119-471: Feliz Navidad is a phrase meaning "Happy Christmas" or "Merry Christmas" in Spanish. It may also refer to: Holiday greetings#Merry Christmas and Happy Christmas The Christmas season or the festive season ; also known as the holiday season or the holidays , is an annual period generally spanning from late November or December to early January. Incorporating Christmas Day and New Year's Day ,
238-473: A Christmas greeting in the United States for more than 100 years. The increasing usage of "happy holidays" has been the subject of some controversy in the United States . Advocates claim that "happy holidays" is an inclusive greeting that is not intended as an attack on Christianity or other religions, but is rather a response to what they say is the reality of a growing non-Christian population. Opponents of
357-514: A common year and the 25th to 29th in a leap year). Hence he regarded the bissextum as the first half of the doubled day. All later writers, including Macrobius about 430, Bede in 725, and other medieval computists (calculators of Easter) followed this rule, as does the liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church. However, Celsus' definition continued to be used for legal purposes. It was incorporated into Justinian's Digest , and in
476-507: A corruption of Winnimanoth "pasture-month"), Brachmanoth (" fallow -month"), Heuuimanoth ("hay month"), Aranmanoth (" reaping month"), Witumanoth ("wood month"), Windumemanoth ("vintage month"), Herbistmanoth ("harvest month"), and Heilagmanoth ("holy month"). The calendar month names used in western and northern Europe, in Byzantium, and by the Amazigh (Berbers) , were derived from
595-776: A feast until 361, when Emperor Julian attended a feast on January 6 that year. In the Christian tradition , the Christmas season is a period beginning on Christmas Day (December 25). In some churches (e.g., the Lutheran Churches and the Anglican Communion ), the season continues through Twelfth Night , the day before the Epiphany , which is celebrated either on January 6 or on the Sunday between January 2 and 8. In other churches (e.g.,
714-666: A gift card than merchandise, an increase from the previous year's 35 percent. Also, resistance to giving gift cards continued to decline: 19 percent said they would not like to give gift cards because they're too impersonal (down from 22 percent last year). Consumers said that the cards are popular gifts for adults, teens and children alike, and almost half (46 percent) intend to buy them for immediate family; however, they are hesitant to buy them for spouses or significant others, with only 14 percent saying they plan to buy them for those recipients. Some stores in Canada hold Boxing Week sales (before
833-484: A large number of festivals were decreed to celebrate events of dynastic importance, which caused the character of the associated dates to be changed to NP . However, this practice was discontinued around the reign of Claudius , and the practice of characterising days fell into disuse around the end of the first century AD: the Antonine jurist Gaius speaks of dies nefasti as a thing of the past. The old intercalary month
952-502: A larger cultural clash dubbed by some commentators as the " War on Christmas ". The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, the executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State , has stated the uproar is based on "stories that only sometimes even contain a grain of truth and often are completely false." Julian calendar The Julian calendar is a solar calendar of 365 days in every year with an additional leap day every fourth year (without exception). The Julian calendar
1071-675: A lot of seasonal activities and traditions to offer around Christmas time. December 25 and 26 are Public Holidays that makes most shops open for shopping. Locals and tourists love to watch the 30-meter Swarovski Christmas tree in the Central as well as the Christmas light displays on buildings on Victoria Harbour . A huge party in Hong Kong called Winterfest is celebrated every year which involves malls, shops, theme parks and other attractions. South Korea's population are 30 percent Christian and Christmas
1190-406: A majority (57%) say they would likely attend if someone they knew invited them." In the United States, the holiday season "is generally considered to begin with the day after Halloween and end after New Year's Day". According to Axelrad, the season in the United States encompasses at least Christmas and New Year's Day, and also includes Saint Nicholas Day . The U.S. Fire Administration defines
1309-595: A predominantly Muslim country, also celebrated Christmas as a public holiday. Every year, Ministry of Religious Affairs holds the National Christmas Celebration of the Republic of Indonesia . The program started in 1993 as a suggestion from Tiopan Bernhard Silalahi, who was Minister of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform in the Sixth Development Cabinet , who has Protestant background, to
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#17328734799361428-410: A remedy, and as a return to what they perceive as the root of Christmas, some practice alternative giving . In the United States, the holiday season is a particularly important time for retail shopping, with shoppers spending more than $ 600 billion during the 2013 holiday season, averaging about $ 767 per person. During the 2014 holiday shopping season, retail sales in the United States increased to
1547-592: A sight-line pointing to the winter solstice sunrise (Newgrange) and the winter solstice sunset (Stonehenge). It is significant that the Great Trilithon was oriented outwards from the middle of the monument, i.e. its smooth flat face was turned towards the midwinter Sun. Saturnalia was an ancient Roman festival in honor of the deity Saturn , the god of time, held on December 17 of the Julian calendar and later expanded with festivities through December 23. The holiday
1666-428: A technical fashion to refer to the earlier of the two days, which requires the inscription to refer to the whole 48-hour day as the bissextile. Some later historians share this view. Others, following Mommsen , take the view that Celsus was using the ordinary Latin (and English) meaning of "posterior". A third view is that neither half of the 48-hour "bis sextum" was originally formally designated as intercalated, but that
1785-431: A total of over $ 616 billion, and in 2015, retail sales in the United States increased to a total of over $ 630 billion, up from 2014's $ 616 billion. The average US holiday shopper spent on average $ 805. More than half of it was spent on family shopping. It is traditionally considered to commence on the day after American Thanksgiving , a Friday colloquially known as either Black Friday or Green Friday. This
