, social gatherings and the singing of carols. The precise definition of feasts and festival days that are encompassed by the Christmas and holiday season has become controversial in the United States over recent decades. While in other countries the only holidays included in the "season" are Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, St. Stephen's Day/Boxing Day, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day and Epiphany, in recent times, this term in the U.S. began to expand to include Yule, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.[27] The expansion of the holiday season in the U.S. to encompass Thanksgiving is believed to have begun in the 1920s, when in major department stores Macy's and Gimbels launched competing Thanksgiving Day parades to promote Christmas sales.[28] Due to the phenomenon of Christmas creep and the informal inclusion of Thanksgiving, the Christmas and holiday season has begun to extend earlier into the year, overlapping Veterans/Remembrance/Armistice Day, Halloween and Guy Fawkes Night. Shopping Further information: Economics of Christmas Globe icon.     The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the Northern Hemisphere and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. You may improve this article, discuss the issue on the talk page, or create a new article, as appropriate. (August 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Holiday shopping in Helsinki, Finland The exchange of gifts is central to the Christmas and holiday season, and the season thus also incorporates a "holiday shopping season". This comprises a peak time for the retail sector at the start of the holiday season (the "Christmas shopping season") and a period of sales at the end of the season, the "January sales". Although once dedicated mostly to white sales and clearance sales, the January sales now comprise both winter close-out sales and sales comprising the redemption of gift cards given as presents.[29][30] Young-Bean Song, director of analytics at the Atlas Institute in Seattle, states that it is a "myth that the holiday shopping season starts with Thanksgiving and ends with Christmas. January is a key part of the holiday season." stating that for the U.S. e-commerce sector January sales volumes matched December sales volumes in the 2004–2005 Christmas and holiday season.[31] Many people find this time particularly stressful.[32] As a remedy, and as a return to what they perceive as the root of Christmas, some practice alternative giving. North America The King of Prussia mall in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania decorated during the Christmas season In the United States, the holiday season is a particularly important time for retail shopping, with shoppers spending more than $600 billion during the 2013 holiday season, averaging about $767 per person. During the 2014 holiday shopping season, retail sales in the United States increased to a total of over $616 billion, and in 2015, retail sales in the United States increased to a total of over $630 billion, up from 2014's $616 billion. The average US holiday shopper spent on average $805. More than half of it was spent on family shopping.[33] It is traditionally considered to commence on the day after American Thanksgiving, a Friday colloquially known as either Black Friday or Green Friday. This is widely reputed to be the busiest shopping day of the entire calendar year. However, in 2004 the VISA credit card organization reported that over the previous several years VISA credit card spending had in fact been 8 to 19 percent higher on the last Saturday before Christmas Day (i.e., Super Saturday) than on Black Friday.[34] A survey conducted in 2005 by GfK NOP discovered that "Americans aren't as drawn to Black Friday as many retailers may think", with only 17 percent of those polled saying that they will begin holiday shopping immediately after Thanksgiving, 13 percent saying that they plan to finish their shopping before November 24 and 10 percent waiting until the last day before performing their holiday gift shopping.[35] Public, secular celebration in seasonal costume According to a survey by the Canadian Toy Association, peak sales in the toy industry occur in the Christmas and holiday season, but this peak has been occurring later and later in the season every year.[36] Christmas at the NASA Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex In 2005, the kick-off to the Christmas and holiday season for online shopping, the first Monday after US Thanksgiving, was named Cyber Monday. Although it was a peak, that was not the busiest online shopping day of that year. The busiest online shopping days were December 12 and 13, almost two weeks later; the second Monday in December has since become known as Green Monday. Another notable day is Free Shipping Day, a promotional day that serves as the last day in which a person can order a good online and have it arrive via standard shipping (the price of which the sender pays) prior to Christmas Eve; this day is usually on or near December 16.[37] Four of the largest 11 online shopping days in 2005 were December 11 to 16, with an increase of 12 percent over 2004 figures.[38] In 2011, Cyber Monday was slightly busier than Green Monday and Free Shipping Day, although all three days registered sales of over US$1 billion, and all three days registered gains ranging from 14 to 22 percent over the previous year.[37] Analysts had predicted the peak on December 12, noting that Mondays are the most popular days for online shopping during the holiday shopping season, in contrast to the middle of the week during the rest of the year. They attribute this to people "shopping in stores and malls on the weekends, and ... extending that shopping experience when they get into work on Monday" by "looking for deals ... comparison shopping and ... finding items that were out of stock in the stores".[31] In 2006, the average US household was expected to spend about $1,700 on Christmas and holiday spendings.[39] Retail strategists such as ICSC Research[40] observed in 2005 that 15 percent of holiday expenditures were in the form of gift certificates, a percentage that was rising. So they recommended that retailers manage their inventories for the entire holiday shopping season, with a leaner inventory at the start and new winter merchandise for the January sales. Michael P. Niemira, chief economist and director of research for the Shopping Center Council, stated that he expected gift certificate usage to be between US$30billion and US$40billion in the 2006–2007 holiday shopping season. On the basis of the growing popularity of gift certificates, he stated that "To get a true picture of holiday sales, one may consider measuring October, November, December and January sales combined as opposed to just November and December sales.", because with "a hefty amount of that spending not hitting the books until January, extending the length of the season makes sense".[41] According to the Deloitte 2007 Holiday Survey,[42] for the fourth straight year, gift cards were expected to be the top gift purchase in 2007, with more than two-thirds (69 percent) of consumers surveyed planning to buy them, compared with 66 percent in 2006. In addition, holiday shoppers planned to buy even more cards that year: an average of 5.5 cards, compared with the 4.6 cards they planned to buy the previous year. One in six consumers (16 percent) planned to buy 10 or more cards, compared with 11 percent the previous year. Consumers also spent more in total on gift cards and more per card: $36.25 per card on average compared with $30.22 last year. Gift cards continued to grow in acceptance: Almost four in 10 consumers surveyed (39 percent) would rather get a gift card than merchandise, an increase from the previous year's 35 percent. Also, resistance to giving gift cards continued to decline: 19 percent said they would not like to give gift cards because they're too impersonal (down from 22 percent last year). Consumers said that the cards are popular gifts for adults, teens and children alike, and almost half (46 percent) intend to buy them for immediate family; however, they are hesitant to buy them for spouses or significant others, with only 14 percent saying they plan to buy them for those recipients. Some stores in Canada hold Boxing Week sales (before the end of the year) for income tax purposes. Christmas creep Main article: Christmas creep What has become known as "Christmas creep" refers to a merchandising phenomenon in which merchants and retailers exploit the commercialized status of Christmas by moving up the start of the holiday shopping season.[43] The term was first used in the mid-1980s,[44] and is associated with a desire of merchants to take advantage of particularly heavy Christmas-related shopping well before Black Friday in the United States and before Halloween in Canada. In the UK and Ireland retailers call Christmas the "golden quarter", that is, the three months of October through December is the quarter of the year in which the retail industry hopes to make the most profit....Greetings "Happy New Year" redirects here. For the holiday, see New Year's Day. For other uses, see Happy New Year (disambiguation). "Christmas Greetings" redirects here. For the Bing Crosby album, see Christmas Greetings (album). A selection of goodwill greetings are often used around the world to address strangers, family, colleagues or friends during the season. Some greetings are more prevalent than others, depending on culture and location. Traditionally, the predominant greetings of the season have been "Merry Christmas", "Happy Christmas", and "Happy New Year". In the mid-to-late 20th century in the United States, more generic greetings such as "Happy Holidays" and "Season's Greetings" began to rise in cultural prominence, and this would later spread to other Western countries including Canada, Australia and to a lesser extent some European countries. A 2012 poll by Rasmussen Reports indicated that 68 percent of Americans prefer the use of "Merry Christmas", while 23 percent preferred "Happy Holidays".[9] A similarly timed Canadian poll conducted by Ipsos-Reid indicated that 72 percent of Canadians preferred "Merry Christmas".[12] Merry Christmas and Happy Christmas "Merry Christmas", "Happy Christmas", and "Merry Xmas" redirect here. For other uses, see Merry Christmas (disambiguation) and Happy Christmas (disambiguation). For the 2015 short film, see Merry Xmas (film). The greetings and farewells "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Christmas" are traditionally used in English-speaking countries, starting a few weeks before December 25 each year. Variations are:     "Merry Christmas", the traditional English greeting, composed of merry (jolly, happy) and Christmas (Old English: Cristes mæsse, for Christ's Mass).     "Happy Christmas", an equivalent greeting used in Great Britain and Ireland.     "Merry Xmas", with the "X" replacing "Christ" (see Xmas) is sometimes used in writing, but very rarely in speech. This is in line with the traditional use of the Greek letter chi (uppercase Χ, lowercase χ), the initial letter of the word Χριστός (Christ), to refer to Christ. A Christmas cake with a "Merry Christmas" greeting These greetings and their equivalents in other languages are popular not only in countries with large Christian populations, but also in the largely non-Christian nations of China and Japan, where Christmas is celebrated primarily due to cultural influences of predominantly Christian countries. They have somewhat decreased in popularity in the United States and Canada in recent decades, but polls in 2005 indicated that they remained more popular than "happy holidays" or other alternatives.[63] History of the phrase "Merry Christmas" appears on the world's first commercially produced Christmas card, designed by John Callcott Horsley for Henry Cole in 1843 "Merry," derived from the Old English myrige, originally meant merely "pleasant, agreeable" rather than joyous or jolly (as in the phrase "merry month of May").[64] Christmas has been celebrated since at least the 4th century AD, the first known usage of any Christmas greeting dates was in 1534.[65] "Merry Christmas and a happy new year" (thus incorporating two greetings) was in an informal letter written by an English admiral in 1699. The same phrase is contained in the title of the English carol "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," and also appears in the first commercial Christmas card, produced by Henry Cole in England in 1843.[66] Also in 1843, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol was published, during the mid Victorian revival of the holiday. The word "merry" was then beginning to take on its current meaning of "jovial, cheerful, jolly and outgoing."[64] "Merry Christmas" in this new context figured prominently in A Christmas Carol. The cynical Ebenezer Scrooge rudely deflects the friendly greeting: "If I could work my will ... every idiot who goes about with 'merry Christmas' on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding."[67] After the visit from the ghosts of Christmas effects his transformation, Scrooge exclaims; "I am as merry as a school-boy. A merry Christmas to everybody!" and heartily exchanges the wish to all he meets.[68] The instant popularity of A Christmas Carol, the Victorian era Christmas traditions it typifies, and the term's new meaning appearing in the book popularized the phrase "Merry Christmas".[69][70] The alternative "Happy Christmas" gained usage in the late 19th century, and in the UK and Ireland is a common spoken greeting, along with "Merry Christmas." One reason may be the Victorian middle-class influence in attempting to separate wholesome celebration of the Christmas season from public insobriety and associated asocial behaviour, at a time when merry also meant "intoxicated" – Queen Elizabeth II is said to have preferred "Happy Christmas" for this reason.[64] In her annual Christmas messages to the Commonwealth, Queen Elizabeth used "Happy Christmas" far more often than "Merry Christmas."[71] The latter was used only four times during her reign: in 1962, 1967, 1970 and 1999;[72] "Happy Christmas" was used on almost every broadcast since 1956. One year included both greetings,[73] and "blessed Christmas" was used in 1954 and 2007.[74] In the American poet Clement Moore's A Visit from St. Nicholas (1823), the final line, originally written as "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night", has been changed in many later editions to "Merry Christmas to all," perhaps indicating the relative popularity of the phrases in the US. Happy holidays "Happy Holidays" redirects here. For other meanings of "Happy Holidays", see Happy Holidays (disambiguation). In North America, "happy holidays" has, along with the similarly generalized "season's greetings", become a common seasonal expression, both spoken as a personal greeting and used in advertisements, on greeting cards, and in commercial and public spaces such as retail businesses, public schools, and government agencies. Its use is generally confined to the period between American Thanksgiving and New Year's Day.