Die Hard Nakatomi Plaza High Rise Building Alan Rickman Signed Xmas Count Down

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Seller: anddownthewaterfall ✉️ (33,557) 99.8%, Location: Manchester, Take a Look at My Other Items, GB, Ships to: WORLDWIDE, Item: 364803299115 Die Hard Nakatomi Plaza High Rise Building Alan Rickman Signed Xmas Count Down.
Die Hard Hans Gruber Advent Calender This is a Stand Up Wooden Nakatami Plaza from the Film 80s Classic Christmas Film "Die Hard" The Skyscraper fits on to a wooden base. Easy to Assemble It has a removable top of the helicopter blowing up which can be removed At the bottom is Al's Police Card parked up outside the building Down the side of the building is a moveable Hans Gruber who points to the floor number 1-24  It can be used as a Christmas Countdown Advent Calander Also included is a double sided business card One side has the "Die Hard" Movie Poster with Autographs of the Stars of the Film Pre Printed on it The back has an invite to the Christmas Party in the Film it is splattered with blood as many of the people die in the film Would make excellent Xmas Decoration or Desk Top item Material:Wood Color:Blue Size: Tall building:23.9*12.8cm/9.40*5in Bomb:13*12.6cm/5.11*4.96in Base:11.5*8.8*6.9cm/4.52*3.46*2.71in Weight:109g In Excellent Conditon
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Die Hard (film series)

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Die Hard

Official film series logo

Created by Roderick Thorp

Original work Nothing Lasts Forever (1979)

Owner 20th Century Studios

Years 1988–2013

Print publications

Novel(s) The Detective (1966)

Nothing Lasts Forever (1979)

58 Minutes (1987)

Comics Die Hard: Year One[1]

A Die Hard Christmas

A Million Ways to Die Hard[2]

Films and television

Film(s)

    Die Hard (1988)

    Die Hard 2 (1990)

    Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995)

    Live Free or Die Hard (2007)

    A Good Day to Die Hard (2013)

Miscellaneous

Articles A Farewell to Arms

Die Hard is an American action film series that originated with Roderick Thorp's 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever. All five films revolve around the main character of John McClane, a police detective who continually finds himself in the middle of a crisis where he is the only hope against disaster.[3] The films have grossed a combined $1.4 billion worldwide.

Films

Film U.S. release date Director(s) Screenwriter(s) Story by Producer(s)

Die Hard July 15, 1988 John McTiernan Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza Lawrence Gordon and Joel Silver

Die Hard 2 July 4, 1990 Renny Harlin Steven E. de Souza and Doug Richardson Charles Gordon, Lawrence Gordon and Joel Silver

Die Hard with a Vengeance May 19, 1995 John McTiernan Jonathan Hensleigh John McTiernan and Michael Tadross

Live Free or Die Hard June 27, 2007 Len Wiseman Mark Bomback Mark Bomback and David Marconi Michael Fottrell

A Good Day to Die Hard February 14, 2013 John Moore Skip Woods Alex Young and Wyck Godfrey

Die Hard (1988)

Main article: Die Hard

The first film takes place in Los Angeles at the fictional Nakatomi Plaza (portrayed by Fox Plaza). It begins on Christmas Eve when McClane (Bruce Willis) comes to reunite with separated wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) in Los Angeles at her company's Christmas party. Holly, who now has her own career, lives with their two children and uses her maiden name.

At Nakatomi Plaza, West German terrorists break in and take the celebrants hostage. McClane escapes detection and hides throughout the building. He kills off the gang and learns their real plan, to steal $640 million in bearer bonds from the building's vault. In the finale, McClane shoots the terrorist leader, Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), out of the window to fall thirty stories.

It was released on July 15, 1988, to positive reviews and grossed $140.8 million worldwide.

Die Hard 2 (1990)

Main article: Die Hard 2

The second film takes place two years after the first, again on Christmas Eve of 1990. In Washington, D.C., McClane waits for his wife at Washington Dulles International Airport. Mercenaries led by former U.S. Army Special Forces Colonel Stuart (William Sadler) take over the airport communication systems, stranding planes in the air, including the one with McClane's wife. Colonel Stuart wants to free a captured Latin American dictator (Franco Nero) en route to the airport. McClane discovers the plan, including a conspiracy between Stuart and an Army counter-terrorist unit sent to stop him. He foils their plans and provides a visual landing signal for the circling aircraft by exploding the villains' getaway plane.

It was released on July 4, 1990, to positive reviews and grossed $240 million worldwide.

Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995)

Main article: Die Hard with a Vengeance

In the third film, McClane is back in New York City, separated from his wife, suspended from the police force, and a borderline alcoholic. A terrorist known only as "Simon" (Jeremy Irons) threatens to blow up various locations in the city unless McClane will play his twisted version of Simon Says, riddles and challenges.

Zeus Carver (Samuel L. Jackson), a shopkeeper from Harlem, saves McClane after the first challenge, and reluctantly continues to help. The FBI reveals that Simon is the brother of Hans Gruber, killed in the first film. McClane learns revenge is a cover story for robbing the New York Federal Reserve. McClane tracks Simon to the Canada–US border. McClane kills Simon by shooting at a power line above Simon's helicopter.

It was released on May 19, 1995, to mixed reviews and grossed $366.1 million worldwide.

Live Free or Die Hard (2007)

Main article: Live Free or Die Hard

The fourth film, which was released as Die Hard 4.0 outside North America, takes place on Independence Day, over a decade after Die Hard with a Vengeance. McClane is divorced, and estranged from his daughter Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Cyber-terrorists hack into computers at the FBI, who had sent McClane to bring in computer hacker Matthew "Matt" Farrell (Justin Long) for questioning. Assassins hired by terrorist mastermind Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant) attempt to kill McClane and Farrell. Farrell tells McClane that the terrorists are actually in the middle of a "fire sale" — a crippling cyber-warfare attack on the national infrastructure: power, public utilities, traffic, and other computer-controlled systems. Although the terrorists capture Lucy and Farrell, McClane foils the criminals and saves the hostages.

It was released June 27, 2007, to positive reviews and grossed $383.5 million worldwide.

A Good Day to Die Hard (2013)

Main article: A Good Day to Die Hard

The fifth film is set a few years later, mostly in Moscow, Russia and the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, Ukraine. McClane finds out that his estranged son John "Jack" McClane, Jr. (Jai Courtney) was arrested in Moscow for murder. When he arrives at the Moscow courthouse for Jack, Russian terrorists bomb the building and Jack escapes with imprisoned ex-billionaire Yuri Komarov (Sebastian Koch). In an intense car chase, McClane pursues and saves the pair. Jack, unhappy at the unexpected arrival, reluctantly picks up his father. When they stop at a CIA safe house in Moscow, McClane learns Jack is a deep-cover CIA operative trying to get close to Komarov for his file that incriminates corrupt, high-ranking Russian official Viktor Chagarin (Sergei Kolesnikov). Chagarin's henchmen, led by his main enforcer Alik (Radivoje Bukvic), attack the safe house. McClane holds them off, and escapes with Jack and Komarov. They retrieve a key for the file in Chernobyl, and meet Komarov's daughter Irina (Yuliya Snigir). Irina betrays them to Alik. The McClanes escape, without Komarov. Irina, always on the side of her father Komarov, tries to save him. McClane goes after Irina, while Jack chases her father. Jack throws Komarov off of the roof; he falls on the rotors of the helicopter and gets shredded to bits.

It was released on February 14, 2013, to negative reviews and grossed $304.7 million worldwide.

Future

When the production was formally announced for the fifth film in the series, Bruce Willis expressed his desire to retire the John McClane character in a sixth and final film, explicitly calling for a 'fleshed out' conclusion.[4][5][6][7][8]

In 2013, Fox Studios began looking into developing the next installment. The studio took story pitches for a so-called "Die Hardest",[9][10] including those from the public,[11][12] at least one of which would have brought the action to Japan.[13][14] A crossover with popular television program, 24, with Die Hard characters had been previously considered, but contract negotiations with Kiefer Sutherland soured[15] and no pilot was made;[16][17][18][19] Die Hard being re-formulated as a gaiden featuring Jack Bauer called "Die Hard 24/7"[20] was optioned and became A Good Day to Die Hard. The studio then chose to reincarnate 24 in limited edition as 24: Live Another Day (a homage to Live Free or Die Hard), which premiered in May 2014 and ended that July. By 2015, Live Free or Die Hard director Len Wiseman's self-penned prequel/sequel origin story idea called John McClane gained traction.[21][22][23][24]

Writer Evan Katz pitched a follow-up to Live Another Day called 24: Legacy that was greenlit in 2015. The show aired from February through April 2017 and was soon cancelled (not renewed) in June.[25] Following this model, a deal had been made with Lorenzo di Bonaventura to produce another, similar television programme that revolved around the concept of real-time narration, but for twelve hours instead of twenty-four since Die Hard stories happen over that time frame, saying: "We want you to get invested in John McClane more than ever before".[26] That summer, Wiseman was in negotiations to direct a standalone mini-series (12 episodes) tentatively titled, "DIE HARD: Year One", based around the BOOM! Studios graphic novel of the same name. Its plot - rumored to borrow heavily from said comic book issues - follows John McClane as a beat cop in New York City early in his career as narrated by Bruce Willis in the present-day.[27] Wiseman publicly floated that he was casting for a young version of John McClane in September.[28][29] Six months later, the studio enlisted duo Chad Hayes and Carey W. Hayes to re-write the screenplay after Bruce Willis refused to endorse the previous edition and its actor.[30][31][32]

In July 2018, di Bonaventura submitted an updated treatment titled McClane, further confirming that the storyline was similar in stature to The Godfather Part 2: featuring elements of McClane's and Holly's characters in the 1970s, intermixed with their present-day counterparts.[33][34] The following month, Wiseman said that pre-production on the new film should start "...fairly soon, no dates" once the script has been completed.[35] Tobey Maguire (son in-law of then-NBCUniversal Chairman Ronald Meyer) joined the production team in late Summer.[36] By December, di Bonaventura handed in yet another draft, this time without input from Willis.[37] Production designer Carol Uraneck, who was hired that September, later left the project by the close of the year.[38] Between February and April 2019, the production team made revisions to the writing, but insinuated that the project, though supposedly moving forward, was on the studio's backburner.[39][40][41] It has been hinted that Samuel L. Jackson could reprise his role as Zeus.[42] Actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead said that she was interested in returning as Lucy Gennero-McClane, but later intimated doubt that, due to scheduling,[43] the film would ever get made.[44][45][46]

The acquisition of 20th Century Fox by Disney resulted in a production hiatus in August 2019.[47][48] Wiseman was then dealt to Lionsgate to direct pictures in the John Wick franchise.[49][50][51] di Bonaventura stated in a July 2021 interview that the McClane project is "not happening" as a further consequence.[52] Die Hard was removed from the Fox imprint indefinitely.[53][54][55] In lieu of companies-wide reorganization, the media giants (Disney, Comcast) are said to be rebooting the property for streaming on Hulu or Netflix.[56][57][58][59]

Willis had taken roles that featured the "Die Hard scenario" or implied its namefellow in a number of direct-to-video films since the release of DH5 (filmography). After confirmation of a DH6 cancellation and the wrap of production on the film Detective Knight: Rogue, Willis's family announced that he had been diagnosed with aphasia and paused his career.[60][61] In July 2022, he was videographed on the lot at Fox headquarters, the very same location of the set of DH1, to mark that film's anniversary.[62] This footage was shared by his wife on her social media.[63] By February 2023, Willis was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, but was still hoping to do more acting.[64]

Cast and crew

Cast

Main article: List of Die Hard characters

List indicator(s)

This section includes characters who have appeared in three or more films in the series.

    An empty, dark grey cell indicates the character was not in the film.

     A indicates an appearance through archival footage or audio.

     C indicates a cameo role.

     P indicates an appearance in onscreen photographs.

     U indicates an uncredited appearance.

     V indicates a voice-only role.

Character Films Commercial

Die Hard Die Hard 2 Die Hard with a Vengeance Live Free or Die Hard A Good Day to Die Hard DieHard is Back

1988 1990 1995 2007 2013 2020

John McClane Bruce Willis

Holly Gennaro-McClane Bonnie Bedelia Bonnie BedeliaCUV Bonnie BedeliaP Bonnie BedeliaM

Al Powell Reginald VelJohnson

Richard Thornburg William Atherton

Lucy McClane Taylor Fry Mary Elizabeth Winstead

John "Jack" McClane, Jr. Noah Land Jai Courtney

Argyle De'voreaux White De'voreaux White

Theo Clarence Gilyard Jr. Clarence Gilyard Jr.

Hans Gruber Alan Rickman Alan RickmanA

Karl Vreski Alexander Godunov

Harry Ellis Hart Bochner

Deputy Dwayne Robinson Paul Gleason

Col. William Stuart William Sadler

Captain Lorenzo Dennis Franz

Major Grant John Amos

General Esperanza Franco Nero

Leslie Barnes Art Evans

Trudeau Fred Thompson

Marvin Tom Bower

Zeus Carver Samuel L. Jackson

Simon Gruber Jeremy Irons

Walter Cobb Larry Bryggman

Joe Lambert Graham Greene

Connie Kowalski Colleen Camp

Mathias Targo Nick Wyman

Katya Sam Phillips

Matt Farrell Justin Long

Thomas Gabriel Timothy Olyphant

Frederick 'Warlock' Kaludis Kevin Smith

Miguel Bowman Cliff Curtis

Mai Linh Maggie Q

Trey Jonathan Sadowski

Yuri Komarov Sebastian Koch

Irina Komarov Yuliya Snigir

Alik Radivoje Bukvic

Mike Collins Cole Hauser

Viktor Chagarin Sergei Kolesnikov

Murphy Amaury Nolasco

Crew

Crew/detail Film

Die Hard Die Hard 2 Die Hard with a Vengeance Live Free or Die Hard A Good Day to Die Hard

Director John McTiernan Renny Harlin John McTiernan Len Wiseman John Moore

Composer Michael Kamen Marco Beltrami

Cinematographer Jan de Bont Oliver Wood Peter Menzies, Jr. Simon Duggan Jonathan Sela

Editor(s) Frank J. Urioste

John F. Link Robert A. Ferretti

Stuart Baird John Wright Nicholas Del Toh Dan Zimmerman

Production Companies Silver Pictures

Gordon Company Cinergi Pictures Dune Entertainment

Cheyenne Enterprises

Ingenious Film Partners Giant Pictures

TSG Entertainment

Distributor 20th Century Fox

Release date July 15, 1988 July 4, 1990 May 19, 1995 June 27, 2007 February 14, 2013

Running time 132 minutes 124 minutes 131 minutes 129 minutes 97 minutes[65]

Production

Source material

Die Hard is adapted from the 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp.

Die Hard 2 was adapted from the 1987 novel 58 Minutes by Walter Wager.

Die Hard with a Vengeance was adapted from a script called Simon Says by Jonathan Hensleigh, which was also briefly considered to become the script for Lethal Weapon 4.[66][67] The hook in Hensleigh's screenplay that captured the attention of director John McTiernan was the idea of a man being targeted for revenge by someone whose life he had unwittingly destroyed. Once the Simon character became the brother of Hans Gruber and the backstory was established, the project fully came together. It was novelized by Deborah Chiel.[68]

Live Free or Die Hard was based on the 1997 article "A Farewell to Arms" written for Wired magazine by John Carlin.[69] It also drew on a script 20th Century Fox owned called "WW3.com", which dealt with a massive cyberterrorism attack against the U.S. and which was nearly put into production in 2001 but ultimately abandoned because several elements in the story too closely resembled the September 11 attacks.

A Good Day to Die Hard was the only film in the series to come from an original screenplay, and not be based upon any prior works. The original screenplay was penned by Skip Woods.

Reception

For more details on the reception of each film, see the "Reception" section on each film's article.

Box office performance

Film Release date Box office gross Box office ranking Budget Ref(s)

North America Other

territories Worldwide All time

North America All time

worldwide

Die Hard July 15, 1988 $83,844,093 $57,759,104 $141,603,197 #734 — $28,000,000 [70]

Die Hard 2 July 4, 1990 $117,540,947 $122,490,347 $240,031,274 #446 #445 $62–70,000,000 [71][72][73]

Die Hard with a Vengeance May 19, 1995 $100,012,499 $266,089,167 $366,101,666 #596 #223 $90,000,000 [74]

Live Free or Die Hard June 27, 2007 $134,529,403 $253,626,608 $388,156,011 #336 #201 $110,000,000 [75]

A Good Day to Die Hard February 14, 2013 $67,349,198 $237,304,984 $304,654,182 #977 #314 $92,000,000 [76]

Total $503,276,140 $937,270,210 $1,440,546,330 $382,000,000–390,000,000

Critical and public response

Although the first Die Hard has been credited as one of the greatest action movies of all time,[77] critical reaction to its sequels has varied.

The original Die Hard received substantial praise. Pete Croatto of FilmCritic.com called the film "a perfect action movie in every detail, the kind of movie that makes your summer memorable".[78] James Berardinelli wrote that the film "represents the class of modern action pictures and the standard by which they must be judged".[79] Critic Desson Howe wrote that "Willis has found the perfect vehicle to careen wildly onto the crowded L.A. freeway of Lethal Weapons and Beverly Hills Cops".[80] Willis was also called "perfect as the wisecracking John McClane"[79] and "an excellent casting choice as a sardonic action hero".[81] Alan Rickman's portrayal of villain Hans Gruber was described as "marvelous"[82] and "a career-making performance".[83] Gruber also ranked 46 on the villain side of AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains. In 2007, Entertainment Weekly ranked Die Hard the greatest action film of all time.[84]

The first sequel, Die Hard 2, received positive reviews, although not as many as the original. Despite only giving the original film two stars, critic Roger Ebert gave this film three and a half stars and called it "terrific entertainment".[85] James Berardinelli called the film "somewhat-muddled but still entertaining".[86] Peter Travers wrote that "however impressively made, Die Hard 2 begins to wear thin".[87]

The third film, Die Hard with a Vengeance, received mixed reviews. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly stated that while "McTiernan stages individual sequences with great finesse... they don't add up to a taut, dread-ridden whole".[88] James Berardinelli thought that the explosions and fights were "filmed with consummate skill, and were thrilling in their own right".[89] Samuel L. Jackson also received praise for his role in the film. Desson Howe of The Washington Post thought that "the best thing about the movie was the relationship between McClane and Zeus", saying that Jackson was "almost as good as he was in Pulp Fiction".[90][91]

The fourth film, Live Free or Die Hard, received highly positive reviews. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle claimed that the film "is the best in the series, an invigorating return to the style of blockbuster that dominated summers back in the early 1990s".[92] USA Today film critic Claudia Puig said that the film "delivers when it comes to kick-butt, action-packed mayhem", but "as a convincing techno-thriller, it doesn't really work".[93]

The fifth film, A Good Day to Die Hard, received mostly negative reviews from critics. Critics lambasted the installment for "[entering] generic action movie territory", as written by reviewer James Bernardinelli,[94] with a "cliched [and] uninspired script". Peter Rainer of the Christian Science Monitor wrote that "John's appeal was always his ordinariness, but director John Moore has him surviving more explosions than Wile E. Coyote, and with hardly a scratch".[95] A. O. Scott of The New York Times also commented that the series has taken a downfall with the film: "Everything that made the first "Die Hard" memorable—the nuances of character, the political subtext, the cowboy wit—has been dumbed down or scrubbed away entirely".[96] Willis has however, been cited as the film's redeeming quality, with Chris Vognar of the Dallas Morning News saying that "Willis' presence at least provides undercurrents of easy jocularity".

In CinemaScore polls conducted during the opening weekend, movie audiences gave the series the grades listed below on an A+ to F scale.

Film Rotten Tomatoes Metacritic CinemaScore[97]

Die Hard 94% (87 reviews)[98] 72 (14 reviews)[99] A+

Die Hard 2 70% (67 reviews)[100] 67 (17 reviews)[101] A

Die Hard with a Vengeance 58% (77 reviews)[102] 58 (19 reviews)[103] A−

Live Free or Die Hard 82% (209 reviews)[104] 69 (34 reviews)[105] A−

A Good Day to Die Hard 15% (232 reviews)[106] 28 (41 reviews)[107] B+

Other media

Comics

Die Hard: Year One

Main article: Die Hard: Year One

BOOM! Studios published an ongoing Die Hard comic series that serves as a prequel to the first film, titled Die Hard: Year One. Its story is set in 1976 and follows John McClane as a rookie cop in the NYPD,[1][108][109] and is scripted by Howard Chaykin.[110] The first issue of Die Hard: Year One was released on September 30, 2009. Eight issues have been released, with the eighth released on April 12, 2010.

The official description read:

    Every great action hero got started somewhere. Batman Begins. Bond had his Casino Royale. And for John McClane, more than a decade before the first Die Hard movie, he’s just another rookie cop, an East Coast guy working on earning his badge in New York City during 1976s Bicentennial celebration... and the Summer of Sam. Too bad for John McClane, nothing's ever that easy.[108][111]

A Die Hard Christmas

The official description read:

    A delightful Christmas storybook for adults based on the action-packed Die Hard movie.

    All John McClane wants for Christmas is to reunite with his estranged family. But when his wife's office holiday party turns into a deadly hostage situation, he has to save her life before he can get home in time for Christmas!

    The unconventional fan-favorite movie Die Hard is now an illustrated storybook—complete with machine guns, European terrorists, and a cop who's forced to rely on all his cunning and skills (and the help of a fellow officer) to save the day. Based on the classic Night Before Christmas poem and filled with whimsical illustrations, this cleverly reimagined homage is destined to become a holiday classic.

        Contains adult material including violence and strong language. Reader discretion is advised. Ho-ho-ho.[112]

A Million Ways to Die Hard

In 2018, Insight Comics released the graphic novel A Million Ways to Die Hard. It was scripted by writer Frank Tieri and artist Mark Texeira.

The official description read:

    Thirty years after the release of Die Hard, a retired John McClane is being pulled back into the game by a dangerous foe he never thought he'd face again—a psychotic serial killer with a theatrical taste for casting his victims in reproductions of Hollywood's greatest and deadliest films! Faced with impossible choices and unimaginable odds, A Million Ways To Die Hard just may be the last case John McClane ever has.[113]

Video games

A number of video games based on the successful movie franchise Die Hard have been released over the years, ranging from beat 'em ups to first-person shooters. While some of the games are based directly on the films, a few detail the further adventures of John McClane:

    Die Hard for Nintendo Entertainment System, MS-DOS, Commodore 64, and PC Engine.

    Die Hard 2: Die Harder for MS-DOS, Commodore 64, Amiga and Atari ST.

    Die Hard Arcade (Dynamite Deka in Japan) for Arcade, Saturn, and PlayStation 2.

    Die Hard Trilogy for Windows, PlayStation, and Saturn.

    Die Hard Trilogy 2: Viva Las Vegas for Windows and PlayStation.

    Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza for Windows.

    Die Hard: Vendetta for GameCube, Xbox, and PlayStation 2.

    Die Hard for Java phones, developed by Mobile Scope.

    Die Hard 4.0: The Mobile Game for mobile phones. Developed by Gameloft, mostly a re-skin of their earlier Mission: Impossible III.

    Die Hard for iOS and Android.

    A Good Day to Die Hard for Java and Android devices.

Commercial

DieHard is Back

In October 2020, Advance Auto Parts released the two-minute commercial short film DieHard is Back for the company's DieHard car-battery brand, with Bruce Willis, De'voreaux White and Clarence Gilyard Jr. reprising their roles as John McClane, Argyle, and Theo, respectively, from the first film.[114][115][116] The narrative follows Theo, a former tech specialist of Hans Gruber, and others seeking to kill McClane as he tries to get a new car battery and replace the dead one in his car, with limousine-driver Argyle helping him along the way.[117]

Other appearances

    The character John McClane also appears in the 1993 film Loaded Weapon 1, which is also portrayed by Bruce Willis, in a comical cameo appearance.