1904-525: A wise man called Acoreus during the feast, stating his intention to create a calendar more perfect than that of Eudoxus (Eudoxus was popularly credited with having determined the length of the year to be 365 + 1 ⁄ 4 days). But the war soon resumed and Caesar was attacked by the Egyptian army for several months until he achieved victory. He then enjoyed a long cruise on the Nile with Cleopatra before leaving
2023-470: Is a Public Holiday . According to the Washington Post , "Koreans prefer cash Christmas gifts over more creative presents." Singapore widely celebrates Christmas which is a Public Holiday in this country. For six weeks, mid-November to early January, the 2.2-kilometre (1.4 mi) stretch of Orchard Road glitters with lights from decorated trees and building facades of malls and hotels. Indonesia,
2142-614: Is broadcast on Irish television, which features all the popular toys throughout the year being demonstrated and showcased before the holiday season and shopping sprees commence. The Netherlands and Belgium have a double holiday. The first one, the arrival of the Bishop Saint Nicholas and Black Peter, starts about mid November, with presents being given on December 5 or 6. This is a separate holiday from Christmas, Bishop Saint Nick (Sinterklaas) and Santa Claus (Kerstman) being different people. The Netherlands and Belgium often do not start
2261-506: Is central to the Christmas and holiday season, and the season thus also incorporates a "holiday shopping season". This comprises a peak time for the retail sector at the start of the holiday season (the "Christmas shopping season") and a period of sales at the end of the season, the "January sales". Although once dedicated mostly to white sales and clearance sales , the January sales now comprise both winter close-out sales and sales comprising
2380-456: Is more than the actual solar year value of approximately 365.2422 days (the current value, which varies), which means the Julian calendar gains one day every 129 years. In other words, the Julian calendar gains 3.1 days every 400 years. Gregory's calendar reform modified the Julian rule, to reduce the average length of the calendar year from 365.25 days to 365.2425 days and thus corrected
2499-507: Is no basis for the statement sometimes seen that they were called " Undecimber " and " Duodecimber ", terms that arose in the 18th century over a millennium after the Roman Empire's collapse. Their individual lengths are unknown, as is the position of the Nones and Ides within them. Because 46 BC was the last of a series of irregular years, this extra-long year was, and is, referred to as
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#17328734799362618-509: Is preceded by Advent , which begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day, coinciding with the majority of the commercialized Christmas and holiday season. The Anglican Communion follows the Christmas season with an Epiphany season lasting until Candlemas (February 2), which is traditionally the 40th day of the Christmas – Epiphany season; meanwhile, in the Lutheran Churches and the Methodist Churches , Epiphanytide lasts until
2737-554: Is still used as a religious calendar in parts of the Eastern Orthodox Church and in parts of Oriental Orthodoxy as well as by the Amazigh people (also known as the Berbers). The Julian calendar was proposed in 46 BC by (and takes its name from) Julius Caesar , as a reform of the earlier Roman calendar , which was largely a lunisolar one. It took effect on 1 January 45 BC , by his edict . Caesar's calendar became
2856-727: Is widely reputed to be the busiest shopping day of the entire calendar year. However, in 2004 the VISA credit card organization reported that over the previous several years VISA credit card spending had in fact been 8 to 19 percent higher on the last Saturday before Christmas Day (i.e., Super Saturday ) than on Black Friday. A survey conducted in 2005 by GfK NOP discovered that "Americans aren't as drawn to Black Friday as many retailers may think", with only 17 percent of those polled saying that they will begin holiday shopping immediately after Thanksgiving, 13 percent saying that they plan to finish their shopping before November 24 and 10 percent waiting until
2975-646: The 12 Days of Christmas . Christmas in Italy begins on 8 December, with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception , the day on which traditionally the Christmas tree is mounted and ends on 6 January, of the following year with the Epiphany . As the economic impact involving the anticipatory lead-up to Christmas Day grew in America and Europe into the 19th and 20th centuries, the term "Christmas season" began to also encompass
3094-546: The Mellandagsrea (between days sell off) traditionally begins on December 27 (nowadays often December 26 or even December 25) and lasts during the rest of the Christmas holiday. It is similar to Black Friday , but lasts longer. They last 34–35 days. Black Friday itself has also gained publicity in Sweden since the early-2010s. The Swedish Christmas and holiday season continues over Epiphany , and finally ends on St. Knut's Day when
3213-620: The Persian calendar by introduction of the Persian Zoroastrian (i. e. Young Avestan) calendar in 503 BC and afterwards, the first day of the year (1 Farvardin= Nowruz ) slipped against the vernal equinox at the rate of approximately one day every four years. Likewise in the Egyptian calendar , a fixed year of 365 days was in use, drifting by one day against the sun in four years. An unsuccessful attempt to add an extra day every fourth year
3332-784: The Roman Catholic Church ), it continues until the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which falls on the Sunday following the Epiphany, or on the Monday following the Epiphany if the Epiphany is moved to January 7 or 8. If the Epiphany is kept on January 6, the Church of England 's use of the term Christmas season corresponds to the Twelve Days of Christmas , and ends on Twelfth Night. This short Christmas season
3451-584: The Victorian era Christmas traditions it typifies, and the term's new meaning appearing in the book popularized the phrase "Merry Christmas". The alternative "Happy Christmas" gained usage in the late 19th century, and in the United Kingdom and Ireland is a common spoken greeting, along with "Merry Christmas." One reason may be the Victorian middle-class influence in attempting to separate wholesome celebration of