[citation needed] The phrase has been used as a Christmas greeting in the United States for more than 100 years.[75] The increasing usage of "happy holidays" has been the subject of some controversy in the United States. Advocates claim that "happy holidays" is an inclusive greeting that is not intended as an attack on Christianity or other religions, but is rather a response to what they say is the reality of a growing non-Christian population. Opponents of the greeting generally claim it is a secular neologism intended to de-emphasize Christmas or even supplant it entirely. "Happy holidays" has been variously characterized by critics as politically correct, materialistic, consumerist, atheistic, indifferentist, agnostic, anti-theist, anti-Christian, or even a covert form of Christian cultural imperialism.[76] The phrase has been associated with a larger cultural clash dubbed by some commentators as the "War on Christmas".[75][77] The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, the executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, has stated the uproar is based on "stories that only sometimes even contain a grain of truth and often are completely false."[75] Season's greetings "Season's Greetings" redirects here. For other meanings of "Season's Greetings", see Season's Greetings (disambiguation). "Season's greetings" is a greeting more commonly used as a motto on winter season greeting cards, and in commercial advertisements, than as a spoken phrase. In addition to "Merry Christmas", Victorian Christmas cards bore a variety of salutations, including "compliments of the season" and "Christmas greetings." By the late 19th century, "with the season's greetings" or simply "the season's greetings" began appearing. By the 1920s it had been shortened to "season's greetings,"[78] and has been a greeting card fixture ever since. Several White House Christmas cards, including U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1955 card, have featured the phrase.[" (wikipedai.org) "A necktie, or simply a tie, is a piece of cloth worn for decorative purposes around the neck, resting under the shirt collar and knotted at the throat, and often draped down the chest. Variants include the ascot, bow, bolo, zipper tie, cravat, and knit. The modern necktie, ascot, and bow tie are descended from the cravat. Neckties are generally unsized but may be available in a longer size. In some cultures, men and boys wear neckties as part of office attire or formal wear. Women wear them less often. Neckties can also be part of a uniform. Neckties are traditionally worn with the top shirt button fastened, and the tie knot resting between the collar points....Knots     This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) See also: Category:Necktie knots A demonstration of tying a tie A half Windsor knot with a dimple An Atlantic knot, which is notable for being tied backwards There are four main knots used to knot neckties. In rising order of difficulty, they are:     the four-in-hand knot. The four-in-hand knot may be the most common.     the Pratt knot (the Shelby knot)     the half-Windsor knot     the Windsor knot (also redundantly called the "full Windsor" and the "Double Windsor"). Although he did not invent it, the Windsor knot is named after the Duke of Windsor. The Duke did favor a voluminous knot; however, he achieved this by having neckties specially made of thicker cloths. In the late 1990s, two researchers, Thomas Fink and Yong Mao of Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory, used mathematical modeling to discover that 85 knots are possible with a conventional tie (limiting the number "moves" used to tie the knot to nine; longer sequences of moves result in too large a knot or leave the hanging ends of the tie too short). The models were published in academic journals, while the results and the 85 knots were published in layman's terms in a book entitled The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie.[17] Of the 85 knots, Fink and Mao selected 13 knots as "aesthetic" knots, using the qualities of symmetry and balance. Based on these mathematical principles, the researchers came up with not only the four necktie knots in common use, but nine more, some of which had seen limited use, and some that are believed to have been codified for the first time. Other types of knots include:     Small knot (also "oriental knot", "Kent knot"): the smallest possible necktie knot. It forms an equilateral triangle, like the half-Windsor, but much more compact (Fink–Mao notation: Lo Ri Co T, Knot 1). It is also the smallest knot to begin inside-out.     Nicky knot: an alternative version of the Pratt knot, but better-balanced and self-releasing (Lo Ci Ro Li Co T, Knot 4). Supposedly named for Nikita Khrushchev, it tends to be equally referred to as the Pratt knot in men's style literature. This is the version of the Pratt knot favored by Fink and Mao.     Atlantic knot: a reversed Pratt knot, highlighting the structure of the knot normally hidden on the back. For the wide blade to remain in front and right-side-out, the knot must begin right-side-out, and the thin end must be wrapped around the wide end. (Ri Co Ri Lo Ci T; not cataloged by Fink and Mao, but would be numbered 5r according to their classification.)     Prince Albert knot (also "double knot", "cross Victoria knot"): A variant of the four-in-hand with an extra pass of the wide blade around the front, before passing the wide blade through both of the resultant loops (Li Ro Li Ro Li Co T T, Knot 62). A version knotted through only the outermost loop is known as the Victoria knot (Li Ro Li Ro Li Co T, Knot 6).     Christensen knot (also "cross knot"): An elongated, symmetrical knot, whose main feature is the cruciform structure made by knotting the necktie through the double loop made in the front (Li Ro Ci Lo Ri Lo Ri Co T T, Knot 252). While it can be made with modern neckties, it is most effective with thinner ties of consistent width, which fell out of common use after the 19th century.     Ediety knot (also "Merovingian knot"): a doubled Atlantic knot, best known as the tie knot worn by the character "the Merovingian" in the 2003 film The Matrix Reloaded. This tie can be knotted with the thin end over the wide end, as with the Atlantic knot, or with the wide end over the thin end to mimic the look seen in the film, with the narrow blade in front. (Ri Co Ri Lo Ci Ri Co Ri Lo Ci T – not cataloged by Fink and Mao, as its 10 moves exceed their parameters.)     Trinity knot: This knot was first created by Christopher Johnson in Watertown, WI in 2004. He was inspired by the 2003 film The Matrix Reloaded. It is relatively easy to tie in spite of its complex look. It is best with a tie that is without taper or flare on the narrow blade, and is best worn with a suit or tuxedo because of its formal appearance.     Herringbone knot (also "Eldredge knot"): This knot is tied in almost the same process as the Trinity knot, but tends to create more volume to the sides, and is thus great with spread or cutaway collars. Like the Trinity knot it is best worn with a suit or tuxedo.     Victoria knot     Tulip knot     Vidalia knot     Caped Eldredge knot     Trinity-Eldredge knot     St. Andrew knot     Balthus knot     Hanover knot     Grantchester knot     Plattsburgh knot...Occasions for neckties Traditionally, ties are a staple of office attire, especially for professionals. Proponents of the tie's place in the office assert that ties neatly demarcate work and leisure time.[26] The theory is that the physical presence of something around your neck serves as a reminder to knuckle down and focus on the job at hand. Conversely, loosening the tie after work signals that one can relax.[26] Outside of these environments, ties are usually worn especially when attending traditionally formal or professional events, including weddings, important religious ceremonies, funerals, job interviews, court appearances, and fine dining." (wikipedia.org) "In clothing, a collar is the part of a shirt, dress, coat or blouse that fastens around or frames the neck. Among clothing construction professionals, a collar is differentiated from other necklines such as revers and lapels, by being made from a separate piece of fabric, rather than a folded or cut part of the same piece of fabric used for the main body of the garment. A collar may be permanently attached to the main body of the garment (e.g. by stitching) or detachable. Word usage The Oxford English Dictionary traces collar in its modern meaning to c. 1300, when collars served as neck-protecting armour.[1] History Today's shirt collars descend from the rectangular band of linen around the neck of 16th century shirts. Separate ruffs exist alongside attached ruffled collars from the mid-16th century, usually to allow starching and other fine finishing,[citation needed] or to make collar-laundering easier.[2] During the medieval period and sporadically thereafter, people wore ornamental collars as a form of jewelry. ...Types Collars can be categorized as:     Standing or stand-up, fitting up around the neck and not lying on the shoulders.     Turnover, standing around the neck and then folded or rolled over.     Flat or falling, lying flat on the shoulders. Collars may also be stiffened, traditionally with starch; modern wash-and-wear shirt collars may be stiffened with interfacing or may include metal or plastic collar stays. Shirt collars which are not starched are described as soft collars. The shape of collars is also controlled by the shape of the neckline to which they are attached. Most collars are fitted to a jewel neck, a neckline sitting at the base of the neck all around; if the garment opens down the front, the top edges may be folded back to form lapels and a V-shaped opening, and the cut of the collar will be adjusted accordingly....Buttoning See also: Dress shirt § Shirt wearing Conventions on fastening the buttons on a collar differ globally. In the United States and the United Kingdom, the top button is virtually always left unbuttoned, unless one is wearing a necktie, but unbuttoning two or more buttons is seen as overly casual. By contrast, in Slavic countries, including at least Poland, and Ukraine, the top button is buttoned even in the absence of a tie. Extended meanings From the contrast between the starched white shirt collars worn by businessmen in the early 20th century and the blue chambray workshirts worn by laborers comes the use of collar colors in job designation, the "workforce colorwheel". Examples are blue-collar, pink-collar and white-collar. " (wikipedia.org) "A stripe is a line or band that differs in color or tone from an adjacent area. Stripes are a group of such lines. Usage and appearance As a pattern (more than one stripe together), stripes are commonly seen in nature, food, emblems, clothing, and elsewhere. Two-toned stripes inherently draw one's attention, and as such are used to signal hazards. They are used in road signs, barricade tape, and thresholds. In nature, as with the zebra, stripes may have developed through natural selection to produce motion dazzle.[1][failed verification] Stripes may give appeal to certain sweets like the candy cane. For hundreds of years, stripes have been used in clothing.[2] Striped clothing has frequently had negative symbolism in Western cultures." (wikipedia.org) "Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus.[4] Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation of Christmas Day. Together, both days are considered one of the most culturally significant celebrations in Christendom and Western society. Christmas celebrations in the denominations of Western Christianity have long begun on Christmas Eve, due in part to the Christian liturgical day starting at sunset,[5] a practice inherited from Jewish tradition[6] and based on the story of Creation in the Book of Genesis: "And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day."[7] Many churches still ring their church bells and hold prayers in the evening; for example, the Nordic Lutheran churches.[8] Since tradition holds that Jesus was born at night (based in Luke 2:6-8), Midnight Mass is celebrated on Christmas Eve, traditionally at midnight, in commemoration of his birth.[9] The idea of Jesus being born at night is reflected in the fact that Christmas Eve is referred to as Heilige Nacht (Holy Night) in German, Nochebuena (the Good Night) in Spanish and similarly in other expressions of Christmas spirituality, such as the song "Silent Night, Holy Night". Many other varying cultural traditions and experiences are also associated with Christmas Eve around the world, including the gathering of family and friends, the singing of Christmas carols, the illumination and enjoyment of Christmas lights, trees, and other decorations, the wrapping, exchange and opening of gifts, and general preparation for Christmas Day. Legendary Christmas gift-bearing figures including Santa Claus, Father Christmas, Christkind, and Saint Nicholas are also often said to depart for their annual journey to deliver presents to children around the world on Christmas Eve, although until the Protestant introduction of Christkind in 16th-century Europe,[10] such figures were said to instead deliver presents on the eve of Saint Nicholas' feast day (6 December). Religious traditions Western churches Western churches have traditionally observed Christmas Eve (properly the Vigil of the Nativity) as a liturgical observance distinct from the masses of Christmas Day, with the proper Gospel at the Mass for the Vigil of the Nativity being that of the Annunciation to Joseph in Matthew 1. The Vigil of the Nativity is not so much the first day of Christmas as it is the last day of Advent, and so it traditionally retains the liturgical color of violet. In traditional western liturgical practice, when the Fourth Sunday of Advent and Christmas Eve occur on the same day, the Sunday mass is of Christmas Eve and the Fourth Sunday of Advent is only commemorated. The festivities of Christmas Day have, however, extended farther and farther back into Christmas Eve. While Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and some Anglicans traditionally celebrate Midnight Mass, the first mass of Christmas, either at or near midnight on Christmas Eve, some churches have in recent decades scheduled their "Midnight" Mass as early as 7 pm in an effort to better accommodate young children, whose choral singing has become a popular feature in some traditions. Midnight Mass is held in churches throughout the world and celebrates the birth of Christ, which is believed to have occurred at night. Midnight Mass is popular in Poland (pasterka) and Lithuania (piemenėlių mišios). In Spanish-speaking areas, the Midnight Mass is sometimes referred to as Misa de Gallo, or Missa do Galo in Portuguese ("Rooster's Mass"). In the Philippines, the custom has expanded into the nine-day Simbang Gabi, when Filipinos attend dawn Masses (traditionally beginning around 04:00 to 05:00 PST) from 16 December, continuing daily until Christmas Eve. In 2009 Vatican officials scheduled the Midnight Mass to start at 10 pm so that the 82-year-old Pope Benedict XVI would not have too late a night.