    The Cleveland Show features an episode called "Die Semi-Hard" parodying the first film; in another episode titled "Our Gang", Cleveland recites a speech referencing a scene in the first Die Hard and another delinquent teen asks him "Are you the black guy in Die Hard".

    Family Guy has parodied and referenced the movie in several episodes; in "Meet the Quagmires", Peter tells Brian "Now I know what a TV dinner feels like", the same quote that McClane said while crawling through the air vent in the first film. In "Brian's Got a Brand New Bag", Brian impresses his girlfriend Rita by saying he was one of the cops in the first film. In "Roasted Guy", Peter shows a cutaway gag parodying the first film killing someone he accused of stealing his lunch. In "Shanksgiving" while the four main characters were in prison, Joe joins a prison gang called the "not cops" and said they were not watching Die Hard and commenting on the plot failings. In "Christmas is Coming" the School Choir sings a song about Die Hard in the tune of Silent Night where they sang: "Die Hard, Die Hard / John McClane and his wife, Yippie-ki-yay Mother F6cker / Yippie-ki-yay Mother F*cker".

    Bruce Willis appeared in the 2019 film The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part in which he is crawling through an air vent in a reference to his character from the first Die Hard film.

    Call of Duty Warzone and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War feature John McClane character bundled with John Rambo as a playable DLC.

    In the series Brooklyn Nine-Nine, one of the main characters Jake Peralta (portrayed by Andy Samberg) regularly mentions the movies as his favourites, and several plot points of the series contain references to them.

See also

    "Die Hard" phrase

References

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David, Mark (September 24, 2018). "Tobey Maguire Lists Bare Land in Brentwood". Variety. Archived from the original on November 11, 2018. Retrieved November 11, 2018.

Wakeman, Gregory (December 12, 2018). "McClane producer on the 'tricky' balance of making a Die Hard prequel/sequel". metro. Archived from the original on December 14, 2018. Retrieved December 13, 2018.

Marc, Christopher (September 22, 2018). "LEN WISEMAN'S 'DIE HARD' PREQUEL/SEQUEL 'MCCLANE' SEEMINGLY MOVING FORWARD AS ART DIRECTORS FROM 'CAPTAIN MARVEL' AND 'VENOM' ARE HIRED". Geeks WorldWide. Archived from the original on February 24, 2019. Retrieved February 24, 2019.

Brew, Simon (January 31, 2019). "Exclusive: a new script for Die Hard 6 has gone in this week". Film Stories UK. Archived from the original on February 24, 2019. Retrieved February 24, 2019.

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Topel, Fred (April 4, 2019). "'Pet Sematary' Producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura on Making Big Changes to Stephen King's Book and the Current Status of 'Snake Eyes', 'McClane' and 'Transformers' [Interview]". Slash Film. Retrieved November 25, 2020.

"Samuel L. Jackson Could Return for Disney's Die Hard Reboot". June 25, 2020.

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Davis, Erik (February 26, 2016). "Mary Elizabeth Winstead Wants Her Own 'Die Hard' Movie". Fandango. Archived from the original on January 8, 2018. Retrieved January 8, 2018.

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Lloyd, Brian (August 11, 2019). "Disney has reportedly thrown the 'Die Hard' prequel off a building roof". Entertainment.ie. Archived from the original on August 15, 2019. Retrieved August 14, 2019.

"'John Wick' spin-off 'Ballerina' with female assassin finds director". EW.com. Retrieved December 6, 2022.

Schaefer, Sandy (October 8, 2019). "Female-led John Wick Spinoff Ballerina Sets Len Wiseman To Direct". ScreenRant. Retrieved December 6, 2022.

"Why the Die Hard Prequel Never Happened". Screen Rant. January 30, 2023.

Patches, Matt (July 27, 2021). "The Die Hard prequel McClane died hard because of Disney". Polygon. Retrieved July 27, 2021.

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"Disney wins: Comcast drops its bid for 21st Century Fox". CNN Money. July 19, 2018. Archived from the original on November 9, 2018. Retrieved November 5, 2018.

Sakoui, Anousha (March 21, 2019). "Disney Begins Fox Layoffs With Cuts Focusing on Film Studio". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on March 22, 2019. Retrieved March 21, 2019.

Donnelly, Matt (August 6, 2019). "Disney Flushes Fox Film Development, 'Redirects' Strategy After Big Q3 Loss". Variety. Archived from the original on August 10, 2019. Retrieved August 14, 2019.

Kennedy, Michael (October 20, 2020). "Everything We Know About Die Hard 6 (Is It Happening?)". Screen Rant. Retrieved November 25, 2020.

"Exclusive: Aaron Paul Eyed to Replace Bruce Willis in New Die Hard Movie". MSN.

"Exclusive: Die Hard Series Heading to Netflix". May 27, 2021.

"Bruce Willis diagnosed with aphasia, 'stepping away' from acting, family reveals". Fox News. March 30, 2022.

"Bruce Willis to retire from acting due to aphasia diagnosis". the Guardian. March 30, 2022. Retrieved December 6, 2022.

"See Bruce Willis Return to 'Nakatomi Plaza' to Mark 'Die Hard' Anniversary". Rolling Stone. July 17, 2022.

"Emma Heming Willis on Instagram: "Nakatomi Plaza 34 years later #happymovieanniversary #diehard @20thcenturystudios"".

Rosenbloom, Alli (February 16, 2023). "Bruce Willis' family shares an update on his health and new diagnosis". CNN. Retrieved March 1, 2023.

"A Good Day to Die Hard". AMC Theatres. Archived from the original on January 27, 2013. Retrieved January 26, 2013.

"Movie Legends Revealed - Die Hard 3 Started Out as Lethal Weapon 4?". CBR.com. March 13, 2013. Archived from the original on March 4, 2018. Retrieved March 4, 2018.

"6 Movies That Were Almost Other Movies". MentalFloss.com. May 2013. Archived from the original on February 27, 2014. Retrieved February 13, 2014.

Chiel, Deborah. "Die Hard With a Vengeance". Goodreads. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved March 28, 2015.

Carlin, John (May 1997). "A Farewell to Arms". Wired. Vol. 5, no. 5. Archived from the original on December 24, 2011. Retrieved October 9, 2011.

"Die Hard (1988)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on July 24, 2009. Retrieved December 4, 2009.

"Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on September 22, 2019. Retrieved December 4, 2009.

"Bruce Willis: Where Am I?". Newsweek. Archived from the original on July 11, 2020. Retrieved April 20, 2020. "...What did they spend that reported $62 million on making "Die Hard 2"?"

Greenburg, James (May 26, 1991). "Film; Why the 'Hudson Hawk' Budget Soared So High". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 18, 2019. Retrieved May 1, 2020. "...'Die Hard 2' (1990), which also ran over budget and wound up costing a reported $70 million."

"Die Hard: With A Vengeance (1995)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on August 31, 2019. Retrieved May 30, 2009.

"Live Free or Die Hard (2007)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on July 8, 2019. Retrieved May 30, 2009.

"A Good Day to Die Hard (2013)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on September 18, 2019. Retrieved January 7, 2013.

"The 100 best action movies ever made". Time Out New York. Archived from the original on November 6, 2014. Retrieved October 9, 2018.

Croatto, Pete. "Die Hard". FilmCritic.com. Archived from the original on December 14, 2009. Retrieved September 29, 2009.

Berardinelli, James. "Die Hard A movie review". ReelViews.com. Archived from the original on July 11, 2019. Retrieved October 7, 2009.

Howe, Desson (July 15, 1988). "Die Hard". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 8, 2017. Retrieved October 7, 2009.

"Review - Die Hard". BBC. Archived from the original on February 21, 2018. Retrieved December 20, 2019.

"Die Hard". EyeForFilm.co.uk. Archived from the original on December 28, 2010. Retrieved November 6, 2009.

MacReady, Gator. "Eye for Film: Die Hard Movie Review". Archived from the original on December 14, 2009. Retrieved November 6, 2009.

"The Action 25: The Best Rock-'em, Sock-'em Movies of the Past 25 Years". Archived from the original on February 17, 2009. Retrieved September 18, 2009.

Ebert, Roger (July 3, 1990). "Die Hard 2: Die Harder". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on June 20, 2008. Retrieved November 28, 2009.

Berardinelli, James. "Die Hard 2". ReelViews.

Travers, Peter (February 8, 2001). "Die Hard 2". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on November 30, 2008. Retrieved November 28, 2009.

Wallace, Randall. "Die Hard With a Vengeance". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on December 23, 2014. Retrieved February 18, 2020.

Berardinelli, James. "Die Hard with a Vengeance". Reelviews Movie Reviews.

Howe, Desson (May 19, 1995). "'Die Hard With a Vengeance'". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 11, 2012. Retrieved September 7, 2011.

"13 Reasons 'Die Hard With A Vengeance' Is The Only 'Die Hard' You Need". MTV News. Archived from the original on August 28, 2015. Retrieved October 8, 2018.

LaSalle, Mick (June 26, 2007). "Old-school, bare-knuckle action – McClane delivers and then some". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on September 18, 2007. Retrieved October 2, 2009.

Puig, Claudia (June 25, 2007). "Techno stuff shuts down the action in 'Die Hard'". USA Today. Archived from the original on September 24, 2010. Retrieved August 26, 2017.

Berardinelli, James. "A Good Day to Die Hard". Reelviews Movie Reviews. Archived from the original on June 24, 2013. Retrieved September 7, 2013.

['A Good Day to Die Hard' makes John McClane a little too invincible (+video) - CSMonitor.com]

Scott, A. O. (February 13, 2013). "'A Good Day to Die Hard', With Bruce Willis". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 18, 2017. Retrieved October 8, 2018.

"CinemaScore". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on April 13, 2022. Retrieved April 14, 2022.

"Die Hard (1988)". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on June 1, 2020. Retrieved April 30, 2021.

"Die Hard Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on December 4, 2019. Retrieved July 17, 2019.

"Die Hard 2 (1990)". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on August 30, 2017. Retrieved November 14, 2020.

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"Live Free or Die Hard Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on September 20, 2018. Retrieved July 17, 2019.

"A Good Day to Die Hard (2013)". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on July 13, 2019. Retrieved April 30, 2021.

"A Good Day to Die Hard Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on November 23, 2018. Retrieved July 17, 2019.

Anderton, Ethan (August 25, 2008). "Die Hard: Year One — John McClane Prequel Developed as a Comic Book Series | /Film". Slashfilm.com. Archived from the original on October 1, 2012. Retrieved May 30, 2009.

Parks, Tim (May 30, 2009). "Movies – News – 'Die Hard' comic prequel planned". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on June 1, 2009. Retrieved November 18, 2018.

Marshall, Rick (June 29, 2009). "Die Hard: Year One Writer Talks Prequel Plot, Reveals New Jock & Dave Johnson Covers!". MTV.com. Archived from the original on September 1, 2009. Retrieved September 20, 2009.

"Die Hard Gets A Prequel With Die Hard: Year One". Icon vs. Icon. May 28, 2009. Archived from the original on May 31, 2009. Retrieved October 6, 2009.

"A Die Hard Christmas: The Illustrated Holiday Classic". Insight Editions. October 24, 2017. ISBN 978-1608879762.

"John McClane battles a movie-obsessed serial killer in A Million Ways to Die Hard". Flickering Myth. December 1, 2018. Retrieved June 29, 2020.

Lundstrom, Kathryn. "How DieHard Pulled Off That Die Hard Ad Starring Bruce Willis". AdWeek. Retrieved October 23, 2020.

Ramos, Dino-Ray (October 18, 2020). "Bruce Willis Reprises His Role As John McClane In Commercial For Die Hard…Car Batteries". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved October 22, 2020.

Shafer, Elise (October 18, 2020). "Bruce Willis Stars in Commercial for 'Die Hard' Car Batteries". Variety. Retrieved October 21, 2020.

    DieHard Is Back (YouTube). Advance Auto Parts. October 18, 2020. Archived from the original on October 18, 2020. Retrieved November 20, 2020. Alt URL

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Christmas (disambiguation).

"Christmas Day" redirects here. For other uses, see Christmas Day (disambiguation).

Christmas

Nativity scene depicted using Christmas lights

Also called Noël, Nativity, Koleda, Xmas

Observed by Christians, many non-Christians[1][2]

Type Christian, cultural, international

Significance Commemoration of the nativity of Jesus

Celebrations Gift-giving, family and other social gatherings, symbolic decoration, feasting

Observances Church services

Date

December 25 (Western Christianity and part of the Eastern churches)

January 6 (Armenian Apostolic Church and the Armenian Evangelical Church)

January 7 (O.S. December 25) (most Oriental Orthodox and part of the Eastern Orthodox churches)

January 19 (O.S. January 6) (Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem)

Related to Christmastide, Christmas Eve, Advent, Annunciation, Epiphany, Baptism of the Lord, Nativity Fast, Nativity of Christ, Old Christmas, Yule, St. Stephen's Day, Boxing Day

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 liturgical year in Christianity, 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 surrounding 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's 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's exact birth date is considered to be the primary purpose of celebrating Christmas.[18][19][20]

The customs associated with Christmas in various countries have a mix of pre-Christian, Christian, and secular themes and origins.[21][22] Popular holiday traditions 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; attending church services; a special meal; and displaying various Christmas decorations, including Christmas trees, Christmas lights, nativity scenes, garlands, wreaths, mistletoe, and holly. Additionally, several related and often interchangeable figures, known as Santa Claus, Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, and 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

See also: Christ (title)

The English word Christmas is a shortened form of 'Christ's Mass'.[24] The word is recorded as Crīstesmæsse in 1038 and Cristes-messe in 1131.[25] Crīst (genitive Crīstes) is from the Greek Χριστός (Khrīstos, 'Christ'), a translation of the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ‎ (Māšîaḥ, 'Messiah'), meaning 'anointed';[26][27] and mæsse is from the Latin missa, the celebration of the Eucharist.[28]

The form Christenmas was also used during some periods, but is now considered archaic and dialectal.[29] The term derives from Middle English Cristenmasse, meaning 'Christian mass'.[30] Xmas is an abbreviation of Christmas found particularly in print, based on the initial letter chi (Χ) in the Greek Χριστός, although some style guides discourage its use.[31] This abbreviation has precedent in Middle English Χρ̄es masse (where Χρ̄ is another abbreviation of the Greek word).[30]

Other names

The holiday has had various other English names throughout its history. The Anglo-Saxons referred to the feast as "midwinter",[32][33] or, more rarely, as Nātiuiteð (from the Latin nātīvitās below).[32][34] Nativity, meaning 'birth', is from the Latin nātīvitās.[35] In Old English, Gēola ('Yule') referred to the period corresponding to December and January, which was eventually equated with Christian Christmas.[36] '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)'.[37]

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.[38]

Nativity

Main article: Nativity of Jesus

Adoration of the Shepherds (1622) by Gerard van Honthorst depicts the 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.[39] 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.[40]

History

Early and medieval era

Nativity of Christ, medieval illustration from the Hortus deliciarum of Herrad of Landsberg (12th century)

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".[41] The earliest evidence of Christ's birth being marked on December 25 is a sentence in the Chronograph of 354.[42][43][44][45] Liturgical historians generally agree that this part of the text was written in Rome in AD 336.[43] Though Christmas did not appear on the lists of festivals given by the early Christian writers Irenaeus and Tertullian,[25] 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.[41] December 25 was the traditional date of the winter solstice in the Roman Empire,[46] where most Christians lived, and the Roman festival Dies Natalis Solis Invicti (birthday of Sol Invictus, the 'Invincible Sun') had been held on this date since 274 AD.[47]

In the East, the birth of Jesus was celebrated in connection with the Epiphany on January 6.[48][49] This holiday was not primarily about Christ's birth, but rather his baptism.[50] 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,[49] probably in 388, and in Alexandria in the following century.[51] The Georgian Iadgari demonstrates that Christmas was celebrated in Jerusalem by the sixth century.[52]

The Nativity, from a 14th-century missal, a liturgical book containing texts and music necessary for the celebration of Mass throughout the year

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.[53] In Italy, former Saturnalian traditions were attached to Advent.[53] 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.[53]

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][54] 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."[55][56][57]

The prominence of Christmas Day increased gradually after Charlemagne was crowned Emperor on Christmas Day in 800.[58] King Edmund the Martyr was anointed on Christmas in 855 and King William I of England was crowned on Christmas Day 1066.[59]

The coronation of Charlemagne on Christmas of 800 helped promote the popularity of the holiday

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.[53] 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.[53] "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.[53]

Christmas during the Middle Ages was a public festival that incorporated ivy, holly, and other evergreens.[60] Christmas gift-giving during the Middle Ages was usually between people with legal relationships, such as tenant and landlord.[60] 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.[61] 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.[62]

17th and 18th centuries

Following the Protestant Reformation, many of the new denominations, including the Anglican Church and Lutheran Church, continued to celebrate Christmas.[63] 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.[64][65] 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."[66] Among the congregations of the Dutch Reformed Church, Christmas was celebrated as one of the principal evangelical feasts.[67]

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".[68] 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."[69] 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.[61] Following the Parliamentarian victory over Charles I during the English Civil War, England's Puritan rulers banned Christmas in 1647.[68][70]

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.[68] 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.[71] 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.[72] During the ban, semi-clandestine religious services marking Christ's birth continued to be held, and people sang carols in secret.[73]

The Examination and Tryal of Old Father Christmas, (1686), published after Christmas was reinstated as a holy day in England

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.[73] 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.[74] 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".[75] 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.[76] 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."[77] 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.[78]

As in England, Puritans in Colonial America staunchly opposed the observation of Christmas.[79] The Pilgrims of New England pointedly spent their first December 25 in the New World working normally.[79] 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.[80][81] Many non-Puritans in New England deplored the loss of the holidays enjoyed by the laboring classes in England.[82] Christmas observance was outlawed in Boston in 1659.[79] 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.[83]

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.[84] Christmas fell out of favor in the United States after the American Revolution, when it was considered an English custom.[85] 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.[86][87]

19th century

Ebenezer Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Present. From Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, 1843.

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,[88] along with Washington Irving, Charles Dickens, and other authors emphasizing family, children, kind-heartedness, gift-giving, and Santa Claus (for Irving),[88] or Father Christmas (for Dickens).[89]

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.[90][91] Its instant popularity played a major role in portraying Christmas as a holiday emphasizing family, goodwill, and compassion.[88]

Dickens sought to construct Christmas as a family-centered festival of generosity, linking "worship and feasting, within a context of social reconciliation."[92] Superimposing his humanitarian vision of the holiday, in what has been termed "Carol Philosophy",[93] 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.[94] A prominent phrase from the tale, "Merry Christmas", was popularized following the appearance of the story.[95] 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.[96]

The Queen's Christmas tree at Windsor Castle, published in the Illustrated London News, 1848

The term Scrooge became a synonym for miser, with the phrase "Bah! Humbug!" becoming emblematic of a dismissive attitude of the festive spirit.[97] In 1843, the first commercial Christmas card was produced by Sir Henry Cole.[98] 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's 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.[99] After her marriage to her German cousin Prince Albert, by 1841 the custom became more widespread throughout Britain.[100]

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.[101][102] By the 1870s, putting up a Christmas tree had become common in America.[101]

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,[103] 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.[61]

A Norwegian Christmas, 1846 painting by Adolph Tidemand

In 1822, Clement Clarke Moore wrote the poem A Visit From St. Nicholas (popularly known by its first line: Twas the Night Before Christmas).[104] The poem helped popularize the tradition of exchanging gifts, and seasonal Christmas shopping began to assume economic importance.[105] 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.[106]

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."[107] 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."[107]

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.[107] By 1860, fourteen states including several from New England had adopted Christmas as a legal holiday.[108] In 1875, Louis Prang introduced the Christmas card to Americans. He has been called the "father of the American Christmas card".[109] On June 28, 1870, Christmas was formally declared a United States federal holiday.[110]

20th and 21st centuries

The Christmas Visit. Postcard, c. 1910

During the First World War and particularly (but not exclusively) in 1914,[111] 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.[112] These incidents became a well known and semi-mythologised part of popular memory.[113] 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.[114]

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.[115] 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.[116][117]

Under the state atheism of the Soviet Union, after its foundation in 1917, Christmas celebrations—along with other Christian holidays—were prohibited in public.[118] 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.[119] 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.[120] Instead, the importance of the holiday and all its trappings, such as the Christmas tree and gift-giving, was transferred to the New Year.[121] 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.[122]

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."[123]

As Christmas celebrations began to spread globally even outside traditional Christian cultures, several Muslim-majority countries began to ban the observance of Christmas, claiming it undermined Islam.[124] In 2023, public Christmas celebrations were cancelled in Bethlehem, the city synonymous with the birth of Jesus. Palestinian leaders of various Christian denominations cited the ongoing Israel–Hamas war in their unanimous decision to cancel celebrations.[125]

Observance and traditions

Further information: Christmas traditions and Observance of Christmas by country

Christmas at the Annunciation Church in Nazareth, 1965. Photo by Dan Hadani.

Christmas at the Annunciation Church in Nazareth, 1965

Dark brown – countries that do not recognize Christmas on December 25 or January 7 as a public holiday. Light brown – countries that do not recognize Christmas as a public holiday, but the holiday is given observance.

Many Christians attend church services to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.[126]

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.[127]

Many popular customs associated with Christmas developed independently of the commemoration of Jesus's 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.[128][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,[53] to a tamer family-oriented and children-centered theme introduced in a 19th-century transformation.[90][91] 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.[129][68][79]

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.[130] 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.[131]

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.[132] 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.[133][132] 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".[134] 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.[135]

Among countries with a strong Christian tradition, a variety of Christmas celebrations have developed that incorporate regional and local cultures. For example, in eastern Europe Christmas celebrations incorporated pre-Christian traditions such as the Koleda,[136] which shares parallels with the Christmas carol.

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.[137] 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.[138] In the United Kingdom, the Church of England reported an estimated attendance of 2.5 million people at Christmas services in 2015.[139]

Decorations

Main article: Christmas decoration

Further information: Hanging of the greens

Typical Neapolitan nativity scene, or presepe or presepio, in Naples. Local crèches are renowned for their ornate decorations and symbolic figurines, often mirroring daily life.

Nativity scenes are known from 10th-century Rome. They were popularised by Saint Francis of Assisi from 1223, quickly spreading across Europe.[140] 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,[141] which imitate Kraków's historical buildings as settings, the elaborate Italian presepi (Neapolitan [it], Genoese [it] and Bolognese [it]),[142][143][144][145] or the Provençal crèches in southern France, using hand-painted terracotta figurines called santons.[146] In certain parts of the world, notably Sicily, living nativity scenes following the tradition of Saint Francis are a popular alternative to static crèches.[147][148][149] The first commercially produced decorations appeared in Germany in the 1860s, inspired by paper chains made by children.[150] 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.[151]

The traditional colors of Christmas decorations are red, green, and gold.[152][153] 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.[154]

The official White House Christmas tree for 1962, displayed in the Entrance Hall and presented by John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie.

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.[155][156] In the United States, these "German Lutherans brought the decorated Christmas tree with them; the Moravians put lighted candles on those trees."[157][158] 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.[159][160] 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.[161] 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.[162][163] Christian services for family use and public worship have been published for the blessing of a Christmas tree, after it has been erected.[164][165] 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;[166] 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.[167] The English language phrase "Christmas tree" is first recorded in 1835[168] and represents an importation from the German language.[166][169][170]

On Christmas, the Christ Candle in the center of the Advent wreath is traditionally lit in many church services.

