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Christmas is the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, which, in Western Christian Churches, is held annually on 25 December. For centuries, it has been the subject of several reformations, both religious and secular. In the 17th century, the Puritans had laws forbidding the ecclesiastical celebration of Christmas, unlike the Catholic Church or the Anglican Church, the latter from which they separated. Sextus Julius Africanus, a historian of the second century, maintained that Jesus of Nazareth was conceived on 25 March, which the Christian Church came to celebrate as the Feast of the Annunciation. An early mention of Christmas observance is from 129 AD when a Roman bishop decreed: “In the Holy Night of the Nativity of our Lord and Saviour, all shall solemnly sing the Angels Hymn. January, a solution that would “coordinate the solar Julian calendar with the lunar calendars of its provinces in the east”.
During the winter, the burning of logs was a common practice among many cultures across Northern Europe. Prior to the Victorian era, Christmas was primarily a religious holiday observed by Christians of the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran denominations. The Puritans, on the other hand, objected to the Christian feast of Christmas, during the English Interregnum, when England was ruled by a Puritan Parliament. In Colonial America, the Pilgrims of New England disapproved of Christmas. With the appearance of the Oxford Movement in the Anglican Church, a revival in the traditional rituals and religious observances associated with Christmastime occurred.
Christmas Day is recognized as an official federal holiday by the United States government. In some cases, popular aspects of Christmas, such as Christmas trees, lights, and decorating are still prominently showcased, but are associated with unspecified “holidays” rather than with Christmas. Supreme Court rulings, starting with Lynch v. Donnelly in 1984, have permitted religious themes in government-funded Christmas displays that had “legitimate secular purposes”. Since these rulings have been splintered and have left governments uncertain of their limits, many such displays have included secular elements such as reindeer, snowmen and elves along with the religious elements. A controversy regarding these issues arose in 2002, when the New York City public school system banned the display of Nativity scenes but allowed the display of what the policy deemed less overtly religious symbols such as Christmas trees, Hanukkah menorahs, and the Muslim star and crescent.
The school system successfully defended its policy in Skoros v. In 2005, Walmart was criticized by the Catholic League for avoiding the word “Christmas” in any of their marketing efforts. The company had downplayed the term “Christmas” in much of its advertising for several years. In 2005, Target Corporation was criticized by the American Family Association for their decision not to use the term “Christmas” in any of their in-store, online, or print advertising. When it was revealed in November 2006 that Walmart would be using the term “Christmas” in their advertising campaign, an article about the issue initiated by USA Today pointed out that Best Buy Corporation would be among the retailers that would not be using “Christmas” at all in their advertising that year. The Home Depot was criticized by the AFA for using terms such as “holiday” and “Hanukkah” on their website, but avoiding the term “Christmas”. The retailer responded by saying they will be adjusting their website to make references to Christmas more prominent.
On 11 November 2009, the AFA called for a “limited two-month boycott” of Gap, Inc. In November 2010, the word “Christmas” on two signs at Philadelphia’s Christmas Village was removed by the organizers after complaints, but restored three days later after the mayor intervened. In 2014, Northwest University closed the campus completely on Christmas Eve, and all the requests for leave were rejected by the school officials. This section needs to be updated.
Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. Candles of Christmas” and “It’s Christmas” with the original lyrics. Poster with the headline ‘Christmas in Birmingham’, then a picture of a mother and children, looking at toys, with the words ‘Come for the shopping, stay for the day’. Below that, in smaller type, the Birmingham City Council and Winterval 1998 logos. Birmingham City Council in the late 1990s remains a controversial example of “Christmas controversy”.