[11] A nativity scene may be erected indoors or outdoors, and is composed of figurines depicting the infant Jesus resting in a manger, Mary, and Joseph.[12] Other figures in the scene may include angels, shepherds, and various animals. The figures may be made of any material,[13] and arranged in a stable or grotto. The Magi may also appear, and are sometimes not placed in the scene until the week following Christmas to account for their travel time to Bethlehem. While most home nativity scenes are packed away at Christmas or shortly thereafter, nativity scenes in churches usually remain on display until the feast of the Baptism of the Lord.[13] Whilst it does not include any kind of Mass, the Church of Scotland has a service beginning just before midnight, in which carols are sung. The Church of Scotland no longer holds Hogmanay services on New Year's Eve, but the Christmas Eve services are still very popular. On Christmas Eve, the Christ Candle in the center of the Advent wreath is traditionally lit in many church services. In candlelight services, while singing Silent Night, each member of the congregation receives a candle and passes along their flame which is first received from the Christ Candle. Advent wreath, lighting the candle Lutherans traditionally practice Christmas Eve Eucharistic traditions typical of Germany and Scandinavia. "Krippenspiele" (Nativity plays), special festive music for organ, vocal and brass choirs and candlelight services make Christmas Eve one of the most beloved days in the Lutheran Church calendar. Christmas Vespers is popular in the early evening, and Midnight Masses are also widespread in regions which are predominantly Lutheran. The old Lutheran tradition of a Christmas Vigil in the early morning hours of Christmas Day (Christmette) can still be found in some regions. In eastern and middle Germany, congregations still continue the tradition of "Quempas singing": separate groups dispersed in various parts of the church sing verses of the song "He whom shepherds once came Praising" (Quem pastores laudavere) responsively. A nativity scene Methodists celebrate the evening in different ways. Some, in the early evening, come to their church to celebrate Holy Communion with their families. The mood is very solemn, and the only visible light is the Advent Wreath, and the candles upon the Lord's Table. Others celebrate the evening with services of light, which include singing the song Silent Night as a variety of candles (including personal candles) are lit. Other churches have late evening services perhaps at 11 pm, so that the church can celebrate Christmas Day together with the ringing of bells at midnight. Others offer Christmas Day services as well. The annual "Nine Lessons and Carols", broadcast from King's College, Cambridge on Christmas Eve, has established itself a Christmas custom in the United Kingdom.[14] It is broadcast outside the UK via the BBC World Service, and is also bought by broadcasters around the world.[14] Eastern churches     This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) In the Byzantine Rite, Christmas Eve is referred to as Paramony ("preparation"). It is the concluding day of the Nativity Fast and is observed as a day of strict fasting by those devout Byzantine Christians who are physically capable of doing so. In some traditions, nothing is eaten until the first star appears in the evening sky, in commemoration of the Star of Bethlehem. The liturgical celebration begins earlier in the day with the celebration of the Royal Hours, followed by the Divine Liturgy combined with the celebration of Vespers, during which a large number of passages from the Old Testament are chanted, recounting the history of salvation. After the dismissal at the end of the service, a new candle is brought out into the center of the church and lit, and all gather round and sing the Troparion and Kontakion of the Feast. In the evening, the All-Night Vigil for the Feast of the Nativity is composed of Great Compline, Matins and the First Hour. The Byzantine services of Christmas Eve are intentionally parallel to those of Good Friday, illustrating the theological point that the purpose of the Incarnation was to make possible the Crucifixion and Resurrection. This is illustrated in Eastern icons of the Nativity, on which the Christ Child is wrapped in swaddling clothes reminiscent of his burial wrappings. The child is also shown lying on a stone, representing the Tomb of Christ, rather than a manger. The Cave of the Nativity is also a reminder of the cave in which Jesus was buried. The services of Christmas Eve are also similar to those of the Eve of Theophany (Epiphany), and the two Great Feasts are considered one celebration. In some Orthodox cultures, after the Vesperal Liturgy the family returns home to a festive meal, but one at which Orthodox fasting rules are still observed: no meat or dairy products (milk, cheese, eggs, etc.) are consumed (see below for variations according to nationality). Then they return to the church for the All-Night Vigil. The next morning, Christmas Day, the Divine Liturgy is celebrated again, but with special features that occur only on Great Feasts of the Lord. After the dismissal of this Liturgy, the faithful customarily greet each other with the kiss of peace and the words: "Christ is Born!", to which the one being greeted responds: "Glorify Him!" (the opening words of the Canon of the Nativity that was chanted the night before during the Vigil). This greeting, together with many of the hymns of the feast, continue to be used until the leave-taking of the feast on 29 December. The first three days of the feast are particularly solemn. The second day is known as the Synaxis of the Theotokos, and commemorates the role of the Virgin Mary in the Nativity of Jesus. The third day is referred to simply as "the Third Day of the Nativity". The Saturday and Sunday following 25 December have special Epistle and Gospel readings assigned to them. 29 December celebrates the Holy Innocents. Byzantine Christians observe a festal period of twelve days, during which no one in the Church fasts, even on Wednesdays and Fridays, which are normal fasting days throughout the rest of the year. During this time one feast leads into another: 25–31 December is the afterfeast of the Nativity; 2–5 January is the forefeast of the Epiphany. Meals Further information: List of Christmas dishes Bulgaria In Bulgaria, the meal consists of an odd number of lenten dishes in compliance with the rules of fasting. They are usually the traditional sarma, bob chorba (bean soup), fortune kravai (pastry with a fortune in it; also called bogovitsa, vechernik, kolednik), stuffed peppers, nuts, dried fruit, boiled wheat.[15] The meal is often accompanied with wine or Bulgaria's traditional alcoholic beverage rakia, in the past olovina (a type of homemade rye beer). The meals used to be put on top of hay, directly on the floor, together with a ploughshare or a coulter.[16] Czech Republic In the Czech Republic, fasting on the day of Christmas Eve (or only eating meatless food) is a medieval tradition. The belief is that if one lasted until Christmas dinner, they would see a golden pig, which is a symbol of luck. A typical Christmas breakfast is a sweet braided bread vánočka. Christmas Eve dinner traditionally consists of a carp (baked or fried) and a potato salad.[17] France In French-speaking places, Réveillon is a long dinner eaten on Christmas Eve. Guam and the Northern Marianas In Guam and the Northern Marianas, dishes include shrimp kelaguen; coconut crab; and kadon octopus (octopus stewed in sweet peppers and coconut milk).[citation needed] Beef is a rarity,[citation needed] but a popular dish is tinaktak, ground beef in coconut milk.[18][failed verification] Italy While other Christian families throughout the world celebrate the Christmas Eve meal with various meats, Italians (especially Sicilians) celebrate the traditional Catholic "Feast of the Seven Fishes" which was historically served after a 24-hour fasting period. Although Christmas fasting is no longer a popular custom, some Italian-Americans still enjoy a meatless Christmas Eve feast[19] and attend the Midnight Mass. In various cultures, a festive dinner is traditionally served for the family and close friends in attendance, when the first star (usually Sirius) appears in the sky. Latin America     In Peru, turkey and panettone are the stars of Christmas Eve.[20]     In Venezuela, hallacas are normally the staple dish for Noche Buena alongside of either ham or pork leg known as "pernil", panettone, rum and "Ponche Crema" (a form of alcoholic eggnog). The night is usually accompanied by traditional Christmas music known as "aguinaldos"; in Venezuela, the traditional music is known as joropo.[21] Lithuania Further information: Kūčios Lithuanian Christmas Eve blends pagan and Christian traditions, as initially it was a celebration of the winter solstice.[22] Traditionally, Lithuanians believed that animals could talk on that night, and it was possible to predict the future with charms and various games.[23] Kūčios ("Holy Meal") is the most important event of the year and family reunion. Dead relatives are remembered with an empty plate set at the table.[24] The feast starts after the rise of the evening star.[25][unreliable source?] No products made from meat, milk and alcohol are allowed during the Kūčios.[26][unreliable source?] In all, 12 dishes are served, all of them rustic, made from grains, fish, dried fruit or mushrooms including kūčiukai. Small biscuits soaked in poppy seed milk are served.[citation needed] After the dinner is over the table is left uncleared overnight for the feast of vėlės (spirits or soul).[27][unreliable source?][28] Poland A tradition similar to Italy (Wigilia, or 'Christmas Vigil') exists in Poland. The number of dishes is traditionally 12, but has been an odd number in the past.[29] According to the Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego (Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language) by Aleksander Brückner, the number of dishes was traditionally related to social class: the peasants' vigil consisted of 5 or 7 dishes, the gentry usually had 9, and the aristocracy, 11 dishes, but the even number 12 is also found today to remember the Twelve Apostles. It is obligatory to try a portion of all of them. Some traditions specify that the number of guests cannot be odd.[30][31] In Poland, gifts are unwrapped on Christmas Eve, as opposed to Christmas Day. It comes from fusing the traditions of Saint Nicholas Day (6 December) and Christmas. In the past, gifts were opened on the morning of Saint Nicholas Day.[citation needed] Puerto Rico In Puerto Rico, the traditional Christmas Eve dinner consists of arroz con gandules (rice with pigeon peas), lechón asado (pig roast) or pernil asado (pork roast shoulder), morcilla (rice-filled pork blood sausage), pasteles (root vegetable-based dough, meat-filled tamale), guineitos en escabeche (marinated, sliced green bananas), ensalada de papa puertorriqueña (Puerto Rican potato salad), and ensalada de coditos puertorriqueña (Puerto Rican macaroni salad).[32] The traditional Christmas Eve desserts are arroz con dulce (coconut rice pudding), tembleque (coconut pudding), flan de queso o coco (cheese or coconut caramel custard), tierrita (chocolate mousse), turrón, galletas florecitas (small meringue-topped biscuits), Danish butter biscuits, nueces surtidas (assorted shelled nuts), bombones dulces de navidad surtidos (assorted Christmas hard candy).[33] The traditional Christmas Eve beverages are coquito (coconut eggnog), Don Q or Bacardi (rum), and Pitorro (moonshine rum).[34] Russia Rozhdenstvenskiy sochelnik (Russian: Рождественский сочельник) was a common Eastern Orthodox tradition in the Russian Empire, but during the era of the Soviet Union it was greatly discouraged as a result of the official atheism of the former regime. In modern-day Russia, the church has a service on that day, but the celebration itself has not yet regained its popularity among the people. Instead of the Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve is considered to be a traditional family celebration featuring the New Year tree. Serbia Candles on Christmas Eve 2010 In accordance with the Christmas traditions of the Serbs, their festive meal has a copious and diverse selection of foods, although it is prepared according to the rules of fasting. As well as a round, unleavened loaf of bread and salt, which are necessary, this meal may comprise roast fish, cooked beans, sauerkraut, noodles with ground walnuts, honey, and wine. Families in some Slavic countries leave an empty place at the table for guests (alluding to Mary and Joseph looking for shelter in Bethlehem). Ukraine In Ukraine, Sviatyi Vechir (Ukrainian: Святий Вечір, Holy Evening) is traditionally celebrated with a meatless twelve-dish Christmas Eve supper, or the Holy Supper (Ukrainian: Свята Вечеря, Sviata Vecheria). The main attributes of the Holy Supper in Ukraine are kutia, a poppy seed, honey and wheat dish, and uzvar, a drink made from reconstituted dried fruits. Other typical dishes are borscht, varenyky, and dishes made of fish, phaseolus and cabbage. The twelve dishes symbolize the Twelve Apostles. Just as in Poland, it is obligatory to try a portion of all of the dishes. The table is spread with a white cloth symbolic of the swaddling clothes the Child Jesus was wrapped in, and a large white candle stands in the center of the table symbolizing Christ the Light of the World. Next to it is a round loaf of bread symbolizing Christ Bread of Life. Hay is often displayed either on the table or as a decoration in the room, reminiscent of the manger in Bethlehem. Gift giving Christmas presents under the Christmas tree During the Reformation in 16th- and 17th-century Europe, many Protestants changed the gift bringer to the Christ Child or Christkindl, and the date of giving gifts changed from 6 December to Christmas Eve.[35] It is the night when Santa Claus makes his rounds delivering gifts to good children. Many trace the custom of giving gifts to the Magi who brought gifts for the Christ child in the manger. In Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia, where Saint Nicholas (sv. Mikuláš/szent Mikulás) gives gifts on 6 December, the Christmas gift-giver is the Child Jesus (Ježíšek in Czech, Jézuska in Hungarian, Ježiško in Slovak and Isusek in Croatian).