The Sims 2

. Other popular holiday plants include holly, mistletoe, red amaryllis, and Christmas cactus. It will be released 28 February - 3 March. Since the 19th century, the traditional Christmas flower has been the winter-blooming poinsettia. Players can choose to set up businesses like an electronics store, a restaurant, a beauty salon, a boutique shop, and much more. In North and South America and to a lesser extent Europe and Australia, it is traditional to decorate the outside of houses with lights and sometimes with illuminated sleighs, snowmen, and other Christmas figures. Create prized items to bring in top dollar or watch as things go haywire while they are making the next big thing. Decorating a Christmas tree with lights and ornaments and the decoration of the interior of the home with garlands and evergreen foliage, particularly holly and mistletoe, are common traditions.

They will be able to manage their staff and develop their talents. Many families enclose an annual family photograph or a family newsletter summarizing the adventures and accomplishments of family members during the preceding year. The Sims 2: Open for Business, the upcoming expansion pack for The Sims 2, will allow your sims to operate their own businesses. Christmas cards are extremely popular in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the United States, and Europe, in part as a way to maintain relationships with distant relatives, friends, and business acquaintances. However, the pack on its own is available through European retailers in a CD-ROM. Recently there have also been declarations of Christmas peace for forest animals in many cities and municipalities, restricting hunting during the holiday. This comes alongside the limited-edition The Sims 2 Holiday Edition core game, which contains the Holiday Party Pack already in the core game with most bugs removed, in a way similar to the way that The Sims Deluxe Edition included both The Sims and The Sims: Livin' Large in a single package. Finally, a joyous Christmas feast is wished to all inhabitants of the city.".

This adds over 40 new objects to the game, allowing for better depiction of holiday celebrations (mostly Christmas) by sims in decorative ways not possible with the standard game. "Tomorrow, God willing, is the graceful celebration of the birth of our Lord and Saviour; and thus is declared a peaceful Christmas time to all, by advising devotion and to behave otherwise quietly and peacefully, because he who breaks this peace and violates the peace of Christmas by any illegal or improper behaviour shall under aggravating circumstances be guilty and punished according to what the law and statutes prescribe for each and every offence separately. The Sims 2: Holiday Party Pack (The Sims 2: Christmas Party Pack in Europe) is a semi-expansion available only through the EA Online Store, select Costco stores, and other video game retailers. The declaration ceremony begins with the hymn Jumala ompi linnamme (Martin Luther's Ein` feste Burg ist unser Gott) and continues with the Declaration of Christmas Peace read from a parchment roll:. Nightlife also added two new aspirations:. It is broadcast in Finnish radio (since 1935) and television and nowadays also in some foreign countries. Vampires can be entirely avoided if the player does not want to play with them. The declaration takes place on the Old Great Square of Turku, Finland's official Christmas City and former capital, at noon on Christmas Eve.

In addition, players can now own cars instead of taking the carpool. Declaration of Christmas Peace has been a tradition in Finland from the Middle Ages every year, except in 1939 due to the war. Players will now be able to see other lots in the neighborhood from inside a lot. Until recently, gifts were given in the UK to non-family members on Boxing Day. Maxis has also added vampires that will bite sims, making them vampires as well. In most of the world, Christmas gifts are given at night on Christmas Eve or in the morning on Christmas Day. A new attraction system introduces turn-ons and turn-offs that cause Sims to be attracted to or disgusted by other Sims. One of the many customs of gift timing is suggested by the song "Twelve Days of Christmas", celebrating an old British tradition of gifts each day from Christmas to Epiphany.

Based loosely on the original Sims expansion Hot Date, it includes entertainment options like nightclubs, restaurants for romantic dinners, and bowling alleys, in a new neighborhood type called Downtown (much like the University Town in the first expansion pack). In Russia, Grandfather Frost brings presents on New Year's Eve, and these are opened on the same night. The second expansion, The Sims 2: Nightlife, was released on September 13, 2005. In Finland Joulupukki personally meets children and gives gifts on December 24. A more minor introduction in University is the addition of "influence points" that can be used to influence others to do a certain thing. In Poland, Santa Claus (Polish: Święty Mikołaj) gives gifts at two occasions: on the night of December 5 (so that children find them on the morning of December 6) and on Christmas Eve, December 24, (so that children find gifts that same day). Sims that don't attend the university will skip Young Adult and become Adults, as in the original version of the game. In other countries, including Spain, gifts are brought by the Magi at Epiphany on January 6.

