Christmas Eve is definitely in the air as it's getting closer to the 25th. Would you like to be told the history of Christmas Eve? Do you want fun ideas that you can do during Christmas Eve? You're in the right place. This post will tell you all you need to know about what brought about the Christmas Eve celebration.
What Christmas Eve?
Christmas Eve is the evening or the day before Christmas. Christmas is the festival of celebration for the birth of Jesus as it is believed Jesus was born at the midnight of the 25th of December. Its significance has its roots in this belief thus making it a widely celebrated and partial holiday in preparation and anticipation for Christmas.
Christmas Eve is celebrated every December 24 and it is one of the best eve celebrations of the year. It reunites families and friends and makes people remember that there's a lot to be grateful for and enjoy the season.
History of celebrating the Christmas Eve
The Jewish tradition and the story of creation are the roots of celebrating Christmas Eve starting in the evening and ending in the morning. As believed that Jesus was born at midnight in the region of Palestine, many ancient traditions were put in place to develop the Eve of celebrations and it was inculcated in the early Christian calendar.
Concerning history, Christmas Eve marks the end of the advent season that began November 30 or November 15 in some places due to location. As reported from the Bible, it was on this night that the shepherds saw the bright star that signaled the birth of Jesus, and many people believed the star led them to Jesus. During the 16th century, the early church was influenced by the winter celebrations and then began to prepare for Christmas the night before the day
Globally there are a lot of beliefs about Christmas Eve, in Europe, people believe that on Christmas Eve, animals can talk and the animals that seem to back up their belief are the Ox and donkey because they were present at the birth of Jesus, but no one has seen this happen before. In some parts of England, it is also believed that cattle rise or kneel to worship Jesus at the midnight on Christmas Eve.
Even though Christmas originated from the Christians some different supernatural beliefs and traditions have been said to happen on Christmas Eve. For example in Scandinavian communities, the people believe that the dead people check up on their homes during the Eve and check if all is well before they go back. So they often prepare food in anticipation to receive the dead and when they wake up on Christmas morning they wipe their chairs and check if there was dust. Dust on the chair means that they got visited during the night.
Celebrating the Christmas Holiday was popular in the 19th century and Christmas Eve became even more popular because of the invention of Santa Claus. Santa is known as a very happy man in red that distributes Christmas gifts to homes the night before Christmas and people leave out cookies, milk, and carrots to feed his reindeer. Apart from all this, Christmas Eve is also a day for spending time with family, having dinner, decorating for Christmas, wrapping gifts, and even watching Christmas-themed movies.
Things that you can do on Christmas Eve:
Family dinner time
Since it's a holiday, people hardly have to work for official purposes. You can spend it having dinner wherever you are with people close to you. Have conversations and discussions with everyone around and just enjoy the festivities.
Do something memorable
There are lots of traditions that you can imbibe from the history of Christmas Eve, you can cook your favorite food, watch a movie about Christmas. You can even start an annual tradition with your family.
Significance of Christmas Eve
Christmas and the holidays generally bring us together in ways far more than we can imagine. Here are a few reasons why you should consider celebrating this Christmas Eve.
Peace and Joy even in these times
For Christians, Christmas reminds us that God loves humanity so much that he sent his Son to save us and forgive our sins. So even in the darkest times where we are confused and hoping for a miracle, and just as in World War I, Christmas Eve is the night that lights up the world, celebrating will remind us that God is still capable of shinning light on us.
Brings us together to be reunited
Almost in every part of the world, people travel to their homes to celebrate Christmas, even people who aren't Christians. It's a time to see family that you haven't seen in a long time and spend time with people who mean so much to you.
An opportunity to give and receive love
Christmas Eve is the perfect time for you to show love to people and let people also do the same for you. Go beyond the material and general view about the reason and be hopeful to someone and anyone. See this as an opportunity to be kind and do good.
Christmas Eve Traditions
Here are a few traditions that are done in different places across the world;
Children all around the world leave a leftover of their food or drinks for the sake of receiving a present from either Santa Claus or Father Christmas. In some places, it can differ as they believe they can also get gifts from Christmas Elf, Christmas Goat, etc
In a place like Latvia, if you open a present on Christmas Eve, before you accept the gift, you would have to recite a little poem to show that it means so much to you and appreciate the person giving them to you.
Commemorating Christmas Eve is a big deal to a lot of people as they see it as an opportunity to do greater things. You should also find reasons to celebrate this year.
📸 Pexels
Posts
0 Comments