[36] In Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland, presents are traditionally exchanged on the evening of 24 December. Children are commonly told that presents were brought either by the Christkind (German for Christ child),[37] or by the Weihnachtsmann. Both leave the gifts, but are in most families not seen doing so. In Germany, the gifts are also brought on 6 December by "the Nikolaus" with his helper Knecht Ruprecht. Christmas tree with presents hanging on the tree In Estonia Jõuluvana, Finland Joulupukki, Denmark Julemanden, Norway Julenissen and Sweden Jultomten, personally meets children and gives presents in the evening of Christmas Eve.[38][39] In Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, the Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Quebec (French Canada), Romania, Uruguay, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, and Switzerland, Christmas presents are opened mostly on the evening of the 24th – following German tradition, this is also the practice among the British Royal Family since it was introduced by Queen Victoria and Albert, Prince Consort[40][41] – while in Italy, the United States, the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Malta, English Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia, this occurs mostly on the morning of Christmas Day. In other Latin American countries, people stay awake until midnight, when they open the presents. In Spain, gifts are traditionally opened on the morning of 6 January, Epiphany day ("Día de Los Tres Reyes Magos"),[42] though in some other countries, like Mexico, Argentina and Uruguay, people receive presents both around Christmas and on the morning of Epiphany day. In Belgium and the Netherlands Saint Nicholas or Sinterklaas and his companion Zwarte Piet deliver presents to children and adults alike on the evening of 5 December, the eve of his nameday.[43] On 24 December they go to church or watch the late-night Mass on TV, or have a meal.[citation needed] Christmas Eve around the world Christmas Eve is celebrated in different ways around the world, varying by country and region. Elements common to many areas of the world include the attendance of special religious observances such as a midnight Mass or Vespers and the giving and receiving of presents. Along with Easter, Christmastime is one of the most important periods on the Christian calendar, and is often closely connected to other holidays at this time of year, such as Advent, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, St. Nicholas Day, St. Stephen's Day, New Year's, and the Feast of the Epiphany. Celebrations Among Christians, as well as non-Christians who celebrate Christmas, the significant amount of vacation travel, and travel back to family homes, that takes place in the lead-up to Christmas means that Christmas Eve is also frequently a time of social events and parties, worldwide.[44][45][46][47][48] Further information on Christmas Eve traditions around the world: Christmas worldwide In Jewish culture Nittel Nacht is a name given to Christmas Eve by Jewish scholars in the 17th century. In contemporary American-Jewish culture With Christmas Day a work holiday throughout the United States, there is a space of unfilled free time during which much of American commerce and society is not functioning, and which can give rise to a sense of loneliness or alienation for American Jews.[49][50][51][52][53] Jews also typically do not engage in the family gathering and religious worship activities that are central to Christmas Eve for Christians.[54] Typical contemporary activities have usually been limited to "Chinese and a movie"[55][56][57]—consuming a meal at a Chinese restaurant, which tend to be open for business on the Christmas holiday, and watching a movie at the theater or at home, stereotypically a rerun of the 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life.[53][58][59][60] Since the 1980s a variety of social events for young Jews have sprung up, and become popular, on Christmas Eve.[61] These include the Matzo Ball, The Ball, and a number of local events organized by Jewish communities and local Jewish Federations in North America.[50] Further information on Christmas Eve social events for young Jews in North America: Matzo Ball In Chinese culture In Mandarin, Christmas Eve is called Píng'ān yè (平安夜, "peaceful night", etymologically from the Chinese title of the Christmas carol Silent Night). People exchange apples, because the word for "apple" (苹果) is a rhyming wordplay with "peace" (平安).[62] In Inuit culture In Inuit territories, Christmas Eve is called Quviasukvik. The Inuit celebrate it as their new year.[63][64][65] Latin America For Latin American cultures, Christmas Eve is often the biggest feast for the Christmas season. Typically a dinner is served with the family, sometimes after attending the late Mass known as Misa de Gallo. Some regions include a fasting before midnight dinner.[66] In much of Latin America the evening consists of a traditional family dinner for the adults. In some areas Christmas Eve marks the final evening of the Posadas celebrations.[67] Cuba In Cuba, roasted pig (lechón) is often the center of Christmas Eve (Nochebuena).[68] It is believed that the tradition dates back to the 15th century when Caribbean colonists hunted down pigs and roasted them with a powerful flame.[69] In Cuban and Cuban-American tradition, the pig is sometimes cooked in a Caja China, a large box where an entire pig is placed below hot coals.[70] The dinner features many side dishes and desserts, and often games of dominoes are played. The tradition is continued by Cuban families in Florida and the United States.[71] The dinner on the 24th, Christmas Eve itself, is the center of the celebration. That day — it may also be 31 — for many it is important to wear a new piece of clothing, be it a jacket or underwear. The Cuban family does not have a fixed time for dinner. It is necessary, yes, in most of the Island, to have it as a family, and it is expected to be all at the table to start tasting the frijoles negros dormidos [sleeping black beans] and the arroz blanco desgranado y reluciente [shredded white rice], the yuca con mojo [Cuban side dish made by marinating yuca root (also known as cassava) in garlic, sour orange, and olive oil], the roasted pork or the stuffed or unfilled guanajo that, along with homemade desserts, such as Christmas fritters, and a wide range of sweets in syrup and Spanish nougat. The visit to the archipelago of Pope John Paul II, in 1998, promoted the Cuban State, in a gesture of goodwill, to declare December 25 again as a holiday, which had stopped happening for several decades. New Mexico In New Mexico and areas of San Diego, California, Christmas Eve (nochebuena) is celebrated by lighting luminarias and farolitos. Philippines In the Philippines, the traditional dinner is served at midnight after the family attends the late evening Mass known as Misa de Gallo (sometimes referred to as Misa de Aguinaldo, "Gift Mass"). Conventional dishes served for the main course include: lechón, pancit, sweet-tasting spaghetti, fried chicken, jamón, queso de bola, arróz caldo, lumpia, turkey, relyenong bangús (stuffed milkfish), adobo, steamed rice, and various breads such as pan de sal. Desserts include úbe halayá, bibingka, membrilyo, fruit salad, various rice- and flour-based pastries, ice cream, and fruits, while popular beverages are tsokolate as well as coffee, soda, wine, beer, alcoholic drinks, and fruit juices....Apollo 8 reading from Genesis Main article: Apollo 8 Genesis reading On 24 December 1968, in what was the most watched television broadcast to that date, the astronauts Bill Anders, Jim Lovell and Frank Borman of Apollo 8 surprised the world with a reading of the Creation from the Book of Genesis as they orbited the Moon.[72] Madalyn Murray O'Hair, an atheist activist, filed a lawsuit under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.[73] The trial court dismissed the lawsuit, which was upheld on appeal.[74] In 1969, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp (Scott# 1371) commemorating the Apollo 8 flight around the Moon. The stamp featured a detail of the famous photograph, Earthrise, of the Earth "rising" over the Moon (NASA image AS8-14-2383HR), taken by Anders on Christmas Eve, and the words, "In the beginning God...". " (wikipedia.org) "Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25[a] as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world.[2][3][4] A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it follows the season of Advent (which begins four Sundays before) or the Nativity Fast, and initiates the season of Christmastide, which historically in the West lasts twelve days and culminates on Twelfth Night.[5] Christmas Day is a public holiday in many countries,[6][7][8] is celebrated religiously by a majority of Christians,[9] as well as culturally by many non-Christians,[1][10] and forms an integral part of the holiday season organized around it. The traditional Christmas narrative recounted in the New Testament, known as the Nativity of Jesus, says that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in accordance with messianic prophecies.[11] When Joseph and Mary arrived in the city, the inn had no room and so they were offered a stable where the Christ Child was soon born, with angels proclaiming this news to shepherds who then spread the word.[12] There are different hypotheses regarding the date of Jesus' birth and in the early fourth century, the church fixed the date as December 25.[b][13][14][15] This corresponds to the traditional date of the winter solstice on the Roman calendar.[16] It is exactly nine months after Annunciation on March 25, also the date of the spring equinox.[17] Most Christians celebrate on December 25 in the Gregorian calendar, which has been adopted almost universally in the civil calendars used in countries throughout the world. However, part of the Eastern Christian Churches celebrate Christmas on December 25 of the older Julian calendar, which currently corresponds to January 7 in the Gregorian calendar. For Christians, believing that God came into the world in the form of man to atone for the sins of humanity, rather than knowing Jesus' exact birth date, is considered to be the primary purpose in celebrating Christmas.[18][19][20] The celebratory customs associated in various countries with Christmas have a mix of pre-Christian, Christian, and secular themes and origins.[21][22] Popular modern customs of the holiday include gift giving; completing an Advent calendar or Advent wreath; Christmas music and caroling; watching Christmas movies; viewing a Nativity play; an exchange of Christmas cards; church services; a special meal; and the display of various Christmas decorations, including Christmas trees, Christmas lights, nativity scenes, garlands, wreaths, mistletoe, and holly. In addition, several closely related and often interchangeable figures, known as Santa Claus, Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, and the Christkind, are associated with bringing gifts to children during the Christmas season and have their own body of traditions and lore.[23] Because gift-giving and many other aspects of the Christmas festival involve heightened economic activity, the holiday has become a significant event and a key sales period for retailers and businesses. Over the past few centuries, Christmas has had a steadily growing economic effect in many regions of the world. Etymology The English word Christmas is a shortened form of 'Christ's Mass'. The word is recorded as Crīstesmæsse in 1038 and Cristes-messe in 1131.[24] Crīst (genitive Crīstes) is from the Greek Khrīstos (Χριστός), a translation of the Hebrew Māšîaḥ (מָשִׁיחַ‎), 'Messiah', meaning 'anointed';[25][26] and mæsse is from the Latin missa, the celebration of the Eucharist.[27] The form Christenmas was also used during some periods, but is now considered archaic and dialectal.[28] The term derives from Middle English Cristenmasse, meaning 'Christian mass'.[29] Xmas is an abbreviation of Christmas found particularly in print, based on the initial letter chi (Χ) in the Greek Khrīstos ('Christ'), although some style guides discourage its use.[30] This abbreviation has precedent in Middle English Χρ̄es masse (where Χρ̄ is an abbreviation for the Greek Χριστός).[29] Other names In addition to 'Christmas', the holiday has had various other English names throughout its history. The Anglo-Saxons referred to the feast as "midwinter",[31][32] or, more rarely, as Nātiuiteð (from the Latin nātīvitās below).[31][33] Nativity, meaning 'birth', is from the Latin nātīvitās.[34] In Old English, Gēola ('Yule') referred to the period corresponding to December and January, which was eventually equated with Christian Christmas.[35] 'Noel' (also 'Nowel' or 'Nowell', as in "The First Nowell") entered English in the late 14th century and is from the Old French noël or naël, itself ultimately from the Latin nātālis (diēs) meaning 'birth (day)'.[36] Koleda is the traditional Slavic name for Christmas and the period from Christmas to Epiphany or, more generally, to Slavic Christmas-related rituals, some dating to pre-Christian times.[37] Nativity Main article: Nativity of Jesus The gospels of Luke and Matthew describe Jesus as being born in Bethlehem to the Virgin Mary. In the Gospel of Luke, Joseph and Mary travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem in order to be counted for a census, and Jesus is born there and placed in a manger.[38] Angels proclaim him a savior for all people, and three shepherds come to adore him. In the Gospel of Matthew, by contrast, three magi follow a star to Bethlehem to bring gifts to Jesus, born the king of the Jews. King Herod orders the massacre of all the boys less than two years old in Bethlehem, but the family flees to Egypt and later returns to Nazareth.[39] History In the 2nd century, the "earliest church records" indicate that "Christians were remembering and celebrating the birth of the Lord", an "observance [that] sprang up organically from the authentic devotion of ordinary believers"; although "they did not agree upon a set date".[40] The earliest evidence of Christ's birth being marked on December 25 is a sentence in the Chronograph of 354.[41][42][43][44] Liturgical historians generally agree that this part of the text was written in Rome in AD 336.[42] Though Christmas did not appear on the lists of festivals given by the early Christian writers Irenaeus and Tertullian,[24] the early Church Fathers John Chrysostom, Augustine of Hippo, and Jerome attested to December 25 as the date of Christmas toward the end of the fourth century.