A "Teen" sim sent to the university will become a "Young Adult," a new age group introduced with this expansion, and that sim will become an "Adult" when it graduates or flunks out. The main day for gift giving, however, is December 24, when gifts are brought by Santa Claus or are placed under the Christmas tree. In it, sims can be sent to college in a new neighborhood type called University. In much of Germany, children put shoes out on window sills on the night of December 5, and find them filled with candy and small gifts the next morning. Maxis released the first expansion pack, called The Sims 2: University, on March 2, 2005 for PC and December 12, 2005 for Mac. In such places, including the Netherlands, Christmas Day remains more a religious holiday. These have been tackled with patches released in October 2005. In many countries, Saint Nicholas's Day remains the principal day for gift giving.

Bugs also surfaced relating to both expansion packs. Gift giving is not restricted to these special gift-bringers, as family members and friends also bestow gifts on each other. Many of the bugs listed below have been corrected in a downloadable patch (Note: The installation of The Sims 2: University should correct most of the problems below). In other countries, children place their empty shoes out for Santa to fill on the night before Christmas, or for Saint Nicholas to fill on December 5 before his feast day the next day. The Sims 2 contains a number of bugs. In the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada children hang a Christmas stocking by the fireplace on Christmas Eve because Santa is said to come down the chimney the night before Christmas to fill them. A similar complaint was levied against another Maxis game, SimCity 4, released more than a year and a half ago. In many countries, children leave empty containers for Santa to fill with small gifts such as toys, candy, or fruit.

In fact, just the required (and not optimum) system specs meant that many PC's purchased as late as 2001 would not even be able to run it at all. Many shopping malls in North America, the United Kingdom, and Australia have a holiday mall Santa Claus whom children can visit to ask for presents. At the time of release, many criticized The Sims 2 for needing extremely high system requirements. Claus. Mac. In some versions, elves in a toy workshop make the holiday toys, and in some he is married to Mrs. Windows. In some cultures Santa Claus is accompanied by Knecht Ruprecht, or Black Peter.

The system requirements for The Sims 2 (from the official The Sims 2 website) are as follows:. The French equivalent of Santa, Père Noël, evolved along similar lines, eventually adopting the Santa image Haddon Sundblom painted for a worldwide Coca-Cola advertising campaign in the 1930s. This also means that while the game still has no set goals, there is a new strategic level to balancing a Sim's life as players now have a limited time in which to fulfill Aspirations, meet needs, progress in a career, socialize and possibly have a family. Those who are on the bad list and whose behaviour has not improved before Christmas are said to receive a booby prize, such as a piece of coal or a switch with which their parents beat them, rather than presents. The Aspiration Meter also affects how long an elder will live for once they enter this phase of their life. When it gets closer to Christmas time, parents use the belief to encourage children to behave well. If this aspiration reward is used before the Aspiration Meter reaches the gold level, however, it sometimes backfires and the Sim loses life days. Throughout the year, Santa adds names of children to either the good or bad list depending on their behaviour.

For example, the Elixir of Life aspiration reward allows a Sim to live longer. One belief in the United Kingdom, United States, and other countries passed down through the generations is the idea of lists of good children and bad children. When the Aspiration Meter is high, aspiration rewards may be properly used. He spends the rest of the year making toys and keeping lists on the behaviour of the children. They may change on a daily basis, and are displayed graphically in slot-machine fashion on the toolbar. He then climbs down the chimney, leaves gifts for the children, and eats the food they leave for him. Wants and Fears are different for each sim depending on several factors including aspiration type, age and aspiration meter level. In the Anglo-American tradition, this jovial fellow arrives on Christmas Eve on a sleigh pulled by reindeer, and lands on the roofs of houses.

