圣誕節(jié)(Christmas)又稱耶誕節(jié)，譯名為“基督彌撒”，西方傳統(tǒng)節(jié)日，在每年12月25日。彌撒是教會(huì)的一種禮拜儀式。圣誕節(jié)是一個(gè)宗教節(jié)，因?yàn)榘阉?dāng)作耶穌的誕辰來(lái)慶祝，故名“耶誕節(jié)”。
【圣誕節(jié)的由來(lái)英文版】
Christmas is a Christian holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. No one knows the exact date of Christ's birth, but most Christians observe Christmas on December 25. On this day, many go to church, where they take part in special religious services. During the Christmas season, they also exchange gifts and decorate their homes with holly, mistletoe, and Christmas trees. The word Christmas comes from Cristes maesse, an early English phrase that means Mass of Christ. The story of Christmas comes chiefly from the Gospels of Saint Luke and Saint Matthew in the New Testament.
The history of Christmas dates back over 4000 years. Many of our Christmas traditions were celebrated centuries before the Christ child was born. The 12 days of Christmas, the bright fires, the yule log, the giving of gifts, carnivals(parades) with floats, carolers who sing while going from house to house, the holiday feasts, and the church processions can all be traced back to the early Mesopotamians.
Many of these traditions began with the Mesopotamian celebration of New Years. The Mesopotamians believed in many gods, and as their chief god-Marduk. Each year as winter arrived it was believed that Marduk would do battle with the monsters of chaos. To assist Marduk in his struggle the Mesopotamians held a festival for the New Year. This was Zagmuk, the New Year's festival that lasted for 12 days.
The Persians and the Babylonians celebrated a similar festival called the Sacaea. Part of that celebration included the exchanging of places, the slaves would become the masters and the masters were to obey. The ancient Greeks held a festival similar to that of the Zagmuk/Sacaea festivals to assist their god Kronos who would battle the god Zeus and his Titans.
The Roman's celebrated their god Saturn. Their festival was called Saturnalia which began the middle of December and ended January 1st. With cries of "Jo Saturnalia!" the celebration would include masquerades in the streets, big festive meals, visiting friends, and the exchange of good-luck gifts called Strenae (lucky fruits). The Romans decked their halls with garlands of laurel and green trees lit with candles. Again the masters and slaves would exchange places.
"Jo Saturnalia!" was a fun and festive time for the Romans, but the Christians thought it an abomination to honor the pagan god. The early Christians wanted to keep the birthday of their Christ child a solemn and religious holiday, not one of cheer and merriment as was the pagan Saturnalia.
Some legends claim that the Christian "Christmas" celebration was invented to compete against the pagan celebrations of December. The 25th was not only sacred to the Romans but also the Persians whose religion Mithraism was one of Christianity's main rivals at that time. The Church eventually was successful in taking the merriment, lights, and gifts from the Saturanilia festival and bringing them to the celebration of Christmas.
The exact day of the Christ child's birth has never been pinpointed. Traditions say that it has been celebrated since the year 98 AD. In 137 AD the Bishop of Rome ordered the birthday of the Christ Child celebrated as a solemn feast. In 350 AD another Bishop of Rome, Julius I, choose December 25th as the observance of Christmas.
The birth of Jesus had a story: In Nazareth, a city of Galilee. The virgin's name was Mary was betrothed to Joseph. Before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband was minded to put her away secretly. While he thought about these things, Gabriel, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and told him did not be afraid to take Mary as wife. And Mary will bring forth a Son, and he shall call his name, Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.
Before Jesus births, Joseph and Mary came to Quirnius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up out of Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and of the lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
And that, Christmas is the feast of the nativity of Jesus, is on 25th, December every year. But nobody knows the actual birthday of Jesus. And the Christmas has become popular when Christmas cards appeared in 1846 and the concept of a jolly Santa Claus was first made popular in nineteenth Century.
The custom of giving gifts to relatives and friends on a special day in winter probably began in ancient Rome and northern Europe. In these regions, people gave each other small presents as part of their year-end celebrations.
In the 1800's, two more Christmas customs became popular--decorating Christmas trees and sending Christmas cards to relatives and friends. Many well-known Christmas carols, including Silent Night" and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," were composed during this period. In the United States and other countries, Santa Claus replaced Saint Nicholas as the symbol of gift giving.
The word Xmas is sometimes used instead of Christmas. This tradition began in the early Christian church. In Greek, X is the first letter of Christ's name. It was frequently used as a holy symbol.
