How Do They Celebrate Christmas around the World?
The Western view of Christmas is becoming increasingly uniquitous, partly thanks to American TV and movies. However, most countries have their own peculiar traditions. GUNTHER SIMMERMACHER looks...
by Gunther Simmermacher · Published December 25, 2016 · Last modified December 21, 2016
The Western view of Christmas is becoming increasingly uniquitous, partly thanks to American TV and movies. However, most countries have their own peculiar traditions. GUNTHER SIMMERMACHER looks...
This year the last surviving soldier of World War I died in Australia. GUNTHER SIMMERMACHER looks at the first Christmas of World War I, when soldiers on...
by Gunther Simmermacher · Published December 23, 2016 · Last modified December 1, 2019
The feast of the Nativity wasn’t always Christmas trees and jingle bells, and Jesus probably was not born on December 25. GUNTHER SIMMERMACHER charts a brief history...
Test your Christmas knowledge! Answers below 1. Who predicted the birth of the messiah? a) Ezekiel b) Isaiah c) Joshua 2. In which century was the Nativity...
This is the time of the year when many Christians get annoyed at the use of “Xmas” instead of Christmas, taking offense at the idea of an...
Biography of Hymns / Christmas / Christmas Facts / Simmermacher
by Gunther Simmermacher · Published December 21, 2014 · Last modified November 14, 2017
At Christmas we sing ‘Joy To The World’, an accidental Christmas carol written over two centuries in two continents by two pioneers of Christian hymns. GUNTHER SIMMERMACHER...
Biography of Hymns / Christmas / Christmas Facts
by Gunther Simmermacher · Published December 19, 2014 · Last modified December 8, 2020
Christmas carols: we sing them in church, we hear them piped in the shops, we may have CDs of Josh Groban or Nat King Cole crooning them....
by Claire Mathieson · Published December 21, 2011 · Last modified December 18, 2012
CLAIRE MATHIESON reflects on two Bethlehems: the birthplace of Our Lord in the West Bank and the rural town in South Africa.
by Claire Mathieson · Published December 21, 2011 · Last modified December 18, 2012
Every community has a Christmas tradition. Communities of religious priests, nuns, brothers and sisters also have their special Christmas traditions, as CLAIRE MATHIESON reports.
Margherita Blaser’s earliest Christmas memory goes back to 1911. Still, Christmas remains special even today, as she tells CLAIRE MATHIESON. With 106 Christmases under her belt, Margherita...
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