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.[171][172] Other popular holiday plants include holly, mistletoe, red amaryllis, and Christmas cactus.[173]

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.[174] 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.[175]

Christmas lights in Verona.

Christmas lights and banners may be hung along streets, music played from speakers, and Christmas trees placed in prominent places.[176] 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.[177]

Nativity play

Main article: Nativity play

Children in Oklahoma reenact a 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 in the Italian town of Greccio.[178] 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.[178] Each year, this grew larger and people travelled from afar to see Francis's depiction of the Nativity of Jesus that came to feature drama and music.[178] 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.[178] In France, Germany, Mexico and Spain, Nativity plays are often reenacted outdoors in the streets.[178]

Music and carols

Main article: Christmas music

Christmas carolers in Jersey

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.[179] 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.[180]

Child singers in Bucharest, 1841

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.[181] The 18th-century English reformer Charles Wesley, a founder of Methodism, 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".[182]

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

Duration: 1 minute and 52 seconds.1:52

Performed by the U.S. Army Band Chorus

Problems playing this file? See media help.

Christmas seasonal songs of a secular 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".[183] 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.[184] 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.[185] Hollywood movies have featured new Christmas music, such as "White Christmas" in Holiday Inn and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.[185] 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.[185]

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.[186][187] A traditional Christmas meal in Central Europe features fried carp or other fish.[188]

Cards

Main article: Christmas card

A 1907 Christmas card with Santa and some of his reindeer

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.[189] 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.[190][191]

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.[192]

Some prefer cards with a poem, prayer, or Biblical verse; while others distance themselves from religion with an all-inclusive "Season's greetings".[193]

Commemorative stamps

Main article: Christmas stamp

A number of nations have issued commemorative stamps at Christmastide.[194] Postal customers will often use these stamps to mail Christmas cards, and they are popular with philatelists.[195] 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,[196] and the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh which were given to the baby Jesus by the Magi.[197][198] 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."[199] 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.[200]

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[201]

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.[202][203] 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.[62]

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.[62]

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.[204]

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 Italy's South Tyrol, Austria, the 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.[205] 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.[206]

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.[207][208] It is worth noting that across all of Poland, St Nicholas is the gift giver on Saint Nicholas Day on December 6.

Sport

Christmas during the Middle Ages was a public festival with annual indulgences included the sporting.[62] When Puritans outlawed Christmas in England in December 1647 the crowd brought out footballs as a symbol of festive misrule.[71] The Orkney Christmas Day Ba' tradition continues.[209] In the former top tier 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.[210] Champions Preston North End faced Aston Villa on Christmas Day 1889[211] and the last December 25 fixture was in 1965 in England, Blackpool beating Blackburn Rovers 4–2.[210] One of the most memorable images of the Christmas truce during World War I was the games of football played between the opposing sides on Christmas Day 1914.[212]

More recently, in the United States, both NFL and NBA have held fixtures on Christmas Day.[213]

Choice of date

Main article: Date of birth of Jesus

Mosaic in Mausoleum M in the pre-fourth-century necropolis under St Peter's Basilica in Rome, interpreted by some as Jesus represented as Christus Sol ('Christ the Sun').[214]

There are two main theories behind December 25 becoming the traditional date for Christmas, 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".[215] December 25 was the date of the winter solstice in the Roman calendar.[46] Some early Christian writers noted the solar symbolism in placing Jesus's birthday at the winter solstice and John's birthday at the summer solstice.[216][47]

The 'history of religions' theory suggests the Church chose December 25 as Christ's birthday (dies Natalis Christi)[217] to appropriate the Roman winter solstice festival dies Natalis Solis Invicti (birthday of Sol Invictus, the 'Invincible Sun'), held on this date since 274 AD.[46][47] The early Church linked Jesus Christ to the Sun and referred to him as the 'Sun of Righteousness' (Sol Justitiae) prophesied by Malachi.[218][219] Gary Forsythe, Professor of Ancient History, says that the Natalis Solis Invicti followed "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".[46]

Another theory, the 'computation hypothesis' or 'calculation theory',[47] notes that December 25 is 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.[47][17]

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 2024, 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.[220]

However, following the Council of Constantinople in 1923,[221] 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.[222] 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.[223]

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.[224]

Following the 2022 invasion of its territory by Russia, Ukraine officially moved its Christmas date from January 7 to December 25, to distance itself from the Russian Orthodox Church that had supported Russia's invasion.[225][226] This followed the Orthodox Church of Ukraine formally adopting the Revised Julian calendar for fixed feasts and solemnities.[227]

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[228] (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.[221]

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)[229] 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.[230]

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 in 1964.

Economy

Main article: Economics of Christmas

Christmas decorations at the Galeries Lafayette department store in Paris, France. The Christmas season is the busiest trading period for retailers.

Christmas market in Jena, Germany

Christmas is typically a peak selling season for retailers in many nations around the world since sales increase dramatically during this time as people purchase gifts, decorations, and supplies to celebrate. In the United States, the "Christmas shopping season" starts as early as October.[231][232] 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.[233][234] In the United States, it has been calculated that a quarter of all personal spending takes place during the Christmas/holiday shopping season.[235] 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.[236] 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.[237] For 2019, the average US adult was projected to spend $920 on gifts alone.[238] 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.[234]

Each year (most notably 2000) money supply in US banks is increased for Christmas shopping

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.[239]

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.[240][241] 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.[242]

Controversies

Main article: Christmas controversies

Further information: Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union, Kirchenkampf, and Antireligious campaigns in China

A 1931 edition of the Soviet magazine Bezbozhnik, published by the League of Militant Atheists, depicting an Orthodox Christian priest being forbidden to take home a tree for the celebration of Christmastide, which was banned under the Marxist–Leninist doctrine of state atheism.[243]

Christmas has at times been the subject of controversy and attacks from various sources, both Christian and non-Christian. Historically, it was prohibited by Puritans during their ascendency in the Commonwealth of England (1647–1660), and in Colonial New England where the Puritans outlawed the celebration of Christmas in 1659 on the grounds that Christmas was not mentioned in Scripture and therefore violated the Reformed regulative principle of worship.[244][245] The Parliament of Scotland, which was dominated by Presbyterians, passed a series of acts outlawing the observance of Christmas between 1637 and 1690; Christmas Day did not become a public holiday in Scotland until 1871.[76][246][247] Today, some conservative Reformed denominations such as the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America likewise reject the celebration of Christmas based on the regulative principle and what they see as its non-Scriptural origin.[248][249] Christmas celebrations have also been prohibited by atheist states such as the Soviet Union[250] and more recently majority Muslim states such as Somalia, Tajikistan and Brunei.[251]

Some Christians and organizations such as Pat Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice cite alleged attacks on Christmas (dubbing them a "war on Christmas").[252] Such groups claim that any specific mention of the term "Christmas" or its religious aspects is being increasingly censored, avoided, or discouraged by a number of advertisers, retailers, government (prominently schools), and other public and private organizations. One controversy is the occurrence of Christmas trees being renamed Holiday trees.[253] In the U.S. there has been a tendency to replace the greeting Merry Christmas with Happy Holidays, which is considered inclusive at the time of the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah.[254] In the U.S. and Canada, where the use of the term "Holidays" is most prevalent, opponents have denounced its usage and avoidance of using the term "Christmas" as being politically correct.[255][256][257] In 1984, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Lynch v. Donnelly that a Christmas display (which included a Nativity scene) owned and displayed by the city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, did not violate the First Amendment.[258] American Muslim scholar Abdul Malik Mujahid has said that Muslims must treat Christmas with respect, even if they disagree with it.[259]

The government of the People's Republic of China officially espouses state atheism,[260] and has conducted antireligious campaigns to this end.[261] In December 2018, officials raided Christian churches prior to Christmastide and coerced them to close; Christmas trees and Santa Clauses were also forcibly removed.[262][263]

See also

icon Christianity portal

icon Holidays portal

Apollo 8 Genesis reading from lunar orbit, December 24, 1968

Christmas in July – Second Christmas celebration

Christmas Peace – Finnish tradition

Christmas Sunday – Sunday after Christmas

List of Christmas films

List of Christmas novels – Christmas as depicted in literature

Little Christmas – Alternative title for 6 January

Nochebuena – Evening or entire day before Christmas Day

Mithraism in comparison with other belief systems#25th of December

Christmas by medium – Christmas represented in different media

Notes

 Several branches of Eastern Christianity that use the Julian calendar also celebrate on December 25 according to that calendar, which is now January 7 on the Gregorian calendar. Armenian Churches observed the nativity on January 6 even before the Gregorian calendar originated. Most Armenian Christians use the Gregorian calendar, still celebrating Christmas Day on January 6. Some Armenian churches use the Julian calendar, thus celebrating Christmas Day on January 19 on the Gregorian calendar, with January 18 being Christmas Eve. Some regions also celebrate primarily on December 24, rather than December 25.

 English, Adam C. (October 14, 2016). Christmas: Theological Anticipations. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 70. ISBN 978-1-4982-3933-2. According to Luke 1:26, Gabriel's annunciation to Mary took place in the "sixth month" of Elizabeth's pregnancy. That is, Mary conceives sixth months after Elizabeth. Luke repeats the uniqueness of the timing in verse 26. Counting six months from September 24 we arrive at March 25, the most likely date for the annunciation and conception of Mary. Nine months hence takes us to December 25, which turns out to be a surprisingly reasonable date for the birthday [of Jesus]. Someone might object that the birth could not have occurred in midwinter because it would have been too cold for shepherds in the fields keeping watch by night (Luke 2:8). Not so. In Palestine, the months of November through February mark the rainy season, the only time of the year sheep might find fresh green grass to graze. During the other ten months of the year, animals must content themselves on dry straw. So, the suggestion that shepherds might have stayed out in the fields with their flocks in late December, at the peak of the rainy season, is not only reasonable, it is most certain. [...] And so, besides considering the timing of the conception, we must take note of the earliest church records. We have evidence from the second century, less than fifty years after the close of the New Testament, that Christians were remembering and celebrating the birth of the Lord. It is not true to say that the observance of the nativity was imposed on Christians hundreds of years later by imperial decree or by a magisterial church ruling. The observance sprang up organically from the authentic devotion of ordinary believers. This in itself is important. But, besides the fact that early Christians did celebrate the incarnation of the Lord, we should make note that they did not agree upon a set date for the observance. There was no one day on which all Christians celebrated Christmas in the early church. Churches in different regions celebrated the nativity on different days. The late second-century Egyptian instructor of Christian disciples, Clement of Alexandria, reported that some believers in his area observed the twenty-fourth or twenty-fifth day of the Egyptian month of Parmuthi (the month that corresponds to the Hebrew month of Nisan—approximately May 20). The Basilidian Christians held to the eleventh or fifteen of Tubi (January 6 and 10). Clement made his own computations by counting backward from the death of Emperor Commodus, the son of Marcus Aurelius. By this method he deduced a birthdate of November 18. Other Alexandrian and Egyptian Christians adopted January 4 or 5. In so doing, they replaced the Alexandrian celebration of the birth of Aion, Time, with the birth of Christ. The regions of Nicomedia, Syria, and Caesarea celebrated Christ's birthday on Epiphany, January 6. [...] According to researcher Susan Roll, the Chronograph or Philocalian Calendar is the earliest authentic document to place the birth of Jesus on December 25. [...] And we should remember that although the Chronograph provides the first record of December 25, the custom of venerating the Lord's birth on that day was most likely established well before its publication. That is to say, December 25 didn't originate with the Chronograph. It must have counted as common knowledge, at least in Rome, to warrant its inclusion in the Chronograph. Soon after this time, we find other church fathers such John Chrysostom, Augustine, Jerome, and Leo confirming the twenty-fifth as the traditional date of celebration.

References

 "Christmas as a Multi-Faith Festival" (PDF). BBC Learning English. December 29, 2005. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 1, 2008. Retrieved September 30, 2008.

 "In the U.S., Christmas Not Just for Christians". Gallup, Inc. December 24, 2008. Archived from the original on November 16, 2012. Retrieved December 16, 2012.

 "The Global Religious Landscape | Christians". Pew Research Center. December 18, 2012. Archived from the original on March 10, 2015. Retrieved May 23, 2014.

 "Christmas Strongly Religious For Half in U.S. Who Celebrate It". Gallup, Inc. December 24, 2010. Archived from the original on December 7, 2012. Retrieved December 16, 2012.

 Forbes, Bruce David (October 1, 2008). Christmas: A Candid History. University of California Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-520-25802-0. In 567 the Council of Tours proclaimed that the entire period between Christmas and Epiphany should be considered part of the celebration, creating what became known as the twelve days of Christmas, or what the English called Christmastide.

On the last of the twelve days, called Twelfth Night, various cultures developed a wide range of additional special festivities. The variation extends even to the issue of how to count the days. If Christmas Day is the first of the twelve days, then Twelfth Night would be on January 5, the eve of Epiphany. If December 26, the day after Christmas, is the first day, then Twelfth Night falls on January 6, the evening of Epiphany itself.

After Christmas and Epiphany were in place, on December 25 and January 6, with the twelve days of Christmas in between, Christians slowly adopted a period called Advent, as a time of spiritual preparation leading up to Christmas.

 Canadian Heritage – Public holidaysArchived November 24, 2009, at the Wayback Machine – Government of Canada. Retrieved November 27, 2009.

 2009 Federal Holidays Archived January 16, 2013, at the Wayback Machine – U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Retrieved November 27, 2009.

 Bank holidays and British Summer time Archived May 15, 2011, at the Wayback Machine – HM Government. Retrieved November 27, 2009.

 Ehorn, Lee Ellen; Hewlett, Shirely J.; Hewlett, Dale M. (September 1, 1995). December Holiday Customs. Lorenz Educational Press. p. 1. ISBN 978-1-4291-0896-6.

 Nick Hytrek, "Non-Christians focus on secular side of Christmas" Archived November 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, Sioux City Journal, November 10, 2009. Retrieved November 18, 2009.

 Crump, William D. (September 15, 2001). The Christmas Encyclopedia (3 ed.). McFarland. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-7864-6827-0. Christians believe that a number of passages in the Bible are prophecies about future events in the life of the promised Messiah or Jesus Christ. Most, but not all, of those prophecies are found in the Old Testament [...] Born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2): "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Juda, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."

 Tucker, Ruth A. (2011). Parade of Faith: A Biographical History of the Christian Church. Zondervan. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-310-20638-5. According to gospel accounts, Jesus was born during the reign of Herod the Great, thus sometime before 4 BCE. The birth narrative in Luke's gospel is one of the most familiar passages in the Bible. Leaving their hometown of Nazareth, Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem to pay taxes. Arriving late, they find no vacancy at the inn. They are, however, offered a stable, most likely a second room attached to a family dwelling where animals were sheltered—a room that would offer some privacy from the main family room for cooking, eating, and sleeping. This "city of David" is the little town of Bethlehem of Christmas-carol fame, a starlit silhouette indelibly etched on Christmas cards. No sooner was the baby born than angels announced the news to shepherds who spread the word.

 Corinna Laughlin, Michael R. Prendergast, Robert C. Rabe, Corinna Laughlin, Jill Maria Murdy, Therese Brown, Mary Patricia Storms, Ann E. Degenhard, Jill Maria Murdy, Ann E. Degenhard, Therese Brown, Robert C. Rabe, Mary Patricia Storms, Michael R. Prendergast, Sourcebook for Sundays, Seasons, and Weekdays 2011: The Almanac for Pastoral Liturgy Archived April 7, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, LiturgyTrainingPublications, 2010, p. 29.

 "The Chronography of 354 AD. Part 12: Commemorations of the Martyrs" Archived November 22, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, The Tertullian Project. 2006. Retrieved November 24, 2011.

 Roll, Susan K. (1995). Toward the Origins of Christmas. Peeters Publishers. p. 133. ISBN 978-90-390-0531-6.

 Hale Bradt (2004). Astronomy Methods (PDF). p. 69. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 20, 2018..

 Melton, J. Gordon (2011). Religious Celebrations: An Encyclopedia of Holidays, Festivals, Solemn Observances, and Spiritual Commemorations [2 volumes]: An Encyclopedia of Holidays, Festivals, Solemn Observances, and Spiritual Commemorations. ABC-CLIO. p. 39. ISBN 978-1-59884-206-7. The March 25 date, which tied together the beginning of Mary's pregnancy and the incarnation of God in Jesus as occurring nine months before Christmas (December 25), supplied the rationale for setting the beginning of the ecclesiastical and legal year. [...] Both the Anglicans and the Lutherans have continued to observe the March 25 date for celebrating the Annunciation.

 The Liturgical Year. Thomas Nelson. November 3, 2009. ISBN 978-1-4185-8073-5. Retrieved April 2, 2009. Christmas is not really about the celebration of a birth date at all. It is about the celebration of a birth. The fact of the date and the fact of the birth are two different things. The calendrical verification of the feast itself is not really that important [...] What is important to the understanding of a life-changing moment is that it happened, not necessarily where or when it happened. The message is clear: Christmas is not about marking the actual birth date of Jesus. It is about the Incarnation of the One who became like us in all things but sin (Hebrews 4:15) and who humbled Himself "to the point of death-even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:8). Christmas is a pinnacle feast, yes, but it is not the beginning of the liturgical year. It is a memorial, a remembrance, of the birth of Jesus, not really a celebration of the day itself. We remember that because the Jesus of history was born, the Resurrection of the Christ of faith could happen.

 "The Christmas Season". CRI / Voice, Institute. Archived from the original on April 7, 2009. Retrieved April 2, 2009. The origins of the celebrations of Christmas and Epiphany, as well as the dates on which they are observed, are rooted deeply in the history of the early church. There has been much scholarly debate concerning the exact time of the year when Jesus was born, and even in what year he was born. Actually, we do not know either. The best estimate is that Jesus was probably born in the springtime, somewhere between the years of 6 and 4 BC, as December is in the middle of the cold rainy season in Bethlehem, when the sheep are kept inside and not on pasture as told in the Bible. The lack of a consistent system of timekeeping in the first century, mistakes in later calendars and calculations, and lack of historical details to cross-reference events have led to this imprecision in fixing Jesus' birth. This suggests that the Christmas celebration is not an observance of a historical date, but a commemoration of the event in terms of worship.

 The School Journal, Volume 49. Harvard University. 1894. Retrieved April 2, 2009. Throughout the Christian world the 25th of December is celebrated as the birthday of Jesus Christ. There was a time when the churches were not united regarding the date of the joyous event. Many Christians kept their Christmas in April, others in May, and still others at the close of September, till finally December 25 was agreed upon as the most appropriate date. The choice of that day was, of course, wholly arbitrary, for neither the exact date not the period of the year at which the birth of Christ occurred is known. For purposes of commemoration, however, it is unimportant whether the celebration shall fall or not at the precise anniversary of the joyous event.

 West's Federal Supplement. West Publishing Company. 1990. While the Washington and King birthdays are exclusively secular holidays, Christmas has both secular and religious aspects.

 Huckabee, Tyler (December 9, 2021). "No, Christmas Trees Don't Have 'Pagan' Roots". Relevant Magazine. Retrieved December 9, 2022.

 "Poll: In a changing nation, Santa endures". Associated Press. December 22, 2006. Archived from the original on December 26, 2018. Retrieved December 24, 2018.

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 Galey, John (1986). Sinai and the Monastery of St. Catherine. American University in Cairo Press. p. 92. ISBN 978-977-424-118-5.

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 The manuscript reads, VIII kal. Ian. natus Christus in Betleem Iudeae. ("The Chronography of 354 AD. Part 12: Commemorations of the Martyrs Archived November 22, 2011, at the Wayback Machine", The Tertullian Project. 2006.)

 Bradshaw, Paul (2020). "The Dating of Christmas". In Larsen, Timothy (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Christmas. Oxford University Press. pp. 7–10.

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 Hyden, Marc (December 20, 2021). "Merry Christmas, Saturnalia or festival of Sol Invictus?". Newnan Times-Herald. Archived from the original on December 26, 2022. Retrieved February 17, 2023. Around AD 274ᵃ, Emperor Aurelian set December 25—the winter solstice at the time—for the celebration of Sol Invictus who was the 'Unconquered Sun' god. 'A marginal note on a manuscript of the writings of the Syriac biblical commentator Dionysius bar-Salibi states that in ancient times the Christmas holiday was actually shifted from January 6 to December 25 so that it fell on the same date as the pagan Sol Invictus holiday,' reads an excerpt from Biblical Archaeology. / Could early Christians have chosen December 25 to coincide with this holiday? 'The first celebration of Christmas observed by the Roman church in the West is presumed to date to [336 AD],' per the Encyclopedia Romanaᵃ, long after Aurelian established Sol Invictus' festival.

(a) "Sol Invictus and Christmas". Encyclopaedia Romana.

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 Bradshaw, Paul (2020). "The Dating of Christmas". In Larsen, Timothy (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Christmas. Oxford University Press. pp. 4–10.

 Wainwright, Geoffrey; Westerfield Tucker, Karen Beth, eds. (2005). The Oxford History of Christian Worship. Oxford University Press. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-19-513886-3. Retrieved February 3, 2012.

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 Hynes, Mary Ellen (1993). Companion to the Calendar. Liturgy Training Publications. p. 8. ISBN 9781568540115. In the year 567 the church council of Tours called the 13 days between December 25 and January 6 a festival season.

 Hill, Christopher (2003). Holidays and Holy Nights: Celebrating Twelve Seasonal Festivals of the Christian Year. Quest Books. p. 91. ISBN 9780835608107. This arrangement became an 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. While the Romans could roughly match the months in the two systems, the four cardinal points of the solar year—the two equinoxes and solstices—still fell on different dates. By the time of the first century, the calendar date of the winter solstice in Egypt and Palestine was eleven to twelve days later than the date in Rome. As a result the Incarnation came to be celebrated on different days in different parts of the Empire. The Western Church, in its desire to be universal, eventually took them both—one became Christmas, one Epiphany—with a resulting twelve days in between. Over time this hiatus became invested with specific Christian meaning. The Church gradually filled these days with saints, some connected to the birth narratives in Gospels (Holy Innocents' Day, December 28, in honor of the infants slaughtered by Herod; St. John the Evangelist, "the Beloved," December 27; St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, December 26; the Holy Family, December 31; the Virgin Mary, January 1). In 567, the Council of Tours declared the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany to become one unified festal cycle.

 Federer, William J. (January 6, 2014). "On the 12th Day of Christmas". American Minute. Retrieved December 25, 2014. In 567 AD, the Council of Tours ended a dispute. Western Europe celebrated Christmas, December 25, as the holiest day of the season... but Eastern Europe celebrated Epiphany, January 6, recalling the Wise Men's visit and Jesus' baptism. It could not be decided which day was holier, so the Council made all 12 days from December 25 to January 6 "holy days" or "holidays," These became known as "The Twelve Days of Christmas."

 Kirk Cameron, William Federer (November 6, 2014). Praise the Lord. Trinity Broadcasting Network. Event occurs at 01:15:14. Archived from the original on December 25, 2014. Retrieved December 25, 2014. Western Europe celebrated Christmas December 25 as the holiest day. Eastern Europe celebrated January 6 the Epiphany, the visit of the Wise Men, as the holiest day... and so they had this council and they decided to make all twelve days from December 25 to January 6 the Twelve Days of Christmas.

 "Who was Charlemagne? The unlikely king who became an emperor". National Geographic. Retrieved November 30, 2023.

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 McGreevy, Patrick. "Place in the American Christmas," (JSTOR Archived December 15, 2018, at the Wayback Machine), Geographical Review, Vol. 80, No. 1. January 1990, pp. 32–42. Retrieved September 10, 2007.

 Restad, Penne L. (1995). Christmas in America: a History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-510980-1.

 Forbes, Bruce David, Christmas: a candid history, University of California Press, 2007, ISBN 0-520-25104-0, pp. 68–79.

