Saturday, December 4, 2010

xmas story


hey folks im back.......:)
itz time to lookup wid new postings.... so i jst wana start my new topic for this new posting with "Xmas".. itz the month of xmas and the world is preparing to celebrate the xmas...."the Birth day of Jesus christ"... so i just wana specify some issues related to xmas... mainly the "history of xmas".... the date of jesus christ's Birth".... "what's the reason for decorating a tree during xmas"..... and the most intresting "Santa Clause".........
Hope these topics will help you to understand the history of "Xmas"... come lets share the Xmas time.......... By knowing itz history!!




THE HISTORY OF "CHRISTMAS"
:

Christmas, always associated with Christ’s birth literally means”Christ’s mass”. In general understanding, the story of Christmas begins with the birth of a babe in Bethlehem. It has been derived from the middle english term Christemasse. In early Greek versions of the New Testament, the letter ? (chi), is the first letter of Christ. Since the mid-16th century ?, or the similar Roman letter X, has been used as an abbreviation for Christ.[8] Hence, Xmas is often used as an abbreviation for Christmas.
Christmas History goes way back to middle of winter, It is believed that Christ was born on the 25th, although the exact month is unknown. December was likely chosen so the Catholic Church could compete with rival pagan rituals held at that time of year and because of its closeness with the winter solstice in the Northern hemisphere, a traditional time of celebration among many ancient cultures.

Xmas Date..............(December or January???)

"While most countries celebrate Christmas on December 25 each year,
some Eastern Orthodox national churches... celebrate the Great Feast
of the Nativity on January 7... On the other hand Armenian Apostolic
Church celebrates Christmas on January 6."
‐ Christmas (subheading: Orthodox churches), Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas)
"by the end of the third century Christmas in Rome was held on
December 25, which coincided with a major pagan feast, while in the
Eastern churches it was observed on January 6. The Armenian Church
has maintained that ancient tradition to this day, whereas the Greekspeaking
Christian world switched to the Latin tradition at the end of
the fourth century."
‐ Christmas, The Armenian Church (http://www.armenianchurch.net/worship/christmas/index.html)

Which Date is Correct One???
* Right off the bat, we see that there's already some sort of
discrepancy regarding the dates that are observed.
*Most of the world celebrates Christmas on December 25th
on our standard Gregorian calendar.
*The Eastern Orthodox churches also celebrate it on
December 25th, but on the traditional Julian Calendar,
which falls on January 7th on our standard Gregorian
calendar.
* Then there's the Armenian Church that still celebrates
Christmas on January 6th, claiming that the date was
changed to December 25th in the late 4th century.
........Let's try to find out which date is actually the correct one.

"There is no contemporary evidence of the exact date of Jesus' birth."
‐ Jesus, Wikipedia, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus)
*Unfortunately, there does not seem to be any evidence that either
December 25th or January 6th was actually the day that Jesus was
born on.
*The biblical account of the nativity is silent regarding the date and
most scholars agree that the exact date of Jesus' birth is not known.
* The basis to suggesting these date are based upon "Julias and Gregorian Claenders"...
............ Ofcourse there is no proof for the exact date...... But most of the people celebrates on dec25th only....... here date is not a matter but "Worship of the Christ" is the important thing..... Hope atleast people worship him...... by following his main commandment " LOVE every one... just like YOU ARE LOVING YOUR SELF".........!!
The most important thing related the "Xmas" is the STAR........ Star guided the wisemen to recognise the Kiing "The Messaiah"...... so just look upon the thing "Xmas Star"

XMAS STAR:

The stars that appear in the sky today are the same ones that were there two thousand years ago. Was there a nova at the time of Jesus' birth? The exact time of His birth is not known, but astronomers cannot place a new star appearance anywhere near the possible time. Could it have been a shooting star? Again, the astronomers say it was not likely. A meteor lasts only a few seconds or minutes at best. The wise men followed the star for weeks looking for Jesus. We can rule out comets as well. They can be seen by the naked eye for a week or months. But modern astronomers know which comets were close enough to earth hundreds and thousands of years ago and there was no comet visible to humans around the time of Christ's birth.

Some star gazers suggest that if we move the birth of Jesus to the springtime of 6 B.C., we can attribute the star to the time the planets Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn were close together in the heavens. They formed a triangle in the group of stars known as Pisces.

The wise men, themselves, were astrologers and studied the stars and planets and knew, according to Jewish rabbis, of the triangle and that it had appeared before the birth of Moses. Perhaps they interpreted it as a sign of a great event in the land of the Jewish people. This may have been the star of Bethlehem. Pisces became the special constellation of the Hebrew people.

Still, many people prefer to believe that the strange star did appear, and that it was simply a miracle and throughout the world today, the Christian holiday has usually begun with the appearance of the first star of Christmas Eve.