3570-411: The "last year of confusion". The new calendar began operation after the realignment had been completed, in 45 BC. The Julian months were formed by adding ten days to a regular pre-Julian Roman year of 355 days, creating a regular Julian year of 365 days. Two extra days were added to January, Sextilis (August) and December, and one extra day was added to April, June, September, and November. February
3689-509: The "winter holiday season" as the period from December 1 to January 7. According to Chen et al., in China, the Christmas and holiday season "is generally considered to begin with the winter solstice and end after the Lantern Festival ". In some stores and shopping malls, Christmas merchandise is advertised beginning after Halloween or even earlier in late October, alongside Halloween items. In
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3808-401: The 4.6 cards they planned to buy the previous year. One in six consumers (16 percent) planned to buy 10 or more cards, compared with 11 percent the previous year. Consumers also spent more in total on gift cards and more per card: $ 36.25 per card on average compared with $ 30.22 last year. Gift cards continued to grow in acceptance: Almost four in 10 consumers surveyed (39 percent) would rather get
3927-425: The 7-day week in the first century AD, and dominical letters began to appear alongside nundinal letters in the fasti. The Julian calendar has two types of year: "normal" years of 365 days and "leap" years of 366 days. There is a simple cycle of three "normal" years followed by a leap year and this pattern repeats forever without exception. The Julian year is, therefore, on average 365.25 days long. Consequently,
4046-632: The Balkans and parts of Palestine, most notably in Judea. The Asian calendar was an adaptation of the Ancient Macedonian calendar used in the Roman province of Asia and, with minor variations, in nearby cities and provinces. It is known in detail through the survival of decrees promulgating it issued in 8 BC by the proconsul Paullus Fabius Maximus . It renamed the first month Dios as Kaisar , and arranged
4165-514: The Christmas season from public insobriety and associated asocial behaviour, at a time when merry also meant ' intoxicated ' – Queen Elizabeth II is said to have preferred "Happy Christmas" for this reason. In her annual Christmas messages to the Commonwealth, Queen Elizabeth used "Happy Christmas" far more often than "Merry Christmas." The latter was used only four times during her reign: in 1962, 1967, 1970 and 1999; "Happy Christmas"
4284-466: The Christmas season until December 6 or 7, i.e. after Sinterklaas has finished. In France, the January sales are restricted by legislation to no more than four weeks in Paris, and no more than six weeks for the rest of the country, usually beginning on the first Wednesday in January, and are one of only two periods of the year when retailers are permitted to hold sales. In Italy, the January sales begin on
4403-473: The English Statute De Anno et Die Bissextili of 1236, which was not formally repealed until 1879. The effect of the bissextile day on the nundinal cycle is not discussed in the sources. According to Dio Cassius, a leap day was inserted in 41 BC to ensure that the first market day of 40 BC did not fall on 1 January, which implies that the old 8-day cycle was not immediately affected by
4522-486: The Julian calendar's drift against the solar year : the Gregorian calendar gains just 0.1 day over 400 years. For any given event during the years from 1901 through 2099, its date according to the Julian calendar is 13 days behind its corresponding Gregorian date (for instance Julian 1 January falls on Gregorian 14 January). Most Catholic countries adopted the new calendar immediately; Protestant countries did so slowly in
4641-549: The Julian reform. However, he also reports that in AD ;44, and on some previous occasions, the market day was changed to avoid a conflict with a religious festival. This may indicate that a single nundinal letter was assigned to both halves of the 48-hour bissextile day by this time, so that the Regifugium and the market day might fall on the same date but on different days. In any case, the 8-day nundinal cycle began to be displaced by
4760-432: The Julian year drifts over time with respect to the tropical (solar) year (365.24217 days). Although Greek astronomers had known, at least since Hipparchus , a century before the Julian reform, that the tropical year was slightly shorter than 365.25 days, the calendar did not compensate for this difference. As a result, the calendar year gains about three days every four centuries compared to observed equinox times and
4879-563: The Latin names. However, in eastern Europe older seasonal month names continued to be used into the 19th century, and in some cases are still in use, in many languages, including: Belarusian , Bulgarian , Croatian , Czech , Finnish, Georgian , Lithuanian , Macedonian , Polish , Romanian , Slovene , Ukrainian . When the Ottoman Empire adopted the Julian calendar, in the form of the Rumi calendar,
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4998-592: The Terminalia (23 February). If managed correctly this system could have allowed the Roman year to stay roughly aligned to a tropical year . However, since the pontifices were often politicians, and because a Roman magistrate's term of office corresponded with a calendar year, this power was prone to abuse: a pontifex could lengthen a year in which he or one of his political allies was in office, or refuse to lengthen one in which his opponents were in power. Caesar's reform
5117-481: The U.S. to encompass Thanksgiving is believed to have begun in the 1920s, when in major department stores Macy's and Gimbels launched competing Thanksgiving Day parades to promote Christmas sales. Due to the phenomenon of Christmas creep and the informal inclusion of Thanksgiving, the Christmas and holiday season has begun to extend earlier into the year, overlapping Veterans / Remembrance / Armistice Day , Halloween and Guy Fawkes Night . The exchange of gifts
5236-644: The UK and Ireland, Christmas food generally appears on supermarket shelves as early as September or even August, while the Christmas shopping season itself starts from mid-November, when the high street Christmas lights are switched on. Secular icons and symbols, such as Santa Claus , the Nutcracker , Jack Frost , Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman , are on display in addition to Christian displays of
5355-418: The UK in 2010, up to £8 billion was expected to be spent online at Christmas, approximately a quarter of total retail festive sales. Retailers in the UK call Christmas the "golden quarter", that is, the three months of October to December is the quarter of the year in which the retail industry hopes to make the most money. In Ireland, around early December or late November each year, The Late Late Toy Show
