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![]() > Bethlehem > From New York to Lapland > Christmas in the Summer dimarts, 16 de desembre de 2008
Christmas is just around the corner: a time when the birth of Jesus, the key figure in Christianity, is celebrated. This festivity therefore, has a pronounced religious element. For Christians, Jesus is, most importantly, the son of God who was made man, who gave his life to redeem humanity and who rose again three days after his death.
But beyond its religious significance, Christmas is also a secular festivity when it is customary to give and receive presents. In fact, the celebration is not limited to just 25 December. In some places it starts much earlier, on 6 December (the Feast of Saint Nicholas), whereas elsewhere it lasts until 6 January, the Feast of the Epiphany. In Christian countries, Christmas has this double religious-festive significance, regardless of whether the country is predominantly Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox, the three main branches of Christianity. In most Orthodox countries Christmas falls on 7 January, instead of on 25 December. Such is the case of Russia, where the Orthodox church follows the Julian calendar, rather than the Gregorian calendar, the most common in the world.
BethlehemIf there is one place where Christmas has a special significance, it is Bethlehem, in the West Bank (a region at the centre of the long-lasting Israeli-Palestinian conflict), eight kilometres from Jerusalem. According to the Bible, and more specifically to the gospels according to Matthew and Luke, Jesus was born in Bethlehem two thousand years ago. In the very centre of the city, on the exact spot where tradition has it that Jesus was born, is the Church of the Nativity, one of the oldest in the world, and a place of pilgrimage for Christians worldwide.
From New York to LaplandFor many, New York is the symbolic capital of the West. One of the city's most famous Christmas images is the huge, brightly lit tree that is decorated at the Rockefeller Center in a tradition that goes back to the 1930s. And, of course, Santa Claus is also there, who on Christmas night goes down chimneys into people's homes and leaves presents. Santa Claus, however, does not live in New York, but in the cold lands of Lapland: in Santa Claus' Village, eight kilometres north of Rovaniemi, a Sami town next to the Arctic Polar Circle.
Christmas in the SummerIn Europe and in North America, Christmas celebrations take place in cold and, sometimes snowy weather. However, this is not the case everywhere: in South America and in Australasia, which are in the Southern Hemisphere, Christmas is celebrated in the summer. And, in some countries, fire is central to the celebrations, just as it is here at Saint John (24 June), which welcomes the start of the hottest season of the year. In Brazil, for example, firework displays and picnics are Christmas traditions.
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Investiga
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> Rússia: Nadal al gener.
![](http://www.vilaweb.cat/media/imatges/diariescola/imatges/2008/12/nadal/ud_petit.gif)
> 'Are you ready for Christmas?': unitat didàctica.
![](http://www.vilaweb.cat/media/imatges/diariescola/imatges/2008/12/nadal/jesus_petit.gif)
> Estudis sobre Jesús de Natzaret.
![](http://www.vilaweb.cat/media/imatges/diariescola/imatges/2008/12/nadal/australia_petit.gif)
> Austràlia: Nadal estiuenc.
I també...
- Església de la Nativitat de Betlem: història turbulenta (BBC, 2002).
- Betlem, indret de naixença de Jesús i del rei David.
- La història de l'arbre nadalenc més famós de Nova York.
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