SOME INTERPRETATIONS ABOUT XMAS STAR:

Dr Christopher Walker decodes Ancient Babylonian clay tablets stored in the British Museum. These include the first ever astronomical records ever kept so they provide vital clues to cosmic activity occurring about 2,000 years ago.

Further historical evidence of his momentous event includes ancient coins minted in Antioch.

Native Americans and Chinese astronomers recorded a cosmic phenomenon in 1054. Was it the same one Johann Kepler saw in 1604?

Star of Bethlehem: Behind the Myth airs on ABC1 on Thursday, 17 December 2009, at 8.35pm. This BBC documentary was produced by Executive Producer Anthony Geffen and directed by Tim Walker.

ITZ THE STAR THAT LEADS THE MANKIND TO THE LIGHT..... THE WAY OF LOVE.... THAT THE JESUS HAS PREACHED...... ITZ ABOUT FOLLOWING THE WAY OF LIGHT AND LOVE........ THAT'S THE TRUTH THAT THE XMAS STAR PROCLAIMS TO THE WORLD!!

THE OTHER INTRESTING ASPECT RELATED TO XMAS IS........ THE WISEMEN GENERALLY WE CALLED AS "MAGGI"..... LETS TRY TO LOOK UP THIS THING.......

MAGGI:


The "wise men from the East" who came to adore Jesus in Bethlehem (Matthew 2).

The subject will be treated in this article under the two divisions:

I. Who the Magi were;
II. The Time and Circumstances of their Visit.

Who the magi were

Non-Biblical evidence

We may form a conjecture by non-Biblical evidence of a probable meaning to the word magoi. Herodotus (I, ci) is our authority for supposing that the Magi were the sacred caste of the Medes. They provided priests for Persia, and, regardless of dynastic vicissitudes, ever kept up their dominating religious influence. To the head of this caste, Nergal Sharezar, Jeremias gives the title Rab-Mag, "Chief Magus" (Jeremiah 39:3, 39:13, in Hebrew original — Septuagint and Vulgate translations are erroneous here). After the downfall of Assyrian and Babylonian power, the religion of the Magi held sway in Persia. Cyrus completely conquered the sacred caste; his son Cambyses severely repressed it. The Magians revolted and set up Gaumata, their chief, as King of Persia under the name of Smerdis. He was, however, murdered (521 B.C.), and Darius became king. This downfall of the Magi was celebrated by a national Persian holiday called magophonia (Her., III, lxiii, lxxiii, lxxix). Still the religious influence of this priestly caste continued throughout the rule of the Achaemenian dynasty in Persia (Ctesias, "Persica", X-XV); and is not unlikely that at the time of the birth of Christ it was still flourishing under the Parthian dominion. Strabo (XI, ix, 3) says that the Magian priests formed one of the two councils of the Parthian Empire.

Biblical evidence

The word magoi often has the meaning of "magician", in both Old and New Testaments (see Acts 8:9; 13:6, 8; also the Septuagint of Daniel 1:20; 2:2, 2:10, 2:27; 4:4; 5:7, 5:11, 5:15). St. Justin (Tryph., lxxviii), Origen (Cels., I, lx), St. Augustine (Serm. xx, De epiphania) and St. Jerome (In Isa., xix, 1) find the same meaning in the second chapter of Matthew, though this is not the common interpretation.

Patristic evidence

No Father of the Church holds the Magi to have been kings. Tertullian ("Adv. Marcion.", III, xiii) says that they were wellnigh kings (fere reges), and so agrees with what we have concluded from non-Biblical evidence. The Church, indeed, in her liturgy, applies to the Magi the words: "The kings of Tharsis and the islands shall offer presents; the kings of the Arabians and of Saba shall bring him gifts: and all the kings of the earth shall adore him" (Psalm 71:10). But this use of the text in reference to them no more proves that they were kings than it traces their journey from Tharsis, Arabia, and Saba. As sometimes happens, a liturgical accommodation of a text has in time come to be looked upon by some as an authentic interpretation thereof. Neither were they magicians: the good meaning of magoi, though found nowhere else in the Bible, is demanded by the context of the second chapter of St. Matthew. These Magians can have been none other than members of the priestly caste already referred to. The religion of the Magi was fundamentally that of Zoroaster and forbade sorcery; their astrology and skill in interpreting dreams were occasions of their finding Christ. (See THEOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF THE AVESTA.)

The Gospel narrative omits to mention the number of the Magi, and there is no certain tradition in this matter. Some Fathers speak of three Magi; they are very likely influenced by the number of gifts. In the Orient, tradition favours twelve. Early Christian art is no consistent witness:

  • a painting in the cemetery of Sts. Peter and Marcellinus shows two;
  • one in the Lateran Museum, three;
  • one in the cemetery of Domitilla, four;
  • a vase in the Kircher Museum, eight (Marucchi, "Eléments d'archéologie chrétienne", Paris, 1899, I 197).