5474-636: The United Kingdom and Ireland, the phrase "holiday season" has been the subject of some controversy. The winter solstice (in the northern hemisphere occurring in late December) may have been a special moment of the annual cycle for some cultures even during Neolithic times. This is attested by physical remains in the layouts of late Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeological sites, such as Stonehenge in England and Newgrange in Ireland. The primary axes of both of these monuments seem to have been carefully aligned on
5593-447: The United States and before Halloween in Canada. In the UK and Ireland retailers call Christmas the "golden quarter", that is, the three months of October through December is the quarter of the year in which the retail industry hopes to make the most profit. In the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom, the Christmas shopping season starts from mid-November, around the time when high street Christmas lights are turned on. In
5712-407: The United States over recent decades. While in other countries the only holidays included in the "season" are Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, St. Stephen's Day/ Boxing Day , New Year's Eve, New Year's Day and Epiphany , in recent times, this term in the U.S. began to expand to include Yule , Hanukkah , Kwanzaa , Thanksgiving , Black Friday and Cyber Monday . The expansion of the holiday season in
5831-562: The United States, which has caused a semantics controversy that continues to the present. By the late 20th century, the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah and the new African American cultural holiday of Kwanzaa began to be considered in the U.S. as being part of the "holiday season", a term that as of 2013 had become equally or more prevalent than "Christmas season" in U.S. sources to refer to the end-of-the-year festive period. "Holiday season" has also spread in varying degrees to Canada; however, in
5950-487: The astronomical almanac published by Caesar to facilitate the reform. Eventually, it was decided to establish a calendar that would be a combination between the old Roman months, the fixed length of the Egyptian calendar, and the 365 + 1 ⁄ 4 days of Greek astronomy. According to Macrobius, Caesar was assisted in this by a certain Marcus Flavius. Caesar's reform only applied to the Roman calendar . However, in
6069-475: The beginning of September). Beginning in the mid-20th century, as the Christian-associated Christmas holiday and liturgical season, in some circles, became increasingly commercialized and central to American economics and culture while religio-multicultural sensitivity rose, generic references to the season that omitted the word "Christmas" became more common in the corporate and public sphere of
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#17328734799366188-422: The beginning of the fifth. This error continued for thirty-six years by which time twelve intercalary days had been inserted instead of the number actually due, namely nine. But when this error was at length recognised, it too was corrected, by an order of Augustus, that twelve years should be allowed to pass without an intercalary day, since the sequence of twelve such years would account for the three days which, in
6307-497: The books until January, extending the length of the season makes sense". According to the Deloitte 2007 Holiday Survey, for the fourth straight year, gift cards were expected to be the top gift purchase in 2007, with more than two-thirds (69 percent) of consumers surveyed planning to buy them, compared with 66 percent in 2006. In addition, holiday shoppers planned to buy even more cards that year: an average of 5.5 cards, compared with
6426-557: The children have a Knut's party . In Bosnia ( Republika Srpska ), Montenegro and Serbia, holiday sales starts in the middle of December and last for at least one month. The Philippines reportedly has the longest Christmas season , extending from September to January 9 (the feast of the Black Nazarene ). Over the country, parols (star shaped lanterns) are hung and lights are lit. Simbang Gabi or dawn masses start December 16 and run for nine days until Christmas Eve. Hong Kong has
6545-586: The correct Julian calendar. Due to the confusion about this period, we cannot be sure exactly what day (e.g. Julian day number ) any particular Roman date refers to before March of 8 BC, except for those used in Egypt in 24 BC which are secured by astronomy. An inscription has been discovered which orders a new calendar to be used in the Province of Asia to replace the previous Greek lunar calendar. According to one translation Intercalation shall commence on
6664-452: The country in June 47 BC. Caesar returned to Rome in 46 BC and, according to Plutarch , called in the best philosophers and mathematicians of his time to solve the problem of the calendar. Pliny says that Caesar was aided in his reform by the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria who is generally considered the principal designer of the reform. Sosigenes may also have been the author of
6783-530: The course of the following two centuries or so; most Orthodox countries retain the Julian calendar for religious purposes but adopted the Gregorian as their civil calendar in the early part of the twentieth century. The ordinary year in the previous Roman calendar consisted of 12 months, for a total of 355 days. In addition, a 27- or 28-day intercalary month , the Mensis Intercalaris , was sometimes inserted between February and March. This intercalary month
6902-459: The course of thirty-six years, had been introduced by the premature actions of the priests. So, according to Macrobius, Some people have had different ideas as to how the leap years went. The above scheme is that of Scaliger (1583) in the table below. He established that the Augustan reform was instituted in 8 BC. The table below shows for each reconstruction the implied proleptic Julian date for
7021-463: The date in both calendars was the same. The dates in the Alexandrian and Julian calendars are in one-to-one correspondence except for the period from 29 August in the year preceding a Julian leap year to the following 24 February. From a comparison of the astronomical data with the Egyptian and Roman dates, Alexander Jones concluded that the Egyptian astronomers (as opposed to travellers from Rome) used
7140-552: The date of birth of Jesus was Hippolytus of Rome (170–236), written very early in the 3rd century, based on the assumption that the conception of Jesus took place at the Spring equinox which he placed on March 25, to which he then added nine months. There is historical evidence that by the middle of the 4th century, the Christian churches of the East celebrated the birth and Baptism of Jesus on
