By Jasmine Casey Lee （李可心）
It’s that time of the year again. December has come and with all the joys of Christmas. In the past, Christmas was never a big festival for Chinese people, however now, when December comes, streets are decorated with light, Christmas trees are standing everywhere, and people hanging out with their love ones, and friends or families are together celebrating this festival.
But what is the real meaning of Christmas?Is it the gifts under that tree, the lights in the windows, or the dinners with family and friends? Is that really Christmas?
Christmas is when people together celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Why would people celebrate Jesus’s birth? It is because Israelites have always eagerly waiting for the Messiah, the savior of their nation to restore Jewish kingdom.
Yet, Christian people believe that God sent His Son Jesus into the world is to save the whole human beings from the world where is full of sin, not just to save the Israelites. And they also believe that, Christmas is the season of great joy, since God showed His great love by giving his only son Jesus to die for our sin, and it is like free gift from God.
When Jesus was born, there were three wise men traveled far to bring gifts to Jesus. Therefore, that’s the reason why people have the custom of giving and receiving presents at Christmas.
However little does people knows that Jesus wasn’t born on December 25th. According to Pastor Thomas Tsai （蔡垂德）the senior pastor of Taipei Covenant Church“ with the clues provided from the Bible and astronomical calculation, most of the scholar conclude that the real date of Jesus birth is on March. Also, the birth of Jesus probably didn’t happened in year 1, but slight earlier.”
“The reason why people celebrate Christmas on December 25th can trace back to AD336, the year that have the First recorded date of Christmas being celebrated on December 25th. A few years later, Pope Julius officially declared the birth of Jesus would be celebrated on the 25th December.” Said Pastor Tsai.
But no matter what is the real date of Jesus birth, the most important meaning of Christmas is to “give”, just like God gave us his only begotten son to us unconditionally.
So, for this Christmas, let’s seize the opportunity to show the love to our love ones. May be is with a present, a wonderful dinner or may be just a hug. But please let’s not forget to “give” on this very meaningful day of the year!
