Christmas Customs and Origins

Archive Report

The Christmas Celebration

American Christmas: Sacred and Profane

Christmas, with all its familiar sights and sounds, is nearly upon us. Holiday shoppers are thronging the stores, buying presents for families and friends. Christmas trees are stacked up in normally vacant corner lots. Carols are filling the airwaves. Homes and public places are decked with greenery and gaily colored lights. And hundreds of Santas greet us on street corners, in toy departments and from glossy magazine ads.

In this flurry of preparation, it is easy to lose sight of the origins of the holiday, just what it is that most people will celebrate Dec. 25. For Christian believers the day commemorates the birth of a child in Bethlehem who was named Jesus and proclaimed the Messiah, or Christ ...

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