Christmas
Next: December 25, 2026
Light in the darkest week of the year.
The story
Where it comes from
Christmas marks the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. The Gospels give no date; 25 December was fixed in Rome in the 4th century, close to the winter solstice and existing midwinter festivals. Many of the customs people now think of as Christmas are much younger: the decorated tree came out of German-speaking Europe and reached Britain and America in the 19th century, the greeting card was invented in London in 1843, and the red-suited Santa Claus is a 19th- and 20th-century American blend of Saint Nicholas and Dutch Sinterklaas.
How it's celebrated
Church services, a family meal and gifts are the core almost everywhere it is kept, but the timing and the table vary. Much of Europe and Latin America opens gifts on Christmas Eve; Britain, North America and Australia on Christmas morning. Orthodox churches that keep the Julian calendar celebrate on 7 January. In Japan a Christmas Eve dinner is a couple's date and fried chicken is the traditional meal; in the Philippines carols begin in September; in Malaysia and Singapore it is a public holiday shared across faiths, marked by open houses and shopping-street lights.
Did you know
- The first commercial Christmas card, commissioned by Sir Henry Cole in London in 1843, sold for a shilling; about a thousand were printed.
- The word 'Xmas' is not modern shorthand: X is the Greek letter chi, the first letter of Christos, and the abbreviation has been used for centuries.
- In the Philippines the season runs from the start of the 'ber months' in September to Three Kings' Day in January, the longest Christmas season in the world.
The greeting
Merry Christmas!
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- Charles Babbage's Birthday · December 26, 2026
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- The First Public Film Screening · December 28, 2026
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