Foreign stories, jokes and holiday origins

The name "Christmas" is the abbreviation of "Christian Mass". Mass is a liturgy of the church. Christmas is a festival, and we celebrate it as the birthday of Jesus, so it is also called Christmas. On this day, all Christian churches in the world hold special services. But there are many Christmas celebrations that have nothing to do with religion. Exchanging gifts and sending Christmas cards all make Christmas a day of universal celebration.

Christmas is the biggest festival in the Christian world. At the beginning of the 4th century, January 6th was a double festival for churches in the eastern Roman Empire to commemorate the birth and baptism of Jesus, which was called Epiphany, also known as Epiphany, that is, God showed himself to the world through Jesus. At that time, the only exception was the church in Lula Leng, which only commemorated the birth of Jesus and not the baptism of Jesus. Later, historians found in the calendar used by Roman Christians that the page on December 25, 354 AD recorded: "Christ was born in Bethlehem, Judah." After research, it is generally believed that Christmas on December 25th may have started in 336 AD. It spread to Antioch in Asia Minor in 375 AD and Alexandria in Egypt in 43 AD. The church in Salem accepted it the latest, while the church in Armenia still insisted that epiphany on January 6th was the birthday of Jesus.

December 25th was originally the birthday of Mithra, the Persian sun god (that is, god of light), and it was a pagan festival. At the same time, the sun god was also one of the gods of Roman Catholicism. This day is also the winter solstice festival of the Roman calendar, and pagans who worship the sun god regard this day as the hope of spring and the beginning of the recovery of everything. Perhaps for this reason, the Roman church chose this day as Christmas. This is one of the measures that the church tried to christianize the pagan customs in the early days. Later, although most churches accepted December 25th as Christmas, but the calendars used by local churches were different, and the specific date could not be unified, so December 24th to January 6th of the following year was designated as Christmas Tide, and local churches could celebrate Christmas during this period according to local conditions. Since December 25th was recognized as Christmas by most churches, the Epiphany on January 6th was only to commemorate the baptism of Jesus. However, the Catholic Church designated January 6th as the "Festival of Three Kings Coming to the DPRK" to commemorate the story of three kings (that is, three doctors) coming to worship when Jesus was born. With the widespread spread of Christianity, Christmas has become an important festival for Christians of all denominations and even non-Christians. In many countries in Europe and America, people attach great importance to this festival and associate it with the New Year. The excitement and solemnity of the celebration greatly surpassed the New Year and became a national holiday. The main commemorative activities on December 25th are all related to the legend of the birth of Jesus.

There is a story about the birth of Jesu, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and was born of the virgin Mary. God even sent an angel Gabriel to Yue Se in a dream, telling him not to abandon Mary because she was unmarried and pregnant, but to marry her and name the child "Jesu", which means to save the people from their sins. When Mary was about to give birth, the Roman government issued an order that all people must declare their household registration when they went to Bethlehem. Yue Se and Mary had to obey. When they arrived in Bethlehem, it was already dark, but they couldn't find a hotel to spend the night, only a stable could stay. Just then, Jesu was born! So Mary gave birth to Jesus only in a manger. In order to commemorate the birth of Jesu, later generations designated December 25th as Christmas, and observed mass every year to commemorate the birth of Jesu.

Christmas commemorates the birth of Jesus on December 25th, but no one knows the real date of birth. In the 19th century, Christmas cards became popular, Santa Claus appeared, and Christmas became popular.

in western countries, on October 31st every year, there is a "Halloween", which is interpreted as "The eve of All Saints'Day" in the dictionary and translated as "Halloween night" in Chinese. Halloween is a traditional festival in western countries. This night is the most "haunted" night of the year, so it is also called "Ghost Festival".

Many ethnic groups have celebration parties on Halloween, which are also called "All Hallow E'en", "The Eve of All Hallows", "Hallows e 'en" or "The eve of All Saintas'Day". In the end, the convention evolved into "Halloween", and the Chinese translation became Halloween night.

Thanksgiving originated from early immigrants from Plymouth, Massachusetts. These immigrants were called Puritans when they were in Britain. Because they were dissatisfied with the incomplete religious reform of the Church of England and the political repression and religious persecution by the King and the Church of England, these Puritans left the Church of England and left for Holland. Later, they decided to move to the desolate land on the other side of the Atlantic, hoping to live freely in accordance with their wishes.