7259-408: The day after 14 Peritius [a.d. IX Kal. Feb, which would have been 15 Peritius] as it is currently constituted in the third year following promulgation of the decree. Xanthicus shall have 32 days in this intercalary year. This is historically correct. It was decreed by the proconsul that the first day of the year in the new calendar shall be Augustus' birthday, a.d. IX Kal. Oct. Every month begins on
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#17328734799367378-407: The early Julian calendar. The earliest direct evidence is a statement of the 2nd century jurist Celsus , who states that there were two-halves of a 48-hour day, and that the intercalated day was the "posterior" half. An inscription from AD 168 states that a.d. V Kal. Mart. was the day after the bissextile day. The 19th century chronologist Ideler argued that Celsus used the term "posterior" in
7497-452: The end of the year) for income tax purposes. What has become known as "Christmas creep" refers to a merchandising phenomenon in which merchants and retailers exploit the commercialized status of Christmas by moving up the start of the holiday shopping season. The term was first used in the mid-1980s, and is associated with a desire of merchants to take advantage of particularly heavy Christmas-related shopping well before Black Friday in
7616-715: The ephemeral month names of the post-Augustan Roman emperors were the Old High German names introduced by Charlemagne . According to his biographer, Einhard, Charlemagne renamed all of the months agriculturally in German. These names were used until the 15th century, over 700 years after his rule, and continued, with some modifications, to be used as "traditional" month names until the late 18th century. The names (January to December) were: Wintarmanoth ("winter month"), Hornung , Lentzinmanoth ("spring month", " Lent month"), Ostarmanoth (" Easter month"), Wonnemanoth (" joy -month",
7735-447: The first commercial Christmas card , produced by Henry Cole in England in 1843. Also in 1843, Charles Dickens ' A Christmas Carol was published, during the mid Victorian revival of the holiday. The word "merry" was then beginning to take on its current meaning of "jovial, cheerful, jolly and outgoing." " Merry Christmas " in this new context figured prominently in A Christmas Carol . The cynical Ebenezer Scrooge rudely deflects
7854-476: The first day of Caesar's reformed calendar and the first Julian date on which the Roman calendar date matches the Julian calendar after the completion of Augustus' reform. By the systems of Scaliger, Ideler and Bünting, the leap years prior to the suspension happen to be BC years that are divisible by 3, just as, after leap year resumption, they are the AD years divisible by 4. Pierre Brind'Amour argued that "only one day
7973-568: The first day of Lent, Ash Wednesday . The Pew Research Center found that as of 2014, 72% of Americans support the presence of Christian Christmas decorations, such as the nativity scene , on government property; of that 72%, "survey data finds that a plurality (44%) of Americans say Christian symbols, such as nativity scenes, should be allowed on government property even if they are not accompanied by symbols from other faiths." Six in ten Americans attend church services during Christmastime, and "among those who don't attend church at Christmastime,
8092-603: The first weekend in January, and last for at least six weeks. In Croatia and Bosnia (predominantly Sarajevo) the sales periods are regulated by the Consumer Protection Act. The January sales period starts on December 27 and can last up to 60 days. In Germany, the Winterschlussverkauf (winter sale before the season ends) was one of two official sales periods (the other being the Sommerschlussverkauf ,
8211-451: The following decades many of the local civic and provincial calendars of the empire and neighbouring client kingdoms were aligned to the Julian calendar by transforming them into calendars with years of 365 days with an extra day intercalated every four years. The reformed calendars typically retained many features of the unreformed calendars. In many cases, the New Year was not on 1 January,
8330-409: The friendly greeting: "If I could work my will ... every idiot who goes about with 'merry Christmas' on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding ." After the visit from the ghosts of Christmas effects his transformation, Scrooge exclaims; "I am as merry as a school-boy. A merry Christmas to everybody!" and heartily exchanges the wish to all he meets. The instant popularity of A Christmas Carol ,
8449-412: The greeting generally claim it is a secular neologism intended to de-emphasize Christmas or even supplant it entirely. "Happy holidays" has been variously characterized by critics as politically correct , materialistic , consumerist , atheistic , indifferentist , agnostic, anti-theist , anti-Christian , or even a covert form of Christian cultural imperialism . The phrase has been associated with
8568-509: The insertion of a regular intercalary month in February. When Caesar decreed the reform, probably shortly after his return from the African campaign in late Quintilis (July), he added 67 more days by inserting two extraordinary intercalary months between November and December. These months are called Intercalaris Prior and Intercalaris Posterior in letters of Cicero written at the time; there
8687-569: The largely non-Christian nations of China and Japan, where Christmas is celebrated primarily due to cultural influences of predominantly Christian countries. They have somewhat decreased in popularity in the United States and Canada in recent decades, but polls in 2005 indicated that they remained more popular than "happy holidays" or other alternatives. "Merry," derived from the Old English myrige , originally meant merely ' pleasant, agreeable ' rather than ' joyous ' or ' jolly ' (as in
8806-495: The last day before performing their holiday gift shopping. According to a survey by the Canadian Toy Association, peak sales in the toy industry occur in the Christmas and holiday season, but this peak has been occurring later and later in the season every year. In 2005, the kick-off to the Christmas and holiday season for online shopping , the first Monday after US Thanksgiving, was named Cyber Monday . Although it