The level is raised when a Sim fulfills a "Want", and is lowered when a "Fear" is realized. In North America, other colonists adopted the feast of Sinterklaas brought by the Dutch into their Christmas holiday, and Sinterklaas became Santa Claus, or Saint Nick, known in some West African and the UK countries as Father Christmas. There are six levels to the aspiration meter: The highest is platinum, beneath that is gold, followed by two levels of green and two of red (red being negative aspiration and therefore an undesirable state). The Dutch modeled a gift-giving Saint Nicholas on the eve of his feast day on December 6. A sixth aspiration, that of growing up, is possessed by all sims when they are toddlers and children, and a seventh and an eighth aspiration, the Pleasure and Grilled Cheese aspirations, were included with the Nightlife expansion pack. (Catholic Encyclopedia - http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11063b.htm). The five aspirations are: Romance, Family, Knowledge, Popularity and Fortune. Nicola, which is highly valued for its medicinal powers, is said to flow from his relics.

Sims will each have an aspiration which is set either when they are created by the player, generated by the game (if they are an NPC), or chosen by the player when they become a teenager. To this day, an oily substance known as Manna di S. Aspiration manifests itself in two ways: the aspiration which each Sim has, and the Aspiration Meter. His relics are still preserved in the church of San Nicola in Bari. The Sims 2 introduces a new aspect into the game: Aspiration. In 1087, Italian merchants stole his deceased body at Myra and brought it to Bari in Italy. The Sims 2 Body Shop, a tool which allows a user to design a Sim's body, clothing, genetic features, etc., was available well before the game's release. He died on December 6 of 345 or 352.

The graphics and house design engines have improved with more choices for houses, neighborhood design, food and clothes. He may have been present at the Council of Nicaea, though there is no record of his attendance. Good and bad experiences are kept as memories and can affect the Sim's behaviour. He was imprisoned during the persecution of Diocletian and released after the accession of Constantine. Other unique events such as deaths, birthdays and a first kiss also take place in a Sim's lifetime. He made a pilgrimage to Egypt and Palestine in his youth and soon thereafter became Bishop of Myra. Sims are pregnant before having children (unlike in the previous version, where children just appeared). The concept of a mythical figure who brings gifts to children derives from Saint Nicholas, a bishop of Myra in fourth century Lycia, Asia Minor.

In this installment of the series, Sims can have more realistic marriages with engagements and parties. Gift-giving is a near-universal part of Christmas celebrations. As Sims age, get married and have children, these relationships are recorded in an extensive family tree. Since the customs of Christmas celebration largely evolved in northern Europe, many are associated with the Northern Hemisphere winter, the motifs of which are prominent in Christmas decorations and in Santa Claus stories. Family relationships are much more integral to this version of the Sims than the previous version. Christmas customs and traditions transmitted through mass culture have been adopted by Christians and non-Christians alike, particularly in North America. Unlike in the previous game, when children stayed children and there was little game progress, the stages of life encourage players to move the game along and create relationships between Sims. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services may include a midnight mass or a Mass of the Nativity, and feature Christmas carols and hymns.

Sims age through 6 unique stages: baby, toddler, child, teen, adult and elder (although another stage, 'young adult', was added with the University expansion pack and "preteen" might be added in future expansion packs). (In most western churches, Advent starts the 4th Sunday before Christmas Day, and thus can last for 21 to 28 days.) These observations may include Advent carols and Advent calendars, sometimes containing sweets and chocolate for children. . The religious celebrations begin with Advent, the anticipation of Christ's birth, around the start of December. A port to Mac OS X was done by Aspyr and was released on June 12, 2005. In South Korea, Christmas is celebrated as an official holiday. Customers who pre-ordered The Sims 2 received their copy on September 14, 2004. Christmas is also known as bada din (the big day) in Hindi, and revolves there around Santa Claus and shopping.

