CHRISTMAS is the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. The name, English in origin, means "Christ's Mass," that is, the mass celebrating the feast of Christ's nativity. Names for Christmas in Romance languages are derived from the Latin nativitas. The French Noël comes from either nativitas or nowell, meaning "news." German employs the term Weihnachten, meaning "holy (or blessed) night." Another name for the whole season is Yule. Originally this name did not have Christian connotations but derived either from the Germanic jol ("turning wheel"), with reference to the gain of sunlight after the winter solstice, or from the Anglo-Saxon geol ("feast"). The name of this pre-Christian winter feast of the solstice was eventually applied to the whole of the Christmas season.

There is no certain knowledge of the origin of the Christmas feast. It may have been celebrated as early as the beginning of...