 Lowe, Scott C. (January 11, 2011). Christmas. John Wiley & Sons. p. 226. ISBN 978-1-4443-4145-4.

 Shawcross, John T. (January 1, 1993). John Milton. University Press of Kentucky. p. 249. ISBN 978-0-8131-7014-5. Milton was raised an Anglican, trained to become an Anglican minister, and remained an Anglican through the signing of the subscription books of Cambridge University in both 1629 and 1632, which demanded an allegiance to the state church and its Thirty-nine Articles.

 Browne, Sammy R (April 29, 2012). A Brief Anthology of English Literature, Volume 1. Lulu.com. p. 412. ISBN 978-1-105-70569-4. His father had wanted him to practice law but Milton considered writing poetry his life's work. At 21 years old, he wrote a poem, "On the morning of Christ's Nativity," a work that is still widely read during Christmas.

 Heinz, Donald (2010). Christmas: Festival of Incarnation. Fortress Press. p. 94. ISBN 978-1-4514-0695-5.

 Old, Hughes Oliphant (2002). Worship: Reformed According to Scripture. Westminster John Knox Press. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-664-22579-7. Within a few years the Reformed church calendar was fairly well established. The heart of it was the weekly observance of the resurrection on the Lord's Day. Instead of liturgical seasons being observed, "the five evangelical feast days" were observed: Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost. They were chosen because they were understood to mark the essential stages in the history of salvation.

 Durston, Chris (December 1985). "Lords of Misrule: The Puritan War on Christmas 1642–60". History Today. Vol. 35, no. 12. pp. 7–14. Archived from the original on March 10, 2007.

 Old, Hughes Oliphant (2002). Worship: Reformed According to Scripture. Westminster John Knox Press. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-664-22579-7.

 Carl Philipp Emanuel Nothaft (October 2011). "From Sukkot to Saturnalia: The Attack on Christmas in Sixteenth-Century Chronological Scholarship". Journal of the History of Ideas. 72 (4): 504–505. JSTOR 41337151. However, when Thomas Mocket, rector of Gilston in Hertfordshire, decried such vices in a pamphlet to justify the parliamentary 'ban' of Christmas, effective since June 1647...

 "Historian Reveals that Cromwellian Christmas Football Rebels Ran Riot" (Press release). University of Warwick. December 17, 2003. Archived from the original on September 28, 2020. Retrieved August 25, 2023.

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 Miall, Anthony & Peter (1978). The Victorian Christmas Book. Dent. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-460-12039-5.

 Woodforde, James (1978). The Diary of a Country Parson 1758–1802. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-281241-4.

 Barnett, James Harwood (1984). The American Christmas: A Study in National Culture. Ayer Publishing. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-405-07671-8.

 Mather, Cotton (December 25, 1712). Grace defended. A censure on the ungodliness, by which the glorious grace of God, is too commonly abused. A sermon preached on the twenty fifth day of December, 1712. Containing some seasonable admonitions of piety. And concluded, with a brief dissertation on that case, whether the penitent thief on the cross, be an example of one repenting at the last hour, and on such a repentance received unto mercy? (Speech). Boston, Massachusetts: B. Green, for Samuel Gerrish. Retrieved August 12, 2022.

 Stephen W. Nissenbaum, "Christmas in Early New England, 1620–1820: Puritanism, Popular Culture, and the Printed Word", Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society 106:1: p79-164 (January 1, 1996). Retrieved December 25, 2023.

 Innes, Stephen (1995). Creating the Commonwealth: The Economic Culture of Puritan New England. W.W. Norton & Company. p. 145. ISBN 978-0-393-03584-1.

 Marling, Karal Ann (2000). Merry Christmas!: Celebrating America's Greatest Holiday. Harvard University Press. p. 44. ISBN 978-0-674-00318-7.

 Smith Thomas, Nancy (2007). Moravian Christmas in the South. Old Salem Museums & Gardens. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-8078-3181-6.

 Andrews, Peter (1975). Christmas in Colonial and Early America. United States: World Book Encyclopedia, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7166-2001-3.

 Christmas in France. World Book Encyclopedia. 1996. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-7166-0876-9. Carols were altered by substituting names of prominent political leaders for royal characters in the lyrics, such as the Three Kings. Church bells were melted down for their bronze to increase the national treasury, and religious services were banned on Christmas Day. The cake of kings, too, came under attack as a symbol of royalty. It survived, however, for a while with a new name—the cake of equality.

 Mason, Julia (December 21, 2015). "Why Was Christmas Renamed 'Dog Day' During the French Revolution?". HistoryBuff. Archived from the original on November 1, 2016. Retrieved November 18, 2016. How did people celebrate the Christmas during the French Revolution? In white-knuckled terror behind closed doors. Anti-clericalism reached its apex on 10 November 1793, when a Fête de la Raison was held in honor of the Cult of Reason. Churches across France were renamed "Temples of Reason" and the Notre Dame was "de-baptized" for the occasion. The Commune spared no expense: "The first festival of reason, which took place in Notre Dame, featured a fabricated mountain, with a temple of philosophy at its summit and a script borrowed from an opera libretto. At the sound of Marie-Joseph Chénier's Hymne à la Liberté, two rows of young women, dressed in white, descended the mountain, crossing each other before the 'altar of reason' before ascending once more to greet the goddess of Liberty." As you can probably gather from the above description, 1793 was not a great time to celebrate Christmas in the capital.

 Rowell, Geoffrey (December 1993). "Dickens and the Construction of Christmas". History Today. 43 (12). Archived from the original on December 29, 2016. Retrieved December 28, 2016. There is no doubt that A Christmas Carol is first and foremost a story concerned with the Christian gospel of liberation by the grace of God, and with incarnational religion which refuses to drive a wedge between the world of spirit and the world of matter. Both the Christmas dinners and the Christmas dinner-carriers are blessed; the cornucopia of Christmas food and feasting reflects both the goodness of creation and the joy of heaven. It is a significant sign of a shift in theological emphasis in the nineteenth century from a stress on the Atonement to a stress on the Incarnation, a stress which found outward and visible form in the sacramentalism of the Oxford Movement, the development of richer and more symbolic forms of worship, the building of neo-Gothic churches, and the revival and increasing centrality of the keeping of Christmas itself as a Christian festival. [...] In the course of the century, under the influence of the Oxford Movement's concern for the better observance of Christian festivals, Christmas became more and more prominent. By the later part of the century cathedrals provided special services and musical events, and might have revived ancient special charities for the poor – though we must not forget the problems for large: parish-church cathedrals like Manchester, which on one Christmas Day had no less than eighty couples coming to be married (the signing of the registers lasted until four in the afternoon). The popularity of Dickens' A Christmas Carol played a significant part in the changing consciousness of Christmas and the way in which it was celebrated. The popularity of his public readings of the story is an indication of how much it resonated with the contemporary mood, and contributed to the increasing place of the Christmas celebration in both secular and religious ways that was firmly established by the end of the nineteenth century.

 Ledger, Sally; Furneaux, Holly, eds. (2011). Charles Dickens in Context. Cambridge University Press. p. 178. ISBN 978-0-19-513886-3. Retrieved December 25, 2020.

 Standiford, Les (2008). The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits. Crown. ISBN 978-0-307-40578-4.

 Minzesheimer, Bob (December 22, 2008). "Dickens' classic 'Christmas Carol' still sings to us". USA Today. Archived from the original on November 6, 2009. Retrieved April 30, 2010.

 Hutton, Ronald (February 15, 2001). The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-157842-7.

 Forbes, Bruce David (October 1, 2008). Christmas: A Candid History. --University of California Press. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-520-25802-0. What Dickens did advocate in his story was "the spirit of Christmas". Sociologist James Barnett has described it as Dickens's "Carol Philosophy", which "combined religious and secular attitudes toward to celebration into a humanitarian pattern. It excoriated individual selfishness and extolled the virtues of brotherhood, kindness, and generosity at Christmas. [...] Dickens preached that at Christmas men should forget self and think of others, especially the poor and the unfortunate." The message was one that both religious and secular people could endorse.

 Kelly, Richard Michael, ed. (2003). A Christmas Carol. Broadview Press. pp. 9, 12. ISBN 978-1-55111-476-7.

 Cochrane, Robertson. Wordplay: origins, meanings, and usage of the English language. University of Toronto Press, 1996, p. 126, ISBN 0-8020-7752-8.

 Hutton, Ronald, The Stations of the Sun: The Ritual Year in England. 1996. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 113. ISBN 0-19-285448-8.

 Joe L. Wheeler. Christmas in My Heart, Volume 10, p. 97. Review and Herald Pub Assoc, 2001. ISBN 0-8280-1622-4.

 Earnshaw, Iris (November 2003). "The History of Christmas Cards". Inverloch Historical Society Inc. Archived from the original on May 26, 2016. Retrieved July 25, 2008.

 The Girlhood of Queen Victoria: a selection from Her Majesty's diaries, p. 61. Longmans, Green & Co., 1912. University of Wisconsin. Retrieved December 25, 2023.

 Lejeune, Marie Claire. Compendium of symbolic and ritual plants in Europe, p.550. University of Michigan ISBN 90-77135-04-9.

 Shoemaker, Alfred Lewis. (1959) Christmas in Pennsylvania: a folk-cultural study. Edition 40. pp. 52, 53. Stackpole Books 1999. ISBN 0-8117-0328-2.

 Godey's Lady's Book, 1850. Godey's copied it exactly, except he removed the Queen's tiara, and Prince Albert's moustache, to remake the engraving into an American scene.

 Kelly, Richard Michael (ed.) (2003), A Christmas Carol, p. 20. Broadview Literary Texts, New York: Broadview Press, ISBN 1-55111-476-3.

 Moore's poem transferred the genuine old Dutch traditions celebrated at New Year in New York, including the exchange of gifts, family feasting, and tales of "sinterklass" (a derivation in Dutch from "Saint Nicholas", from whence comes the modern "Santa Claus") to Christmas.The history of Christmas: Christmas history in America Archived April 19, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, 2006.

 "Americans Celebrate Christmas in Diverse Ways" Archived December 10, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, Usinfo.state.gov, November 26, 2006.

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 Restad, Penne L. (1995), Christmas in America: a History, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 96. ISBN 0-19-510980-5.

 "Christian church of God – history of Christmas". Christianchurchofgod.com. Archived from the original on December 19, 2010. Retrieved February 24, 2011.

 Meggs, Philip B. A History of Graphic Design. 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. p 148 ISBN 0-471-29198-6.

 Jacob R. Straus (November 16, 2012). "Federal Holidays: Evolution and Current Practices" (PDF). Congressional Research Service. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 3, 2014. Retrieved January 2, 2014.

 Crossland, David (December 22, 2021). "Truces weren't just for 1914 Christmas". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved December 24, 2021.

 Baxter, Keven (December 24, 2021). "Peace for a day: How soccer brought a brief truce to World War I on Christmas Day 1914". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on December 24, 2021. Retrieved December 24, 2021.

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 Weightman, Gavin; Humphries, Steve (1987). Christmas Past. London: Sidgwick and Jackson. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-283-99531-6.

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 Connelly, Mark (2000). Christmas at the Movies: Images of Christmas in American, British and European Cinema. I.B.Tauris. p. 186. ISBN 978-1-86064-397-2. A chapter on representations of Christmas in Soviet cinema could, in fact be the shortest in this collection: suffice it to say that there were, at least officially, no Christmas celebrations in the atheist socialist state after its foundation in 1917.

 Ramet, Sabrina Petra (November 10, 2005). Religious Policy in the Soviet Union. Cambridge University Press. p. 138. ISBN 978-0-521-02230-9. The League sallied forth to save the day from this putative religious revival. Antireligioznik obliged with so many articles that it devoted an entire section of its annual index for 1928 to anti-religious training in the schools. More such material followed in 1929, and a flood of it the next year. It recommended what Lenin and others earlier had explicitly condemned—carnivals, farces, and games to intimidate and purge the youth of religious belief. It suggested that pupils campaign against customs associated with Christmas (including Christmas trees) and Easter. Some schools, the League approvingly reported, staged an anti-religious day on the 31st of each month. Not teachers but the League's local set the programme for this special occasion.

 Zugger, Christopher Lawrence (2001). Catholics of the Soviet Empire from Lenin Through Stalin. Syracuse University Press. p. 210. ISBN 978-0-8156-0679-6. As observed by Nicholas Brianchaninov, writing in 1929–1930, after the NEP and just as the worst of collectivization was beginning, the Soviets deemed it necessary to drive into the heads of the people the axiom that religion was the synthesis of everything most harmful to humanity. It must be presented as the enemy of man and society, of life and learning, of progress. [...] In caricatures, articles, Bezbozhnik, Antireligioznik, League of Militant Atheists propaganda and films. School courses [were give] on conducting the struggle against religion (how to profane a church, break windows, objects of piety). The young, always eager to be with the latest trend, often responded to such propaganda. In Moscow in 1929 children were brought to spit on the crucifixes at Christmas. Priests in Tiraspol diocese were sometimes betrayed by their own young parishioners, leading to their imprisonment and even death, and tearing their families apart.

 Tamkin, Emily (December 30, 2016). "How Soviets Came to Celebrate New Year's Like Christmas (and Why Russians Still Do)". Foreign Policy. Retrieved January 6, 2022.

 Goldberg, Carey (January 7, 1991). "A Russian Christmas—Better Late Than Never: Soviet Union: Orthodox Church celebration is the first under Communists. But, as with most of Yeltsin's pronouncements, the holiday stirs a controversy". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved November 22, 2014. For the first time in more than seven decades, Christmas—celebrated today by Russian Orthodox Christians—is a full state holiday across Russia's vast and snowy expanse. As part of Russian Federation President Boris N. Yeltsin's ambitious plan to revive the traditions of Old Russia, the republic's legislature declared last month that Christmas, long ignored under atheist Communist ideology, should be written back into the public calendar. "The Bolsheviks replaced crosses with hammers and sickles," said Vyacheslav S. Polosin, head of the Russian legislature's committee on religion. "Now they are being changed back."

 Perry, Joseph (December 24, 2015). "How the Nazis co-opted Christmas: A history of propaganda". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on January 6, 2016. Retrieved March 11, 2016.

 "Somalia joins Brunei by banning Christmas celebrations 'to protect Islam'". The Daily Telegraph. December 24, 2015. Archived from the original on May 29, 2018. Retrieved April 4, 2018.

 Neuman, Scott (December 16, 2023). "There's no Christmas in Bethlehem this year. With war in Gaza, festivities are off". NPR. Retrieved December 23, 2023.

 Jespersen, Knud J. V. (June 21, 2011). A History of Denmark. Macmillan International Higher Education. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-230-34417-4. It is quite normal to go to church on Christmas Eve, and many people like to celebrate a christening or wedding in church. The Church is especially important at the end of a life; by far the majority of funerals are still conducted in a church by a minister.

 Alkan, Sena (December 19, 2015). "The history behind Christmas and Turkey". Daily Sabah. Retrieved November 30, 2022.

 McGrath, Alister E. (January 27, 2015). Christianity: An Introduction. John Wiley & Sons. p. 239. ISBN 978-1-118-46565-3.

 Neal, Daniel (1822). The History of the Puritans. William Baynes and Son. p. 193. Retrieved December 25, 2023. They disapproved of the observation of sundry of the church-festivals or holidays, as having no foundation in Scripture, or primitive antiquity. (page 133 in the link above)

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 Nowak, Claire (December 23, 2019). "The Real Reason Why Christmas Colors Are Green and Red". Reader's Digest. Retrieved December 18, 2020.

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 Senn, Frank C. (2012). Introduction to Christian Liturgy. Fortress Press. p. 118. ISBN 978-1-4514-2433-1. The Christmas tree as we know it seemed to emerge in Lutheran lands in Germany in the sixteenth century. Although no specific city or town has been identified as the first to have a Christmas tree, records for the Cathedral of Strassburg indicate that a Christmas tree was set up in that church in 1539 during Martin Bucer's superintendency.

 "The Christmas Tree". Lutheran Spokesman. 29–32. 1936. The Christmas tree became a widespread custom among German Lutherans by the eighteenth century.

 Kelly, Joseph F. (2010). The Feast of Christmas. Liturgical Press. p. 94. ISBN 978-0-8146-3932-0. German Lutherans brought the decorated Christmas tree with them; the Moravians put lighted candles on those trees.

 Blainey, Geoffrey (October 24, 2013). A Short History of Christianity. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 418. ISBN 978-1-4422-2590-9. Many Lutherans continued to set up a small fir tree as their Christmas tree, and it must have been a seasonal sight in Bach's Leipzig at a time when it was virtually unknown in England, and little known in those farmlands of North America where Lutheran immigrants congregated.

 Mandryk, DeeAnn (October 25, 2005). Canadian Christmas Traditions. James Lorimer & Company. p. 67. ISBN 978-1-55439-098-4. The eight-pointed star became a popular manufactured Christmas ornament around the 1840s and many people place a star on the top of their Christmas tree to represent the Star of Bethlehem.

 Wells, Dorothy (1897). "Christmas in Other Lands". The School Journal. 55: 697–8. Christmas is the occasional of family reunions. Grandmother always has the place of honor. As the time approaches for enjoying the tree, she gathers her grandchildren about her, to tell them the story of the Christ child, with the meaning of the Christ child, with the meaning of the Christmas tree; how the evergreen is meant to represent the life everlasting, the candle lights to recall the light of the world, and the star at the top of the tree is to remind them of the star of Bethlehem.

 Jones, David Albert (October 27, 2011). Angels. Oxford University Press. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-19-161491-0. The same ambiguity is seen in that most familiar of angels, the angel on top of the Christmas tree. This decoration, popularized in the nineteenth century, recalls the place of the angels in the Christmas story (Luke 2.9–18).

 Becker, Udo (January 1, 2000). The Continuum Encyclopedia of Symbols. A & C Black. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-8264-1221-8. In Christianity, the Christmas tree is a symbol of Christ as the true tree of life; the candles symbolize the "light of the world" that was born in Bethlehem; the apples often used as decorations set up a symbolic relation to the paradisal apple of knowledge and thus to the original sin that Christ took away so that the return to Eden—symbolized by the Christmas tree—is again possible for humanity.

 Crump, William D. (2006). The Christmas Encyclopedia. McFarland & Company. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-7864-2293-7. the evergreen tree (itself symbolic of eternal life through Christ)

 Socias, James (June 24, 2020). Handbook of Prayers. Midwest Theological Forum. ISBN 978-1-936045-54-9.

 Kitch, Anne E. (2004). The Anglican Family Prayer Book. Morehouse Publishing. p. 125.

 van Renterghem, Tony. When Santa was a shaman. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 1995. ISBN 1-56718-765-X.

 Fritz Allhoff, Scott C. Lowe (2010). Christmas. John Wiley & Sons. His biographer, Eddius Stephanus, relates that while Boniface was serving as a missionary near Geismar, Germany, he had enough of the locals' reverence for the old gods. Taking an axe to an oak tree dedicated to Norse god Thor, Boniface chopped the tree down and dared Thor to zap him for it. When nothing happened, Boniface pointed out a young fir tree amid the roots of the oak and explained how this tree was a more fitting object of reverence as it pointed towards the Christian heaven and its triangular shape was reminiscent of the Christian trinity.

 Harper, Douglas, Christ Archived May 9, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001.

 "The Chronological History of the Christmas Tree". The Christmas Archives. Archived from the original on December 21, 2007. Retrieved December 18, 2007.

 "Christmas Tradition – The Christmas Tree Custom". Fashion Era. Archived from the original on December 18, 2007. Retrieved December 18, 2007.

 Hewitson, Carolyn (2013). Festivals. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-05706-0. It is said to resemble the star of Bethlehem. The Mexicans call it the flower of the Holy Night, but usually it is called poinsettia after the man who introduced it to America, Dr Joel Poinsett.

 "The Legends and Traditions of Holiday Plants". www.ipm.iastate.edu. Archived from the original on January 22, 2016. Retrieved February 17, 2016.

 "StackPath". www.gardeningknowhow.com. December 24, 2010. Retrieved December 23, 2020.

 "Germany's Advent wreath tradition, and how to make one of your own". Stripes Europe. November 21, 2019. Archived from the original on December 3, 2021. Retrieved December 23, 2020.

 "Liturgical Year: Symbolic Lights and Fires of Christmas (Activity)". Catholic Culture. Archived from the original on January 13, 2012. Retrieved December 10, 2011.

 Murray, Brian. "Christmas lights and community building in America", History Matters, Spring 2006. Archived June 29, 2010, at the Wayback Machine

 "Epiphany: Should Christmas decorations come down on 6 January?". BBC News. January 6, 2017. Retrieved December 23, 2020.

 Collins, Ace (2010). Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas. Zondervan. pp. 139–141. ISBN 978-0-310-87388-4.

 Miles, Clement, Christmas customs and traditions, Courier Dover Publications, 1976, ISBN 0-486-23354-5, p. 32.

 Miles, Clement, Christmas customs and traditions, Courier Dover Publications, 1976, pp. 47–48

 Clancy, Ronald M. (2008). Sacred Christmas Music: The Stories Behind the Most Beloved Songs of Devotion. Sterling Publishing Company. p. 40. ISBN 978-1-4027-5811-9. Luther sought reforms in music, as he sought change in theology, ethics, ritual, and art. He loved polyphony and wanted music that moved people by fusing faith and song. He encouraged a greater participation by the congregation in singing, and he simplified the music from choir plainsong to easy harmony [...] Luther published hundreds of hymn texts to be sung to popular melodies and simple chants. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Reformation extended the range of religious choral music beyond the liturgy, and the informal group singing of songs was highly encouraged, leading to a greater familiarity with Christmas hymns.

 Dudley-Smith, Timothy (1987). A Flame of Love. London: Triangle/SPCK. ISBN 978-0-281-04300-2.

 Thomas, John; Talhaiarn; Thomas Oliphant (1862). Welsh melodies: with Welsh and English poetry. London: Addison, Hollier and Lucas. p. 139. OCLC 63015609.

 Byrne, Eugene (December 24, 2019). "Arguably most famous Christmas song was written by a Bristolian". BristolLive. Retrieved November 6, 2020.

 Smolko, Joanna (February 4, 2012). "Christmas music". Grove Music Online. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.A2227990.

 Broomfield, Andrea (2007), Food and Cooking in Victorian England: A History Archived October 25, 2022, at the Wayback Machine, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007, pp. 149–150.

 Muir, Frank (1977), Christmas customs & traditions, Taplinger Pub. Co., 1977, p. 58.

 "Carp for Christmas: the odd Central European tradition explained". Kafkadesk. December 9, 2018.

 "Christmas card sold for record price" Archived February 5, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, BBC News. Retrieved October 28, 2011.

 Schaverien, Anna (June 19, 2021). "E-Cards Are Back, Thanks to the Pandemic". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on December 28, 2021. Retrieved November 13, 2021.

 "It's time to mail your holiday cards – if you can find any". NBC News. November 2, 2021. Retrieved November 13, 2021.

 "History of Christmas – Part 2". The Note Pad | Stationery & Party Etiquette Blog by American Stationery. November 28, 2012. Retrieved December 22, 2021.

 Pruitt, Sarah (September 2018). "The War of Words behind 'Happy Holidays'". HISTORY. Retrieved December 24, 2020.

 "In pictures: Christmas stamps". BBC. Retrieved August 29, 2023.

 "The First Christmas Stamps". American Philatelic Society. Retrieved August 29, 2023.

 Collins, Ace (April 20, 2010). Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas. Zondervan. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-310-87388-4. Retrieved April 10, 2012. The legend of St. Nicholas, who became the bishop of Myra in the beginning of the fourth century, is the next link in the Christmas-gift chain. Legend has it that during his life the priest rode across Asia Minor bestowing gifts upon poor children.

