need help 4 assignment!!!
2006-12-15 04:44:48 · 7 answers · asked by *MiSz LoRi BaBy* 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Holidays ➔ Other - Holidays
It happened two thousand years ago in a town called Bethlehem. A baby was born in a manger and his name was Jesus. there was no room for Mary, Joseph, and Jesus in the Inn. While shepherds were watching their flocks at night, an angel appeared to them and told them good tidings of great joy, that a baby had just been born in the manger, to come and save the world. Thats the first christmas.
2006-12-15 04:53:30 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
It depends on how you define Christmas. Is it the sum of all the traditions that we now follow? Or is it the first time such traditions appeared?
Christmas borrowed many pagan and secular traditions in an attempt to make the holiday more appealing to non-Christians.
The first mention of a December 25th Christmas was in 221 AD by Sextus Julius Africanus in his reference book Chronographiai.
It is unclear as to where this first took place, although Septus supposedly lived in ancient Emmaus, which is now calculated to be near Israel or the Palestinian West Bank.
2006-12-15 12:50:49 · answer #2 · answered by Michael 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The first Christmas was the day of Christ's birth.
In the Bible it says that Jesus was born while Herod the Great was still the king of Judah. (See LuKe chapter 1) Herod died in the year 4BC, so Jesus had to have been born sometime before that. Most scholars place the birth of Jesus in either the year 4BC or 6BC because the Bible also says that Cyrenius was governor of Syria at the time. Records found about 20 years ago state that he was in Syria in 6BC, returned to Rome for a time in 5BC, and was back in Syria in 4BC. He then returned to Roman and became a senator in 2BC, returning to Syria for a final time from 10-14AD. So to match the Bible, Jesus had to have been born in either 6 or 4AD.
If you go with the 4AD date, then it is also possible to explain the Christmas "star". As knowledge of astronomy was limited at the time, the word translated "star" in Matthew was applied to more than just stars. It was used for comets, meteors (falling stars), planets, etc. It was also used for what we call constellations today.
In 4BC there was what is called a triple conjunction. That is, three of the planets (Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars) all lined up with each other. In the course of a year, they would enter and leave this formation three times: in March, June and December.
It appears that the magi (or wise men) would have seen this conjunction in March, and consulted their books. There they would have found the prophecy given by one of the members (Balaam the son of Beor) in Numbers 22-24. (A column that includes this prophecy inscripts sometime before 900BC was found recently in Persia). He stated that when the "star" appears, a king would be born in Judah. When the star reappeared in June, they began to travel to Judah.
They arrived in Jerusalem (with the 3,000 soliders who normally traveled with them - which is what panic the city in Matthew 2) and were redirected by Herod to Bethlehem. At the point (late December) the conjuction would have reappeared. Note that Matthew 2 says that after they had talked to Herod, the star reappeared. It all fits with a late December, 4BC date. (That type of conjuction would not occur agains for another 496 years).
So the birth of Jesus appears to have happened in December of 4 AD according to details in the scriptures.
2006-12-15 12:54:53 · answer #3 · answered by dewcoons 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No one can answer that for NO ONE was around hundreds of years ago when it supposedly started and even if we have documentation it is merely one person documentation compare to the thousands of people that were on earth.
History is a touchy subject...Only recently can we count on what we read with our most recent records of 100 years.. before that people / scientists /researchers are only guessing !!
2006-12-15 13:15:30 · answer #4 · answered by Kitty 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
1st christmas tree ever documented in Riga, Lativa in the year 1510.
Although, a monk name St. Nicholas (280AD) was said he gave away all his inheirted wealth and travelled the counstrysides to help the poor and sick people.
Hope it helps
2006-12-15 13:00:16 · answer #5 · answered by Douglas W 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the first Christmas was when the wise men brought gifts to the the infant Jesus.
2006-12-15 13:00:09 · answer #6 · answered by northville 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
in a manger- little baby jesus and all that good stuff
2006-12-15 12:52:46 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