Christmas; noun; annual festival on
December 25th commemorating the birth of Christ.
Christmas
was, originally, the celebration of Christ’s birth, the biggest event on the
Christian calendar, Christmas day being the end of advent and the beginning of
the 12 days of Christmas.
Gifts
are given to represent God giving his only son as a gift to the world, but
today, a lot of people forget this, or don’t even know this. Many of the
decorations we use at Christmas time have meanings; sugar canes represent the
shepherds crook, holly is to show the crown of thorns worn by Jesus and so on.
But
today, many people, especially the younger generations look past this, the true
meaning of Christmas, and see it as a time for presents and time off school.
There is the unconscious thought that the holidays have a different meaning, a
more religious one, but instead choose to celebrate the commercialized
Christmas, with big brands hoping to ‘revitalize’ the economy, a large portion
of the world’s population spending big on presents and food.
Already,
Christmas lights and decorations are up, houses lit up for the short winter
period. Why do we have lights and decorations? These days, they don’t represent
anything, they’re just a tradition that has developed from other, more meaningful
things that have been cheapened and lost their integrity as the years have
passed. I can imagine a lot of small children don’t know what Christmas is
about; they get lots of cool presents, it snows and all the houses look pretty,
with Christmas trees everywhere. None of
this relates to the real meaning of Christmas, developed thousands of years
ago.
Even
religions other than Christianity celebrate Christmas, although not as largely
as your average Christian would.
So
yes, I think the meaning of Christmas for a lot of people, has changed, and it
will take a lot to restore the real reason we celebrate.