In September p>162, the ship "may flower" left England with 12 Puritans and their families for the North American continent. After more than two months of hard sailing, it landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and settled down from then on. In the first winter, due to lack of food, cold weather, epidemic diseases and overwork, more than half of these Puritans died at once. The following spring, Masasuode, the chief of the local Indian tribe, led the kind-hearted Indians, gave the Puritans grain seeds and taught them to hunt, grow crops and fish. With the help of Indians, the Puritans had a bumper harvest that year. William Bradford, the first governor, suggested setting up a festival to celebrate the harvest and thank God for his gift. At the same time, I also want to take this festival to strengthen the harmonious relationship between whites and Indians. On Thursday in late November, 1621, the Puritans and 9 Indians brought by Massasod got together to celebrate the first Thanksgiving in American history. Male Puritans went out hunting and catching turkeys, while women made delicious food with corn, pumpkin, sweet potato and fruit at home. In this way, white people and Indians ate, talked and sang and danced around the bonfire, and the whole celebration lasted for three days.

Since then, Europeans who immigrated to the United States have basically followed the form of the first Thanksgiving celebration on the North American continent. In 1789, the first president of the United States, Washington, officially stipulated that November 26th was the first Thanksgiving day celebrated by the whole country. However, for a long time, each state has set a holiday date according to its own situation. In 1941, with the approval of President Roosevelt, the U.S. Congress passed a bill, announcing the fourth Halloween in November every year. In western countries, on October 31st every year, there is a "Halloween", which is interpreted in the dictionary as "The eve of All Saints'Day" and translated in Chinese as "Halloween Night". Halloween is a traditional festival in western countries. This night is the most "haunted" night of the year, so it is also called "Ghost Festival".

more than two thousand years ago, the Catholic church in Europe designated November 1st as "ALL HALLOWS DAY". "HALLOW" means saint. Legend has it that since 5 BC, CELTS living in Ireland, Scotland and other places moved this festival forward by one day, that is, October 31. They think that this day is the day when summer officially ends, that is, the beginning of the new year and the beginning of the harsh winter. At that time, people believed that on this day, the dead soul of the deceased would return to the former residence to look for living beings, so as to be reborn, and this was the only hope for people to be reborn after death. The living are afraid of the dead soul to seize life, so people put out the fire and candlelight on this day, so that the dead soul can't find the living, and dress up as monsters to scare away the souls of the dead. After that, they will rekindle the candlelight and start a new year's life. Legend has it that Celtic tribes still had the custom of killing the living on October 31 to pay homage to the dead.

In the 1st century AD, the Romans who occupied the territory of Celtic tribes gradually accepted the custom of Halloween, but since then the barbaric practice of burning the living to sacrifice the dead has been abolished. Roman festivals celebrating harvest were combined with Celtic rituals, wearing terrible masks and dressing up as animals or ghosts in order to drive away demons wandering around them. This is why most people around the world celebrate Halloween with strange costumes today. As time goes by, the meaning of Halloween has gradually changed, and it has become active and happy, and the festive meaning has become the mainstream. The idea that the dead sought body double's reincarnation was gradually abandoned and forgotten. Today, most images and pictures symbolizing Halloween, such as witches and black cats, have friendly, lovely and funny faces.

facial makeup is the origin of the traditional Halloween program

"Halloween "

Many ethnic groups have celebration parties on Halloween, which are also called" All Hallow E'en ","The Eve of All Hallows ","Hallows e 'en "or" The eve of All Saintas'Day ". In the end, the convention evolved into "Halloween", and the Chinese translation became Halloween night.

the custom of Halloween-Trick or treat

an interesting content of Halloween is "trick or treat", but this custom did not originate in Ireland, but began in the Christian church in Europe in the ninth century. At that time, November 2nd was called "ALL SOULS DAY" by Christians. On this day, believers trudged in the backcountry, begging from village to village for "bread of the soul" made of flour and raisins. It is said that people who donate cakes believe in the prayers of the church monks, hoping to get God's protection and let the dead relatives enter heaven as soon as possible. This tradition of begging from house to house has evolved into a game in which children carry pumpkin lanterns from house to house to beg for candy. When they meet, the children dressed as ghosts and elves invariably threaten to make trouble if they don't please eat, but the host naturally dares not neglect and repeatedly says, "Please eat! Please eat! " At the same time, put the candy into the big pockets that children carry with them.

