|
|
General
Christmas Facts
Page - 1 of 4.
- The common abbreviation for Christmas to Xmas is derived from
the Greek alphabet. X is letter Chi, which is the first
letter of Christ's name in the Greek alphabet.
- Christmas Carols were banned by Oliver Cromwell, in England
between 1649 and 1660. Cromwell thought that Christmas should be a
very solemn day so he banned carols and parties. The only
celebration was by a sermon and a prayer service.
- In 1643, the British Parliament officially abolishes the
celebration of Christmas.
- The Puritans in America tried to make Thanksgiving Day the most
important annual festival instead of Christmas.
- Silent Night was written in 1818,
by an Austrian priest Joseph Mohr. He was told the day before
Christmas that the church organ was broken and would not be
prepared in time for Christmas Eve. He was saddened by this and
could not think of Christmas without music, so he wanted to write
a carol that could be sung by choir to guitar music. He sat down
and wrote three stanzas. Later that night the people in the little
Austrian Church sang "Stille Nacht" for the first
time.
- St Francis of Assisi introduced Christmas Carols to formal
church services.
- Telesphorus, the second Bishop of Rome (125-136 AD) declared
that public Church services should be held to celebrate "The
Nativity of our Lord and Savior." In 320 AD, Pope Julius I
and other religious leaders specified 25 December as the official
date of the birth of Jesus Christ.
- 26 December was traditionally known as St Stephen's Day, but is
more commonly known as Boxing Day. This expression came about
because money was collected in alms-boxes placed in churches
during the festive season. This money was then distributed during
to the poor and needy after Christmas.
Melbourne, Australia has a sporting Boxing Day tradition. The
Melbourne Cricket Ground hosts a Cricket test match. Sometimes
this attracts 90, 000 spectators. Cricket is Australia's premier
Summer sport.
- The first printed reference to Christmas trees appeared in
Germany in 1531.
|
SiliconValley News & Reviews |
SiliconValley
Community Center
Contact
Us | Home | Help
| Feed Back
Copyright © 1999 SiliconValley Community Leaders. All rights reserved.
|
