Christmas : Most Celebrated Festival of The World

Santa Riding on his slage with two Flying Unicorns

Santa Claus Ready For Journey 
3D Picture of Santa created by Me (Manash Kundu) in 3D Max

Christmas:

December 25 had already been identified by Sextus Julius Africanus in AD 221 as the day on which Christmas would be celebrated, and it was celebrated in Rome by AD 336. During the Middle Ages Christmas became extremely popular, and various liturgical celebrations of the holiday were established. The practice of exchanging gifts had begun by the 15th century. The Yule log, cakes, and fir trees derive from German and Celtic customs. Christmas today is regarded as a family festival with gifts brought by Santa Claus .As an increasingly secular festival, it has come to be celebrated by many non-Christians.

Picture of Birth of Jesus Christ

Christmas  is an annual commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ and a widely observed holiday, celebrated generally on December 25 by billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it closes the Advent season and initiates the twelve days of Christmastide. Christmas is a civil holiday in many of the world's nations. is celebrated by an increasing number of non-Christians, and is an integral part of the Christmas and holiday season.

 Birth of Jesus Christ in Displaying in Idol Form in Calcutta

According to popular tradition, the birth took place in a stable, surrounded by farm animals. A manger (that is, a feeding trough) is mentioned in Luke 2:7, where it states Mary "wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn" (KJV); and "She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them" (NIV). Shepherds from the fields surrounding Bethlehem were told of the birth by an angel, and were the first to see the child. Popular tradition also holds that three kings or wise men (named Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar) visited the infant Jesus in the manger, though this does not strictly follow the Biblical account. 

Idol of Jesus Christ in The Church of Calcutta, West Bengal ,India

The Gospel of Matthew instead describes a visit by an unspecified number of magi, or astrologers, sometime after Jesus was born while the family was living in a house (Matthew 2:11), who brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the young child Jesus. The visitors were said to be following a mysterious star, commonly known as the Star of Bethlehem, believing it to announce the birth of a king of the Jews. The commemoration of this visit, the Feast of Epiphany celebrated on January 6, is the formal end of the Christmas season in some churches.

Church of Calcutta, West Bengal ,India decorated during Christmas

The precise year of Jesus' birth, which some historians place between 7 and 2 BC, is unknown. Indeed his birth is mentioned in only two of the Canonical Gospels and omitted entirely from the Hebrew Gospel.  By the early-to-mid 4th century, the Western Christian Church had placed Christmas on December 25,a date later adopted in the East.The date of Christmas may have initially been chosen to correspond with the day exactly nine months after early Christians believed Jesus to have been conceived, as well as the date of the southern solstice (i.e., the Roman winter solstice), with a sun connection being possible because Christians consider Jesus to be the "Sun of righteousness" .

Church of Calcutta, West Bengal ,India decorated during Christmas

The original date of the celebration in Eastern Christianity was January 6, in connection with Epiphany, and that is still the date of the celebration for the Armenian Apostolic Church and in Armenia, where it is a public holiday. As of 2012, there is a difference of 13 days between the modern Gregorian calendar and the older Julian calendar. Those who continue to use the Julian calendar or its equivalents thus celebrate December 25 and January 6 on what for the majority of the world is January 7 and January 19. For this reason, Ethiopia, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, the Republic of Macedonia, and the Republic of Moldova celebrate Christmas on what in the Gregorian calendar is January 7; all the Greek Orthodox Churches celebrate Christmas on December 25


Christmas tree:

Evergreen tree, usually decorated with lights and ornaments, to celebrate the Christmas season.

3D Picture of ChristmasTrees created by Me (Manash Kundu) in 3D Max

The use of evergreen trees, wreaths, and garlands as symbols of eternal life was common among the ancient Egyptians, Chinese, and Hebrews. The Christian symbol can be traced to a German medieval play about Adam and Eve, which included the “paradise tree,” hung with apples. The modern, decorated version was widespread among German Lutherans by the 18th century. Brought to North America by German settlers in the 17th century, it had become widespread there by the mid-19th century. It was popularized in 19th-century England by Victoria's consort, the German Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg.


Christmas carol:

Popular song, usually of religious joy, associated with a season, especially Christmas.

It typically alternates verses with a repeated refrain or chorus. The carol originated in medieval England, with texts in English or Latin or both, and it was often associated with dancing and processions. The French noël, the German Weihnachtslied, and the Spanish villancico can also be regarded as carols.


Nicholas, Saint or Santa Claus:

Santa Wishing You Merry Christmas on The Slage With Two Flying Unicorns.

 

3D Picture of Santa created by Me (Manash Kundu) in 3D Max

Probably bishop of Myra, he is reputed to have provided dowries for three poor girls to save them from prostitution and to have restored to life three children who had been chopped up by a butcher. 

3D Picture of Santa created by Me (Manash Kundu) in 3D Max

He became the patron saint of Russia and Greece, of charitable fraternities and guilds, and of children, sailors, unmarried girls, merchants, and pawnbrokers. After the Reformation his cult disappeared in all the Protestant countries of Europe except Holland, where he was known as Sinterklaas. Dutch colonists brought the tradition to New Amsterdam (now New York City), and English-speaking Americans adopted him as Santa Claus, who is believed to live at the North Pole and to bring gifts to children at Christmas.

3D Picture of Santa created by Me (Manash Kundu) in 3D Max

Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas and simply "Santa", is a figure with legendary, mythical, historical and folkloric origins who, in many western cultures, brings gifts to the homes of the good children during the late evening and overnight hours of Christmas Eve, December 24. The modern figure was derived from the Dutch figure of Sinterklaas, which, in turn, was part of its basis in hagiographical tales concerning the historical figure of Christian bishop and gift giver Saint Nicholas. A nearly identical story is attributed by Greek Orthodox and Byzantine Christian folklore to Saint Basil of Caesarea. Basil's feast day on January 1 is considered the time of exchanging gifts in Greece.

3D Picture of Santa created by Me (Manash Kundu) in 3D Max

Santa Claus is generally depicted as a portly, joyous, white-bearded man - sometimes with spectacles - wearing a red coat with white collar and cuffs, white-cuffed red trousers, and black leather belt and boots (images of him rarely have a beard with no moustache).

3D Picture of Santa created by Me (Manash Kundu) in 3D Max

According to a tradition which can be traced to the 1820s, Santa Claus lives at the North Pole, with a large number of magical elves, and nine (originally eight) flying reindeer. Since the 20th century, in an idea popularized by the 1934 song "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", Santa Claus has been believed to make a list of children throughout the world, categorizing them according to their behavior ("naughty" or "nice") and to deliver presents, including toys, and candy to all of the well-behaved children in the world, and sometimes coal to the naughty children, on the single night of Christmas Eve.

3D Picture of Santa created by Me (Manash Kundu) in 3D Max

Santa Riding on his slage with two Flying Unicorns