The DVD-ROM version, called The Sims 2 Special DVD Edition, contains a Bonus Disc that carries extra content such as interviews and commercials of past Sim products. Japan has largely adopted the western Santa Claus for its secular Christmas celebration, but their New Year's Day is considered the more important holiday. The game was officially released on September 17, 2004 in both CD-ROM and DVD-ROM formats. This clashes with the traditional winter iconography, resulting in anachronisms such as a red fur-coated Santa Claus surfing in for a turkey barbecue on Australia's Bondi Beach. It is fully 3D, and, unlike in the first installment, characters age and have genetic traits that can be passed on to their children. In Commonwealth countries in the southern hemisphere, Christmas is still celebrated on 25 December, despite this being the height of their summer season. It is a vast departure from the previous version and various updates. Christmas was not widely celebrated in New England until after the middle of the 19th Century.

The Sims 2 is a strategy/simulation computer game from Maxis and is the sequel to the popular game The Sims. Incidentally, this was the practice of the Puritans in 17th and 18th Century England and the American Colonies. SSX 3 - An actual game that made its apperance in computers and TV sets with the Maxis Game Simulator Console in The Sims 2. Several Christian denominations, notably the Jehovah's Witnesses, some Puritan groups, and some fundamentalist Christians, view Christmas as a pagan holiday not sanctioned by the Bible and refuse to celebrate or recognize it in any way. Soma - Is a referance to Sony. Places where conservative Christian theocracies flourished, as in Cromwellian England and in the early New England colonies, were among those where celebrations were suppressed.^[4] After the Russian Revolution, Christmas celebrations were banned in the Soviet Union for the next seventy-five years. Moneywell - Is a referance to the Honeywell electronics conglomorate. The dynamic relationship between religious and governmental authorities and celebrators of Christmas continued through the years.

All the shows always cut to commercials when one of the sims on screen sets the kitchen on fire. Rather than attempting to suppress every pagan tradition, Pope Gregory I allowed Christian missionaries to synthesize them with Christianity, allowing many pagan traditions to become a part of Christmas.^[3]. The Yummy Channel - A comical parody of The Food Network. This celebration of the winter solstice was widespread and popular in northern Europe long before the arrival of Christianity, and the word for Christmas in the Scandinavian languages is still today the pagan jul (=yule). KidzTube - Is a reference to Nickelodeon, The Disney Channeland Cartoon Network, though the scenes are similar to the children's live action shows of the 1950s like Howdy Doody and Sesame Street in the 1970s. These practices and symbols were adapted or appropriated by Christian missionaries from the earlier Germanic pagan midwinter holiday of Yule. SimStation Dance - Is a reference to the music TV networks such as MTV, VH1, and most likely Fuse. Most of the familiar traditional practices and symbols of Christmas originated in Germanic countries, including the now omnipresent Christmas tree, the Christmas ham, the Yule Log, holly, mistletoe, and the giving of presents to friends and relatives.

Sim Broadcasting Network - Is a reference to the major broadcasting networks such as NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX. A plethora of customs with secular, religious, or national aspects surround Christmas, varying from country to country. SimStation Sports - Is a reference to ESPN. In Canadian French, the December 26 holiday is generally referred to as Lendemain de Noël (which literally means "the day after Christmas"). After receiving this aspiration, your Sim will want nothing but things involving grilled cheese. Stephen's Day. Grilled Cheese: Accessed only by unsuccessfully using the ReNuYu Senso Orb. In many European and Commonwealth countries, December 26 is referred to as Boxing Day, while in Finland, Ireland, Italy, Romania, Austria and Catalonia (Spain) it is known as St.

Pleasure: Pleasure sims' wants are extremely variable as they seek only to enjoy life. In the Netherlands, Germany, Scandinavia, and Poland, Christmas Day and the following day are called First and Second Christmas Day. Boddler Glitch: A dangerous bug that occurs when you don't save sims after they've switched from one age band to another, and then deleted them using the "moveobjects on" cheat. Countries that celebrate Christmas on December 25 recognize the previous day as Christmas Eve, and vary on the naming of December 26. Another way of exploiting this clone technique for users without the Nightlife Expansion is to click on and move the sim, and hold down the shift key when placing. In the Philippines, radio stations usually start playing Christmas music during what is called the "-ber months" (September, October, etc.); this usually marks the start of the Christmas season. Your lot can then be filled with mindless clones of your sim, since the game doesn't know whether to make more sims or more doors. It often extends beyond Christmas Day up to New Year's Day, this later holiday having its own parties.