 Trexler, Richard (May 23, 1997). The Journey of the Magi: Meanings in History of a Christian Story. Princeton University Press. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-691-01126-4. Archived from the original on December 31, 2015. Retrieved April 10, 2012. This exchange network of ceremonial welcome was mirrored in a second reciprocity allowing early Christians to imagine their own magi: the phenomenon of giving gifts.

 Collins, Ace (April 20, 2010). Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas. Zondervan. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-310-87388-4. Retrieved April 10, 2012. Most people today trace the practice of giving gifts on Christmas Day to the three gifts that the Magi gave to Jesus.

 Berking, Helmuth (March 30, 1999). Sociology of Giving. SAGE Publications. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-85702-613-2. For the Enlightenment educationalist, gift-giving turned out to be a relic of a pagan custom, namely, the Roman Saturnalia. After the introduction of the Julian calendar in Rome, the 25th of December became the day of Sol invictus when people greeted the winter solstice. It was the day of the Sun's rebirth, and it was the day of the Christmas festivities – although it was only in the year 336 AD that it appears to have become established as the day of Jesus's birth (see Pannenberg 1989: 57). The Eastern Church adopted this date even later, towards the end of the 4th century, having previously regarded the 6th of January as the day of gift-giving, as it still is in the Italian community of Befana. The winter solstice was a time of festivity in every traditional culture, and the Christian Christmas probably took its place within this mythical context of the solar cult. Its core dogma of the Incarnation, however, solidly established the giving and receiving of gifts as the structural principle of that recurrent yet unique event. 'Children were given presents as the Jesus child received gifts from the magi or kings who came from afar to adore him. But in reality it was they, together with all their fellow men, who received the gift of God through man's renewed participation in the divine life' (ibid.: 61).

 Talley, Thomas J. (1991). The Origins of the Liturgical Year. Liturgical Press. pp. 88–91. ISBN 978-0-8146-6075-1. Retrieved December 27, 2016.

 Seward, Pat; Lal, Sunandini Arora (2006). Netherlands. Marshall Cavendish. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-7614-2052-1. Until quite recently, the celebrations focused solely on Saint Nicholas, or Sinterklaas (SIN-ter-klahs), as the Dutch call him. [...] Interestingly, the American Santa Claus was born out of the Dutch Sinterklaas.

 Domenico, Roy Palmer (2002). The regions of Italy: a reference guide to history and culture. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-313-30733-1. Saint Nicholas (Bishop of Myra) replaced Sabino as the patron saint of the city... A Greek from what is now Turkey, he lived in the early fourth century.

 Collins, Ace (2009). Stories Behind Men of Faith. Zondervan. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-310-56456-0. Retrieved June 20, 2015. Nicholas was born in the Greek city of Patara around 270 AD. The son of a businessman named Theophanes and his wife, Nonna, the child's earliest years were spent in Myra... As a port on the Mediterranean Sea, in the middle of the sea lanes that linked Egypt, Greece and Rome, Myra was a destination for traders, fishermen, and merchant sailors. Spawned by the spirit of both the city's Greek heritage and the ruling Roman government, cultural endeavors such as art, drama, and music were mainstays of everyday life.

 Jona Lendering (November 20, 2008). "Saint Nicholas, Sinterklaas, Santa Claus". Livius.org. Archived from the original on May 13, 2011. Retrieved February 24, 2011.

 "St. Basil (330–379)". Skiathosbooks.com. Archived from the original on January 12, 2012. Retrieved February 3, 2012.

 Matera, Mariane. "Santa: The First Great Lie" Archived September 14, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, Citybeat, Issue 304.

 "Kto przynosi Wam prezenty? Św. Mikołaj, Gwiazdor, Aniołek, Dzieciątko czy może Dziadek Mróz?". Bezprawnik (in Polish). December 22, 2016. Archived from the original on December 24, 2017. Retrieved December 24, 2017.

 "Nie tylko Mikołaj, czyli kto według tradycji rozdaje prezenty w różnych regionach Polski?". gazeta.pl (in Polish). December 21, 2015. Archived from the original on December 24, 2017. Retrieved December 24, 2017.

 "Christmas Day Ba' 2023". Orkney.com.

 "Why football at Christmas is a very British tradition". BBC Bitesize.

 "The Last Time Football Was Played on Christmas Day in England". 90min.com. December 25, 2020.

 John Woodcock (November 17, 2013). "England v Germany: when rivals staged beautiful game on the Somme" Archived June 12, 2020, at the Wayback Machine, The Daily Telegraph.

 "The sports games that don't stop for Christmas Day". December 22, 2017 – via www.bbc.co.uk.

 Kelly, Joseph F., The Origins of Christmas, Liturgical Press, 2004, pp. 67–69.

 Roll, p.107

 Hijmans, S.E., Sol, the sun in the art and religions of Rome, 2009, p. 595. ISBN 978-90-367-3931-3 Archived May 10, 2013, at the Wayback Machine

 Kelly, Joseph F., The Origins of Christmas, Liturgical Press, p.80

 Hijmans, S.E., Sol: The Sun in the Art and Religions of Rome, 2009, p. 584.

 Malachi 4:2

 Ramzy, John. "The Glorious Feast of Nativity: 7 January? 29 Kiahk? 25 December?". Coptic Orthodox Church Network. Archived from the original on December 28, 2010. Retrieved January 17, 2011.

 Blakemore, Erin (December 26, 2019). "Why some people celebrate Christmas in January". www.nationalgeographic.com. National Geographic Partners LLC. Archived from the original on April 16, 2021. Retrieved July 26, 2022.

 "Christmas in Bethlehem". www.sacred-destinations.com. Archived from the original on June 16, 2010. Retrieved June 12, 2010.

 "Why Do Armenians Celebrate Christmas on January 6th?". armenianchurch.org. Retrieved August 13, 2022.

 "Christmas is here- yet again!". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved August 13, 2022.

 Lukiv, Jaroslav (July 28, 2023). "Ukraine moves Christmas Day in snub to Russia". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved December 15, 2023.

 "Ukraine moves official Christmas Day holiday to Dec. 25, denouncing Russian-imposed traditions". AP News. July 29, 2023. Retrieved July 31, 2023.

 RFE/RL. "Orthodox Church Of Ukraine Approves Calendar Switch In Widening Diversion From Russia". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved June 18, 2023.

 Lukiv, Jaroslav (July 28, 2023). "Ukraine moves Christmas Day in snub to Russia". BBC News. Retrieved July 28, 2023.

 The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Faith and Order - Religious Holidays and Calendar Archived October 29, 2021, at the Wayback Machine>

 Siegbert Uhlig, Encyclopaedia Aethiopica He-N, p. 538

 Varga, Melody. "Black Friday, About:Retail Industry. Archived May 17, 2008, at the Wayback Machine

 "Definition Christmas Creep – What is Christmas Creep". Womeninbusiness.about.com. November 2, 2010. Archived from the original on December 27, 2010. Retrieved February 24, 2011.

 "South Molton and Brook Street Christmas Lights" Archived November 19, 2010, at the Wayback Machine (November 16, 2010), View London.co.uk.

 Kollewe, Julia, (November 29, 2010), "West End spree worth £250m marks start of Christmas shopping season" Archived December 21, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian.

 Gwen Outen (December 3, 2004). "ECONOMICS REPORT – Holiday Shopping Season in the U.S." Voice of America. Archived from the original on March 3, 2009.

 US Census Bureau. "Facts. The Holiday Season" December 19, 2005. (accessed November 30, 2009) Archived copy at the Library of Congress (May 7, 2010).

 US Census 2005.

 Haury, Amanda C. (November 8, 2019). "Average Cost of an American Christmas". Investopedia. Dotdash. Retrieved December 17, 2019.

 Zauzmer, Ben (January 31, 2020). "Oscar Seasons: The Intersection of Data and the Academy Awards". Harvard Data Science Review. 2 (1). doi:10.1162/99608f92.6230ce9f. S2CID 213681214. Retrieved November 15, 2021.

 Joel Waldfogel "The Deadweight Loss of Christmas" (PDF), American Economic Review, December 1993, 83 (5). Retrieved December 25, 2023.

 "Is Santa a deadweight loss?" Archived December 21, 2005, at the Wayback Machine The Economist December 20, 2001.

 Reuters. "Christmas is Damaging the Environment, Report Says" Archived March 12, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, December 16, 2005.

 Harper, Timothy (1999). Moscow Madness: Crime, Corruption, and One Man's Pursuit of Profit in the New Russia. McGraw-Hill. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-07-026700-8.

 "Marta Patiño, The Puritan Ban on Christmas". Timetravel-britain.com. Archived from the original on March 1, 2011. Retrieved February 24, 2011.

 Christmas in the Colonies Archived December 25, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Time. Retrieved December 25, 2011.

 Daniels, Bruce Colin (1995). Puritans at Play: Leisure and Recreation in Colonial New England. Macmillan, p. 89, ISBN 978-0-312-16124-8

 Roark, James; Johnson, Michael; Cohen, Patricia; Stage, Sarah; Lawson, Alan; Hartmann, Susan (2011). Understanding the American Promise: A History, Volume I: To 1877. Bedford/St. Martin's. p. 91. Puritans mandated other purifications of what they considered corrupt English practices. They refused to celebrate Christmas or Easter because the Bible did not mention either one.

 "The Regulative Principle of Worship". Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Retrieved April 12, 2022. Those who adhere to the Regulative Principle by singing exclusively the psalms, refusing to use musical instruments, and rejecting "Christmas", "Easter" and the rest, are often accused of causing disunity among the people of God. The truth is the opposite. The right way to move towards more unity is to move to exclusively Scriptural worship. Each departure from the worship instituted in Scripture creates a new division among the people of God. Returning to Scripture alone to guide worship is the only remedy.

 Minutes of Session of 1905. Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America. 1905. p. 130. Retrieved December 25, 2023. WHEREAS, There is a growing tendency in Protestant Churches, and to some extent in our own, to observe days and ceremonies, as Christmas and Easter, that are without divine authority; we urge our people to abstain from all such customs as are popish in their origin and injurious as lending sacredness to rites that come from paganism; that ministers keep before the minds of the people that only institutions that are Scriptural and of Divine appointment should be used in the worship of God.

 Goldberg, Carey (January 7, 1991). "A Russian Christmas—Better Late Than Never: Soviet Union: Orthodox Church Celebration Is the First Under Communists. But, as with Most of Yeltsin's Pronouncements, the Holiday Stirs a Controversy". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved August 11, 2016.

 Woolf, Nicky (December 24, 2015). "Christmas celebrations banned in Somalia, Tajikistan and Brunei". The Guardian. Archived from the original on August 26, 2016. Retrieved August 10, 2016.

 "ACLJ, Christmas laws". Aclj.org. Archived from the original on December 25, 2013. Retrieved December 25, 2013.

 Aliweiwi, Jehad (November 28, 2005). "A Christmas Tree or a Holiday Tree?". Muslim Canadian Congress. Archived from the original on December 31, 2005. Retrieved December 25, 2023. (previous title: "Christmas controversy article")

 Feder, Don, "In the culture, Christmas morphs into holiday" Archived April 12, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, Jewish World Review, December 13, 2000.

 "The Brits Have It Right: Forget Happy Holidays, Just Wish People Merry Christmas". The Guardian. London. August 11, 2016. Archived from the original on December 21, 2016. Retrieved December 11, 2016.

 Jankowski, Paul (August 11, 2016). "Is Saying 'Merry Christmas' Politically Correct? Who Cares?". Forbes. Archived from the original on August 7, 2017. Retrieved August 22, 2017.

 Taylor, Christopher Stuart (August 11, 2016). "If We Can't Say 'Merry Christmas' in Canada, Multiculturalism Failed". HuffPost. Archived from the original on September 29, 2016. Retrieved August 11, 2016.

 "Lynch vs. Donnelly". Belcher Foundation. 1984. Archived from the original on February 16, 2006. Retrieved April 12, 2006.

 Mujahid, Abdul Malik. "Treating Christmas with respect", Sound Vision. Archived April 5, 2017, at the Wayback Machine.

 Dillon, Michael (2001). Religious Minorities and China (PDF). Minority Rights Group International. Retrieved December 25, 2023.

 Buang, Sa'eda; Chew, Phyllis Ghim-Lian (May 9, 2014). Muslim Education in the 21st Century: Asian Perspectives. Routledge. p. 75. ISBN 978-1-317-81500-6. Subsequently, a new China was found on the basis of Communist ideology, i.e. atheism. Within the framework of this ideology, religion was treated as a 'contorted' world-view and people believed that religion would necessarily disappear at the end, along with the development of human society. A series of anti-religious campaigns was implemented by the Chinese Communist Party from the early 1950s to the late 1970s. As a result, in nearly 30 years between the beginning of the 1950s and the end of the 1970s, mosques (as well as churches and Chinese temples) were shut down and Imams involved in forced 're-education'.

 "Alarm over China's Church crackdown". BBC. December 18, 2018. Archived from the original on January 5, 2019. Retrieved January 11, 2019. Among those arrested are a prominent pastor and his wife, of the Early Rain Covenant Church in Sichuan. Both have been charged with state subversion. And on Saturday morning, dozens of police raided a children's Bible class at Rongguili Church in Guangzhou. One Christian in Chengdu told the BBC: "I'm lucky they haven't found me yet." China is officially atheist, though says it allows religious freedom.

 "Santa Claus won't be coming to this town, as Chinese officials ban Christmas". South China Morning Post. December 18, 2018. Archived from the original on January 12, 2019. Retrieved January 11, 2019. Christmas is not a recognised holiday in mainland China – where the ruling party is officially atheist – and for many years authorities have taken a tough stance on anyone who celebrates it in public. [...] The statement by Langfang officials said that anyone caught selling Christmas trees, wreaths, stockings or Santa Claus figures in the city would be punished. [...] While the ban on the sale of Christmas goods might appear to be directed at retailers, it also comes amid a crackdown on Christians practising their religion across the country. On Saturday morning, more than 60 police officers and officials stormed a children's Bible class in Guangzhou, capital of southern China's Guangdong province. The incident came after authorities shut down the 1,500-member Zion Church in Beijing in September and Chengdu's 500-member Early Rain Covenant Church last week. In the case of the latter, about 100 worshippers were snatched from their homes or from the streets in coordinated raids.

Further reading

Bowler, Gerry, The World Encyclopedia of Christmas (October 2004: McClelland & Stewart). ISBN 978-0-7710-1535-9

Bowler, Gerry, Santa Claus: A Biography (November 2007: McClelland & Stewart). ISBN 978-0-7710-1668-4

Comfort, David, Just Say Noel: A History of Christmas from the Nativity to the Nineties (November 1995: Fireside). ISBN 978-0-684-80057-8

Count, Earl W., 4000 Years of Christmas: A Gift from the Ages (November 1997: Ulysses Press). ISBN 978-1-56975-087-2

Federer, William J., There Really Is a Santa Claus: The History of St. Nicholas & Christmas Holiday Traditions Archived December 25, 2022, at the Wayback Machine (December 2002: Amerisearch). ISBN 978-0-9653557-4-2

Kelly, Joseph F., The Origins of Christmas Archived December 25, 2022, at the Wayback Machine (August 2004: Liturgical Press). ISBN 978-0-8146-2984-0

Miles, Clement A., Christmas Customs and Traditions Archived December 25, 2022, at the Wayback Machine (1976: Dover Publications). ISBN 978-0-486-23354-3

Nissenbaum, Stephen, The Battle for Christmas (1996; New York: Vintage Books, 1997). ISBN 0-679-74038-4

Restad, Penne L. (1995). Christmas in America: A History. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-509300-1.

Rosenthal, Jim, St. Nicholas: A Closer Look at Christmas (July 2006: Nelson Reference). ISBN 1-4185-0407-6

Sammons, Peter (May 2006). The Birth of Christ. Glory to Glory Publications (UK). ISBN 978-0-9551790-1-3.

"Christmas" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). 1911. pp. 293–294.

Martindale, Cyril (1908). "Christmas" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

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Christmas: Its Origin and Associations, by William Francis Dawson, 1902, from Project Gutenberg

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Christmas

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In

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In folklore

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Gift-bringers

Saint Nicholas folkloreSanta ClausBefanaDed MorozFather ChristmasGrandpa IndianJoulupukkiJulemandenNoel BabaOlentzeroPère NoëlSinterklaasOthers

Companions of

Saint Nicholas

BelsnickelElvesKnecht RuprechtKrampusMrs. ClausPère FouettardSack ManSanta Claus' daughterSanta's reindeer Rudolph the Red-Nosed ReindeerSnegurochkaZwarte Piet

Traditions

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Other media

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In

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society

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Food and

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New Testament

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BibliographyLife in artStatuesTransfiguration

Christianity

Christ Christianity1st centuryChristology IncarnationPerson of ChristPre-existenceRelicsSecond ComingSession of ChristSon of GodCosmic Christ

In other faiths

JesuismIn comparative mythologyJudaism In the TalmudIslam AhmadiyyaManichaeism Jesus the SplendourMandaeismMaster Jesus

Family

GenealogiesMary (mother)Joseph (legal father)Holy FamilyPanthera (alleged father)Brothers of JesusHoly KinshipAnne (traditional maternal grandmother)Joachim (traditional maternal grandfather)Heli (paternal grandfather per Luke)Jacob (paternal grandfather per Matthew)DescendantsClopas (traditional uncle)

Related

Language of JesusInteractions with women Mary MagdaleneMary, sister of MarthaChristmasEasterRejection of JesusCriticismMental healthRace and appearanceSexuality

 Category

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Mary, mother of Jesus

Family

Joseph (husband)Jesus (son)Joachim (father)Anne (mother)ElizabethBrothers of Jesus

Life

Tradition: Early Life

Immaculate ConceptionBirthPresentationMarriage to Joseph Perpetual virginity

In the Bible

Annunciation Virginal motherhoodVisitationNativity of JesusPresentation of JesusFlight into EgyptReturn to NazarethFinding of Jesus in the TempleMiracle at the Wedding at CanaPassion of Jesus CrucifixionDepositionResurrectionPentecost

Tradition: Later Life

Bilocation to St. JamesDormitionAssumptionCoronationQueenship Woman of the Apocalypse

Apocryphal

Protoevangelium of James

Mariology

Christian

AnglicanCatholic historypapalOrthodoxProtestant Lutheran

Other

Islamic

Veneration

Apparitions listCatholic churchesChristmasDevotions month of MayFeast daysPatronageShrinesVeneration of Mary in the Catholic Church

Titles

ChristotokosCoredemptrixHelp of ChristiansImmaculate HeartLife-giving SpringMediatrix (of all graces)New EvePanagiaOur Lady of NavigatorsOur Lady of SorrowsOur Lady of VictoryStar of the SeaSeat of WisdomTheotokos

Prayers

AngelusAntiphons Alma Redemptoris MaterAve Regina caelorumSalve ReginaRegina caeliAve MariaFátima prayersHymns AkathistAve maris stellaSub tuum praesidiumLitany LoretoMagnificatMaria mater gratiaeMemorareRosaryThree Hail Marys

Art

West

AssumptionBlack MadonnaGolden Madonna of EssenThe Golden VirginPietàQueen of HeavenStabat Mater

East

Agiosoritissa Madonna del RosarioDerzhavnayaEleusa Theotokos of VladimirHodegetria

Related

Life of the VirginSaint Luke painting the Virgin

 Category Saints Portal

Links to related articles

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Liturgical year of the Catholic Church

Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite of the Latin Church (1969 Calendar)

Advent

Sundays 1st2nd3rd4thImmaculate ConceptionDecember 17 to 23

Christmas Season

Christmas Midnight MassHoly FamilyMary, Mother of GodEpiphanyBaptism of the Lord

Ordinary Time

Presentation of the Lord

Lent

Ash WednesdaySundays 1st2nd3rd4th5thSaint JosephAnnunciationPalm SundayHoly Week

Paschal Triduum

Holy Thursday Chrism MassMass of the Lord's SupperGood FridayHoly Saturday Easter Vigil

Easter Season

Easter Sunday OctaveSundays 2nd Divine Mercy Sunday3rd4th5th6th7thAscensionPentecost

Ordinary Time

Trinity SundayCorpus ChristiSacred HeartVisitationSaint John the BaptistSaints Peter and PaulTransfigurationAssumptionNativity of MaryExaltation of the CrossAll Saints' DayAll Souls' DayPresentation of MaryChrist the King

Tridentine Mass of the Roman Rite of the Latin Church (1960 Calendar)

Advent

Sundays 1st2nd3rd4thRorate MassImmaculate ConceptionGreater FeriasWinter Ember Days

Christmas Season

ChristmasOctave Day of ChristmasHoly Name of Jesus

Epiphany Season

EpiphanyHoly FamilyBaptism of the LordPurification of MaryP

Lent

Pre-Lent

SeptuagesimaSexagesimaQuinquagesima

Lent

Ash WednesdaySundays 1st2nd3rd4thSpring Ember DaysSaint JosephAnnunciation

Passiontide

Passion SundayPalm SundayPHoly WeekP

Paschal Triduum

TenebraeHoly Thursday Chrism MassMass of the Lord's SupperGood FridayHoly Saturday Easter Vigil

Easter Season

Easter SundayP OctaveSundays after Easter 1st2nd3rd4th5th6thRogation DaysPAscensionP

Pentecost Season

PentecostSummer Ember DaysTrinity SundayCorpus ChristiPSacred HeartSaint John the BaptistSaints Peter and PaulPrecious BloodVisitationTransfigurationAssumptionNativity of MaryExaltation of the CrossPAutumn Ember DaysMaternity of MaryChrist the KingAll Saints' DayAll Souls' DayPresentation of Mary

LegendP = Ordinary Procession according to the Roman Ritual

LegendItalic font marks the 10 holy days of obligation in the universal calendar which do not normally fall on a Sunday.

Older calendars 1955pre-1955TridentineLiturgical coloursRankingComputusEaster cycleicon Catholic Church portal

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Holidays, observances, and celebrations in Algeria

January

New Year's Day (1)Yennayer (12)

February

Valentine's Day (14)Tafsut (28)

March

International Women's Day (8)Victory Day (19)World Water Day (22)Maghrebi Blood Donation Day (30)Spring vacation (2 last weeks)

April

April Fools' Day (1)Knowledge Day (16)Berber Spring (20)Earth Day (22)Election Day (Thursday)

May

International Workers' Day (1)World Press Freedom Day (3)Mother's Day (last Sunday)

June–July–August

Summer vacation (varies)

June

Children's Day (1)Father's Day (21)

July

Independence Day (5)

September

International Day of Peace (21)

October

International Day of Non-Violence (2)Halloween (31)

November

Revolution Day (1)

December

Christmas Eve (24)Christmas (25)New Year's Eve (31)Winter vacation (2 last weeks)

Varies (year round)

Hijri New Year's Day (Muharram 1)Ashura (Muharram 10) Ashura in AlgeriaMawlid (Rabi' al-Awwal 12) Mawlid in AlgeriaRamadan (Ramadan 1)Laylat al-Qadr (Ramadan 27)Eid al-Fitr (Shawwal 1)Day of Arafah (Dhu al-Hijjah 9)Eid al-Adha (Dhu al-Hijjah 10)

Bold indicates major holidays commonly celebrated in Algeria, which often represent the major celebrations of the month.

See also: Lists of holidays.

