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Christmas or The Feast of the Nativity The Festival of Pascha or Easter
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the The Pasqua in Hebrew, originally meant Passover, It is
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birth of Jesus Christ, generally celebrated on the 25 of December originally a Jewish celebration of thankful prayers and a feast of eating
ritual foods like Matzah brei and lamb. The feast commemorates the
every year. ‘Christmas’ is an English word derived from the older
liberation of the Jews from bondage under the Egyptians. But for the
“Christes Maesse,” which means Christ’s Mass. Originally the
Christians, it is a celebration of the event when Jesus Christ redeemed
tradition developed from the annual celebration of the planet
all the sins of humanity by accepting torture until his death and his
Saturn, called, “Saturnalia.” which began in mid-December and
ensuing Resurrection. That incident is now marked as the ‘passing-over’
lasted until the 1st of January. It was performed until the reign of from his death to his resurrection. From sorrow to rejoicing, from life
Constantine the Emperor, who, due to his belief in Christianity, full of sin and death to a new life, it is the celebration the Christians
designated an annual celebration on the 25 of December to mark call ‘Easter.’ On that day, there will also be a feast of eating turkey
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the birthday of Christ. Henceforth, the ‘Christ Mass’ celebration and eggs. In the early times of Christianity, eggs were forbidden as
food during the Lent or fasting period. When the Lent period ends,
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took place in Rome from the 4 century AD onwards. Today,
Christians are able to have eggs again, symbolizing a new beginning,
this Christian festival is widely known as Christmas, celebrated
like that of an egg. Afterward, the Easter festival with the tradition of
culturally by a large number of non-Christian people around the
eating and distributing eggs was started. Today, hardboiled eggs with
world. It is a festival of gift-giving and decorating Christmas
paint of bright color or with written wishes are hidden in bushes for
trees. In Thailand, there are also celebrations of Christmas day a traditional Easter egg treasure hunt, which is especially fun for the
among Christians. Besides, there is a unique Christmas celebration children.
called "Christmas Star Procession" at Tha Re District of Sakhon
The Ash Wednesday
Nakorn province. The festival was firstly hold in 1982 to celebrate
Lent, is the period of fasting for forty days and ends
the birth of Jesus Christ, based on the legend saying that; during
with the celebration of the Pasqua, or Easter, in Christianity.
the time Jesus was born, an astrologer noticed the appearance of
The name “Quadragesima”of a festival is Latin, meaning,
one big star in the sky with a much brighter light than the others.
“the fortieth.” (called “Lent” in English) The festival begins with
He followed that star to the birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem, Ash Wednesday, which is a ritual ceremony of consecrating and
in the region of Palestine. The ‘star’ is, therefore a symbol of Jesus sprinkling ashes onto the heads of adherents during the ‘Missa or
descending to the earth, and is called the “Star of Bethlehem.” In Mass’ rite. The sprinkling of ashes is a symbol of mourning or the
commemoration of that event, people create many stars from a repenting of the Jews in ancient times. During the fasting period,
the adherents are to abstain from meat and only have one meal per
bamboo structure, attaching colored papers to the bamboo stars to
day. It is accompanied by religious practice, acts of charity, and not
adorn the church, their houses and for use in a procession of hundreds
partaking in luxurious lifestyles. Today, Catholics are mostly asked
of cars that roll on into the night.
to do positive social works of charity to help people. The rite is over
on the Pasqua or Easter day.
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