When you let go of the camera, it will start making more sims, rather than more doors. In practice, the Christmas festive period has grown longer in some countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, and now begins many weeks before Christmas, allowing more time for shopping and get-togethers. Next, change the pitch of your camera. Swedish children still celebrate a party, throwing out the Christmas tree (julgransplundring), on the 20th day of Christmas (January 13, Knut's Day). Move your sim to some other tile than where they currently are. Medieval laws in Sweden declared a Christmas peace (julefrid) to be twenty days, during which fines for robbery and manslaughter were doubled. Act like you're about to place a door on the lot, but then, hit the delete key. This period corresponds with the liturgical season of Christmas.

Door-Clone Glitch: If you enter build mode with the moveobjects cheat enabled, go to the door creation tool. These twelve days of Christmas, a period of feasting and merrymaking, end on Twelfth Night, the eve of the Feast of the Epiphany. Can be fixed by moving the family to another lot. In the United Kingdom, the Christmas season traditionally runs for twelve days beginning on Christmas Day. Carpool bug: All sims living on a lot refuse to enter cars, taxis, buses, etc, causing them to fail at their job or at school. Dates for the more secular aspects of the Christmas celebration are similarly varied. This was fixed by the Maxis patch. and Canada, some Orthodox dioceses allow the parish priest or parish to decide which of the two calendars (i.e., Gregorian versus old Julian) to follow at the parish level and hence the timing of Christmas Day.

Also would float if use was cancelled during the talk-through action. The Orthodox churches begin preparing for Christmas with a fast that begins 40 days before Christmas and ends with Christmas, dubbed the "Feast of the Nativity of our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ." In the U.S. Can be fixed by buying a new teddy bear. This calendrical difference has led to confusion on the part of those unfamiliar with the older calendar. Floating Teddy: After a few uses, the object of the bear will float in the air and there will no longer be proper animation of use of the bear. This date results from their having accepted neither the reforms of the Gregorian calendar nor the Revised Julian calendar, with their ecclesiastic December 25 thus falling on the secular date of January 7 from 1900 to 2099. Caused by proximity to other usable objects. The majority of Eastern Orthodox churches celebrate Christmas on January 7.

Unused objects designated as in use: Engine bug which makes unused objects appear as in-use, like doors that don't close. Christmas is now celebrated on December 25 in Roman Catholic, Protestant, and some Eastern Orthodox churches, such as the Greek, Bulgarian and Romanian Orthodox Church. "Vanishing Family Members": Hardly anything is known about this glitch except that it occurs when a family member goes to work or school for the first time, they don't come back and vanish off the portraits of the family members on the left of the screen; there is no memory of the disappearance in any of the other family members. As with the previous theory, proponents of this theory hold that Christmas was a date of significance to Christians before it was a date of significance to pagans. Solved by the Maxis patch. (Tradition fixed it on March 25.) The birth of Jesus would then have been on December 25, nine months after his conception. Invisible Colleagues: Graphics glitch involving colleagues visiting by helicopter, causing colleagues to be invisible. If John's birth was on the date ascribed by tradition, June 24, then the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, said by the Gospel account to have occurred three month's before John's birth, would have been in late March.

Memory Leak: Memory leak, sometimes caused by hiring non-player characters, causing abnormal use of system resources. If John's conception occurred on Yom Kippur in late September, then his birth would have been in late June. Solved by the Maxis patch. This was due to a belief (not included in the Gospel account) that Zechariah was a high priest and that his vision occurred during the high priest's annual entry into the Holy of Holies. "Jump Out" Bug: Time-out/scripting bug, causing characters to abort ( "jump out of" ) certain animations and interactions. The apparition of the angel Gabriel to Zechariah, announcing that he was to be the father of John the Baptist, was believed to have occurred on Yom Kippur. This problem has been fixed in the new version of ATI's drivers. Catholic Encyclopedia in sources) believe this calculation to be unreliable as it is based on a string of assumptions.