There is also a story about pumpkin carving as a lantern. This is from ancient Ireland. The story is about a man named JACK, who is drunk and loves practical jokes. One day, JACK tricked the devil into climbing a tree, and then carved a cross on the stump, threatening the devil to make him afraid to come down. Then JACK made a pact with the devil to let him get down from the tree on the condition that the devil promised to cast a spell so that JACK would never commit a crime. After JACK's death, his soul can neither go to heaven nor go to hell, so his ghost had to wander between heaven and earth by a small candle.

Ghosts and monsters dance

In the ancient Irish legend, this little candle was placed in a hollowed-out radish, which was called "JACK LANTERNS", but the ancient radish lamp has evolved to today, and it is Jack-O-Lantern made of pumpkin. It is said that soon after Irish people arrived in America, they found that pumpkins were superior to radishes in terms of source and carving, so pumpkins became Halloween pets.

Children's favorite festival

Halloween is a good time for children to have fun. In the eyes of children, it is a festival full of mystery. As night falls, the children can't wait to put on colorful makeup clothes, put on strange masks, put on a "jack lamp" and run out to play. The "Jack-o 'lantern" looks very cute. The way to do it is to hollow out the pumpkin, carve smiling eyes and a big mouth on the outside, then put a candle in the pumpkin and light it, so that people can see this naive smiling face in a far distance.

After cleaning up, groups of children dressed as monsters ran to the neighbor's house with "Jack-o-lanterns" in their hands, threatening to shout "trick or treat" and "money or food". If adults don't treat them with candy or change, those naughty children will do what they say: OK, if you don't treat them, I'll play a trick on you. Sometimes they soap other people's doorknobs and sometimes color other people's cats. These little pranks often make adults laugh and cry. Of course, most families are very happy to entertain these naive little guests. Therefore, on Halloween, children always have full stomachs and pockets.

3. Thanksgiving Day

The fourth Thursday in November is Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving Day is an ancient festival created by the American people, and it is also a festival for Americans to get together with their families, so Americans always feel very cordial when they mention Thanksgiving Day.

The origin of Thanksgiving goes back to the beginning of American history. In 162, the famous ship Mayflower arrived in America with 12 Puritans who could not bear the religious persecution in Britain. In the winter at the turn of 162 and 1621, they encountered unimaginable difficulties and were in hunger and cold. When the winter passed, only 5 immigrants survived. At this time, the kind-hearted Indians brought the immigrants necessities of life, and specially sent people to teach them how to hunt, fish and grow corn and pumpkins. With the help of the Indians, the immigrants finally got a bumper harvest. On the day of celebrating the bumper harvest, according to religious traditions and customs, the immigrants set a day to thank God, and decided to invite them to celebrate the festival together to thank the Indians for their sincere help.

On the first Thanksgiving Day, Indians and immigrants gathered together. They fired a salute at dawn, marched into a room used as a church, expressed their sincere gratitude to God, and then lit a bonfire for a grand banquet. On the second and third days, wrestling, running, singing and dancing were held. The first Thanksgiving was a great success. Many of these celebrations have been circulated for more than 3 years and have been preserved to this day.

at first, there was no fixed date for Thanksgiving Day, which was decided by the states temporarily. It was not until the independence of the United States that Thanksgiving Day became a national holiday.

On Thanksgiving Day, the whole country in the United States is very busy. People go to church to pray for gratitude according to the custom, and there are costume parades, theatrical performances or sports competitions everywhere in urban and rural towns. Lao Yan's relatives who have been flying for a year will also come back from all over the world, and the whole family will be round and round, tasting delicious Thanksgiving turkey.

Thanksgiving food is full of traditional characteristics. Turkey is the traditional main course of Thanksgiving. Usually, the turkey is stuffed with all kinds of spices and mixed food, and then the whole turkey is roasted, and the host cuts it into thin slices with a knife and gives it to everyone. In addition, traditional Thanksgiving foods include sweet potato, corn, pumpkin pie, cranberry moss jam and so on.

After the Thanksgiving party, people sometimes play some traditional games. For example, in the pumpkin race, competitors push pumpkins with a small spoon. The rule is that you can't touch pumpkins with your hands, and the one who comes to the finish line first wins. The smaller the spoon used in the game, the more interesting the game is.