8925-466: The leap day was not on the traditional bissextile day , the old month names were retained, the lengths of the reformed months did not match the lengths of Julian months, and, even if they did, their first days did not match the first day of the corresponding Julian month. Nevertheless, since the reformed calendars had fixed relationships to each other and to the Julian calendar, the process of converting dates between them became quite straightforward, through
9044-525: The liturgical Advent season, the period observed in Western Christianity from the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day until Christmas Eve. The term " Advent calendar " continues to be widely known in Western parlance as a term referring to a countdown to Christmas Day from the beginning of December (although in retail planning the countdown to Christmas usually begins at the end of the summer season , and
9163-460: The months such that each month started on the ninth day before the kalends of the corresponding Roman month; thus the year began on 23 September, Augustus's birthday. The first step of the reform was to realign the start of the calendar year (1 January) to the tropical year by making 46 BC 445 days long, compensating for the intercalations which had been missed during Caesar's pontificate. This year had already been extended from 355 to 378 days by
9282-457: The months. Macrobius states that the extra days were added immediately before the last day of each month to avoid disturbing the position of the established religious ceremonies relative to the Nones and Ides of the month. The inserted days were all initially characterised as dies fasti ( F – see Roman calendar ). The character of a few festival days was changed. In the early Julio-Claudian period
9401-447: The most common used venue was Jakarta Convention Center . But since 2014, the tradition was changed by the newly elected President of Indonesia Joko Widodo , and is now held in a different city each year. A selection of goodwill greetings are often used around the world to address strangers, family, colleagues or friends during the season. Some greetings are more prevalent than others, depending on culture and location. Traditionally,
9520-451: The nativity. Public holiday celebrations and observances similarly range from midnight mass to Christmas tree lighting ceremonies, Santa Claus parades , sleigh ridings , church services , decorations , traditions , festivals, outdoor markets , feasts , social gatherings and the singing of carols . The precise definition of feasts and festival days that are encompassed by the Christmas and holiday season has become controversial in
9639-453: The need to do so arose as the concept of a 48-hour day became obsolete. There is no doubt that the bissextile day eventually became the earlier of the two days for most purposes. In 238 Censorinus stated that it was inserted after the Terminalia (23 February) and was followed by the last five days of February, i.e., a.d. VI, V, IV, III and prid. Kal. Mart. (which would be 24 to 28 February in
9758-449: The new calendar was much simpler than the pre-Julian calendar, the pontifices initially added a leap day every three years, instead of every four. There are accounts of this in Solinus, Pliny, Ammianus, Suetonius, and Censorinus. Macrobius gives the following account of the introduction of the Julian calendar: Caesar's regulation of the civil year to accord with his revised measurement
9877-479: The new one as 24 January, a.d. IX Kal. Feb 5 BC in the Julian calendar, which was a leap year. Thus from inception the dates of the reformed Asian calendar are in one-to-one correspondence with the Julian. Another translation of this inscription is Intercalation shall commence on the day after the fourteenth day in the current month of Peritius [a.d. IX Kal. Feb], occurring every third year. Xanthicus shall have 32 days in this intercalary year. This would move
9996-405: The ninth day before the kalends. The date of introduction, the day after 14 Peritius, was 1 Dystrus, the next month. The month after that was Xanthicus. Thus Xanthicus began on a.d. IX Kal. Mart., and normally contained 31 days. In leap year, however, it contained an extra "Sebaste day", the Roman leap day, and thus had 32 days. From the lunar nature of the old calendar we can fix the starting date of
10115-483: The phrase "merry month of May"). Christmas has been celebrated since at least the 4th century CE, the first known usage of any Christmas greeting dates was in 1534. " Merry Christmas and a happy new year " (thus incorporating two greetings) was in an informal letter written by an English admiral in 1699. The same phrase is contained in the title of the English carol " We Wish You a Merry Christmas ," and also appears in
10234-516: The phrases in the US. In North America, "happy holidays" has, along with the similarly generalized "season's greetings", become a common seasonal expression, both spoken as a personal greeting and used in advertisements, on greeting cards, and in commercial and public spaces such as retail businesses, public schools, and government agencies. Its use is generally confined to the period between American Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. The phrase has been used as
10353-513: The predominant calendar in the Roman Empire and subsequently most of the Western world for more than 1,600 years, until 1582 when Pope Gregory XIII promulgated a revised calendar. The Julian calendar has two types of years: a normal year of 365 days and a leap year of 366 days. They follow a simple cycle of three normal years and one leap year, giving an average year that is 365.25 days long. That
10472-486: The predominant greetings of the season have been "Merry Christmas", "Happy Christmas", and "Happy New Year". In the mid-to-late 20th century in the United States, more generic greetings such as "Happy Holidays" and "Season's Greetings" began to rise in cultural prominence, and this would later spread to other Western countries including Canada, Australia and to a lesser extent some European countries. A 2012 poll by Rasmussen Reports indicated that 68 percent of Americans prefer
10591-485: The previous year. Analysts had predicted the peak on December 12, noting that Mondays are the most popular days for online shopping during the holiday shopping season, in contrast to the middle of the week during the rest of the year. They attribute this to people "shopping in stores and malls on the weekends, and ... extending that shopping experience when they get into work on Monday" by "looking for deals ... comparison shopping and ... finding items that were out of stock in
10710-411: The provincial calendars that were aligned to the Julian calendar. Other name changes were proposed but were never implemented. Tiberius rejected a senatorial proposal to rename September as "Tiberius" and October as "Livius", after his mother Livia. Antoninus Pius rejected a senatorial decree renaming September as "Antoninus" and November as "Faustina", after his empress . Much more lasting than