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 Public holidays in Australia

New Year's DayAustralia DayGood FridayEaster SaturdayEaster MondayAnzac DayKing's BirthdayLabour DayChristmas DayBoxing Day

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Holidays in Canada

Nationwide statutory holidays

New Year's DayGood FridayCanada DayLabour DayChristmas Day

Statutory holidays for

federal employees

Easter MondayVictoria DayNational Day for Truth and ReconciliationThanksgivingRemembrance DayBoxing Day

Indigenous holidays

National Indigenous Peoples DayNational Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Anishinaabe GiizhigadGoose BreakHobiyeePestie'wa'taqetimkQuviasukvik

Other common holidays

April Fools' DayAugust Civic HolidayCommonwealth DayEarth DayEmancipation DayFather's DayFlag DayGrandparents' DayGroundhog Day/Daks DayHalloweenInternational Women's DayMother's DayNational Family WeekNational Peacekeepers' DaySaint Patrick's DayTartan DayValentine's DayWhite Ribbon Day

Alberta Family DayBritish Columbia Family DayManitoba Louis Riel DayNew Brunswick Family DayLoyalist DayNewfoundland & Labrador Discovery DayMemorial DayOrangemen's DaySaint George's DayNova Scotia Davis DayHeritage DayNunavut Nunavut DayOntario Family DayLoyalist DayPrince Edward Island Gold Cup Parade DayIslander DayQuébec Construction HolidayGoose BreakNational Patriots DaySaint-Jean-Baptiste DaySaskatchewan Family DayYukon Discovery Day

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 Public holidays in Fiji

New Year's DayGood FridayEaster SaturdayEaster MondayConstitution DayMawlidFiji DayDiwaliChristmas DayBoxing Day

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Hong Kong Public holidays in Hong Kong

New Year's DayLunar New Year (first 3 days of the period)Ching Ming FestivalGood FridayHoly SaturdayEaster MondayBuddha's BirthdayLabour DayTuen Ng FestivalHong Kong SAR Establishment DayMid-Autumn FestivalPRC National DayAnniversary of the Xinhai RevolutionChung Yeung FestivalChristmas DayBoxing Day

Cancelled

Queen's BirthdayLiberation DayDouble Ten DayRemembrance Day

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Indonesia Public holidays in Indonesia

New Year's DayChinese New YearDay of SilenceIsra and Mi'rajGood FridayLabour DayWaisak DayAscension DayPancasila DayCollective DaysEid al-FitrEid al-AdhaIndependence DayIslamic New YearProphet's BirthdayChristmas

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Public holidays in Ireland

Public holidays across all Ireland

New Year's DaySaint Patrick's DayEaster MondayMay DayChristmas DaySaint Stephen's Day

Additional Public holidays in the Republic of Ireland

Saint Brigid's DayJune HolidayAugust HolidayOctober Holiday

Additional Bank holidays in Northern Ireland

Good FridaySpring Bank HolidayThe TwelfthSummer Bank Holiday

flag Ireland portal

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Malaysia Public holidays in Malaysia

National holidays

Chinese New YearLabour DayWesak DayEid al-FitrEid al-AdhaIslamic New YearMerdeka DayMuharramAgong's BirthdayMalaysia DayMuhammad's BirthdayChristmas

State holidays

(differ by states)

New Year's DayYang di-Pertua Negeri Sembilan's BirthdaySultan of Kedah's BirthdayThaipusamFederal Territory DayAnniversary of Installation of the Sultan of TerengganuSultan of Johor's BirthdayIsra and Mi'rajDeclaration of Malacca City as Historical CityGood FridaySultan of Terengganu's BirthdayFirst Day of RamadanDay of Nuzul Al-QuranTadau KaamatanGawai DayakDeclaration of George Town as World Heritage SitePenang State Governor's BirthdayRaja of Perlis's BirthdaySarawak DayHol Day of Sultan Iskandar of JohorSabah State Governor's BirthdayMalacca State Governor's BirthdaySarawak State Governor's BirthdaySultan of Pahang's BirthdayDeepavaliSultan of Perak's BirthdaySultan of Kelantan's BirthdaySultan of Selangor's BirthdayChristmas Eve

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Mexico Public holidays in Mexico

Statutory holidays

Año NuevoDía de la ConstituciónNatalicio de Benito JuárezDía del TrabajoDía de IndependenciaDía de la RevoluciónTransmisión del Poder Ejecutivo FederalNavidad

Civic holidays

Día del EjércitoDía de la BanderaAniversario de la Expropiación petroleraHeroica Defensa de VeracruzCinco de MayoNatalicio de Miguel HidalgoDía de la MarinaGrito de DoloresDía de los Niños HéroesConsumación de la IndependenciaNatalicio de José Ma. Morelos y PavónDescubrimiento de América

Festivities

Día de los Santos ReyesDía de San ValentínDía del NiñoDía de las MadresDía del MaestroDía del estudianteDía del PadreDía de Todos los SantosDía de los Fieles DifuntosDía de la Virgen de GuadalupeLas PosadasNochebuenaDia de los Santos Inocentes

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Myanmar Public holidays in Myanmar

National holidays

New Year's DayIndependence DayUnion DayPeasants' DayFull Moon Day of TabaungArmed Forces DayThingyanLabour DayFull Moon Day of KasonMartyrs' DayFull Moon Day of KasonFull Moon Day of ThadingyutFull Moon Day of TazaungmonNational DayChristmasEid al-AdhaDiwali

flag Myanmar portal

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 Public holidays in New Zealand

New Year's DayJanuary 2Waitangi DayGood FridayEaster SundayEaster MondayAnzac DayKing's BirthdayMatarikiLabour DayChristmas DayBoxing Day

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Philippines Public holidays in the Philippines

Regular holidays

New Year's DayMaundy ThursdayGood FridayDay of ValorLabor DayIndependence DayEid'l FitrNational Heroes DayEid'l AdhaBonifacio DayChristmasRizal Day

Special non-working days

Chinese New YearEDSA Revolution AnniversaryBlack SaturdayNinoy Aquino DayAll Saints' Day and All Souls' DayFeast of the Immaculate ConceptionChristmas EveLast day of the year

Italicized: Movable holidaySee also: Holiday economics

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South Africa Public holidays in South Africa

New Year's DayHuman Rights DayGood FridayFamily DayFreedom DayWorkers' DayYouth DayNational Women's DayHeritage DayDay of ReconciliationChristmas DayDay of Goodwill

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 Public holidays in Sri Lanka

Jan–Mar

Thai PongalDuruthu Poya DayIndependence DayNavam Poya DayMaha ShivratriMadin Poya Day

Apr–Jun

Sinhala and Tamil New Year Day eveSinhalese New Year/Tamil New YearBak Poya DayGood FridayMay DayVesak Poya DayDay following Vesak Poya DayId-Ul-Fitr (Ramazan Festival Day)Poson

Jul–Sep

Esala Poya DayId-Ul-Alha (Hadji Festival Day)Nikini Poya DayBinara Poya Day

Oct–Dec

Vap Poya DayDeepavali Festival DayMilad-Un-Nabi (Holy Prophet’s Birthday)Ill Poya DayUnduvap Poya DayChristmas Day

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Thailand Public holidays in Thailand

National holidays

New Year's DayMagha PujaChakri Memorial DaySongkranLabour DayRoyal Ploughing Ceremony and Farmer's DayVesakKing Vajiralongkorn's BirthdayAsalha PujaVassaQueen Sirikit's BirthdayKing Bhumibol Adulyadej's Memorial DayKing Chulalongkorn DayKing Bhumibol Adulyadej's BirthdayConstitution DayNew Year's Eve

Region-based holidays

Chinese New YearEid al-FitrEid al-AdhaChristmas

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Ukraine Public holidays in Ukraine

New Year's Day (1 Jan)International Women's Day (8 Mar)Orthodox Easter (moveable)Orthodox Pentecost (moveable)Labour Day (1 May)Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in World War II (8 May)Constitution Day (28 June)Statehood Day (15 July)Independence Day (24 Aug)Defenders of Ukraine Day (1 Oct)Christmas (25 Dec)

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Public holidays in the United Kingdom

All regions

New Year's DayMay Bank HolidaySummer Bank HolidayChristmas DayBoxing Day

England and Wales

Good FridayEaster MondaySpring Bank Holiday

Northern Ireland

Saint Patrick's DayEaster MondayEaster TuesdaySpring Bank HolidayBattle of the Boyne (Orangemen's Day)

Scotland

2nd JanuaryGood FridaySt Andrew's Day (optional)

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United States Federal holidays in the United States

Current

New Year's DayBirthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.Washington's BirthdayMemorial DayJuneteenthIndependence DayLabor DayColumbus DayVeterans DayThanksgiving DayChristmas Day

Proposed

VE Day (1945)Victory Day (1950)Flag Day (1950)Election Day/Democracy Day (1993, 2005, 2014)Malcolm X Day (1993–1994)Cesar Chavez Day (2008)Susan B. Anthony Day (2011)Native American Day (2013)Rosa Parks Day (2021)

Related

Uniform Monday Holiday Act

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Holidays, observances, and celebrations in the United States

January

New Year's Day (federal)Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. (federal)

Birthday of Eugenio María de Hostos (PR)Confederate Heroes Day (TX)Eve of Three Kings' Day (PR, religious)Feast of Epiphany / Feast of Theophany (religious)Fred Korematsu Day (AZ, CA, FL, HI, VA)Idaho Human Rights Day (ID)Inauguration Day (federal quadrennial)Kansas Day (KS)Makar Sankranti / Pongal (religious)Robert E. Lee Day (FL)Stephen Foster Memorial Day (36)The Eighth (LA)Three Kings' Day (PR, VI, religious)World Religion Day (religious)

January–February

Super Bowl Sunday

Chinese New Year / Lunar New Year (NY, cultural, religious)Vasant Panchami (religious)

February

American Heart Month

Black History Month

Washington's Birthday (federal)Valentine's Day

Birthday of Luis Muñoz Marín (PR)Candlemas (religious)Charles Darwin Day / Darwin Day (CA, DE)Day of Remembrance (CA, OR, WA, cultural)Georgia Day (GA)Groundhog DayImbolc (religious)Lincoln's Birthday (CA, CT, IL, IN, MO, NY, WV)National Girls and Women in Sports DayNational Freedom Day (36)Nirvana Day (religious)Presentation of Our Lord to the Temple (religious)Promised Reformer Day (religious)Ronald Reagan Day (CA)Rosa Parks Day (CA, MO)Saviours' Day (religious)Susan B. Anthony Day (CA, FL, NY, WI, WV, proposed federal)Tu B’shvat (religious)

February–March

Mardi Gras

Ash Wednesday (PR, religious)Carnival (PR, VI, religious)Clean Monday (religious)Courir de Mardi Gras (religious)Intercalary Days (religious)Mahashivaratri (religious)Purim (religious)Shrove Tuesday (religious)Super Tuesday

March

Irish-American Heritage Month

Colon Cancer Awareness Month

Women's History Month

Saint Patrick's Day (religious)Spring break (week)

Annunciation of the Virgin Mary / Annunciation of the Theotokos (religious)Casimir Pulaski Day (IL)Cesar Chavez Day (CA, CO, TX, proposed federal)Emancipation Day in Puerto Rico (PR, cultural)Evacuation Day (Suffolk County, MA)Harriet Tubman Day (NY)Hola Mohalla (religious)Holi (NY, religious)L. Ron Hubbard’s Birthday (religious)Lailat al-Mi'raj (religious)Liberation and Freedom Day (Charlottesville, VA, cultural)Mardi Gras (AL (in two counties), LA)Maryland Day (MD)National Poison Prevention Week (week)Nowruz (cultural, religious)Ostara (religious)Pi DayPrince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole Day (HI)Promised Messiah Day (religious)Saint Joseph's Day (religious)Seward's Day (AK)Texas Independence Day (TX)Town Meeting Day (VT)Transfer Day (VI)Trans Day of Visibility (cultural)

March–April

Easter (religious)

Good Friday (CT, NC, PR, NJ, VI, religious)Hanuman Jayanti (religious)Holy Thursday (PR, VI, religious)Holy Week (PR, religious, week)Lazarus Saturday (religious)Mahavir Janma Kalyanak (religious)Mesha Sankranti / Hindu New Year (religious)Palm Sunday (PR, religious)Passover (religious, week)Easter Monday / Bright Monday (VI, religious)Ramnavami (religious)Chandramana Uugadi / Souramana Uugadi (religious)

April

Arab American Heritage Month

Confederate History Month

420April Fools' DayArbor DayBirthday of José de Diego (PR)Confederate Memorial Day (AL, MS)Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust (week)Earth DayEmancipation Day (cultural)Thomas Jefferson's Birthday (AL)Lag B’Omer (religious)Last Friday of Great Lent (religious)Pascua Florida (FL)Patriots' Day (MA, ME)Ridván (religious)San Jacinto Day (TX)Siblings DayWalpurgis Night (religious)Yom Ha'atzmaut (cultural, religious)

May

Asian American and

Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Jewish American Heritage Month

Military Appreciation Month

Memorial Day (federal)Mother's Day (36)Cinco de Mayo

Ascension of Baháʼu'lláh (religious)Ascension of Our Lord (religious)Caliphate Day (religious)Declaration of the Bab (religious)Harvey Milk Day (CA)International Workers' Day / May Day (CA, unofficial, proposed state)Law Day (36)Loyalty Day (36)Malcolm X Day (CA, IL, proposed federal)Military Spouse DayNational Day of Prayer (36)National Day of ReasonNational Defense Transportation Day (36)National Maritime Day (36)Peace Officers Memorial Day (36)Pentecost (religious)Shavuot (religious)Truman Day (MO)Vesak / Buddha's Birthday (religious)

June

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and

Transgender Pride Month

Juneteenth (federal, cultural)Father's Day (36)

Bunker Hill Day (Suffolk County, MA)Carolina Day (SC)Don Young Day (AK)Fast of the Holy Apostles (religious)Flag Day (36, proposed federal)Helen Keller Day (PA)Honor America Days (3 weeks)Jefferson Davis Day (AL, FL)Kamehameha Day (HI)Litha (religious)Martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev Sahib (religious)Odunde Festival (Philadelphia, PA, cultural)Senior Week (week)Saint John's Day (PR, religious)West Virginia Day (WV)

July

Independence Day (federal)

Asalha Puja Day (religious)Birthday of Don Luis Muñoz Rivera (PR)Birthday of Dr. José Celso Barbosa (PR)Emancipation Day in the U.S. Virgin Islands (VI, cultural)Guru Purnima (religious)Khordad Sal (religious)Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea (HI, unofficial, cultural)Martyrdom of the Báb (religious)Parents' Day (36)Pioneer Day (UT)Puerto Rico Constitution Day (PR)

July–August

Summer vacation

Tisha B'Av (religious)

August

American Family Day (AZ)Barack Obama Day in Illinois (IL)Bennington Battle Day (VT)Dormition of the Theotokos (religious)Eid-e-Ghadeer (religious)Fast in Honor of the Holy Mother of Lord Jesus (religious)Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (religious)Hawaii Admission Day / Statehood Day (HI)Krishna Janmashtami (religious)Lammas (religious)Lyndon Baines Johnson Day (TX)Naga Panchami (religious)National Aviation Day (36)Paryushana (religious)Raksha Bandhan (religious)Transfiguration of the Lord (religious)Victory Day (RI)Women's Equality Day (36)

September

Prostate Cancer Awareness Month

Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

Labor Day (federal)

Brazilian Day (NY, cultural)California Admission Day (CA)Carl Garner Federal Lands Cleanup Day (36)Constitution Day (36)Constitution WeekDefenders Day (MD)Elevation of the Holy Cross (religious)Feast of San Gennaro (NY, cultural, religious)Ganesh Chaturthi (religious)Gold Star Mother's Day (36)His Holiness Sakya Trizin’s Birthday (religious)Mabon (religious)National Grandparents Day (36)National Payroll Week (week)Nativity of Mary / Nativity of the Theotokos (religious)Native American Day (proposed federal)Patriot Day (36)Von Steuben Day

September–October

Hispanic Heritage Month

Chehlum Imam Hussain (religious)OktoberfestPitri Paksha (religious)Rosh Hashanah / Feast of Trumpets (TX, NY, religious)Shemini Atzeret (religious)Simchat Torah (religious)Vijaya Dashami (religious)Yom Kippur / Day of Atonement (TX, NY, religious)

October

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Disability Employment Awareness Month

Italian-American Heritage and Culture Month

Filipino American History Month

LGBT History Month

Columbus Day (federal)Halloween

Alaska Day (AK)Child Health Day (36)General Pulaski Memorial DayGerman-American DayIndigenous Peoples' DayInternational Day of Non-ViolenceLeif Erikson Day (36)Missouri Day (MO)Nanomonestotse (cultural)National School Lunch Week (week)Native American Day in South Dakota (SD)Nevada Day (NV)Spirit Day (cultural)Sweetest DaySukkot / Feast of Tabernacles (religious, week)Virgin Islands–Puerto Rico Friendship Day (PR, VI)White Cane Safety Day (36)

October–November

Birth of the Báb (religious)Birth of Baháʼu'lláh (religious)Day of the Dead (VI)Diwali (NY, religious)Mawlid al-Nabi (religious)

November

Native American Indian Heritage Month

Veterans Day (federal)Thanksgiving (federal)

Ascension of ‘Abdu’l Baha (religious)All Saints' Day (religious)Beginning of the Nativity Fast (religious)Beltane / Samhain (religious)Barack Obama Day in Alabama (Perry County, AL)D. Hamilton Jackson Day (VI)Day after Thanksgiving (24)Day of the Covenant (religious)Discovery of Puerto Rico Day (PR)Election Day (CA, DE, HI, KY, MT, NJ, NY, OH, PR, VA, WV, proposed federal)Family Day (NV)Guru Nanak Gurpurab (religious)Hanukkah (religious)Lā Kūʻokoʻa (HI, unofficial, cultural)Martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur (religious)Native American Heritage Day (MD, WA, cultural)Presentation of the Theotokos to the Temple (religious)Trans Day of Remembrance (cultural)Unthanksgiving Day (cultural)

December

Christmas (religious, federal)New Year's Eve

Advent Sunday (religious)Alabama Day (AL)Birthday of Guru Gobind Singh Sahib (religious)Bodhi Day (religious)Chalica (religious)Christmas Eve (KY, NC, SC, PR, VI)Day after Christmas (KY, NC, SC, TX, VI)FestivusHumanLightHanukkah (religious, week)Immaculate Conception (religious)Indiana Day (IN)Kwanzaa (cultural, week)Milad Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin (religious)National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day (36)Nativity of Jesus (religious)Old Year's Night (VI)Pan American Aviation Day (36)Pancha Ganapati (religious, week)Rosa Parks Day (OH, OR)Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God (religious)Wright Brothers Day (36)Yule (religious)Zartosht No-Diso (religious)

Varies (year round)

Eid al-Adha (NY, religious)Eid al-Fitr (NY, religious)Islamic New Year (religious)Yawm al-Arafa (religious)Hajj (religious)Laylat al-Qadr (religious)Navaratri (religious, four times a year)Obon (religious)Onam (religious)Ramadan (religious, month)Ghost Festival (religious)Yawm Aashura (religious)

Legend:

(federal) = federal holidays, (abbreviation) = state/territorial holidays, (religious) = religious holidays, (cultural) = holiday related to a specific racial/ethnic group or sexual minority, (week) = week-long holidays, (month) = month-long holidays, (36) = Title 36 Observances and Ceremonies

See also: Lists of holidays, Hallmark holidays, Public holidays in the United States, Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands.

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Winter solstice and midwinter festivals

Africa

Goru: Mali (Dogon)Dzon'ku Nu†: West Africa (Papaws)

Americas

Inti Raymi°: Peru (Inca†)Jonkonnu°: Caribbean° (African American)Soyal: US (Zuni, Hopi)We Tripantu: Chile (Mapuche)

Asia

Amaterasu†: JapanChoimusDeygān, Maidyarem°: (Zoroastrian)Dōngzhì, Tōji: (East Asian)Lohri, Pongal, Makar Sankranti°: India (Hindu)Sanghamitta Day: Sri Lanka (Buddhist)Şeva Zistanê: (Kurdish)Yalda: Iran (Persian)

Europe

Beiwe: (Saami)Brumalia†: Ancient GreeceChristmas: Roman Empire° (Christian)Dies Natalis Solis Invicti†: Roman EmpireHogmanay°: ScotlandKorochun°: (Slavs)Mōdraniht†: England (Anglo-Saxon)Montol Festival, Mummer's Day°: Cornwall (Celts)Saturnalia†: RomeWren's Day°: Ireland, Isle of Man, Wales (Celts)Yule°: (Germanic)Ziemassvētki: Baltic (Romuva)

Oceania

Matariki°: New Zealand (Māori)

† dagger indicates extinction. ° degree symbol indicates changes in date, name or location. ( ) indicate demographic

Authority control databases Edit this at Wikidata

National

FranceBnF dataGermanyIsraelUnited StatesLatviaJapanCzech Republic

Other

Historical Dictionary of SwitzerlandInternet Encyclopedia of UkraineNARAIdRefİslâm Ansiklopedisi

Categories: ChristmasDecember observancesQuarter daysBirthdaysFeasts of Jesus Christ

Nakatomi Plaza

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Nakatomi

Nakatomi Plaza as seen from the ground up.

Nakatomi Plaza Fox Plaza

Nakatomi Plaza as seen in the first minutes of the movie.

Nakatomi Plaza is a high-rise office building in Century City, Los Angeles, California that houses the headquarters of the California branch of the Nakatomi Corporation, a Japanese company. The building used to represent it is played by the Fox Plaza building, the main headquarters of 20th Century Fox.

Contents

1 Architecture

2 Die Hard

3 Floors

4 Gallery

Architecture

Askllkadlad

Nakatomi Plaza logo.

It is a post modernly-designed, 35-story high skyscraper that is a total of 490 feet high. The building was nearing completion in 1987. Like many skyscrapers, it features stairwells, elevator shafts, pipe shafts, offices, and a roof, all of which John McClane utilizes to his advantage to defeat all 13 terrorists that take it over.

Die Hard

On Christmas Eve, 1988, a group of terrorists led by Hans Gruber took the Nakatomi employees hostage during their Christmas party. Although the group of terrorists appeared to be motivated by freeing political prisoners, they were actually after $640 million in negotiable bearer bonds and other valuables stored in the Nakatomi Corporation's vault and were planning on killing the hostages in an explosion so they could escape unnoticed.

John McClane, an off-duty NYPD officer that came to LA to spend Christmas with his estranged wife and children, managed to slip away from the terrorists and hide in the top five floors of the building, where he slipped around in the shadows, used his surroundings to his advantage and started a one-man war with the terrorists, destroying much of the building in the process, with no help from the LAPD (except Al Powell), who do not want to gamble with the lives of the hostages.

The skyscraper was nearing completion at the time, but was finished and is now Fox Plaza.

Floors

Parking Garage

Floor 1: Entry

Floor 3: Floor where James and Alexander are killed

Floor 30: Nakatomi Corporation (Christmas party) (vault)

Floor 31: Nakatomi Offices (board room)

Floor 32: Under construction

Floor 33: Computers

Floor 34: Models and conference rooms

Floor 35: Under construction (roof access)

Piping system (explosives) (elevator and ventilation shaft) (chains)

Roof (Helipad, fire hose)

Gallery

The blueprints of Nakatomi Plaza.

The blueprints of Nakatomi Plaza.

A scale model of the Nakatomi Plaza in the boardroom, which is pointed out by Hans Gruber.

A scale model of the Nakatomi Plaza in the boardroom, which is pointed out by Hans Gruber.

The Nakatomi Plaza logo, seen on the welcome directory in the lobby and on Holly's paperwork.

The Nakatomi Plaza logo, seen on the welcome directory in the lobby and on Holly's paperwork.

The Pacific Courier truck pulling into the parking garage.

The Pacific Courier truck pulling into the parking garage.

Construction floor.

Construction floor.

The Plaza as seen from the roof.

The Plaza as seen from the roof.

Sgt. Al Powell's Police Car in front of the Plaza.

