In Jerusalem, three wise men have arrived from the east and were inquiring where the King of the Jews was born for they had seen His star in the East and they wanted to worship Him. When Herodes heard about this, he was instantly felt afraid and at once planned to kill the child. He instructed the three kings to search relentlessly for the child and when they find Him, let him know at oncee so he can also worship the child (Mt 2:18).
"Look! the virgin is with child and will give birth to a son whom they will call Immanuel, a name which means 'God is with us'." (Matthew 1:23)
During Christmas, the Holy Catholic Church celebrates Three Masses for the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. It goes back at least to the 6th Century when the Church started celebrating three masses to emphasize the different parts of the Nativity - the Angel's Mass, the Shepherd's Mass and the King's Mass.
Christmas is all about the Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ. A season of traditional gift giving in many parts of the christian world. This custom is a symbolic reminder of the Three Kings who gave their gifts of offering to the newly born Messiah. Many christians always see a manger scene of the Three Kings paying tribute to the Holy Infant. They have in their hands special gifts that bears spiritual meaning.
Christmas is celebrated early by devout Catholic countries. Christmas music and decorations start to pop up as early as September in every homes and cities. One of these décor that is extremely common in a country like the Philippines is the display of the christmas parol. The parol from the Spanish word farol or lantern, is a traditional christmas décor from the Spansh colonial period in the Philippines. The most common shape now is a star to represent the star of Bethlehem. Thou different materials are used today with flickering lights on display, simple bamboo and japanese paper were originally used before to produce parols. In the Philippines these were carried in a procession called Panunuluyan (Lodging). A tradition of the reenactment of Joseph and Mary searching for a place to stay in Bethlehem.
Every Christmas, as we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, we start decorating our house with Christmas lights and Christmas trees, playing Christmas songs and buying gifts for our loved ones. In European and Western countries including America, there is another popular tradition during Christmas, and that is placing a sock near the chimneys. Why do they place a sock near the chimney? Because the kids are hoping that they will get special gifts from Santa Claus. But who is Santa Claus? Is he real? Does he go into the chimney and place a gift on every sock? How can he fit in the chimney if he is fat? The last question is just a joke. Anyway, this popular character was based from a real-life person, a saint. His name is Saint Nicholas of Myra.
The Advent is the time of preparation which last for four weeks before Christmas. The Advent came from the Latin word “Adventus”, which means “For arrival” which refers to the arrival of our Lord. It is unknown when the exact year the Advent started but it was celebrated in 480 A.D.