10829-590: The redemption of gift cards given as presents. Young-Bean Song, director of analytics at the Atlas Institute in Seattle, states that it is a "myth that the holiday shopping season starts with Thanksgiving and ends with Christmas. January is a key part of the holiday season." stating that for the U.S. e-commerce sector January sales volumes matched December sales volumes in the 2004–2005 Christmas and holiday season. Many people find this time particularly stressful. As
10948-506: The sales. Since a legislative reform to the corresponding law in 2004, season sales are now allowed over the whole year and are no longer restricted to season-related goods. However, voluntary sales still called "Winterschlussverkauf" take place further on in most stores at the same time every year. In Sweden, where the week of the first Advent Sunday marks the official start of the Christmas and holiday season, continuing with Saint Lucy's Day on December 13, followed up by Christmas before
11067-511: The same day, on January 8, while those in the West celebrated a Nativity feast on December 25 (perhaps influenced by the Winter solstice ); and that by the last quarter of the 4th century, the calendars of both churches included both feasts. The earliest suggestions of a feast of the Baptism of Jesus on January 6 during the 2nd century comes from Clement of Alexandria , but there is no further mention of such
11186-487: The seasons. This discrepancy was largely corrected by the Gregorian reform of 1582. The Gregorian calendar has the same months and month lengths as the Julian calendar, but, in the Gregorian calendar, year numbers evenly divisible by 100 are not leap years, except that those evenly divisible by 400 remain leap years (even then, the Gregorian calendar diverges from astronomical observations by one day in 3,030 years). Although
11305-434: The sender pays) prior to Christmas Eve; this day is usually on or near December 16. Four of the largest 11 online shopping days in 2005 were December 11 to 16, with an increase of 12 percent over 2004 figures. In 2011, Cyber Monday was slightly busier than Green Monday and Free Shipping Day, although all three days registered sales of over US$ 1 billion, and all three days registered gains ranging from 14 to 22 percent over
11424-663: The start and new winter merchandise for the January sales. Michael P. Niemira, chief economist and director of research for the Shopping Center Council, stated that he expected gift certificate usage to be between US$ 30 billion and US$ 40 billion in the 2006–2007 holiday shopping season. On the basis of the growing popularity of gift certificates, he stated that "To get a true picture of holiday sales, one may consider measuring October, November, December and January sales combined as opposed to just November and December sales.", because with "a hefty amount of that spending not hitting
11543-422: The starting date back three years to 8 BC, and from the lunar synchronism back to 26 January (Julian). But since the corresponding Roman date in the inscription is 24 January, this must be according to the incorrect calendar which in 8 BC Augustus had ordered to be corrected by the omission of leap days. As the authors of the previous paper point out, with the correct four-year cycle being used in Egypt and
11662-416: The stores". In 2006, the average US household was expected to spend about $ 1,700 on Christmas and holiday spendings. Retail strategists such as ICSC Research observed in 2005 that 15 percent of holiday expenditures were in the form of gift certificates, a percentage that was rising. So they recommended that retailers manage their inventories for the entire holiday shopping season, with a leaner inventory at
11781-400: The summer sales). It begins on the last Monday in January and lasts for 12 days, selling left-over goods from the holiday shopping season, as well as the winter collections. However, unofficially, goods are sold at reduced prices by many stores throughout the whole of January. By the time the sales officially begin the only goods left on sale are low-quality ones, often specially manufactured for
11900-480: The sun entered the 8th degree of Capricorn on that date, this stability had become an ordinary fact of life. Although the approximation of 365 + 1 ⁄ 4 days for the tropical year had been known for a long time, ancient solar calendars had used less precise periods, resulting in gradual misalignment of the calendar with the seasons. The octaeteris , a cycle of eight lunar years popularised by Cleostratus (and also commonly attributed to Eudoxus ) which
12019-456: The then President of Indonesia Soeharto . Since that, National Christmas Celebration has been held every year, except in 2004, which was canceled as a condolence for the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami , and in 2018, which was canceled as a condolence for the victims of the 2018 Sunda Strait tsunami . Until 2013, National Christmas Celebration was always held in Jakarta ,
12138-645: The three-year cycle abolished in Rome, it is unlikely that Augustus would have ordered the three-year cycle to be introduced in Asia. The Julian reform did not immediately cause the names of any months to be changed. The old intercalary month was abolished and replaced with a single intercalary day at the same point (i.e., five days before the end of February). The Romans later renamed months after Julius Caesar and Augustus, renaming Quintilis as "Iulius" (July) in 44 BC and Sextilis as "Augustus" (August) in 8 BC. Quintilis
12257-594: The use of "Merry Christmas", while 23 percent preferred "Happy Holidays". A similarly timed Canadian poll conducted by Ipsos-Reid indicated that 72 percent of Canadians preferred "Merry Christmas." The greetings and farewells "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Christmas" are traditionally used in English-speaking countries, starting a few weeks before December 25 every year. Variations are: These greetings and their equivalents in other languages are popular not only in countries with large Christian populations, but also in
12376-649: The use of conversion tables known as "hemerologia". The three most important of these calendars are the Alexandrian calendar and the Ancient Macedonian calendar ─which had two forms: the Syro-Macedonian and the 'Asian' calendars. Other reformed calendars are known from Cappadocia , Cyprus and the cities of (Roman) Syria and Palestine. Unreformed calendars continued to be used in Gaul (the Coligny calendar ), Greece, Macedon,
