Looking through a frosted window at fog and chimney smoke is the best. The only thing that could make it better is when snow is falling gracefully from the sky, powdering the ground below. That very scene is one of the reasons why I have come to love winter so much. Winter means freezing temperatures that allow you to sit by the fire with a cup of cocoa. Winter means family coming together. Winter means Christmas. Winter means my favorite time of the year has arrived. I have always adored the
Three Kings Day, also known as Epiphany, is a Christian holiday that is celebrated annually on January 6th all around the world. The holiday is a celebration for the two significant hallmarks in Jesus’ life, when the three kings visited the newborn Christ in Bethlehem and Jesus’ baptism in the river of Jordan by John the Baptist (Britannica, 2007). The Western Church celebrates the visit by the Three Kings to the infant Jesus and the Eastern Church celebrates the baptism of Jesus (Britannica, 2007)
Christmas History The word Christmas comes from the old English "Cristes maesse" meaning Christ's Mass. The Holiday celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. The actual birthday of Jesus is not known; therefore, the early Church Fathers in the 4th century fixed the day around the old Roman Saturnalia festival (17 - 21 December), a traditional pagan festivity. The first mention of the birthday of Jesus is from the year 354 AD. Gradually all Christian churches, except Armenians who celebrate Christmas
Paganism is a broad group of indigenous and historical polytheistic religious traditions—primarily those of cultures known to the classical world. In a wider sense, Paganism has also been understood to include any non-Abrahamic, folk, ethnic religion. Modern ethnologists often avoid referring to non-classical and non-European, traditional and historical faiths as Pagan in favour of less ambiguous labels such as polytheism, shamanism, pantheism, and animism. [Wikipedia p.1] Paganism is the oldest