The names of the Magi are as uncertain as is their number. Among the Latins, from the seventh century, we find slight variants of the names, Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar; the Martyrology mentions St. Gaspar, on the first, St. Melchior, on the sixth, and St. Balthasar, on the eleventh of January (Acta SS., I, 8, 323, 664). The Syrians have Larvandad, Hormisdas, Gushnasaph, etc.; the Armenians, Kagba, Badadilma, etc. (Cf. Acta Sanctorum, May, I, 1780). Passing over the purely legendary notion that they represented the three families which are descended from Noah, it appears they all came from "the east" (Matthew 2:1, 2, 9). East of Palestine, only ancient Media, Persia, Assyria, and Babylonia had a

MAGI THE WISEMEN FROM EAST WERE THE PEOPLE... DECLARES JESUS CHRIST AS THE KING AND THE MESSAIAH TO THE WORLD........... THE LITERAL MEANING OF THIS KING IS " THE KING OF THE KINGDOM........ CALLED LOVE AND PEACE"

THE OTHER INTRESTING SEGMENT OF THIS XMAS IS "XMAS TREE"....... WHY THE PEOPLE IS GOING TO DECORATE A TREE DURING XMAS...... MOST OF THE PEOPLE SAYS...... "I DONT KNOW"....... BUT ITS A GUDTHING TO KNOW ABOUT THIS TRADITION BEFORE SETTING UP A TREE............

XMAS TREE:


To Millions the world over Christmas brings forth a time of Joy and Peace. This is symbolized by no other than the gaily decorated Christmas tree! It certainly is not a religious symbol and has never been so through out history!

Every festival what ever the reason behind it has a key feature which identifies it. This is in fact is the sole main pivotal source of fun. Take Halloween for example. It is the Pumpkin with its associated ghoulish features. During Thanks Giving the centre piece of the festival becomes the Turkey. And the list goes on and on. But during the greatest of all festivals, the Christmas, it is the Christmas tree in spite of the numerous other attractions it has. As children this singular feature showered you with many blessings of pleasure and so many years after you still find the same joy in passing it on now to your children.

True the sole spirit of Christmas is the message of peace and salvation the prince of peace brought to a world of sinners. But what better way there is to share this message with your loved ones than through love, fun, giving and forgiving symbolized by the Christmas tree!

Do you remember the days with the onset of the festive season when you mom would go down to the basement, take out the boxes that were brought there after the last Christmas for storage. Now dust covered she would clean it, perhaps with your Dad and the whole family helping, then would carry the dismantled Tree up to the living area and set it up. The joy of working together, the little ones running about to give a helping hand (as they believed!), watching it finally coming up to its full height. Decorating it with strings of tiny electric bulbs, mirrored balls, glittery foil decorations, figurines, shiny stars and what not. But the crowing glory was when mom would take the largest star which was waiting its turn all this while, climb up the ladder and fix it at the top. The star which would shine and convey the message of peace to everyone around from the top of the Christmas tree!

Now every one knew its only days for the seasonal joys least of which would not be what Santa is expected to bring all the way from the land of perennial snow.

Origin

According to Christian lore, the Christmas tree is associated with St Boniface and the German town of Geismar. Sometime in St Boniface's lifetime (c. 672-754) he cut down the tree of Thor in order to disprove the legitimacy of the Norse gods to the local German tribe. St. Boniface saw a fir tree growing in the roots of the old oak. Taking this as a sign of the Christian faith, he said "...let Christ be at the center of your households..." using the fir tree as a symbol of Christianity.

The tradition of the Christmas tree as it is today known is fairly young. It was established by Martin Luther as a Protestant counterpart to the Catholic Nativity scene. Luther established the Christmas tree as a symbol of the Tree of LifeGarden of Eden.

It is said that the custom of having a decorated Christmas tree originated in the sixteenth century in the country now we call Latvia. No one knows for certain. But it is true that during the period of early Christianity there was no such practice! Over the centuries it spread over the other Christian kingdoms. Certainly the decorations would not have been what we use today and the trees would not have been of any synthetic material as now common. The fir trees used would have been found from the neighborhood it self. Cutting the branches down, dragging it to their homes and setting it up would have brought the sense of joy of working together, rekindling the spirit of Christmas the same way as we know today though so many centuries after.

The Christmas tree and the tradition of Santa Claus go hand in hand. You would certainly remember the excitement you experienced while waiting for Santa to bring the little Gifts you wrote to him about weeks ago. The ecstasy of seeing what you got would be beyond comprehension as an adult today. But the ambience of Christmas Tree would not be different today to what you felt then many years ago.