12495-507: The various celebrations during this time create a peak season for the retail sector (Christmas/holiday "shopping season") extending to the end of the period ("January sales"). Christmas window displays and Christmas tree lighting ceremonies are customary traditions in various locales. In Western Christianity , the Christmas season is traditionally synonymous with Christmastide , which runs from December 25 (Christmas Day) to January 5 ( Twelfth Night or Epiphany Eve ), popularly known as
12614-466: Was a peak, that was not the busiest online shopping day of that year. The busiest online shopping days were December 12 and 13, almost two weeks later; the second Monday in December has since become known as Green Monday . Another notable day is Free Shipping Day, a promotional day that serves as the last day in which a person can order a good online and have it arrive via standard shipping (the price of which
12733-450: Was abolished. The new leap day was dated as ante diem bis sextum Kalendas Martias ('the sixth doubled day before the Kalends of March'), usually abbreviated as a.d. bis VI Kal. Mart. ; hence it is called in English the bissextile day. The year in which it occurred was termed annus bissextus , in English the bissextile year. There is debate about the exact position of the bissextile day in
12852-500: Was celebrated with a sacrifice at the Temple of Saturn , in the Roman Forum , and a public banquet, followed by private gift-giving, continual partying, and a carnival atmosphere that overturned Roman social norms : gambling was permitted, and masters provided table service for their slaves . The poet Catullus called it "the best of days." The earliest source stating December 25 as
12971-405: Was formed by inserting 22 or 23 days after the first 23 days of February; the last five days of February, which counted down toward the start of March, became the last five days of Intercalaris. The net effect was to add 22 or 23 days to the year, forming an intercalary year of 377 or 378 days. Some say the mensis intercalaris always had 27 days and began on either the first or the second day after
13090-429: Was intended to solve this problem permanently, by creating a calendar that remained aligned to the sun without any human intervention. This proved useful very soon after the new calendar came into effect. Varro used it in 37 BC to fix calendar dates for the start of the four seasons, which would have been impossible only 8 years earlier. A century later, when Pliny dated the winter solstice to 25 December because
13209-411: Was intercalated between 1/1/45 and 1/1/40 (disregarding a momentary 'fiddling' in December of 41) to avoid the nundinum falling on Kal. Ian." Alexander Jones says that the correct Julian calendar was in use in Egypt in 24 BC, implying that the first day of the reform in both Egypt and Rome, 1 January 45 BC , was the Julian date 1 January if 45 BC was a leap year and 2 January if it
13328-578: Was made in 238 BC ( Decree of Canopus ). Caesar probably experienced this "wandering" or "vague" calendar in that country. He landed in the Nile delta in October 48 BC and soon became embroiled in the Ptolemaic dynastic war, especially after Cleopatra managed to be "introduced" to him in Alexandria . Caesar imposed a peace, and a banquet was held to celebrate the event. Lucan depicted Caesar talking to
13447-434: Was not changed in ordinary years, and so continued to be the traditional 28 days. Thus, the ordinary (i.e., non-leap year) lengths of all of the months were set by the Julian calendar to the same values they still hold today. The Julian reform did not change the method used to account days of the month in the pre-Julian calendar , based on the Kalends, Nones and Ides, nor did it change the positions of these three dates within
13566-476: Was not. This necessitates fourteen leap days up to and including AD 8 if 45 BC was a leap year and thirteen if it was not. In 1999, a papyrus was discovered which gives the dates of astronomical phenomena in 24 BC in both the Egyptian and Roman calendars. From 30 August 26 BC (Julian) , Egypt had two calendars: the old Egyptian in which every year had 365 days and the new Alexandrian in which every fourth year had 366 days. Up to 28 August 22 BC (Julian)
13685-428: Was proclaimed publicly by edict, and the arrangement might have continued to stand had not the correction itself of the calendar led the priests to introduce a new error of their own; for they proceeded to insert the intercalary day, which represented the four quarter-days, at the beginning of each fourth year instead of at its end, although the intercalation ought to have been made at the end of each fourth year and before
13804-693: Was renamed to honour Caesar because it was the month of his birth. According to a senatus consultum quoted by Macrobius, Sextilis was renamed to honour Augustus because several of the most significant events in his rise to power, culminating in the fall of Alexandria, occurred in that month. Other months were renamed by other emperors, but apparently none of the later changes survived their deaths. In AD 37, Caligula renamed September as "Germanicus" after his father ; in AD 65, Nero renamed April as "Neroneus", May as "Claudius" and June as "Germanicus"; and in AD 84 Domitian renamed September as "Germanicus" and October as "Domitianus". Commodus
13923-496: Was unique in renaming all twelve months after his own adopted names (January to December): "Amazonius", "Invictus", "Felix", "Pius", "Lucius", "Aelius", "Aurelius", "Commodus", "Augustus", "Herculeus", "Romanus", and "Exsuperatorius". The emperor Tacitus is said to have ordered that September, the month of his birth and accession, be renamed after him, but the story is doubtful since he did not become emperor before November 275. Similar honorific month names were implemented in many of
14042-499: Was used in some early Greek calendars, notably in Athens , is 1.53 days longer than eight mean Julian years . The length of nineteen years in the cycle of Meton was 6,940 days, six hours longer than the mean Julian year. The mean Julian year was the basis of the 76-year cycle devised by Callippus (a student under Eudoxus) to improve the Metonic cycle. In Persia (Iran) after the reform in
14161-467: Was used on almost every broadcast since 1956. One year included both greetings, and "blessed Christmas" was used in 1954 and 2007. In the American poet Clement Moore 's A Visit from St. Nicholas (1823), the final line, originally written as "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night", has been changed in many later editions to "Merry Christmas to all," perhaps indicating the relative popularity of
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