[40] A passage in Commentary on the Prophet Daniel (AD 204) by Hippolytus of Rome identifies December 25 as Jesus's birth date, but this passage is considered a later interpolation.[42] In the East, the birth of Jesus was celebrated in connection with the Epiphany on January 6.[45][46] This holiday was not primarily about Christ's birth, but rather his baptism.[47] Christmas was promoted in the East as part of the revival of Orthodox Christianity that followed the death of the pro-Arian Emperor Valens at the Battle of Adrianople in 378. The feast was introduced in Constantinople in 379, in Antioch by John Chrysostom towards the end of the fourth century,[46] probably in 388, and in Alexandria in the following century.[48] The Georgian Iadgari demonstrates that Christmas was celebrated in Jerusalem by the sixth century. In the third century, the date of birth of Jesus was a subject of great interest, with early Christian writers suggesting various dates.[51] Around AD 200, Clement of Alexandria wrote:     There are those who have determined not only the year of our Lord's birth, but also the day; and they say that it took place in the 28th year of Augustus, and in the 25th day of [the Egyptian month] Pachon [May 20] [...] Further, others say that He was born on the 24th or 25th of Pharmuthi [April 20 or 21].[52] Various factors contributed to the choice of December 25. It was the date of the winter solstice in the Roman Empire,[42][16][53]{{efn|Though actually the winter solstice occurred on the 23rd or 24th at that time. In a space of four yeaers, the solstice occurs latest in the Julian Calendar in the year before a leap year. In 2019, it occurred on the 22nd in the Gregorian Calendar, or December 9 in the Julian, at 4:19 a.m., according to Earth's Seasons Equinoxes, Solstices, Perihelion, and Aphelion Archived October 13, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. The number of days between successive winter solstices varied from 365.242883 to 365.242740 between the year 1 BC and 2000 AD, according to Meeus, J.; Savoie, D. (1992). "The history of the tropical year". Journal of the British Astronomical Association. 102 (1): 40–42. Bibcode:1992JBAA..102...40M.. Therefore, the average value over the last 2,000 years has been 365.24281 days, 0.00719 days less than an average Julian year. This means the solstice was 2000×0.00719=14.38 days later, that is, on December 23 in the middle of the day. A hundred years earlier it would have been on the 24th.</ref> where most Christians lived. Christmas emerged during "the peak of state-sponsored sun worship" in the empire.[54] Since 274 AD, the Roman festival Dies Natalis Solis Invicti (birthday of Sol Invictus, the 'Invincible Sun') had been held on December 25.[42] The early Church linked Jesus Christ to the Sun and referred to him as the 'Sun of Righteousness' (Sol Justitiae) prophesied by Malachi.[51][55] The early Christian writer Lactantius wrote "the east is attached to God because he is the source of light and the illuminator of the world and he makes us rise toward eternal life". It is for this reason that the early Christians established the direction of prayer as being eastward, towards the rising sun.[40] A late fourth-century sermon by Saint Augustine explains why the winter solstice was a fitting day to celebrate Christ's birth:     Hence it is that He was born on the day which is the shortest in our earthly reckoning and from which subsequent days begin to increase in length. He, therefore, who bent low and lifted us up chose the shortest day, yet the one whence light begins to increase.[56] Steven Hijmans of the University of Alberta wrote: "It is cosmic symbolism [...] which inspired the Church leadership in Rome to elect the southern solstice, December 25, as the birthday of Christ, and the northern solstice as that of John the Baptist, supplemented by the equinoxes as their respective dates of conception".[57] The Christian treatise De solstitia et aequinoctia conceptionis et nativitatis Domini nostri Iesu Christi et Iohannis Baptistae ('On the solstice and equinox conception and birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ and John the Baptist'),[58] from the second half of the fourth century,[59] dates John's birth to the summer solstice and Jesus's birth to the winter solstice.[42][60] December 25 was also nine months after March 25, a date chosen as Jesus's conception (the Annunciation) and the date of the spring equinox on the Roman calendar.[17] Two main theories have been offered as to the choice of date,[40][61][62] although Theology professor Susan Roll says that "No liturgical historian [...] goes so far as to deny that it has any sort of relation with the sun, the winter solstice and the popularity of solar worship in the later Roman Empire".[63] Calculation hypothesis Further information: Chronology of Jesus The "Calculation hypothesis", suggests that Christmas was calculated as nine months after a date chosen as Jesus's conception (the Annunciation): March 25, the Roman date of the spring equinox. The hypothesis was first proposed by French writer Louis Duchesne in 1889.[64][59][65] Susan Roll (1995) wrote that the calculation hypothesis is historically the "minority opinion" on the origin of Christmas, but was "taught in graduate liturgy programs as a thoroughly viable hypothesis".[66] In AD 221, Sextus Julius Africanus named March 25, the traditional spring equinox, as the day of creation and of Jesus's conception. While this implies a birth in December, Africanus did not offer a birth date for Jesus,[67] and he was not an influential writer at the time.[68] Some early Christians marked Jesus's crucifixion on a date they deemed equivalent to the 14th of Nisan, the day before Passover in the Hebrew calendar. This feast was referred to as the Quartodeciman (Latin for 'fourteenth'). Some early Christian writers equated the 14th of Nisan with the equinox on March 25, and made the date of his conception or birth the same as that of his death.[69][70] Duchesne conjectured that Jesus was thought to have been born and died on the same day, so lived a whole number of years, "since symbolic number systems do not permit the imperfection of fractions". However, he admitted that this theory is not supported by any early Christian text.[71] Adam C. English, professor of religion at Campbell University, has argued for the veracity of December 25 as Jesus's date of birth.[72] The Bible in Luke 1:26[73] records the annunciation to Mary to be at the time when Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist, was in her sixth month of pregnancy.[72][74] English assumes that Zechariah's ministry in the Temple, as described in Luke 1:5–23,[75] took place on Yom Kippur the year before Jesus's birth; he then traces the narrative in the Gospel of Luke through the Annunciation and the birth of John the Baptist to conclude that Jesus was born on December 25.[72] The earliest evidence for the Feast of the Annunciation (or Incarnation) is from the sixth century.[76][77] Susan Roll questions whether "ordinary Christians in the third and fourth centuries [were] much interested in calculations with symbolic numbers".[78] Likewise, Gerard Rouwhorst believes it is unlikely that feasts emerged "on the basis of calculations by exegetes and theologians", arguing "For a feast to take root in a community more is needed than a sophisticated computation".[79] History of religions hypothesis Related to the winter solstice theory above, the "History of Religions" hypothesis proposes the Church chose December 25 as Jesus's birthday (dies Natalis Christi)[80] to appropriate the Roman winter solstice festival dies Natalis Solis Invicti ('birthday of the Unconquered Sun'), held on the same date.[62][81] It honored the sun god Sol Invictus, whose cult was revived by the emperor Aurelian in AD 274. In Rome this yearly festival was celebrated with thirty chariot races.[81] Gary Forsythe, Professor of Ancient History, says "This celebration would have formed a welcome addition to the seven-day period of the Saturnalia (December 17–23), Rome's most joyous holiday season since Republican times, characterized by parties, banquets, and exchanges of gifts".[81] In AD 362, the emperor Julian wrote in his Hymn to King Helios that the Agon Solis was a festival of the sun held at the end of the Saturnalia in late December.[82][83] A Christian treatise attributed to John Chrysostom and dating to the early fourth century AD associates Jesus's birth with the birthday of Sol:     Our Lord, too, is born in the month of December [...] the eighth before the calends of January [25 December] [...] But they [the pagans] call it the 'Birthday of the Unconquered'. Who indeed is so unconquered as Our Lord? Or, if they say that it is the birthday of the Sun, [we may say] He is the Sun of Justice.[24] The theory is mentioned in an annotation of uncertain date added to a manuscript by 12th-century Syrian bishop Jacob Bar-Salibi. The scribe wrote:     It was a custom of the Pagans to celebrate on the same 25 December the birthday of the Sun, at which they kindled lights in token of festivity. In these solemnities and revelries, the Christians also took part. Accordingly, when the doctors of the Church perceived that the Christians had a leaning to this festival, they took counsel and resolved that the true Nativity should be solemnised on that day.[84] In the 17th century, Isaac Newton, who, coincidentally, was born on December 25, suggested the date of Christmas was chosen to correspond with the winter solstice.[85] In 1743, German scholar Paul Ernst Jablonski argued the date was chosen to correspond with the Natalis Solis Invicti.[86] The hypothesis was first developed substantially by fellow German scholar Hermann Usener[64][87] in 1889 and adopted by many scholars thereafter.[64] Steven Hijmans of the University of Alberta says the idea that the date was chosen to appropriate the pagan festival "has received wide acceptance". He agrees that the Church chose the date because it was the winter solstice, but he argues that "While they were aware that pagans called this day the 'birthday' of Sol Invictus, this did not concern them and it did not play any role in their choice of date for Christmas".[57] Hijmans says: "while the winter solstice on or around December 25 was well established in the Roman imperial calendar, there is no evidence that a religious celebration of Sol on that day antedated the celebration of Christmas".[88] Thomas Talley argues that Aurelian instituted the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti partly to give a pagan significance to a date he argues was already important for Christians.[61] The Oxford Companion to Christian Thought remarks that the "calculations hypothesis potentially establishes 25 December as a Christian festival before Aurelian's decree".[89] According to C. Philipp E. Nothaft, a professor at Trinity College Dublin, though the history of religions hypothesis "is nowadays used as the default explanation for the choice of 25 December as Christ's birthday, few advocates of this theory seem to be aware of how paltry the available evidence actually is."[90] Relation to concurrent celebrations Many popular customs associated with Christmas developed independently of the commemoration of Jesus' birth, with some claiming that certain elements are Christianized and have origins in pre-Christian festivals that were celebrated by pagan populations who were later converted to Christianity; other scholars reject these claims and affirm that Christmas customs largely developed in a Christian context.[91][22] The prevailing atmosphere of Christmas has also continually evolved since the holiday's inception, ranging from a sometimes raucous, drunken, carnival-like state in the Middle Ages,[92] to a tamer family-oriented and children-centered theme introduced in a 19th-century transformation.[93][94] The celebration of Christmas was banned on more than one occasion within certain groups, such as the Puritans and Jehovah's Witnesses (who do not celebrate birthdays in general), due to concerns that it was too unbiblical.[95][96][97] Prior to and through the early Christian centuries, winter festivals were the most popular of the year in many European pagan cultures. Reasons included the fact that less agricultural work needed to be done during the winter, as well as an expectation of better weather as spring approached.[98] Celtic winter herbs such as mistletoe and ivy, and the custom of kissing under a mistletoe, are common in modern Christmas celebrations in the English-speaking countries.[99] The pre-Christian Germanic peoples—including the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse—celebrated a winter festival called Yule, held in the late December to early January period, yielding modern English yule, today used as a synonym for Christmas.[100] In Germanic language-speaking areas, numerous elements of modern Christmas folk custom and iconography may have originated from Yule, including the Yule log, Yule boar, and the Yule goat.[101][100] Often leading a ghostly procession through the sky (the Wild Hunt), the long-bearded god Odin is referred to as "the Yule one" and "Yule father" in Old Norse texts, while other gods are referred to as "Yule beings".[102] On the other hand, as there are no reliable existing references to a Christmas log prior to the 16th century, the burning of the Christmas block may have been an early modern invention by Christians unrelated to the pagan practice.[103] In eastern Europe also, pre-Christian traditions were incorporated into Christmas celebrations there, an example being the Koleda,[104] which shares parallels with the Christmas carol. Post-classical history Christmas played a role in the Arian controversy of the fourth century. After this controversy ran its course, the prominence of the holiday declined for a few centuries. In the Early Middle Ages, Christmas Day was overshadowed by Epiphany, which in western Christianity focused on the visit of the magi. However, the medieval calendar was dominated by Christmas-related holidays. The forty days before Christmas became the "forty days of St. Martin" (which began on November 11, the feast of St. Martin of Tours), now known as Advent.[92] In Italy, former Saturnalian traditions were attached to Advent.[92] Around the 12th century, these traditions transferred again to the Twelve Days of Christmas (December 25–January 5); a time that appears in the liturgical calendars as Christmastide or Twelve Holy Days.[92] In 567, the Council of Tours put in place the season of Christmastide, proclaiming "the twelve days from Christmas to Epiphany as a sacred and festive season, and established the duty of Advent fasting in preparation for the feast."[5][105] This was done in order to solve the "administrative problem for the Roman Empire as it tried to coordinate the solar Julian calendar with the lunar calendars of its provinces in the east."