"Liney" Sims: Graphical glitch with ATI Radeon 9000 GPUs. However, most scholars (e.g. you exited the house of Sim A, B, C+, opened CAS, then pressed the randomize button an arbitrary number more than twelve, it would restart the game's randomization engines, and subsequent children would share different genes. As it is implied that John the Baptist could only have been conceived during that particular week, and as his conception is believed to be tied to that of Jesus, it is claimed that an approximate date of December 25 can be arrived at for the birth of Jesus. However, if before birth of Sim D, E, ect. Some believe that this almanac lists the week when John the Baptist's father served as a high priest. If you opened the game again a day later, and Sim A, who gave birth to Sim C, gives birth to another Sim, Sim D, it would be an exact copy of Sim C, in both personality and appearance. Additional calculations are made based on the six-year almanac of priestly rotations, found among the Dead Sea Scrolls.

If your sims create a child without using the randomizing tool in CAS, it will be a certain combination of his or her parents' genes and personality. 23). For instance, the first twelve 'randomly produced' sims could be recreated if you exited the Sims 2, then re-opened it, started up CAS, then clicked the randomize button. 4, Ch. "Firstborn Clone": All sims produced in the game are random, but only to a certain point. Hippolytus, who was already knowledgeably defending the faith in writing at the start of the third century, said that Christ was born Wednesday, December 25, in the 42nd year of Augustus' reign (see his Commentary on Daniel, circa 204, Bk. At least 3 GB of hard drive space. St.

Mac OS X 10.3.8 or better. They reasoned that Jesus died on an anniversary of his conception, so the date of his birth was nine months after the date of Good Friday, either December 25 or January 6. 256 RAM. Early Christians sought to calculate the date of Christ's birth based on the idea that Old Testament prophets died either on an anniversary of their birth or of their conception. (ATI) Radeon 9000 or better. Under the old Julian calendar, the popular choice of 5 BC for the year of Jesus' birth would place 25 Kislev at November 25. PowerPC G4/G5. According to one tradition, Jesus was born during Hanukkah (25 Kislev into the beginning of Tevet).

1.2 GHz processor. Christmas is still known as Yule (or: Jul) in Scandinavian countries. At least 3.5 GB of hard drive space. Some Christmas traditions, particularly those in Scandinavia, have their origin in the Germanic Yule celebration. Windows® XP, Windows ME, Windows 98 or Windows 2000 Operating System or better. At times it was forbidden by Protestant churches until after the 1800s because of its association with Catholicism. 256 MB RAM. Historians are unsure exactly when Christians first began celebrating the Nativity of Christ.

2 GHz processor for systems without a T&L-capable video card with at least 32 MB of video RAM. Early Christians chiefly celebrated the Epiphany, when the baby Jesus was visited by the Magi (and this is still a primary time for celebration in Argentina, Spain and Armenia). 800 MHz processor for systems with a T&L-capable video card with at least 32 MB of video RAM. resurrection, virgin mother etc). This is not to suggest that the Mithraic cult was the only factor in this syncretization, many pagan gods had similar aspects of mythology (e.g. At that time, in every town and city, in every military garrison and outpost from Syria to the Scottish frontier, was to be found a Mithraeum and officiating priests of the cult.

The Mithraic cult peaked around the year 300 AD when it became the official religion of the empire. He was killed and resurrected, returned to heaven on the spring equinox after a last meal with his 12 disciples (representing the signs of the zodiac), eating "mizd" - a piece of bread marked with a cross (an almost universal symbol of the sun). He was reputed to have raised the dead, healed the sick and cast out demons. His birth was witnessed by shepherds and magi.

Mithras was born on December 25th of virgin birth, the son of the primary Persian deity, Ahura-Mazda. The similarities between Jesus and Mithras are many. Another extremely popular cult of Persian origin, in those days was that of Mithras. [See Duchesne (1902) and Talley (1986).].

