Boxing Day is celebrated on December 26 in

Boxing Day is celebrated on

December 26

in

Great Britain

,

Canada,

Australia

and

New

Zealand

. When December 26 falls on a

weekend, the following Monday is observed as

the public holiday.

Traditionally, Boxing Day was a holiday on

which

servants, apprentices and the poor

were

presented with gifts. The origin of the name is

not known for certain, but it may derive from

the opening of alms(

救济品

) boxes

that had been

placed in churches over the holidays for

distribution to the poor.

Another explanation

is it is named for the gift

boxes that service employees opened on the

day after Christmas, since they had to work on

Christmas Day to enable their employers to

observe the holiday. The origin of the holiday is

unknown, but was probably first observed in the

Middle Ages

.

Today, the tradition of giving bonuses to

service employees at Christmastime continues,

though

it is now usually done before Christmas.

As December 26 is also the feast day of St.

Stephen, the first Christian martyr

（烈士）

and patron

（赞

助人）

saint

（圣徒）

of horses, Boxing Day has become a day

for sporting events

like horse racing, fox

hunting and rugby.

History of Christmas

Christians have been

celebrating Jesus' birth

on December 25 since at least the early

fourth

century

. The first evidence of its observance is

in Rome in 336 AD. {1} The earliest Christians do

not appear to have commemorated the nativity,

but only the baptism

（洗礼）

and resurrection

（复活）

of

Christ

and the deaths of the martyrs.

In fact, some early Christians, most notably

Origen of Alexandria {2}, strongly opposed the

celebration of Christ's birth. Pointing out that

only Pharaoh and Herod celebrate their

birthdays in the Bible {3}, Origen argued that

birthdays were for pagans, not Christians.

Jehovah's Witnesses follow the same reasoning

today in rejecting both Christmas and

celebration of birthdays.

The Date of Christmas

Despite the objections of some church fathers,

attempts to determine Jesus' date of birth

began early. By the close of the second

century, numerous dates had been advanced,

including May 20, April 18, April 19, May 28,

January 2, November 17, November 20, March

21 and March 25. {4}

Putting to use the then- popular method of

allegorical theology, some reasoned that Christ

must have born on the same day the sun was

created. Polycarp (d. 155 AD), for example,

suggested that Christ was born on a

Wednesday, since the sun was created on the

fourth day in Genesis.

So when was Jesus actually born?

Modern

scholarship estimates the year of his birth from

7 to 4 BC

. Although the Gospel(

福音

) narratives offer

no indication as to the date, they do seem to

indicate it was not in the winter. Luke

（路加福音）

describes the shepherds

keeping watch over

their flocks by night

in the coldest winter months.

But as early as 273 AD, Western Christians had

decided on December 25 to celebrate the birth

of Jesus. The December date for the holiday

probably arose from a desire to provide an

alternative to the Roman

birthday of the

unconquered sun

Mithras, both of which were celebrated on or

around the winter solstice. A Christian writer

explained in 320 AD:

We hold this day holy,

not like the pagans

（异教徒）

because of the birth of the

sun,

but because of him who made it. {6}

In the early Eastern church, the main winter

holiday was Epiphany, which commemorated

both the birth and baptism of Christ on January

6. This date may have been derived from a

calculation based on an assumed date of

crucifixion of April 6 coupled with the ancient

belief that prophets died on the same day as

their conception. {7} The baptism of Christ was

initially the more important event in the East,

but January 6 became connected more with the

nativity of Christ by the later 4th century. {8}

The Eastern church celebrated Christ's birth

and baptism on January 6 until the middle of

the 5th century, when the December date for

Christmas was adopted there as well and

Jesus' baptism was celebrated on January 6.

An exception to the December date is the

Armenian Church, which continues to

commemorate both the birth and baptism of

Christ on January 6. {9}

Although Orthodox Churches celebrate

Christmas on December 25, some still use the

Julian calendar (

religious calendar. The Julian calendar is the

predecessor to the Gregorian calendar (

calendar

western world. The Julian calendar is 13 days

different from the Gregorian, so December 25

on the Julian calendar occurs on January 7 on

the Gregorian calendar and Epiphany on

January 19. Those who use the Julian calendar

include the Churches of Jerusalem, Russia and

Serbia, and the monasteries on Mt. Athos. {10}

Christmas Customs and Observances

In addition to the date, other aspects of

Christmas owe their origins to pagan

celebrations, such as the Yule log, the tree, gift

-giving, and lights. Although sometimes

maligned today, the Christian appropriation of

pagan customs would likely have been

regarded positively by early Christians as a

victory for Christ over paganism and a way to

win more souls. This general strategy seems

evident in the choice of December 25, as

outlined above.

Religious Observances

Religious observances of Christmas center

around special worship services, which are

characterized by the extensive use of

candlelight and are often held at midnight. In

Bethlehem, Midnight Mass is celebrated at the

place of Jesus' birth in the ancient Church of

the Nativity. Another popular semi-religious

observance is singing Christmas carols, both in

church and door-to-door in one's neighborhood.

Christmas Trees

The English language phrase

is first recorded in 1835. It was imported from

the German-speaking world, where it is

Tannenbaum, literally

Weinachtenbaum,

modern Christmas tree tradition probably began

in Germany in the 18th century, though some

argue that Martin Luther began the tradition in

the 16th century.

From Germany the Christmas tree custom was

introduced to England, first via Queen

Charlotte, wife of George III, and then more

successfully by Prince Albert during the reign of

Queen Victoria. Around the same time, German

immigrants introduced the custom into the

United States. Christmas trees are usually

decorated with lights and ornaments.

（装饰品）

The Christmas tree is often explained as a

Christianization of pagan tradition and ritual

surrounding the Winter Solstice, which included

the use of evergreen boughs, and an adaptation

of pagan tree worship.

Other popular holiday plants include holly,

mistletoe, red amaryllis, and Christmas cactus.

Christian tradition associates the holly tree

with the crown of thorns, and says that its

leaves were white until stained red by the blood

of Christ. Along with a Christmas tree, the

interior of a home may be decorated with these

plants, along with garlands and evergreen

foliage.

Christmas Lights and Other Decorations

In North and South America, Australia, and