[106][107][108] The prominence of Christmas Day increased gradually after Charlemagne was crowned Emperor on Christmas Day in 800.[109] King Edmund the Martyr was anointed on Christmas in 855 and King William I of England was crowned on Christmas Day 1066.[110] By the High Middle Ages, the holiday had become so prominent that chroniclers routinely noted where various magnates celebrated Christmas. King Richard II of England hosted a Christmas feast in 1377 at which 28 oxen and 300 sheep were eaten.[92] The Yule boar was a common feature of medieval Christmas feasts. Caroling also became popular, and was originally performed by a group of dancers who sang. The group was composed of a lead singer and a ring of dancers that provided the chorus. Various writers of the time condemned caroling as lewd, indicating that the unruly traditions of Saturnalia and Yule may have continued in this form.[92] "Misrule"—drunkenness, promiscuity, gambling—was also an important aspect of the festival. In England, gifts were exchanged on New Year's Day, and there was special Christmas ale.[92] Christmas during the Middle Ages was a public festival that incorporated ivy, holly, and other evergreens.[111] Christmas gift-giving during the Middle Ages was usually between people with legal relationships, such as tenant and landlord.[111] The annual indulgence in eating, dancing, singing, sporting, and card playing escalated in England, and by the 17th century the Christmas season featured lavish dinners, elaborate masques, and pageants. In 1607, King James I insisted that a play be acted on Christmas night and that the court indulge in games.[112] It was during the Reformation in 16th–17th-century Europe that many Protestants changed the gift bringer to the Christ Child or Christkindl, and the date of giving gifts changed from December 6 to Christmas Eve.[113] Modern history 17th and 18th centuries Following the Protestant Reformation, many of the new denominations, including the Anglican Church and Lutheran Church, continued to celebrate Christmas.[114] In 1629, the Anglican poet John Milton penned On the Morning of Christ's Nativity, a poem that has since been read by many during Christmastide.[115][116] Donald Heinz, a professor at California State University, states that Martin Luther "inaugurated a period in which Germany would produce a unique culture of Christmas, much copied in North America."[117] Among the congregations of the Dutch Reformed Church, Christmas was celebrated as one of the principal evangelical feasts.[118] However, in 17th century England, some groups such as the Puritans strongly condemned the celebration of Christmas, considering it a Catholic invention and the "trappings of popery" or the "rags of the Beast".[96] In contrast, the established Anglican Church "pressed for a more elaborate observance of feasts, penitential seasons, and saints' days. The calendar reform became a major point of tension between the Anglican party and the Puritan party."[119] The Catholic Church also responded, promoting the festival in a more religiously oriented form. King Charles I of England directed his noblemen and gentry to return to their landed estates in midwinter to keep up their old-style Christmas generosity.[112] Following the Parliamentarian victory over Charles I during the English Civil War, England's Puritan rulers banned Christmas in 1647.[96][120] Protests followed as pro-Christmas rioting broke out in several cities and for weeks Canterbury was controlled by the rioters, who decorated doorways with holly and shouted royalist slogans.[96] Football, among the sports the Puritans banned on a Sunday, was also used as a rebellious force: when Puritans outlawed Christmas in England in December 1647 the crowd brought out footballs as a symbol of festive misrule.[121] The book, The Vindication of Christmas (London, 1652), argued against the Puritans, and makes note of Old English Christmas traditions, dinner, roast apples on the fire, card playing, dances with "plow-boys" and "maidservants", old Father Christmas and carol singing.[122] During the ban, semi-clandestine religious services marking Christ's birth continued to be held, and people sang carols in secret.[123] It was restored as a legal holiday in England with the Restoration of King Charles II in 1660 when Puritan legislation was declared null and void, with Christmas again freely celebrated in England.[123] Many Calvinist clergymen disapproved of Christmas celebration. As such, in Scotland, the Presbyterian Church of Scotland discouraged the observance of Christmas, and though James VI commanded its celebration in 1618, attendance at church was scant.[124] The Parliament of Scotland officially abolished the observance of Christmas in 1640, claiming that the church had been "purged of all superstitious observation of days".[125] Whereas in England, Wales and Ireland Christmas Day is a common law holiday, having been a customary holiday since time immemorial, it was not until 1871 that it was designated a bank holiday in Scotland.[126] Following the Restoration of Charles II, Poor Robin's Almanack contained the lines: "Now thanks to God for Charles return, / Whose absence made old Christmas mourn. / For then we scarcely did it know, / Whether it Christmas were or no."[127] The diary of James Woodforde, from the latter half of the 18th century, details the observance of Christmas and celebrations associated with the season over a number of years.[128] As in England, Puritans in Colonial America staunchly opposed the observation of Christmas.[97] The Pilgrims of New England pointedly spent their first December 25 in the New World working normally.[97] Puritans such as Cotton Mather condemned Christmas both because scripture did not mention its observance and because Christmas celebrations of the day often involved boisterous behavior.[129][130] Many non-Puritans in New England deplored the loss of the holidays enjoyed by the laboring classes in England.[131] Christmas observance was outlawed in Boston in 1659.[97] The ban on Christmas observance was revoked in 1681 by English governor Edmund Andros, but it was not until the mid-19th century that celebrating Christmas became fashionable in the Boston region.[132] At the same time, Christian residents of Virginia and New York observed the holiday freely. Pennsylvania Dutch settlers, predominantly Moravian settlers of Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Lititz in Pennsylvania and the Wachovia settlements in North Carolina, were enthusiastic celebrators of Christmas. The Moravians in Bethlehem had the first Christmas trees in America as well as the first Nativity Scenes.[133] Christmas fell out of favor in the United States after the American Revolution, when it was considered an English custom.[134] George Washington attacked Hessian (German) mercenaries on the day after Christmas during the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776, Christmas being much more popular in Germany than in America at this time. With the atheistic Cult of Reason in power during the era of Revolutionary France, Christian Christmas religious services were banned and the three kings cake was renamed the "equality cake" under anticlerical government policies.[135][136] 19th century In the early 19th century, Christmas festivities and services became widespread with the rise of the Oxford Movement in the Church of England that emphasized the centrality of Christmas in Christianity and charity to the poor,[137] along with Washington Irving, Charles Dickens, and other authors emphasizing family, children, kind-heartedness, gift-giving, and Santa Claus (for Irving),[137] or Father Christmas (for Dickens).[138] In the early-19th century, writers imagined Tudor-period Christmas as a time of heartfelt celebration. In 1843, Charles Dickens wrote the novel A Christmas Carol, which helped revive the "spirit" of Christmas and seasonal merriment.[93][94] Its instant popularity played a major role in portraying Christmas as a holiday emphasizing family, goodwill, and compassion.[137] Dickens sought to construct Christmas as a family-centered festival of generosity, linking "worship and feasting, within a context of social reconciliation."[139] Superimposing his humanitarian vision of the holiday, in what has been termed "Carol Philosophy",[140] Dickens influenced many aspects of Christmas that are celebrated today in Western culture, such as family gatherings, seasonal food and drink, dancing, games, and a festive generosity of spirit.[141] A prominent phrase from the tale, "Merry Christmas", was popularized following the appearance of the story.[142] This coincided with the appearance of the Oxford Movement and the growth of Anglo-Catholicism, which led a revival in traditional rituals and religious observances.[143] The term Scrooge became a synonym for miser, with the phrase "Bah! Humbug!" becoming emblematic of a dismissive attitude of the festive spirit.[144] In 1843, the first commercial Christmas card was produced by Sir Henry Cole.[145] The revival of the Christmas Carol began with William Sandys's Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern (1833), with the first appearance in print of "The First Noel", "I Saw Three Ships", "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen", popularized in Dickens' A Christmas Carol. In Britain, the Christmas tree was introduced in the early 19th century by the German-born Queen Charlotte. In 1832, the future Queen Victoria wrote about her delight at having a Christmas tree, hung with lights, ornaments, and presents placed round it.[146] After her marriage to her German cousin Prince Albert, by 1841 the custom became more widespread throughout Britain.[147] An image of the British royal family with their Christmas tree at Windsor Castle created a sensation when it was published in the Illustrated London News in 1848. A modified version of this image was published in Godey's Lady's Book, Philadelphia in 1850.[148][149] By the 1870s, putting up a Christmas tree had become common in America.[148] In America, interest in Christmas had been revived in the 1820s by several short stories by Washington Irving which appear in his The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. and "Old Christmas". Irving's stories depicted harmonious warm-hearted English Christmas festivities he experienced while staying in Aston Hall, Birmingham, England, that had largely been abandoned,[150] and he used the tract Vindication of Christmas (1652) of Old English Christmas traditions, that he had transcribed into his journal as a format for his stories.[112] In 1822, Clement Clarke Moore wrote the poem A Visit From St. Nicholas (popularly known by its first line: Twas the Night Before Christmas).[151] The poem helped popularize the tradition of exchanging gifts, and seasonal Christmas shopping began to assume economic importance.[152] This also started the cultural conflict between the holiday's spiritual significance and its associated commercialism that some see as corrupting the holiday. In her 1850 book The First Christmas in New England, Harriet Beecher Stowe includes a character who complains that the true meaning of Christmas was lost in a shopping spree.[153] While the celebration of Christmas was not yet customary in some regions in the U.S., Henry Wadsworth Longfellow detected "a transition state about Christmas here in New England" in 1856. "The old puritan feeling prevents it from being a cheerful, hearty holiday; though every year makes it more so."[154] In Reading, Pennsylvania, a newspaper remarked in 1861, "Even our presbyterian friends who have hitherto steadfastly ignored Christmas—threw open their church doors and assembled in force to celebrate the anniversary of the Savior's birth."[154] The First Congregational Church of Rockford, Illinois, "although of genuine Puritan stock", was 'preparing for a grand Christmas jubilee', a news correspondent reported in 1864.[154] By 1860, fourteen states including several from New England had adopted Christmas as a legal holiday.[155] In 1875, Louis Prang introduced the Christmas card to Americans. He has been called the "father of the American Christmas card".[156] On June 28, 1870, Christmas was formally declared a United States federal holiday.[157] 20th century During the First World War and particularly (but not exclusively) in 1914,[158] a series of informal truces took place for Christmas between opposing armies. The truces, which were organised spontaneously by fighting men, ranged from promises not to shoot (shouted at a distance in order to ease the pressure of war for the day) to friendly socializing, gift giving and even sport between enemies.[159] These incidents became a well known and semi-mythologised part of popular memory.[160] They have been described as a symbol of common humanity even in the darkest of situations and used to demonstrate to children the ideals of Christmas.[161] Up to the 1950s in the UK, many Christmas customs were restricted to the upper and middle classes. Most of the population had not yet adopted many Christmas rituals that later became popular, including Christmas trees. Christmas dinner would normally include beef or goose, not turkey as would later be common. Children would get fruit and sweets in their stocking rather than elaborate gifts. Full celebration of a family Christmas with all the trimmings only became widespread with increased prosperity from the 1950s.[162] National papers were published on Christmas Day until 1912. Post was still delivered on Christmas Day until 1961. League football matches continued in Scotland until the 1970s while in England they ceased at the end of the 1950s.[163][164] Under the state atheism of the Soviet Union, after its foundation in 1917, Christmas celebrations—along with other Christian holidays—were prohibited in public.[165] During the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, the League of Militant Atheists encouraged school pupils to campaign against Christmas traditions, such as the Christmas tree, as well as other Christian holidays, including Easter; the League established an antireligious holiday to be the 31st of each month as a replacement.[166] At the height of this persecution, in 1929, on Christmas Day, children in Moscow were encouraged to spit on crucifixes as a protest against the holiday.[167] Instead, the importance of the holiday and all its trappings, such as the Christmas tree and gift-giving, was transferred to the New Year.[168] It was not until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 that the persecution ended and Orthodox Christmas became a state holiday again for the first time in Russia after seven decades.