Thus, rather than the date of Christmas being appropriated from pagans by Christians, the opposite is held to have occurred. They reasoned that Jesus died on an anniversary of the Incarnation (his conception), so the date of his birth would have been nine months after the date of Good Friday — either December 25 or January 6. To then calculate the date of Jesus' birth, they followed the ancient idea that Old Testament prophets died at an "integral age" — either an anniversary of their birth or of their conception. Since the exact date of Jesus' death is not stated in the Gospels, early Christians sought to calculate it, and arrived at either March 25 or April 6.

An alternative theory asserts that the date of Christmas is based on the date of Good Friday, the day Jesus died. In Rome, it can only be confirmed as being mentioned in a document from approximately 350 but without any mention of sanction by Emperor Constantine. Perusal of historical records indicates that the first mention of such a feast in Constantinople was not until 379, under Gregory Nazianzus. Some scholars maintain that December 25 was only adopted in the 4th century as a Christian holiday after Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity to encourage a common religious festival for both Christians and pagans.

In order to make it easier for the Romans to convert to Christianity without missing out on their festivities, Pope Julius I ordered in 350 that the birth of Christ be celebrated on the same date. In the Roman Empire, the celebrations of Saturn during the week of the solstice, with their climax on December 25th, were the main social event. John Chrysostom urged the community to unite in celebrating Christ's birth on December 25, a part of the community having already kept it on that day for at least ten years. At Antioch, probably in 386, St.

In Jerusalem, the fourth century pilgrim Egeria from Bordeaux witnessed the Feast of the Presentation, forty days after January 6, which must have been the date of the Nativity there. The December feast reached Egypt in the fifth century. The earliest evidence of celebration is from Alexandria, in about 200, when Clement of Alexandria says that certain Egyptian theologians "over curiously" assign not just the year but also the actual day of Christ's birth as 25 Pachon (May 20) in the twenty-eighth year of Augustus.^[2] By the time of the Council of Nicaea in 325, the Alexandrian church had fixed a dies Nativitatis et Epiphaniae. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Christmas is not included in Irenaeus's nor Tertullian's list of Christian feasts, the earliest known lists of Christian feasts.

It was only necessary for them to joyfully greet the birth of the Son rather than the Sun." Note that in Latin, the words for "son" ('filius') and "sun" ('sol') do not in the least bit resemble each other, making such pseudo-linguistic comparisons patently absurd. As Isaac Asimov comments in his Guide to the Bible, "[C]onverts could join Christianity without giving up their Saturnalian happiness. These and other winter festivities continued through January 1, the festival of Kalends, when Romans marked the day of the new moon and the first day of the month as well as the beginning of the religious year. Such traditions resemble those of Christmas and are used to establish a link between the two holidays.

During Saturnalia the Romans feasted, postponed all business and warfare, exchanged gifts, and temporarily freed their slaves. This festival lasted for seven days and included the winter solstice, which according to the Julian calendar, fell on December 25. In a festival called Saturnalia, they glorified past days when the god Saturn ruled. The Romans honored Saturn, the ancient god of agriculture, each year beginning on December 17.

The context in which Christianity, and thus Christmas, formed was during the Roman Empire. Crosses and circles are found worldwide as solar symbol, whether or not a particular culture practiced crucifixion. Nevertheless, there is no record of the Celts actually ever practicing crucifixion or stories of any crucifixion of a "Celtic Sun God" before 19th century source. It is said that this was the origin of the Celtic cross, symbolising the crucified sun god, thus making it a few thousand years older than Christianity.

It is alleged that, according to Celtic Mythology, the sun god was crucified on the winter solstice, and three days later, as the days grew longer again, he rose from the dead. Other cultures believed that their deity died on this day, only to return for another cycle. These cultures believed that their sun god was born on December 21st, the shortest day of the year, and that the days grew longer as their god aged. From early antiquity, the days following the winter solstice on December 21 were of particular significance to cultures who worshipped sun gods.

