圣诞节-Christmas（英文版）.PPT

Christmas Christmas is an annual（年度的，每年的）commemoration（纪念，庆典）of the birth of Jesus Christ and a widely observed holiday, celebrated generally on December 25 by billions of people around the world. A feast（盛宴，宗教节日）central to the Christian liturgical（礼拜仪式的）year（教会年历）, it initiates（使开始）the twelve days of Christmastide（圣诞季）, which ends after the twelfth night. Christmas is a civil holiday in many of the worlds nations, is celebrated by an increasing number of non-Christians, and is an integral part of the Christmas and holiday season. Christmas Christmas While the birth year of Jesus is estimated among modern historians to have been between 7 and 2 BC, the exact month and day of his birth are unknown. His birth is mentioned in two of the four canonical（按照教会法的）gospels（福音书，指《圣经新约》中的马太、马可、路加、约翰四福音书）. By the early-to-mid 4th century, the Western Christian Church had placed Christmas on December 25, a date later adopted in the East. The original date of the celebration in Eastern Christianity（基督教，包括天主教、新教及东正教）was January 6, in connection with Epiphany（主显节，每年一月六日纪念耶稣显灵的节日）, and that is still the date of the celebration for the Armenian Apostolic Church（耶稣基督使徒所建立的正统基督教会）and in Armenia（亚美尼亚，苏联加盟共和国名）, where it is a public holiday. Ethiopia（埃塞俄比亚）, Egypt, Russia, Georgia（格鲁吉亚，前苏联加盟共和国）, Ukraine（乌克兰）, Serbia（塞尔维亚，南斯拉夫成员共和国名）, the Republic of Macedonia（马其顿）, and the Republic of Moldova（摩尔多瓦，罗马尼亚一地区）celebrate Christmas on what in the Gregorian calendar（格里高里历）is January 7. Eastern Orthodox Churches（正教会）in Bulgaria（保加利亚）, Greece, Romania, Antioch（?安提俄克，古叙利亚首都，现土尔其南部城市）, Alexandria（亚历山大，埃及北部港市，亚历山大省省会）, Albania, Finland, and the Orthodox Church in America celebrate Christmas on December 25 in the revised Julian calendar（儒略历，当前所使用的阳历的前身，古罗马统帅尤利乌斯恺撒所制定的历法）. The celebratory（庆祝的）customs associated in various countries with Christmas have a mix of pre-Christian, Christian, and secular（非宗教的，世俗的）themes and origins. Popular modern customs of the holiday include gift giving, Ch