[169] European History Professor Joseph Perry wrote that likewise, in Nazi Germany, "because Nazi ideologues saw organized religion as an enemy of the totalitarian state, propagandists sought to deemphasize—or eliminate altogether—the Christian aspects of the holiday" and that "Propagandists tirelessly promoted numerous Nazified Christmas songs, which replaced Christian themes with the regime's racial ideologies."[170] As Christmas celebrations began to be held around the world even outside traditional Christian cultures in the 20th century, some Muslim-majority countries subsequently banned the practice of Christmas, claiming it undermines Islam. Observance and traditions Further information: Christmas traditions and Observance of Christmas by country Christmas Day is celebrated as a major festival and public holiday in countries around the world, including many whose populations are mostly non-Christian. In some non-Christian areas, periods of former colonial rule introduced the celebration (e.g. Hong Kong); in others, Christian minorities or foreign cultural influences have led populations to observe the holiday. Countries such as Japan, where Christmas is popular despite there being only a small number of Christians, have adopted many of the cultural aspects of Christmas, such as gift-giving, decorations, and Christmas trees. A similar example is in Turkey, being Muslim-majority and with a small number of Christians, where Christmas trees and decorations tend to line public streets during the festival.[173] Among countries with a strong Christian tradition, a variety of Christmas celebrations have developed that incorporate regional and local cultures. Church attendance Christmas Day (inclusive of its vigil, Christmas Eve), is a Festival in the Lutheran Churches, a solemnity in the Roman Catholic Church, and a Principal Feast of the Anglican Communion. Other Christian denominations do not rank their feast days but nevertheless place importance on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day, as with other Christian feasts like Easter, Ascension Day, and Pentecost.[174] As such, for Christians, attending a Christmas Eve or Christmas Day church service plays an important part in the recognition of the Christmas season. Christmas, along with Easter, is the period of highest annual church attendance. A 2010 survey by LifeWay Christian Resources found that six in ten Americans attend church services during this time.[175] In the United Kingdom, the Church of England reported an estimated attendance of 2.5 million people at Christmas services in 2015.[176] Decorations Main article: Christmas decoration Further information: Hanging of the greens Nativity scenes are known from 10th-century Rome. They were popularised by Saint Francis of Assisi from 1223, quickly spreading across Europe.[177] Different types of decorations developed across the Christian world, dependent on local tradition and available resources, and can vary from simple representations of the crib to far more elaborate sets – renowned manger scene traditions include the colourful Kraków szopka in Poland,[178] which imitate Kraków's historical buildings as settings, the elaborate Italian presepi (Neapolitan [it], Genoese [it] and Bolognese [it]),[179][180][181][182] or the Provençal crèches in southern France, using hand-painted terracotta figurines called santons.[183] In certain parts of the world, notably Sicily, living nativity scenes following the tradition of Saint Francis are a popular alternative to static crèches.[184][185][186] The first commercially produced decorations appeared in Germany in the 1860s, inspired by paper chains made by children.[187] In countries where a representation of the Nativity scene is very popular, people are encouraged to compete and create the most original or realistic ones. Within some families, the pieces used to make the representation are considered a valuable family heirloom.[188] The traditional colors of Christmas decorations are red, green, and gold.[189][190] Red symbolizes the blood of Jesus, which was shed in his crucifixion; green symbolizes eternal life, and in particular the evergreen tree, which does not lose its leaves in the winter; and gold is the first color associated with Christmas, as one of the three gifts of the Magi, symbolizing royalty.[191] The Christmas tree was first used by German Lutherans in the 16th century, with records indicating that a Christmas tree was placed in the Cathedral of Strassburg in 1539, under the leadership of the Protestant Reformer, Martin Bucer.[192][193] In the United States, these "German Lutherans brought the decorated Christmas tree with them; the Moravians put lighted candles on those trees."[194][195] When decorating the Christmas tree, many individuals place a star at the top of the tree symbolizing the Star of Bethlehem, a fact recorded by The School Journal in 1897.[196][197] Professor David Albert Jones of Oxford University writes that in the 19th century, it became popular for people to also use an angel to top the Christmas tree in order to symbolize the angels mentioned in the accounts of the Nativity of Jesus.[198] Additionally, in the context of a Christian celebration of Christmas, the Christmas tree, being evergreen in colour, is symbolic of Christ, who offers eternal life; the candles or lights on the tree represent the Light of the World—Jesus—born in Bethlehem.[199][200] Christian services for family use and public worship have been published for the blessing of a Christmas tree, after it has been erected.[201][202] The Christmas tree is considered by some as Christianisation of pagan tradition and ritual surrounding the Winter Solstice, which included the use of evergreen boughs, and an adaptation of pagan tree worship;[203] according to eighth-century biographer Æddi Stephanus, Saint Boniface (634–709), who was a missionary in Germany, took an ax to an oak tree dedicated to Thor and pointed out a fir tree, which he stated was a more fitting object of reverence because it pointed to heaven and it had a triangular shape, which he said was symbolic of the Trinity.[204] The English language phrase "Christmas tree" is first recorded in 1835[205] and represents an importation from the German language.[203][206][207] Since the 16th century, the poinsettia, a native plant from Mexico, has been associated with Christmas carrying the Christian symbolism of the Star of Bethlehem; in that country it is known in Spanish as the Flower of the Holy Night.[208][209] Other popular holiday plants include holly, mistletoe, red amaryllis, and Christmas cactus.[210] Other traditional decorations include bells, candles, candy canes, stockings, wreaths, and angels. Both the displaying of wreaths and candles in each window are a more traditional Christmas display.[211] The concentric assortment of leaves, usually from an evergreen, make up Christmas wreaths and are designed to prepare Christians for the Advent season. Candles in each window are meant to demonstrate the fact that Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the ultimate light of the world.[212] Christmas lights and banners may be hung along streets, music played from speakers, and Christmas trees placed in prominent places.[213] It is common in many parts of the world for town squares and consumer shopping areas to sponsor and display decorations. Rolls of brightly colored paper with secular or religious Christmas motifs are manufactured for the purpose of wrapping gifts. In some countries, Christmas decorations are traditionally taken down on Twelfth Night.[214] Nativity play Main article: Nativity play For the Christian celebration of Christmas, the viewing of the Nativity play is one of the oldest Christmastime traditions, with the first reenactment of the Nativity of Jesus taking place in 1223 AD.[215] In that year, Francis of Assisi assembled a Nativity scene outside of his church in Italy and children sung Christmas carols celebrating the birth of Jesus.[215] Each year, this grew larger and people travelled from afar to see Francis' depiction of the Nativity of Jesus that came to feature drama and music.[215] Nativity plays eventually spread throughout all of Europe, where they remain popular. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day church services often came to feature Nativity plays, as did schools and theatres.[215] In France, Germany, Mexico and Spain, Nativity plays are often reenacted outdoors in the streets.[215] Music and carols Main article: Christmas music The earliest extant specifically Christmas hymns appear in fourth-century Rome. Latin hymns such as "Veni redemptor gentium", written by Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan, were austere statements of the theological doctrine of the Incarnation in opposition to Arianism. "Corde natus ex Parentis" ("Of the Father's love begotten") by the Spanish poet Prudentius (died 413) is still sung in some churches today.[216] In the 9th and 10th centuries, the Christmas "Sequence" or "Prose" was introduced in North European monasteries, developing under Bernard of Clairvaux into a sequence of rhymed stanzas. In the 12th century the Parisian monk Adam of St. Victor began to derive music from popular songs, introducing something closer to the traditional Christmas carol. Christmas carols in English appear in a 1426 work of John Awdlay who lists twenty five "caroles of Cristemas", probably sung by groups of 'wassailers', who went from house to house.[217] The songs now known specifically as carols were originally communal folk songs sung during celebrations such as "harvest tide" as well as Christmas. It was only later that carols began to be sung in church. Traditionally, carols have often been based on medieval chord patterns, and it is this that gives them their uniquely characteristic musical sound. Some carols like "Personent hodie", "Good King Wenceslas", and "In dulci jubilo" can be traced directly back to the Middle Ages. They are among the oldest musical compositions still regularly sung. "Adeste Fideles" (O Come all ye faithful) appeared in its current form in the mid-18th century. The singing of carols increased in popularity after the Protestant Reformation in the Lutheran areas of Europe, as the Reformer Martin Luther wrote carols and encouraged their use in worship, in addition to spearheading the practice of caroling outside the Mass.[218] The 18th-century English reformer Charles Wesley, an early Methodist divine, understood the importance of music to Christian worship. In addition to setting many psalms to melodies, he wrote texts for at least three Christmas carols. The best known was originally entitled "Hark! How All the Welkin Rings", later renamed "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing".[219] Christmas seasonal songs of a nonreligious nature emerged in the late 18th century. The Welsh melody for "Deck the Halls" dates from 1794, with the lyrics added by Scottish musician Thomas Oliphant in 1862, and the American "Jingle Bells" was copyrighted in 1857. Other popular carols include "The First Noel", "God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen", "The Holly and the Ivy", "I Saw Three Ships", "In the Bleak Midwinter", "Joy to the World", "Once in Royal David's City" and "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks".[220] In the 19th and 20th centuries, African American spirituals and songs about Christmas, based in their tradition of spirituals, became more widely known. An increasing number of seasonal holiday songs were commercially produced in the 20th century, including jazz and blues variations. In addition, there was a revival of interest in early music, from groups singing folk music, such as The Revels, to performers of early medieval and classical music. One of the most ubiquitous festive songs is "We Wish You a Merry Christmas", which originates from the West Country of England in the 1930s.[221] Radio has covered Christmas music from variety shows from the 1940s and 1950s, as well as modern-day stations that exclusively play Christmas music from late November through December 25.[222] Hollywood movies have featured new Christmas music, such as "White Christmas" in Holiday Inn and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.[222] Traditional carols have also been included in Hollywood films, such as "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" in It's a Wonderful Life (1946), and "Silent Night" in A Christmas Story. Traditional cuisine See also: Christmas food Christmas dinner setting A special Christmas family meal is traditionally an important part of the holiday's celebration, and the food that is served varies greatly from country to country. Some regions have special meals for Christmas Eve, such as Sicily, where 12 kinds of fish are served. In the United Kingdom and countries influenced by its traditions, a standard Christmas meal includes turkey, goose or other large bird, gravy, potatoes, vegetables, sometimes bread and cider. Special desserts are also prepared, such as Christmas pudding, mince pies, Christmas cake, Panettone and Yule log cake.[223][224] A traditional Christmas meal in Central Europe features fried carp or other fish.[225] Cards Main article: Christmas card Christmas cards are illustrated messages of greeting exchanged between friends and family members during the weeks preceding Christmas Day. The traditional greeting reads "wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year", much like that of the first commercial Christmas card, produced by Sir Henry Cole in London in 1843.[226] The custom of sending them has become popular among a wide cross-section of people with the emergence of the modern trend towards exchanging E-cards.[227][228] Christmas cards are purchased in considerable quantities and feature artwork, commercially designed and relevant to the season. The content of the design might relate directly to the Christmas narrative, with depictions of the Nativity of Jesus, or Christian symbols such as the Star of Bethlehem, or a white dove, which can represent both the Holy Spirit and Peace on Earth. Other Christmas cards are more secular and can depict Christmas traditions, mythical figures such as Santa Claus, objects directly associated with Christmas such as candles, holly, and baubles, or a variety of images associated with the season, such as Christmastide activities, snow scenes, and the wildlife of the northern winter.[229] Some prefer cards with a poem, prayer, or Biblical verse; while others distance themselves from religion with an all-inclusive "Season's greetings".[230] Commemorative stamps Main article: Christmas stamp A number of nations have issued commemorative stamps at Christmastide.[231] Postal customers will often use these stamps to mail Christmas cards, and they are popular with philatelists.