The times have changed when the fir tree came from the strip of forest in the neighborhood. Today only a lucky few get the real feeling of a natural Christmas tree. The others who may despise synthetic and non sustainable material too may have to go for the cheap Plastic Trees out of necessity. Regrettably the environmental impact these will be known only years later. One good thing about synthetic trees apart from the price is that they are recyclable.

AND LAST...........OF COURSE NOT LEAST IS THE MOST FAVOURITE AND IMPORTANT THING RELATED TO XMAS IS NONE OTHER THAN "SANTA CLAUSE"...... EVERY ONE LOVES AND ENJOYS THIS PARTICULAR ISSUE........ BUT WHAT IS THE RELATION OF SANTACLAUSE WITH XMAS......... WHOZ DIS SANTA CLAUSE IS...........

SANTA CLAUSE:


Everybody who likes to be given presents knows Santa Claus. Everyone easily recognizes that bearded man dressed in red clothes with white collar, sleeves and belt. Every child knows of his generosity, and all the children use to impatiently await his arrival on Christmas Day, when their stockings hung at the fireplace, become full of Santa’s gifts.

The Evolution of Santa Claus

The legend of Santa Claus originates from a 4th century bishop named Saint Nicholas of Myra. Famous for his generosity to the poor in what is present day Turkey, Saint Nicholas is said to have saved three impoverished daughters from slavery by providing for their dowries. Saint Nicholas is portrayed as a bearded bishop in canonical robes, and his feast day is celebrated on the anniversary of his death, December 6.


Toward the end of the 18th century, Dutch settlers brought the legend of Saint Nicholas, known to them as Sinter Klaas, to America. Legend has it that Sinter Klaas rode a white horse and left gifts in wooden shoes. This story merged with the British character Father Christmas, who dates back at least as far as the 17th century. Sinter Klaas was eventually Americanized to “Santa Claus.”


The rituals and fantasy surrounding Santa Claus became fixed in the modern American imagination with the publication of the poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” by Clement Moore in 1823. Better known as “The Night Before Christmas,” the poem established Santa´s physical appearance (plump and jolly), his mode of transportation (a sleigh pulled by eight reindeer), and his method of toy delivery (down the chimney) for generations to come.

Santa Claus Biography

Bishop, Roman Catholic saint. Nicholas of Myra was born sometime around AD 280 in Patara, Lycia, an ancient area that is part of present-day Turkey. He lost both of his parents as a young man and reportedly used his inheritance to help the poor and sick. He later served as bishop of Myra, a city that is called now Demre.

There are many legends about Saint Nicholas. One story tells how he helped three poor sisters. Their father did not have enough money to pay their dowries and thought of selling them into servitude. Three times, Saint Nicholas secretly went to their house at night and put a bag of money inside. The man used the money so that one of his daughters could marry. On the third visit, the man saw St. Nicholas and thanked him for his kindness. He also reportedly saved three men who were falsely imprisoned and sentenced to death.

Several sources state St. Nicholas is believed to have died on December 6, 345. Over the years, stories of his miracles and work for the poor spread to other parts of the world. He became known as the protector of children and sailors and was associated with gift-giving. He was a popular saint in Europe until the time of the Reformation in the 1500s, a religious movement that led to the creation of Protestantism, which turned away from the practice of honoring saints. St. Nicholas, however, remained an important figure in Holland.

The Dutch continued to celebrate the feast day of Saint Nicholas, December 6. It was a common practice for children to put out their shoes the night before. In the morning, they would discover the gifts that Saint Nicholas had left there for them. Dutch immigrants brought St. Nicholas—known to them as Sint Nikolaas or by his nickname Sinter Klaas—and his gift-giving ways to America in the 1700s.

In America, St. Nicholas went through many transformations and eventually Sinter Klaas became Santa Claus. Instead of giving gifts on December 6, he became a part of the Christmas holiday. In the 1820 poem “An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas” by Clement Clarke Moore, he is described as a jolly, heavy man who comes down the chimney to leave presents for deserving children and drives a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer. The cartoonist Thomas Nast added to the St. Nicholas legend with an 1881 drawing of Santa as wearing a red suit with white fur trim. Once a kind, charitable bishop, St. Nicholas had become the Santa Claus we know today.

THATS THE TOPICS RELATED TO XMAS......... HOPE YOU WILL LIKE THIS HISTORY.... JUST TRIED TO COVER THE TOPICS RELATED TO XMAS....... HOPE DONE WELL.... FINALLY ITS A FESTIVAL OF LOVE...... ITS ALSO NECESSARY TO REMEMBER WE CAN CELEBRATE THIS FESTIVAL BY FOLLOWING JESUS CHRIST....... BY LOVING EACH OTHER.... LOVING THE WORLD....... MERRY XMAS FOLKS.......HAVE A GRT CHRISTMAS!!

YOURS

HOMOSAPIEN



1 comment:

spyde said...

why do u post all christian stories,dont u think that u r in religious community