Christmas or Christmas Day is a Christian religious holiday and festival celebrated annually on 25 December (in Slavic and Orthodox countries, whose calendars were based on the Julian calendar, Christmas is celebrated on 7 January). The date is the centerpiece of the holiday season and the holiday season, being, in Christianity, the starting point of the Christmas Cycle, which lasts twelve days.
Originally intended to celebrate the annual birth of the Sun God on the winter solstice, the festival was resinified by the Catholic Church in the third century to encourage the conversion of pagan peoples under the rule of the Roman Empire and then began to commemorate the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.
Although traditionally a Christian holy day, Christmas is widely celebrated by many non-Christians, with some of its popular customs and commemorative themes having pre-Christian or secular origins.
Modern popular customs typical of the holiday include the exchange of gifts and cards, Christmas dinner, Christmas music, church parties, a special meal and the display of different decorations; including Christmas trees, flashers and garlands, mistletoe, cribs and ilex.