[232] These stamps are regular postage stamps, unlike Christmas seals, and are valid for postage year-round. They usually go on sale sometime between early October and early December and are printed in considerable quantities. Gift giving Main article: Christmas gift Christmas gifts under a Christmas tree The exchanging of gifts is one of the core aspects of the modern Christmas celebration, making it the most profitable time of year for retailers and businesses throughout the world. On Christmas, people exchange gifts based on the Christian tradition associated with Saint Nicholas,[233] and the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh which were given to the baby Jesus by the Magi.[234][235] The practice of gift giving in the Roman celebration of Saturnalia may have influenced Christian customs, but on the other hand the Christian "core dogma of the Incarnation, however, solidly established the giving and receiving of gifts as the structural principle of that recurrent yet unique event", because it was the Biblical Magi, "together with all their fellow men, who received the gift of God through man's renewed participation in the divine life."[236] However, Thomas J. Talley holds that the Roman Emperor Aurelian placed the alternate festival on December 25 in order to compete with the growing rate of the Christian Church, which had already been celebrating Christmas on that date first.[61] Gift-bearing figures Main article: List of Christmas and winter gift-bringers by country A number of figures are associated with Christmas and the seasonal giving of gifts. Among these are Father Christmas, also known as Santa Claus (derived from the Dutch for Saint Nicholas), Père Noël, and the Weihnachtsmann; Saint Nicholas or Sinterklaas; the Christkind; Kris Kringle; Joulupukki; tomte/nisse; Babbo Natale; Saint Basil; and Ded Moroz. The Scandinavian tomte (also called nisse) is sometimes depicted as a gnome instead of Santa Claus. Saint Nicholas, known as Sinterklaas in the Netherlands, is considered by many to be the original Santa Claus[237] The best known of these figures today is red-dressed Santa Claus, of diverse origins. The name 'Santa Claus' can be traced back to the Dutch Sinterklaas ('Saint Nicholas'). Nicholas was a 4th-century Greek bishop of Myra, a city in the Roman province of Lycia, whose ruins are 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from modern Demre in southwest Turkey.[238][239] Among other saintly attributes, he was noted for the care of children, generosity, and the giving of gifts. His feast day, December 6, came to be celebrated in many countries with the giving of gifts.[113] Saint Nicholas traditionally appeared in bishop's attire, accompanied by helpers, inquiring about the behaviour of children during the past year before deciding whether they deserved a gift or not. By the 13th century, Saint Nicholas was well known in the Netherlands, and the practice of gift-giving in his name spread to other parts of central and southern Europe. At the Reformation in 16th- and 17th-century Europe, many Protestants changed the gift bringer to the Christ Child or Christkindl, corrupted in English to 'Kris Kringle', and the date of giving gifts changed from December 6 to Christmas Eve.[113] The modern popular image of Santa Claus, however, was created in the United States, and in particular in New York. The transformation was accomplished with the aid of notable contributors including Washington Irving and the German-American cartoonist Thomas Nast (1840–1902). Following the American Revolutionary War, some of the inhabitants of New York City sought out symbols of the city's non-English past. New York had originally been established as the Dutch colonial town of New Amsterdam and the Dutch Sinterklaas tradition was reinvented as Saint Nicholas.[240] Current tradition in several Latin American countries (such as Venezuela and Colombia) holds that while Santa makes the toys, he then gives them to the Baby Jesus, who is the one who actually delivers them to the children's homes, a reconciliation between traditional religious beliefs and the iconography of Santa Claus imported from the United States. In South Tyrol (Italy), Austria, Czech Republic, Southern Germany, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Slovakia, and Switzerland, the Christkind (Ježíšek in Czech, Jézuska in Hungarian and Ježiško in Slovak) brings the presents. Greek children get their presents from Saint Basil on New Year's Eve, the eve of that saint's liturgical feast.[241] The German St. Nikolaus is not identical with the Weihnachtsmann (who is the German version of Santa Claus / Father Christmas). St. Nikolaus wears a bishop's dress and still brings small gifts (usually candies, nuts, and fruits) on December 6 and is accompanied by Knecht Ruprecht. Although many parents around the world routinely teach their children about Santa Claus and other gift bringers, some have come to reject this practice, considering it deceptive.[242] Multiple gift-giver figures exist in Poland, varying between regions and individual families. St Nicholas (Święty Mikołaj) dominates Central and North-East areas, the Starman (Gwiazdor) is most common in Greater Poland, Baby Jesus (Dzieciątko) is unique to Upper Silesia, with the Little Star (Gwiazdka) and the Little Angel (Aniołek) being common in the South and the South-East. Grandfather Frost (Dziadek Mróz) is less commonly accepted in some areas of Eastern Poland.[243][244] It is worth noting that across all of Poland, St Nicholas is the gift giver on Saint Nicholas Day on December 6. Date according to Julian calendar Some jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodox Church, including those of Russia, Georgia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Jerusalem, mark feasts using the older Julian calendar. As of 2023, there is a difference of 13 days between the Julian calendar and the modern Gregorian calendar, which is used internationally for most secular purposes. As a result, December 25 on the Julian calendar currently corresponds to January 7 on the calendar used by most governments and people in everyday life. Therefore, the aforementioned Orthodox Christians mark December 25 (and thus Christmas) on the day that is internationally considered to be January 7.[245] However, following the Council of Constantinople in 1923,[246] other Orthodox Christians, such as those belonging to the jurisdictions of Constantinople, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Antioch, Alexandria, Albania, Cyprus, Finland, and the Orthodox Church in America, among others, began using the Revised Julian calendar, which at present corresponds exactly to the Gregorian calendar.[247] Therefore, these Orthodox Christians mark December 25 (and thus Christmas) on the same day that is internationally considered to be December 25. A further complication is added by the fact that the Armenian Apostolic Church continues the original ancient Eastern Christian practice of celebrating the birth of Christ not as a separate holiday, but on the same day as the celebration of his baptism (Theophany), which is on January 6. This is a public holiday in Armenia, and it is held on the same day that is internationally considered to be January 6, because since 1923 the Armenian Church in Armenia has used the Gregorian calendar.[248] However, there is also a small Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which maintains the traditional Armenian custom of celebrating the birth of Christ on the same day as Theophany (January 6), but uses the Julian calendar for the determination of that date. As a result, this church celebrates "Christmas" (more properly called Theophany) on the day that is considered January 19 on the Gregorian calendar in use by the majority of the world.[249] Table of dates There are four different dates used by different Christian groups to mark the birth of Christ, given in the table below. Church or section     Calendar     Date     Gregorian date     Note Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem     Julian calendar     January 6     January 19     Correspondence between Julian January 6 and Gregorian January 19 holds until 2100; in the following century the difference will be one day more. Armenian Apostolic Church, Armenian Evangelical Church     Gregorian calendar     January 6     January 6     Eastern Orthodox Church jurisdictions, including those of Constantinople, Bulgaria, Ukraine[250] (state holiday, Orthodox and Greek Catholic), Greece, Romania, Antioch, Alexandria, Albania, Cyprus, Finland, the Orthodox Church in America. Also, the Ancient Church of the East, Syriac Orthodox Church, Indian Orthodox Church.     Revised Julian calendar     December 25     December 25     Revised Julian calendar was agreed at the 1923 Council of Constantinople.[246] Although it follows the Julian calendar, the Ancient Church of the East decided on 2010 to celebrate Christmas according to the Gregorian calendar date. Other Eastern Orthodox: Russia, Georgia, Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), Macedonia, Belarus, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and Jerusalem. Also, some Byzantine Rite Catholics and Byzantine Rite Lutherans.     Julian calendar     December 25     January 7     Correspondence between Julian December 25 and Gregorian January 7 of the following year holds until 2100; from 2101 to 2199 the difference will be one day more.[citation needed] Coptic Orthodox Church     Coptic calendar     Koiak 29 or 28 (December 25)     January 7     After the Coptic insertion of a leap day in what for the Julian calendar is August (September in Gregorian), Christmas is celebrated on Koiak 28 in order to maintain the exact interval of nine 30-day months and 5 days of the child's gestation.[citation needed] Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (sole date), Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church (sole date), and P'ent'ay (Ethiopian-Eritrean Evangelical) Churches (primary date)     Ethiopian calendar     Tahsas 29 or 28 (December 25)     January 7     Further information: Ethiopian Christmas After the Ethiopian and Eritrean insertion of a leap day in what for the Julian calendar is August (September in Gregorian), Christmas (also called Liddet or Gena, also Ledet or Genna)[251] is celebrated on Tahsas 28 in order to maintain the exact interval of nine 30-day months and 5 days of the child's gestation.[252] Most Protestants (P'ent'ay/Evangelicals) in the diaspora have the option of choosing the Ethiopian calendar (Tahsas 29/January 7) or the Gregorian calendar (December 25) for religious holidays, with this option being used when the corresponding eastern celebration is not a public holiday in the western world (with most diaspora Protestants celebrating both days).[citation needed] Most Western Christian churches, most Eastern Catholic churches and civil calendars; also the Assyrian Church of the East.     Gregorian calendar     December 25     December 25     The Assyrian Church of the East adopted the Gregorian calendar on 1964. Sport Christmas during the Middle Ages was a public festival with annual indulgences included the sporting.[113] When Puritans outlawed Christmas in England in December 1647 the crowd brought out footballs as a symbol of festive misrule.[253] The Orkney Christmas Day Ba' tradition continues.[254] In the former top tear of English football, home and away Christmas Day and Boxing Day double headers were often played guaranteeing football clubs large crowds by allowing many working people their only chance to watch a game.[255] Champions Preston North End faced Aston Villa on Christmas Day 1889 [256] and the last 25 December fixture was in 1965 in England, Blackpool beating Blackburn Rovers 4-2.[255] More recently, in the United States, both NFL American football and NBA basketball have held fixtures on Christmas Day.[257] Economy Main article: Economics of Christmas Christmas is typically a peak selling season for retailers in many nations around the world. Sales increase dramatically as people purchase gifts, decorations, and supplies to celebrate. In the United States, the "Christmas shopping season" starts as early as October.[258][259] In Canada, merchants begin advertising campaigns just before Halloween (October 31), and step up their marketing following Remembrance Day on November 11. In the UK and Ireland, the Christmas shopping season starts from mid-November, around the time when high street Christmas lights are turned on.[260][261] In the United States, it has been calculated that a quarter of all personal spending takes place during the Christmas/holiday shopping season.[262] Figures from the U.S. Census Bureau reveal that expenditure in department stores nationwide rose from $20.8 billion in November 2004 to $31.9 billion in December 2004, an increase of 54 percent. In other sectors, the pre-Christmas increase in spending was even greater, there being a November–December buying surge of 100 percent in bookstores and 170 percent in jewelry stores. In the same year employment in American retail stores rose from 1.6 million to 1.8 million in the two months leading up to Christmas.[263] Industries completely dependent on Christmas include Christmas cards, of which 1.9 billion are sent in the United States each year, and live Christmas trees, of which 20.8 million were cut in the U.S. in 2002.[264] For 2019, the average US adult was projected to spend $920 on gifts alone.[265] In the UK in 2010, up to £8 billion was expected to be spent online at Christmas, approximately a quarter of total retail festive sales.[261] In most Western nations, Christmas Day is the least active day of the year for business and commerce; almost all retail, commercial and institutional businesses are closed, and almost all industries cease activity (more than any other day of the year), whether laws require such or not. In England and Wales, the Christmas Day (Trading) Act 2004 prevents all large shops from trading on Christmas Day. Similar legislation was approved in Scotland in 2007. Film studios release many high-budget movies during the holiday season, including Christmas films, fantasy movies or high-tone dramas with high production values to hopes of maximizing the chance of nominations for the Academy Awards.[266] One economist's analysis calculates that, despite increased overall spending, Christmas is a deadweight loss under orthodox microeconomic theory, because of the effect of gift-giving. This loss is calculated as the difference between what the gift giver spent on the item and what the gift receiver would have paid for the item. It is estimated that in 2001, Christmas resulted in a $4 billion deadweight loss in the U.S. alone.[267][268] Because of complicating factors, this analysis is sometimes used to discuss possible flaws in current microeconomic theory. Other deadweight losses include the effects of Christmas on the environment and the fact that material gifts are often perceived as white elephants, imposing cost for upkeep and storage and contributing to clutter." (wikipedia.org)
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