Sgt. Al Powell's Police Car in front of the Plaza.

McClane armed with the H&K MP5 on the walkway.

McClane armed with the H&K MP5 on the walkway.

An elevator shaft.

An elevator shaft.

A ventilation shaft.

A ventilation shaft.

The 30th floor in ruins.

The 30th floor in ruins.

The roof of the plaza.

The roof of the plaza.

Agent Johnson looks up at the skyscraper.

Agent Johnson looks up at the skyscraper.

A view of the 33rd floor showing the height of the building.

A view of the 33rd floor showing the height of the building.

PDVD 108

PDVD 106

PDVD 107

The third floor is destroyed.

The third floor is destroyed.

Nakatomi logo on the floor.

Nakatomi logo on the floor.

Nakatomi information.

Nakatomi information.

John McClane is caught by Karl on the 35th floor.

John McClane is caught by Karl on the 35th floor.

Nakatomi Plaza Hotel & Convention Center Sign

Nakatomi Plaza Hotel & Convention Center Sign

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bruce Willis

Willis at the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con

Born Walter Bruce Willis

March 19, 1955 (age 68)

Idar-Oberstein, West Germany

Nationality American

Occupations

Actorsinger

Years active 1980–2022

Works Filmography

Spouses

Demi Moore

​(m. 1987; div. 2000)​

Emma Heming ​(m. 2009)​

Children 5, including Rumer

Awards Full list

Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series Moonlighting (1985–1989) and has appeared in over a hundred films, gaining recognition as an action hero for his portrayal of John McClane in the Die Hard franchise (1988–2013).[1][2]

Willis's other notable credits include The Last Boy Scout (1991), Pulp Fiction (1994), 12 Monkeys (1995), The Fifth Element (1997), Armageddon (1998), The Sixth Sense (1999), Unbreakable, The Whole Nine Yards (both 2000), Tears of the Sun (2003), Sin City (2005), The Expendables, Red (both 2010), Looper (2012) and Glass (2019). In the later years of his career, Willis starred in many low-budget direct-to-video films, which were mostly poorly received. In March 2022, Willis's family announced that he was retiring from acting due to aphasia. In February 2023, he was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia.

As a singer, Willis released his debut album, The Return of Bruno, in 1987, followed by two more albums in 1989 and 2001. He made his Broadway debut in the stage adaptation of Misery in 2015. Willis has received various accolades throughout his career, including a Golden Globe Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and two People's Choice Awards. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006. Films featuring Willis have grossed between US$2.64 billion and US$3.05 billion at North American box offices, making him in 2010 the eighth-highest-grossing leading actor.

Early life

Walter Bruce Willis[3] was born in Idar-Oberstein, West Germany, on March 19, 1955.[4][5] His mother, Marlene,[6] was German, from Kassel.[4] His father, David Willis, was an American soldier. Willis has a younger sister, Florence, and two younger brothers, Robert (deceased) and David.[7] After being discharged from the military in 1957, his father relocated the family to his hometown of Carneys Point, New Jersey.[8] Willis has described his background as a "long line of blue-collar people".[8] His mother worked in a bank and his father was a welder, master mechanic, and factory worker.[3]

Willis, who spoke with a stutter,[8] attended Penns Grove High School, where his schoolmates nicknamed him "Buck-Buck".[3][9][10] He joined the drama club, found that acting on stage reduced his stutter, and was eventually elected student council president.[3]

After graduating from high school in 1973, Willis worked as a security guard at the Salem Nuclear Power Plant[11][12] and transported crew members at the DuPont Chambers Works factory in Deepwater, New Jersey.[12] After working as a private investigator (a role he would later play in the comedy-drama series Moonlighting and the action-comedy film The Last Boy Scout), he turned to acting. He enrolled in the Drama Program at Montclair State University,[13] where he was cast in a production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. He left school in 1977 and moved to New York City, where he supported himself in the early 1980s as a bartender at the Manhattan art bar Kamikaze[14][15] while living in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood.[16]

Career

1980s: Moonlighting, Die Hard and rise to fame

Willis at the 61st Academy Awards in 1989

Willis was cast as David Addison Jr. in the television series Moonlighting (1985–1989), competing against 3,000 other actors for the position.[17] His starring role in Moonlighting, opposite Cybill Shepherd, helped to establish him as a comedic actor. During the show's five seasons, he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy.[8] During the height of the show's success, beverage maker Seagram hired Willis as the pitchman for their Golden Wine Cooler products.[18] The advertising campaign paid Willis US$5–7 million over two years. Willis chose not to renew his contract when he decided to stop drinking alcohol in 1988.[19]

Willis had his first lead role in a feature film in the 1987 Blake Edwards film Blind Date, with Kim Basinger and John Larroquette.[8] Edwards cast him again to play the real-life cowboy actor Tom Mix in Sunset (1988). However, it was his unexpected turn in the film Die Hard (1988) as John McClane that catapulted him to movie star and action hero status.[8] He performed most of his own stunts in the film,[20] and the film grossed $138,708,852 worldwide.[21] Following his success with Die Hard, Willis had a leading role in the drama In Country as Vietnam veteran Emmett Smith and also provided the voice for a talking baby in Look Who's Talking (1989) and the sequel Look Who's Talking Too (1990).[22][23]

In the late 1980s, Willis enjoyed moderate success as a recording artist, recording an album of pop-blues, The Return of Bruno, which included the hit single "Respect Yourself" featuring the Pointer Sisters.[24] The LP was promoted by a Spinal Tap–like rockumentary parody featuring scenes of Willis performing at famous events including Woodstock. He released a version of the Drifters song "Under the Boardwalk" as a second single; it reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart, but was less successful in the US. Willis returned to the recording studio several times.[25]

1990s: Die Hard sequels, Pulp Fiction and dramatic roles

Having acquired major personal success and pop culture influence playing John McClane in Die Hard, Willis reprised his role in the sequels Die Hard 2 (1990) and Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995).[8] These first three installments in the Die Hard series grossed over US$700 million internationally and propelled Willis to the first rank of Hollywood action stars.[citation needed]

In the early 1990s, Willis's career suffered a moderate slump, as he starred in flops such as The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990) and Hudson Hawk (1991), although he did find box office success with The Last Boy Scout. He gained more success with Striking Distance (1993) but flopped again with Color of Night (1994): it was savaged by critics but did well in the home video market and became one of the Top 20 most-rented films in the United States in 1995.[26] Maxim also ranked his sex scene in the film as the best in film history.[27]

In 1994, Willis also had a leading role in one part of Quentin Tarantino's acclaimed Pulp Fiction;[8] the film's success gave a boost to his career, and he starred alongside his Look Who's Talking co-star John Travolta.[28] In 1996, he was the executive producer and star of the cartoon Bruno the Kid which featured a CGI representation of himself. That same year, he starred in Mike Judge's animated film Beavis and Butt-head Do America with his then-wife Demi Moore. In the movie, he plays a drunken criminal named "Muddy Grimes", who mistakenly sends Judge's titular characters to kill his wife, Dallas (voiced by Moore). He then played the lead roles in 12 Monkeys (1995) and The Fifth Element (1997). However, by the end of the 1990s his career had fallen into another slump with critically panned films like The Jackal (which despite negative reviews was a box office hit), Mercury Rising, and Breakfast of Champions, as well as the implosion of the production of Broadway Brawler, a debacle salvaged only by the success of the Michael Bay-directed Armageddon, which Willis had agreed to star in as compensation for the failed production, and which turned out to be the highest-grossing film of 1998 worldwide.[29][30] The same year his voice and likeness were featured in the PlayStation video game Apocalypse.[31] In 1999, Willis played the starring role in M. Night Shyamalan's film The Sixth Sense, which was both a commercial and critical success.[8]

2000s

Willis after a ceremony where he was named Hasty Pudding Theatrical's Man of the Year in 2002

In 2000, Willis won an Emmy[32] for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his work on Friends (in which he played the father of Ross Geller's much-younger girlfriend).[33] He was also nominated for a 2001 American Comedy Award (in the Funniest Male Guest Appearance in a TV Series category) for his work on Friends. Also in 2000, Willis played Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski in The Whole Nine Yards alongside Matthew Perry. Willis was originally cast as Terry Benedict in Ocean's Eleven (2001) but dropped out to work on recording an album.[34] In the sequel, Ocean's Twelve (2004), he makes a cameo appearance as himself. In 2005, he appeared in the film adaptation of Sin City. In 2006, he lent his voice as RJ the Raccoon in Over the Hedge. In 2007, he appeared in the Planet Terror half of the double feature Grindhouse as the villain, a mutant soldier. This marked Willis's second collaboration with the director Robert Rodriguez, following Sin City.

Willis appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman several times throughout his career. He filled in for an ill David Letterman on his show on February 26, 2003, when he was supposed to be a guest.[35] On many of his appearances on the show, Willis staged elaborate jokes, such as wearing a day-glo orange suit in honor of the Central Park gates, having one side of his face made up with simulated birdshot wounds after the Harry Whittington shooting, or trying to break a record (a parody of David Blaine) of staying underwater for only twenty seconds.

Willis at a Live Free or Die Hard premiere in June 2007

On April 12, 2007, he appeared again, this time wearing a Sanjaya Malakar wig.[36] On his June 25, 2007, appearance, he wore a mini-wind turbine on his head to accompany a joke about his own fictional documentary titled An Unappealing Hunch (a wordplay on An Inconvenient Truth).[37] Willis also appeared in Japanese Subaru Legacy television commercials.[38] Tying in with this, Subaru did a limited run of Legacys, badged "Subaru Legacy Touring Bruce", in honor of Willis.

Willis has appeared in five films with Samuel L. Jackson (National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1, Pulp Fiction, Die Hard with a Vengeance, Unbreakable, and Glass) and both actors were slated to work together in Black Water Transit, before dropping out. Willis also worked with his eldest daughter, Rumer, in the 2005 film Hostage. In 2007, he appeared in the thriller Perfect Stranger, opposite Halle Berry, the crime/drama film Alpha Dog, opposite Sharon Stone, and reprised his role as John McClane in Live Free or Die Hard. Subsequently, he appeared in the films What Just Happened and Surrogates, based on the comic book of the same name.[39]

Willis was slated to play U.S. Army general William R. Peers in director Oliver Stone's Pinkville, a drama about the investigation of the 1968 My Lai massacre.[40] However, due to the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike, the film was canceled. Willis appeared on the 2008 Blues Traveler album North Hollywood Shootout, giving a spoken word performance over an instrumental blues rock jam on the track "Free Willis (Ruminations from Behind Uncle Bob's Machine Shop)". In early 2009, he appeared in an advertising campaign to publicize the insurance company Norwich Union's change of name to Aviva.[41]

2010s

As of 2010, Willis was the eighth highest-grossing actor in a leading role and 12th-highest including supporting roles.[42][43] Willis starred with Tracy Morgan in the 2010 comedy Cop Out, directed by Kevin Smith, about two police detectives investigating the theft of a baseball card.[44] Willis appeared in the music video for the song "Stylo" by Gorillaz.[45] Also in 2010, he appeared in a cameo with the former Planet Hollywood co-owners and 80s action stars Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the film The Expendables. Willis played the role of CIA agent "Mr. Church". It was the first time the three action stars had appeared on screen together. Although the scene featuring the three was short, it was one of the most highly anticipated scenes in the film. The trio filmed their scene in an empty church on October 24, 2009.[46] Willis next starred in RED, an adaptation of the comic book mini-series of the same name, in which he portrayed Frank Moses. The film was released on October 15, 2010.[47]

Willis with The Expendables co-star Sylvester Stallone, 2010

Willis starred alongside Bill Murray, Edward Norton, and Frances McDormand in Moonrise Kingdom (2012). Filming took place in Rhode Island under the direction of Wes Anderson, in 2011.[48] Willis returned, in an expanded role, in The Expendables 2 (2012).[49] He appeared alongside Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the sci-fi action film Looper (2012), as the older version of Gordon-Levitt's character, Joe.

Willis teamed up with 50 Cent in a film directed by David Barrett called Fire with Fire, starring opposite Josh Duhamel and Rosario Dawson, about a fireman who must save the love of his life.[50] Willis also joined Vince Vaughn and Catherine Zeta-Jones in Lay the Favorite, directed by Stephen Frears, about a Las Vegas cocktail waitress who becomes an elite professional gambler.[51] The two films were distributed by Lionsgate Entertainment.

Willis reprised his most famous role, John McClane, for a fifth time, starring in A Good Day to Die Hard, which was released on February 14, 2013.[52] In an interview, Willis said, "I have a warm spot in my heart for Die Hard..... it's just the sheer novelty of being able to play the same character over 25 years and still be asked back is fun. It's much more challenging to have to do a film again and try to compete with myself, which is what I do in Die Hard. I try to improve my work every time."[53]

On October 12, 2013, Willis hosted Saturday Night Live with Katy Perry as a musical guest.[54] In 2015, Willis made his Broadway debut in William Goldman's adaptation of Stephen King's novel Misery opposite Laurie Metcalf at the Broadhurst Theatre. His performance was generally panned by critics, who called it "vacant" and "inert".[55] Willis was the subject of a roast by Comedy Central in a program broadcast on July 29, 2018.[56] Willis played himself in a cameo in the 2019 film The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part.[57]

2020s: Critical decline, health problems and retirement

In the final years of his career, Willis starred in many low-budget independent thrillers and science fiction films.[58] He worked primarily with the production companies Emmett/Furla Oasis, headed by Randall Emmett, and 308 Entertainment Inc, headed by Corey Large. Emmett/Furla Oasis produced 20 films starring Willis.[59] Described by Chris Nashawaty of Esquire as "a profitable safe harbor" for older actors, similar to The Expendables, most of the films were released direct-to-video and were widely panned.[58] Willis would often earn US$2 million for two days' work, with an average of 15 minutes' screentime per film.[60] He was nonetheless featured heavily in the films' promotional materials, earning them the derogatory nickname "geezer teasers".[61][62] The Golden Raspberry Awards, an annual award for the year's worst films and performances, created a dedicated category, the Worst Bruce Willis Performance in a 2021 Movie, for his roles in eight films released that year.[63]

Those working on the films later said Willis appeared confused, did not understand why he was there and had to be fed lines through an earpiece.[59] Days before Willis was scheduled to arrive on set for Out of Death (2021), the screenwriter was instructed to reduce his role and abbreviate his dialogue, and the director, Mike Burns, was told to complete all of Willis's scenes in a single day of filming.[59]

On March 30, 2022, Willis's family announced that he was retiring because he had been diagnosed with aphasia, a disorder typically caused by damage to the area of the brain that controls language expression and comprehension.[64] The Golden Raspberry Awards retracted its Willis category, saying it was inappropriate to award a Golden Raspberry to someone whose performance was affected by a medical condition.[65] At the time of his retirement, Willis had completed 11 films awaiting release.[64][66][67]

On February 16, 2023, Willis's family announced that he had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia.[68] According to Dr. Gregg Day, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic's Florida campus, the symptoms include difficulties with language and comprehension, as well as misinterpretation of instructions.[69] In a statement, the family said that Willis's condition had progressed and that "challenges with communication are just one symptom of the disease".[70] They expressed hope that media attention on Willis would raise awareness about the disease.[71]

Business activities

Willis owns houses in Los Angeles and Penns Grove, New Jersey. He also rents apartments at Trump Tower[72] and in Riverside South, Manhattan.[73]

In 2000, Willis and his business partner Arnold Rifkin started a motion picture production company called Cheyenne Enterprises. He left the company to be run solely by Rifkin in 2007 after Live Free or Die Hard.[74] He also owns several small businesses in Hailey, Idaho, including The Mint Bar and The Liberty Theater and was one of the first promoters of Planet Hollywood, with actors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone.[75] Willis and the other actors were paid for their appearances and endorsements through an employee stock ownership plan.[76]

In 2009, Willis signed a contract to become the international face of Belvedere SA's Sobieski Vodka in exchange for 3.3% ownership in the company.[77]

Personal life

Willis in June 2006

Willis's acting role models are Gary Cooper, Robert De Niro, Steve McQueen, and John Wayne.[78] He is left-handed.[79] He resides in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles with his family.[80]

At the premiere for the film Stakeout, Willis met actress Demi Moore. They married on November 21, 1987, and had three daughters, including Rumer, who was born in August 1988.[81][82][83][84] Willis and Moore announced their separation on June 24, 1998.[85] They filed for divorce on October 18, 2000,[86] and the divorce was finalized later that day.[87][88] Regarding the divorce, Willis stated, "I felt I had failed as a father and a husband by not being able to make it work." He credited actor Will Smith for helping him cope with the situation.[18] He has maintained a close friendship with both Moore and her subsequent husband, actor Ashton Kutcher, and attended their wedding.[89]

Willis was engaged to actress Brooke Burns until they broke up in 2004 after ten months together.[17] He married model Emma Heming in Turks and Caicos on March 21, 2009;[90] guests included his three daughters, as well as Moore and Kutcher. The ceremony was not legally binding, so the couple wed again in a civil ceremony in Beverly Hills six days later. The couple has two daughters, one born in 2012[91] and another born in 2014.[92]

Military interests

Throughout his film career, Willis has depicted several military characters in films such as In Country, The Siege, Hart's War, Tears of the Sun, Grindhouse, and G.I. Joe: Retaliation. Willis grew up in a military family. Willis has donated Girl Scout cookies to the United States armed forces. In 2002, Willis's then 8-year-old daughter, Tallulah, suggested that he purchase Girl Scout cookies to send to troops. Willis purchased 12,000 boxes of cookies, and they were distributed to sailors aboard USS John F. Kennedy and other troops stationed throughout the Middle East at the time.[93]

Willis meets with Brigadier General Albert Bryant Jr. and deployed soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division, in Tikrit, Iraq, during his 2003 USO tour.

In 2003, Willis visited Iraq as part of the USO tour, singing to the troops with his band, The Accelerators.[94] Willis considered joining the military to help fight the second Iraq War, but was deterred by his age.[95] It was believed he offered US$1 million to any noncombatant who turned in terrorist leaders Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, or Abu Musab al-Zarqawi; in the June 2007 issue of Vanity Fair, however, he clarified that the statement was made hypothetically and not meant to be taken literally. Willis has also criticized the media for its coverage of the war, complaining that the press was more likely to focus on the negative aspects of the war:

I went to Iraq because what I saw when I was over there was soldiers—young kids for the most part—helping people in Iraq; helping getting the power turned back on, helping get hospitals open, helping get the water turned back on and you don't hear any of that on the news. You hear, "X number of people were killed today," which I think does a huge disservice. It's like spitting on these young men and women who are over there fighting to help this country.[96]

Religious beliefs

Willis was a Lutheran,[97] but no longer practices. In a July 1998 interview with George magazine, he stated: "Organized religions in general, in my opinion, are dying forms. They were all very important when we didn't know why the sun moved, why weather changed, why hurricanes occurred, or volcanoes happened. Modern religion is the end trail of modern mythology. But there are people who interpret the Bible literally. Literally! I choose not to believe that's the way. And that's what makes America cool, you know?"[98]

When asked by a Hollywood.tv reporter as to how he could stay grounded in Hollywood, Willis responded: "I just thank God every day for [...] everything great that's come my way."[99]

Political views

In 1988, Willis and then-wife Demi Moore campaigned for Democratic Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis's Presidential bid. Four years later, he supported President George H. W. Bush for reelection and was an outspoken critic of Bill Clinton. However, in 1996, he declined to endorse Clinton's Republican opponent Bob Dole, because Dole had criticized Demi Moore for her role in the film Striptease.[100] Willis was an invited speaker at the 2000 Republican National Convention,[101] and supported George W. Bush that year.[18]

In 2006, Willis said that the United States should intervene more in Colombia in order to end drug trafficking.[102] In several interviews Willis has said that he supports large salaries for teachers and police officers, and said he is disappointed in the United States foster care system as well as treatment of Native Americans.[100][103] Willis also stated that he is a supporter of gun rights, stating, "Everyone has a right to bear arms. If you take guns away from legal gun owners, then the only people who have guns are the bad guys."[104]

In February 2006, Willis was in Manhattan to promote his film 16 Blocks with reporters. One reporter attempted to ask Willis about his opinion on the Bush administration, but was interrupted by Willis in mid-sentence when he said: "I'm sick of answering this fucking question. I'm a Republican only as far as I want a smaller government, I want less government intrusion. I want them to stop shitting on my money and your money and tax dollars that we give 50 percent of every year. I want them to be fiscally responsible and I want these goddamn lobbyists out of Washington. Do that and I'll say I'm a Republican. I hate the government, OK? I'm apolitical. Write that down. I'm not a Republican."[105] Willis did not make any contributions or public endorsements in the 2008 presidential campaign. In several June 2007 interviews, he declared that he maintains some Republican ideologies.[18]

Willis's name was in an advertisement in the Los Angeles Times on August 17, 2006, that condemned Hamas and Hezbollah and supported Israel in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war.[106]

In 2012, Willis stated that he had a negative opinion of Mitt Romney.[107]

Filmography

Main article: Bruce Willis filmography

Discography

Solo albums

1987: The Return of Bruno (Motown, OCLC 15508727)

1989: If It Don't Kill You, It Just Makes You Stronger (Motown/Pgd, OCLC 21322754)

2001: Classic Bruce Willis: The Universal Masters Collection (Polygram Int'l, OCLC 71124889)

Compilations/guest appearances

1986: Moonlighting soundtrack; track "Good Lovin' "

1991: Hudson Hawk soundtrack; tracks "Swinging on a Star" and "Side by Side", both duets with Danny Aiello

2000: The Whole Nine Yards soundtrack; tracks "Tenth Avenue Tango"

2003: Rugrats Go Wild soundtrack; "Big Bad Cat" with Chrissie Hynde and "Lust for Life"

2008: North Hollywood Shootout, Blues Traveler; track "Free Willis (Ruminations from Behind Uncle Bob's Machine Shop)"

Awards and honors

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Bruce Willis

Willis's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Willis's hands and footprints at Grauman's Chinese Theatre

Willis has won a variety of awards and has received various honors throughout his career in television and film.

1987: Golden Apple Awards honored with the Sour Apple.[108]

1994: Maxim magazine ranked his sex scene in Color of Night the No. 1 sex scene in film history[27]

2000: American Cinematheque Gala Tribute honored Willis with the American Cinematheque Award for an extraordinary artist in the entertainment industry who is fully engaged in his or her work and is committed to making a significant contribution to the art of the motion pictures.

2002: The Hasty Pudding Man of the Year award from Harvard's Hasty Pudding Theatricals – given to performers who give a lasting and impressive contribution to the world of entertainment[109]

2002: Appointed as national spokesman for Children in Foster Care by President George W. Bush;[110] Willis wrote online: "I saw Foster Care as a way for me to serve my country in a system by which shining a little bit of light could benefit a great deal by helping kids who were literally wards of the government."[111]

2005: Golden Camera Award for Best International Actor by the Manaki Brothers Film Festival.[112]

2006: Honored by French government for his contributions to the film industry; appointed an Officer of the French Order of Arts and Letters in a ceremony in Paris; the French Prime Minister stated, "This is France's way of paying tribute to an actor who epitomizes the strength of American cinema, the power of the emotions that he invites us to share on the world's screens and the sturdy personalities of his legendary characters."[113]

2006: Honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on October 16; located at 6915 Hollywood Boulevard and it was the 2,321st star awarded in its history; at the reception, he stated, "I used to come down here and look at these stars and I could never quite figure out what you were supposed to do to get one...time has passed and now here I am doing this, and I'm still excited. I'm still excited to be an actor."[114]

2011: Inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame[115]

2013: Promoted to the dignity of Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters on February 11 by French Minister of Culture Aurélie Filippetti[116]

References

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 Heckerling, Amy (December 14, 1990), Look Who's Talking Too (Comedy, Family, Romance), John Travolta, Kirstie Alley, Olympia Dukakis, TriStar Pictures, Big Mouth Production, Hollywood Licensing Group, archived from the original on May 29, 2023, retrieved June 13, 2023

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 Fleming, Michael; Tatiana Siegel (November 18, 2007). "Films halted due to strike". Variety. Archived from the original on January 6, 2009. Retrieved May 9, 2009.