【翻譯】
圣誕節(jié)是基督教的節(jié)日，慶祝耶穌基督的誕生。沒(méi)有人知道基督誕生的確切日期，但大多數(shù)的基督徒在12月25日的圣誕節(jié)。在這一天，許多去教堂，在那里他們參加特別的宗教服務(wù)。圣誕節(jié)期間，他們還交換禮物和裝飾冬青，槲寄生的家園，和圣誕樹。圣誕節(jié)一詞來(lái)自Cristes maesse，早期的英語(yǔ)詞組這意味著質(zhì)量的基督。圣誕節(jié)的故事，主要是從新約圣徒路加和馬太福音。
圣誕節(jié)的歷史可追溯到4000年以上。許多我們的圣誕節(jié)傳統(tǒng)在基督誕生前幾個(gè)世紀(jì)都在慶祝。圣誕節(jié)的12天，明亮的火焰，尤爾日志，提供禮品，嘉年華會(huì)(游行)的花車，carolers誰(shuí)唱的同時(shí)，挨家挨戶，節(jié)日假期，和教會(huì)游行都可以追溯到早期。
許多這些傳統(tǒng)開(kāi)始于美索不達(dá)米亞的新年慶祝活動(dòng)。美索不達(dá)米亞人信奉多神，并作為他們的主要神Marduk。每年冬天到來(lái)的時(shí)候，人們認(rèn)為馬杜克就會(huì)怪物戰(zhàn)斗。為了幫助馬爾杜克Mesopotamians舉行了新年的節(jié)日。這是Zagmuk，新年的節(jié)日持續(xù)12天。
巴比倫人和波斯人有一個(gè)類似的節(jié)日，稱為Sacaea.。這一慶典的一部分包括交換場(chǎng)所，奴隸們將成為主人，而大師們則要服從。古希臘人舉行了節(jié)日類似的Zagmuk / Sacaea節(jié)日，以協(xié)助其神克羅諾斯誰(shuí)將戰(zhàn)斗神宙斯和他的巨人。
羅馬的慶祝他們的神土星。他們被稱為農(nóng)神節(jié)始于十二月中旬和1月1日結(jié)束。隨著“趙撒特那利亞哭!”慶�；顒�(dòng)將包括偽裝在街頭，大型宴會(huì)，拜訪朋友，交流的好運(yùn)氣的禮物所謂strenae(幸運(yùn)水果)。羅馬人的大廳裝飾花環(huán)的桂樹和綠色的樹木點(diǎn)燃的蠟燭。又一次，主人和奴隸會(huì)交換位置。
“趙撒特那利亞!”是一種樂(lè)趣和節(jié)日的時(shí)候，羅馬人，但基督徒認(rèn)為這紀(jì)念異教神所憎惡的。早期的基督徒要保持他們的基督孩子一個(gè)莊嚴(yán)的宗教節(jié)日的生日，而不是歡呼和歡樂(lè)的是異教徒農(nóng)神節(jié)。
有些傳說(shuō)宣稱基督教的“圣誕節(jié)”的慶�；顒�(dòng)是為了與十二月的異教徒慶�；顒�(dòng)的。第二十五不僅是神圣的羅馬人，而且波斯人的宗教Mithraism是一個(gè)基督教的主要競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手，當(dāng)時(shí)。以歡樂(lè)，燈光教會(huì)的最終成功，從Saturanilia節(jié)日禮物，給他們帶來(lái)的圣誕慶�；顒�(dòng)。
基督出生的確切日期從來(lái)沒(méi)有確定。傳統(tǒng)說(shuō)，自公元98年以來(lái)，羅馬的主教下令將基督兒童的生日作為一個(gè)莊嚴(yán)的節(jié)日來(lái)慶祝。在公元350年，另一位主教羅馬，尤利烏斯，我選擇12月25日作為慶祝圣誕節(jié)。
耶穌誕生的故事：在拿撒勒，就是加利利的一座城。童女的名字叫瑪麗的未婚夫約瑟夫。在他們走到一起，她被發(fā)現(xiàn)與圣靈的孩子。她丈夫的丈夫很想把她帶走。當(dāng)他想起這些事的時(shí)候，加布里埃爾，一個(gè)天使的天使出現(xiàn)在他夢(mèng)中，并告訴他不要害怕把瑪麗當(dāng)妻子。瑪麗必生出一個(gè)兒子，他就要叫他的名字，因?yàn)樗人陌傩諒乃麄兊淖铩?/p>
耶穌出生之前，約瑟和瑪麗來(lái)到Quirnius是敘利亞執(zhí)政。所以所有的人都去了他自己的城市。約瑟也從加利利去，出了拿撒勒城，到朱迪亞，到戴維的城市，這是所謂的伯利恒，因?yàn)樗姆孔雍痛骶S的后裔，被登記的瑪麗，他的未婚妻妻子，誰(shuí)是兒童。他們?cè)谀抢锏臅r(shí)候，天已完成，為她交付。就生了頭胎的兒子，和他在swaddling包布，放在馬槽里，因?yàn)榭偷昀餂](méi)有地方。
而且，圣誕節(jié)是紀(jì)念耶穌誕生的節(jié)日，是每年的12月25日。但沒(méi)有人知道基督的實(shí)際生日。圣誕卡出現(xiàn)在1846和一個(gè)歡樂(lè)的圣誕老人克勞斯是第一個(gè)在第十九世紀(jì)流行的圣誕節(jié)已經(jīng)成為流行。
一個(gè)特殊的日子，在一個(gè)特殊的日子里給親戚和朋友送禮物的習(xí)俗大概在古羅馬和北歐開(kāi)始了。在這些地區(qū)，人們給了彼此小禮物作為他們的年底的一部分。