The theories for the reason Christmas is celebrated on December 25 are many and varied; none are universally accepted. Many different dates have been suggested for the celebration of Christmas. Through the years astronomers and historians have offered conflicting explanations of what combination of traceable celestial events might explain the appearance of a giant star that had never before been seen.^[1]. They are supposed to have come from Arabia or Persia, where they might have obtained their particular gifts.

The Magi, who Matthew also reports seeing a giant star, have been variously interpreted as wise men or as kings. Some Christmas carols refer to the shepherds observing a bright star directly over Bethlehem, and following it to the birthplace. Another aspect of Christ's birth which has passed from the gospels into popular lore is the announcement by angels to nearby shepherds of Jesus's birth. After Herod's death, Jesus and his family return from Egypt, but fearing the hostility of the new Judean king (Herod's son Archelaus) they go instead to Galilee and settle in Nazareth.

Matthew then reports that the family next flees to Egypt to escape the murderous rampage of Herod, who has decided to have all children of Bethlehem under the age of two killed in order to eliminate any local rivals to his power. Resolving to hinder the ruler, they go home without telling Herod of the success of their mission. While staying the night, the wise men have a dream that contains a divine warning that King Herod has murderous designs on the child. They present Jesus with treasures of "gold, frankincense, and myrrh".

Further inquiry leads them to Bethlehem of Judea and the home of Mary and Joseph. The wise men, or Magi, first arrive in Jerusalem and report to the king of Judea, Herod the Great, that they have seen a star, now called the Star of Bethlehem, heralding the birth of a king. Matthew mentions no trek to Bethlehem from Nazareth. Matthew's gospel begins by telling the genealogy and virgin birth of Jesus, and then moves to the coming of the Wise Men from the East to Bethlehem.

Luke's Gospel has some references to historic events at this time, saying "In these days the Roman emperor Augustus ordered to excise a counting of all population in the world" (Lk 2,1), but the only known census was in the year AD 6. Jesus' being born in Bethlehem fulfills the prophecy of the Book of Micah. There Mary gives birth to Jesus. Finding no room in inns in the town, they set up lodgings in a stable in Bethlehem in Judea.

Shortly thereafter, she and her husband Joseph leave their home in Nazareth to travel about 150 kilometres (90 miles) to Joseph's ancestral home, Bethlehem, to enroll in the census ordered by the Roman emperor, Augustus. According to Luke, Mary learns from an angel that the Holy Spirit has caused her to be with child. The gospels of Mark and John do not address the childhood of Jesus, and those of Matthew and Luke highlight different events. The story of Christ's birth has been handed down for centuries, based mainly on the Christian gospels of Matthew and Luke.

. It is often abbreviated Xmas, probably because X resembles the Greek letter Χ (chi) which has often historically been used as an abbreviation for Christ (Χριστός in Greek). The word Christmas is a contraction of Christ's Mass, derived from the Old English Cristes mæsse. Various local and regional Christmas traditions are still practised, despite the widespread influence of American and British Christmas motifs disseminated by globalization, popular literature, television, and other media.

It is largely characterized by gifts being exchanged between friends and family members, and the appearance of Santa Claus. In Western countries, Christmas has become the most economically significant holiday of the year. Examples of this process are the northern European Yule, and the Winter Solstice celebration found in many older as well as recent pagan celebrations. Many Christmas traditions originated with pre-Christian observances that were syncretised into Christianity.

Christmas has also acquired many secular aspects, which are sometimes celebrated more often than the birth of Jesus. Efforts to decide upon a date on which to celebrate his birth began some centuries later. Christ's birth, or nativity, was said by his followers to fulfill the prophecies of Judaism that a messiah would come, from the house of David, to redeem the world from sin. (In most Eastern Orthodox Churches, even where the civil calendar is the Gregorian, it is observed according to the Julian calendar, by which that date however coincides with the predominant reckoning of 7 January.) It is celebrated by most Christians to mark the birth of Jesus, which is believed to have occurred in Bethlehem in the Roman Province of Judea between 6 BC and AD 6.

Christmas (literally, the Mass of Jesus Christ) is a traditional holiday observed on 25 December.