 Mayberry, Carly (November 13, 2007). "The Vine: Pitt targeted for 'Pinkville'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on July 18, 2008. Retrieved May 9, 2009.

 Dunkley, Jamie (April 29, 2009). "Aviva lambasted for rebranding costs". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on January 10, 2022. Retrieved May 9, 2009.

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 "Red Begins Principal Photography". /Film. January 18, 2010. Archived from the original on September 14, 2012. Retrieved March 30, 2022.

 "Film starring Bruce Willis to be shot in RI". The Boston Globe. Providence, R.I. Associated Press. March 24, 2011. Archived from the original on June 25, 2018. Retrieved April 6, 2011. Steven Feinberg, executive director for the Rhode Island Film and Television Office, says on-site work on the film, 'Moonrise Kingdom,' is scheduled to begin this spring. Feinberg says the film will be shot in several locations in Rhode Island.

 Jason Barr (August 29, 2010). "Sylvester Stallone Wants Bruce Willis to Play a "Super Villain" in THE EXPENDABLES Sequel". Collider. Archived from the original on February 12, 2012.

 Anderton, Ethan (May 5, 2011). "Bruce Willis and 50 Cent Teaming Up Again to Fight 'Fire with Fire'". Firstshowing.net. Variety. Archived from the original on May 8, 2011. Retrieved May 6, 2011. Now Variety reports that for some reason, the two will team-up again for an indie drama called Fire with Fire.

 Bettinger, Brendan (May 5, 2011). "Vince Vaughn Joins Rebecca Hall, Bruce Willis, and Catherine Zeta-Jones in LAY THE FAVORITE". Collider.com. Archived from the original on May 9, 2011. Retrieved May 6, 2011. Vince Vaughn will join Rebecca Hall, Bruce Willis, and Catherine Zeta-Jones in the gambling drama Lay the Favorite.

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 "Bruce Willis: Women Should Be In Charge Of Everything". UKScreen. February 13, 2013. Archived from the original on November 3, 2013. Retrieved August 11, 2013.

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 Coulston, John Connor (January 26, 2019). "'The Lego Movie 2' Features Secret Cameo From an A-List Action Star". PopCulture.com. Archived from the original on February 9, 2019. Retrieved March 6, 2019.

 Nashawaty, Nashawaty (August 21, 2020). "Why Does Bruce Willis Keep Making Films He Clearly Hates?". Esquire. Archived from the original on August 21, 2020. Retrieved July 24, 2021.

 "Concerns about Bruce Willis's declining cognitive state swirled around sets in recent years". Los Angeles Times. March 31, 2022. Archived from the original on March 31, 2022. Retrieved April 1, 2022.

 Vincentelli, Elisabeth (December 30, 2020). "The Bruce Willis Journey From In Demand to On Demand". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 30, 2020. Retrieved July 24, 2021.

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 Donohoo, Timothy (May 5, 2022). "What Are 'Geezer Teasers' - and Why Does Bruce Willis Have So Many?". CBR.com. Archived from the original on May 5, 2022. Retrieved October 19, 2022.

 Fuster, Jeremy; Rossi, Rosemary (February 7, 2022). "Razzie Awards: Bruce Willis Bags His Own Category for 8 Bad Performances in One Year". The Wrap. Archived from the original on February 7, 2022. Retrieved February 7, 2022.

 Shoard, Catherine (March 30, 2022). "Bruce Willis to retire from acting due to aphasia diagnosis". The Guardian. Archived from the original on April 1, 2022. Retrieved March 30, 2022.

 Haring, Bruce (March 31, 2022). "Razzie Awards Retract Bruce Willis Worst Performance Category After His Aphasia Reveal". Deadline. Archived from the original on March 31, 2022. Retrieved April 1, 2022.

 Kusiak, Lindsay (May 22, 2022). "YouTube Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan". ScreenRant. Archived from the original on September 14, 2022. Retrieved September 14, 2022.

 Kois, Dan (September 7, 2022). "How We Should Remember Bruce Willis". Slate. Archived from the original on September 13, 2022. Retrieved September 14, 2022.

 Rosenbloom, Alli (February 16, 2023). "Bruce Willis' family shares an update on his health and new diagnosis". CNN. Archived from the original on February 16, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2023.

 Alsharif, Mirna (February 18, 2023). "Bruce Willis has frontotemporal dementia. These are the disease's symptoms". NBC News. Archived from the original on June 13, 2023. Retrieved June 13, 2023.

 Rogers, Sandee; LaMotte, Kristen (February 17, 2023). "Bruce Willis has a progressive brain condition you may not have heard of". CNN. Archived from the original on February 17, 2023. Retrieved February 17, 2023.

 Hirwani, Peony (March 20, 2023). "Bruce Willis's wife Emma shares tearful message to fans on actor's birthday". The Independent. Archived from the original on March 21, 2023. Retrieved March 22, 2023.

 Ambinder, Marc (November 18, 2016). "How Donald Trump will retrofit Midtown Manhattan as a presidential getaway". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 30, 2019. Retrieved November 2, 2018.

 Abelson, Max (November 5, 2007). "Bruce Willis Pays $4.26 M. for Trump Enemy's Condo". The New York Observer. Archived from the original on February 11, 2009. Retrieved May 10, 2009.

 Fleming, Michael (November 12, 2002). "Willis held 'Hostage'". Variety. Retrieved May 10, 2009.[dead link]

 Martinson, Jane; Vikram Dodd (August 18, 1999). "Planet Hollywood crashes to earth". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on November 5, 2013. Retrieved May 10, 2009.

 "Stars like Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone endorse Planet Hollywood". The Economic Times. Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. September 11, 2011. Archived from the original on June 23, 2018. Retrieved June 22, 2018.

 Baubeau, Amelie and David Kesmodel (December 23, 2009). "Bruce Willis Sees Spirits in Equity Deal With Belvedere". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on August 14, 2018. Retrieved August 3, 2017.

 "Bruce Willis Biography". biography.com. Archived from the original on June 3, 2010. Retrieved June 7, 2010.

 Hennen, Emily (December 31, 2013). "59 Famous People Who Are Left-Handed". BuzzFeed. Archived from the original on June 5, 2019. Retrieved October 19, 2015.

 David, Mark (March 7, 2019). "Bruce Willis and Emma Heming Buy Brand New Brentwood Mansion". Archived from the original on September 29, 2019. Retrieved April 8, 2020.

 "Baby Girl Is a Rumer". Gainesville Sun. August 18, 1988. Archived from the original on October 30, 2020. Retrieved May 20, 2020.

 "Demi Moore Has Her Baby". The Philadelphia Inquirer. July 22, 1991. Archived from the original on November 20, 2018.

 "It's Another Girl for Demi, Bruce". The Vindicator. Youngstown, Ohio. February 5, 1994. Archived from the original on October 30, 2020. Retrieved May 20, 2020.

 "Willis, Moore Welcome Daughter Tallulah Belle". Deseret News. Salt Lake City, Utah. February 6, 1994. Archived from the original on April 22, 2020. Retrieved October 19, 2020. Actors Bruce Willis and Demi Moore have a new daughter, Tallulah Belle, born Thursday [February 3, 1994]

 Gliatto, Tom (July 13, 1998). "Dreams Die Hard". People. Archived from the original on September 8, 2015. Retrieved September 26, 2012.

 "That's a Wrap". People. November 6, 2000. Archived from the original on January 6, 2016. Retrieved March 30, 2022.

 "Demi and Bruce get a divorce in secret". Free Online Library. Archived from the original on July 27, 2020. Retrieved April 8, 2020.

 Davis, Simon (October 26, 2000). "Moore and Willis are divorced". Archived from the original on January 10, 2022. Retrieved April 8, 2020 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.

 Oldenburg, Ann (September 27, 2006). "Changing of the 'Guardian'". USA Today. Archived from the original on May 22, 2010. Retrieved September 30, 2006.

 "Bruce Willis Married to Super Model Emma heming". Archived from the original on October 11, 2009. Retrieved April 11, 2009.

 Leonard, Elizabeth (April 2, 2012). "Bruce Willis and Emma Heming welcome a Daughter". People. Archived from the original on March 6, 2019. Retrieved March 6, 2019.

 "Bruce Willis' Wife Emma Heming-Willis Gives Birth, Couple Welcomes Second Girl, Baby Evelyn Penn". Us Weekly. May 7, 2014. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved March 6, 2019.

 Smith, Leah N. (May 29, 2002). "Bruce Willis Moonlights as Off-Screen Hero with Cookie Donation". USS John F. Kennedy Public Affairs. Archived from the original on November 18, 2007. Retrieved January 12, 2013.

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 "Bush and Cheney head toward Philadelphia as party vanguard makes preparations". CNN. July 28, 2000. Archived from the original on February 10, 2009. Retrieved May 10, 2009.

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 West, Kevin (June 24, 2007). "A Big Ride of a Life". USA Weekend. Archived from the original on January 18, 2010. Retrieved May 10, 2009.

 Roach, Mary (February 13, 2000). "Being Bruce Willis". USA Weekend. Archived from the original on January 18, 2010. Retrieved May 10, 2009.

 "Willis Is Mad As Hell..." MSN Movies. February 24, 2006. Archived from the original on April 25, 2006. Retrieved May 10, 2009.

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 Mcdevitt, Caitlin (May 22, 2012). "Bruce Willis trash-talks Mitt Romney". Politico. Archived from the original on November 25, 2022. Retrieved November 25, 2022.

 "Golden Apple Awards (1987)". IMDb. Archived from the original on August 18, 2020. Retrieved September 26, 2018.

 Silverman, Stephen M. (February 12, 2002). "For Bruce Willis, Award Is a Drag". People. Retrieved June 20, 2007.

 "President, Mrs. Bush & Bruce Willis Announce Adoption Initiative". whitehouse.gov. July 23, 2002. Archived from the original on July 25, 2002. Retrieved May 10, 2009.

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 "New Jersey Hall of Fame – 2011 Inductees". New Jersey Hall of Fame. April 9, 2014. Archived from the original on April 21, 2015. Retrieved April 13, 2015.

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External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bruce Willis.

Wikiquote has quotations related to Bruce Willis.

Bruce Willis at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata

Bruce Willis at the Internet Broadway Database Edit this at Wikidata

Bruce Willis at the Internet Off-Broadway Database Edit this at Wikidata

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Bruce Willis at the TCM Movie Database Edit this at Wikidata

Bruce Willis interview with KVUE in 1988 about Die Hard from Texas Archive of the Moving Image

Awards for Bruce Willis

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Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

1954–1975

Donald O'Connor (1954)Danny Thomas (1955)Phil Silvers (1956)Robert Young (1957)Robert Young (1958)Raymond Burr (1959)Robert Stack (1960)Raymond Burr (1961)E. G. Marshall (1962)E. G. Marshall (1963)Dick Van Dyke (1964)Leonard Bernstein / Lynn Fontanne / Alfred Lunt / Barbra Streisand / Dick Van Dyke (1965)Bill Cosby (1966)Bill Cosby (1967)Bill Cosby (1968)Carl Betz (1969)Robert Young (1970)Hal Holbrook (1971)Peter Falk (1972)Richard Thomas (1973)Telly Savalas (1974)Robert Blake (1975)

1976–2000

Peter Falk (1976)James Garner (1977)Ed Asner (1978)Ron Leibman (1979)Ed Asner (1980)Daniel J. Travanti (1981)Daniel J. Travanti (1982)Ed Flanders (1983)Tom Selleck (1984)William Daniels (1985)William Daniels (1986)Bruce Willis (1987)Richard Kiley (1988)Carroll O'Connor (1989)Peter Falk (1990)James Earl Jones (1991)Christopher Lloyd (1992)Tom Skerritt (1993)Dennis Franz (1994)Mandy Patinkin (1995)Dennis Franz (1996)Dennis Franz (1997)Andre Braugher (1998)Dennis Franz (1999)James Gandolfini (2000)

2001–present

James Gandolfini (2001)Michael Chiklis (2002)James Gandolfini (2003)James Spader (2004)James Spader (2005)Kiefer Sutherland (2006)James Spader (2007)Bryan Cranston (2008)Bryan Cranston (2009)Bryan Cranston (2010)Kyle Chandler (2011)Damian Lewis (2012)Jeff Daniels (2013)Bryan Cranston (2014)Jon Hamm (2015)Rami Malek (2016)Sterling K. Brown (2017)Matthew Rhys (2018)Billy Porter (2019)Jeremy Strong (2020)Josh O'Connor (2021)Lee Jung-jae (2022)Kieran Culkin (2023)

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Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series

1986–2000

Roscoe Lee Browne (1986)John Cleese (1987)Cleavon Little (1989)Jay Thomas (1990)Jay Thomas (1991)No Award (1992)David Clennon (1993)Martin Sheen (1994)Carl Reiner (1995)Tim Conway (1996)Mel Brooks (1997)Mel Brooks (1998)Mel Brooks (1999)Bruce Willis (2000)

2001–present

Derek Jacobi (2001)Anthony LaPaglia (2002)Gene Wilder (2003)John Turturro (2004)Bobby Cannavale (2005)Leslie Jordan (2006)Stanley Tucci (2007)Tim Conway (2008)Justin Timberlake (2009)Neil Patrick Harris (2010)Justin Timberlake (2011)Jimmy Fallon (2012)Bob Newhart (2013)Jimmy Fallon (2014)Bradley Whitford (2015)Peter Scolari (2016)Dave Chappelle (2017)Katt Williams (2018)Luke Kirby (2019)Eddie Murphy (2020)Dave Chappelle (2021)Nathan Lane (2022)Sam Richardson (2023)

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Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy

Bob Newhart (1961)Mickey Rooney (1963)Dean Martin (1966)Dan Dailey (1969)Flip Wilson (1970)Carroll O'Connor (1971)Redd Foxx (1972)Jack Klugman (1973)Alan Alda (1974)Alan Alda (1975)Henry Winkler (1976)Ron Howard / Henry Winkler (1977)Robin Williams (1978)Alan Alda (1979)Alan Alda (1980)Alan Alda (1981)Alan Alda (1982)John Ritter (1983)Bill Cosby (1984)Bill Cosby (1985)Bruce Willis (1986)Dabney Coleman (1987)Michael J. Fox / Judd Hirsch / Richard Mulligan (1988)Ted Danson (1989)Ted Danson (1990)Burt Reynolds (1991)John Goodman (1992)Jerry Seinfeld (1993)Tim Allen (1994)Kelsey Grammer (1995)John Lithgow (1996)Michael J. Fox (1997)Michael J. Fox (1998)Michael J. Fox (1999)Kelsey Grammer (2000)Charlie Sheen (2001)Tony Shalhoub (2002)Ricky Gervais (2003)Jason Bateman (2004)Steve Carell (2005)Alec Baldwin (2006)David Duchovny (2007)Alec Baldwin (2008)Alec Baldwin (2009)Jim Parsons (2010)Matt LeBlanc (2011)Don Cheadle (2012)Andy Samberg (2013)Jeffrey Tambor (2014)Gael García Bernal (2015)Donald Glover (2016)Aziz Ansari (2017)Michael Douglas (2018)Ramy Youssef (2019)Jason Sudeikis (2020)Jason Sudeikis (2021)Jeremy Allen White (2022)Jeremy Allen White (2023)

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Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor

1980s

Neil Diamond – The Jazz Singer (1980)Klinton Spilsbury – The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981)Laurence Olivier – Inchon (1982)Christopher Atkins – A Night in Heaven (1983)Sylvester Stallone – Rhinestone (1984)Sylvester Stallone – Rambo: First Blood Part II and Rocky IV (1985)Prince – Under the Cherry Moon (1986)Bill Cosby – Leonard Part 6 (1987)Sylvester Stallone – Rambo III (1988)William Shatner – Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)

1990s

Andrew Dice Clay – The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990)Kevin Costner – Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)Sylvester Stallone – Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992)Burt Reynolds – Cop and a Half (1993)Kevin Costner – Wyatt Earp (1994)Pauly Shore – Jury Duty (1995)Tom Arnold – Big Bully, Carpool, and The Stupids / Pauly Shore – Bio-Dome (1996)Kevin Costner – The Postman (1997)Bruce Willis – Armageddon, Mercury Rising, and The Siege (1998)Adam Sandler – Big Daddy (1999)

2000s

John Travolta – Battlefield Earth and Lucky Numbers (2000)Tom Green – Freddy Got Fingered (2001)Roberto Benigni (dubbed Godzilla-style by Breckin Meyer) – Pinocchio (2002)Ben Affleck – Daredevil, Gigli, and Paycheck (2003)George W. Bush – Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)Rob Schneider – Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (2005)Marlon Wayans and Shawn Wayans – Little Man (2006)Eddie Murphy – Norbit (2007)Mike Myers – The Love Guru (2008)Jonas Brothers (Joe, Kevin, and Nick) – Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience (2009)

2010s

Ashton Kutcher – Killers and Valentine's Day (2010)Adam Sandler – Jack and Jill and Just Go with It (2011)Adam Sandler – That's My Boy (2012)Jaden Smith – After Earth (2013)Kirk Cameron – Saving Christmas (2014)Jamie Dornan – Fifty Shades of Grey (2015)Dinesh D'Souza – Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party (2016)Tom Cruise – The Mummy (2017)Donald Trump – Death of a Nation and Fahrenheit 11/9 (2018)John Travolta – The Fanatic and Trading Paint (2019)

2020s

Mike Lindell (The "My Pillow Guy") – Absolute Proof (2020/21)LeBron James – Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021)Jared Leto – Morbius (2022)

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Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screenplay

1980s

Bronte Woodard and Allan Carr – Can't Stop the Music (1980)Frank Yablans, Frank Perry, Tracy Hotchner, and Robert Getchell – Mommie Dearest (1981)Robin Moore and Laird Koenig – Inchon (1982)John Kershaw, Shawn Randall, and Ellen Shephard – The Lonely Lady (1983)John Derek – Bolero (1984)Sylvester Stallone, James Cameron, and Kevin Jarre – Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz – Howard the Duck (1986)Jonathan Reynolds and Bill Cosby – Leonard Part 6 (1987)Heywood Gould – Cocktail (1988)Eddie Murphy – Harlem Nights (1989)

1990s

Daniel Waters, James Cappe, and David Arnott – The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990)Steven E. de Souza, Daniel Waters, Bruce Willis, and Robert Kraft – Hudson Hawk (1991)Blake Snyder, William Osborne, and William Davies – Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992)Amy Holden Jones – Indecent Proposal (1993)Tom S. Parker, Jim Jennewein, Steven E. de Souza, and various others – The Flintstones (1994)Joe Eszterhas – Showgirls (1995)Andrew Bergman – Striptease (1996)Eric Roth and Brian Helgeland – The Postman (1997)Joe Eszterhas – An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1998)Jim Thomas, John Thomas, S. S. Wilson, Brent Maddock, Jeffrey Price, and Peter S. Seaman – Wild Wild West (1999)

2000s

Corey Mandell and J. David Shapiro – Battlefield Earth (2000)Tom Green and Derek Harvie – Freddy Got Fingered (2001)George Lucas and Jonathan Hales – Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002)Martin Brest – Gigli (2003)Theresa Rebeck, John Brancato, Michael Ferris, and John Rogers – Catwoman (2004)Jenny McCarthy – Dirty Love (2005)Leora Barish and Henry Bean – Basic Instinct 2 (2006)Jeffrey Hammond – I Know Who Killed Me (2007)Mike Myers and Graham Gordy – The Love Guru (2008)Ehren Kruger, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci – Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)

2010s

M. Night Shyamalan – The Last Airbender (2010)Steve Koren, Adam Sandler, and Ben Zook – Jack and Jill (2011)David Caspe – That's My Boy (2012)Steve Baker, Ricky Blitt, Will Carlough, Tobias Carlson, Jacob Fleisher, Patrik Forsberg, Will Graham, James Gunn, Claes Kjellstrom, Jack Kukoda, Bob Odenkirk, Bill O'Malley, Matthew Alec Portenoy, Greg Pritikin, Rocky Russo, Olle Sarri, Elizabeth Wright Shapiro, Jeremy Sosenko, Jonathan van Tulleken, and Jonas Wittenmark – Movie 43 (2013)Darren Doane and Cheston Hervey – Saving Christmas (2014)Kelly Marcel – Fifty Shades of Grey (2015)Chris Terrio and David S. Goyer – Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)Tony Leondis, Eric Siegel, and Mike White – The Emoji Movie (2017)Niall Leonard – Fifty Shades Freed (2018)Lee Hall and Tom Hooper – Cats (2019)

2020s

Tomasz Klimala, Barbara Białowąs, Tomasz Mandes, and Blanka Lipińska – 365 Days (2020/21)Joe DiPietro and David Bryan – Diana: The Musical (2021)Andrew Dominik – Blonde (2022)

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Hasty Pudding Men of the Year

Bob Hope (1967)Paul Newman (1968)Bill Cosby (1969)Robert Redford (1970)James Stewart (1971)Dustin Hoffman (1972)Jack Lemmon (1973)Peter Falk (1974)Warren Beatty (1975)Robert Blake (1976)Johnny Carson (1977)Richard Dreyfuss (1978)Robert De Niro (1979)Alan Alda (1980)John Travolta (1981)James Cagney (1982)Steven Spielberg (1983)Sean Connery (1984)Bill Murray (1985)Sylvester Stallone (1986)Mikhail Baryshnikov (1987)Steve Martin (1988)Robin Williams (1989)Kevin Costner (1990)Clint Eastwood (1991)Michael Douglas (1992)Chevy Chase (1993)Tom Cruise (1994)Tom Hanks (1995)Harrison Ford (1996)Mel Gibson (1997)Kevin Kline (1998)Samuel L. Jackson (1999)Billy Crystal (2000)Anthony Hopkins (2001)Bruce Willis (2002)Martin Scorsese (2003)Robert Downey Jr. (2004)Tim Robbins (2005)Richard Gere (2006)Ben Stiller (2007)Christopher Walken (2008)James Franco (2009)Justin Timberlake (2010)Jay Leno (2011)Jason Segel (2012)Kiefer Sutherland (2013)Neil Patrick Harris (2014)Chris Pratt (2015)Joseph Gordon-Levitt (2016)Ryan Reynolds (2017)Paul Rudd (2018)Milo Ventimiglia (2019)Ben Platt (2020)Jason Bateman (2022)Bob Odenkirk (2023)Barry Keoghan (2024)

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Categories: Bruce Willis1955 birthsLiving people20th-century American male actors20th-century American male singers20th-century American singers21st-century American male actorsAmerican gun rights activistsAmerican male film actorsAmerican male television actorsAmerican male video game actorsAmerican male voice actorsAmerican private investigatorsAmerican people of German descentBest Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe (television) winnersFilm producers from New JerseyFormer LutheransMale actors from New JerseyMontclair State University alumniMotown artistsOutstanding Performance by a Lead Actor in a Drama Series Primetime Emmy Award winnersPeople from Birkenfeld (district)People from Carneys Point Township, New JerseyPeople from Hell's Kitchen, ManhattanPeople from Penns Grove, New JerseyPenns Grove High School alumniSingers from New JerseyTelevision producers from New JerseyPeople with frontotemporal dementia

  • Condition: New
  • Sub-Type: Die Hard
  • Options: Retired Players
  • Type: Film
  • Surname Initial: R
  • Signed: Yes
  • Object: Signed Cards
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: United Kingdom
  • Certification: Pre-Printed

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