"Cristmas for dummies."

Dear Reader,
Yesterday, a monthly local newspaper came with the mail. It contains advertisements from the local shops, but as I turned a page I was confronted with a headline called "Christmas for dummies".
"At Christmas there is more than just one day to celebrate. Are you aware of them all?"

1/ First of Advent is the first day of the church year and Jesus is welcomed as the Messiah. Fasting begins as a preparation for Christmas.
2/Second of Advent; The coming of the Kingdom of God.
3/ Third of Advent; The life of John the Baptist.

Christmas; Celebrated to the memory of the birth of Jesus Christ. The official Swedish Christmas starts on the 24th of December, and is ended on the 12th of January; Hilarymas Day, when the Christmas tree should be thrown out.

Days celebrating some of the saints;
6th of December St Nickolaus
10th of December St. Lucas
26th of December St. Stephanos.

Feast of Epiphany.
Is the oldest of the days celebrated around Christmas.
In the Orthodox Church the birth of Jesus is still celebrated on the 6th of January.
The western church started celebrating the birth of Jesus on the 25th of December after the Nicaean meeting.
We celebrate the three wise men or kings on this day. Their symbol; three crowns has been taken into the Swedish national coat of arms and also ended up on Swedish hockey players' shirts.

New Years Eve;
In the church calendar it is related to the circumcision of Jesus on the 8th day after Christmas.
In the secular calendar it is a new calendar year. In old Soviet Union Christian celebrations were forbidden so the New Year celebration became the biggest festival.

And the last information in the article was this:
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" John 3: 16."

This is the second time this Bible verse appears for me in a fortnight. It usually comes my way a third time so I wonder when the third time will be; and how.

Sincerely yours,
Ida

PS.
Soviet Union was dissolved but Christmas is still celebrated all over the world DS.

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