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Practice dictation & shadowing on the daily life story: Christmas Holidays
Christmas Holidays
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Christmas Holidays
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In many ways, Christmas is the most important holiday in North America.
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It is the most important commercial festival.
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Most retail stores do have their annual business in the six weeks or so before Christmas.
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Christmas is an important holiday from work and school.
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Many workers take the whole week off between Christmas and New Year's Day.
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It is the biggest time of the year for parties, gift giving, home decorations and visiting.
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Many homeowners compete to see you can have the best display of lights.
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It is also an important time for the entertainment industry.
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Many Christmas movies, TV shows, recordings, concerts and plays are produced every year for the Christmas season.
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It is also the time of year when the largest number of people attend church.
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Because Christmas is a religious festival too.
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It celebrates the birth of Jesus.
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How all these different things came together to become Christmas is a long story.
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Why, for example, is Jesus's birthday celebrated on December 25th?
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No one knows the exact day that Jesus was born.
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But Jesus was born during the Roman Empire and for the Romans, December 25th was a very important day.
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The Romans had many gods and many religions, 2 religions, both of which had one main God where the worship of the invincible Son and Mythras.
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These gods were both honored on December 25th.
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Because December 25th was just after the shortest day of the year, it was a natural time to worship the sun.
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December was also a time to celebrate the end of the agriculture year.
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The Romans held one of their main festivals, the Saturnalia, beginning on December 17th that lasted for a week.
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The Romans also began the custom of celebrating New Year's Day on January 1st.
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So the last half of December and the beginning of January was a wonderful time for partying and games.
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The early Christians didn't know what day Jesus was born at first.
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They celebrated his birthday on January 6th.
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However, as most people in the Roman Empire were becoming Christians, it was decided to move the date to December 25th.
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The celebration lasted 12 days until January 6th and took the place of all other festivals.
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That way, people who were used to celebrating on December 25th would feel more comfortable as different peoples became Christian.
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They brought their own customs to be part of Christmas.
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The people of Northern Europe used Evergreen trees and mistletoe as symbols of spring and eternal life.
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The Evergreen tree became the Christmas tree.
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The mistletoe is hung from the ceiling at Christmas for couples to kiss under.
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It was also in northern Europe where the idea of Santa Claus or Father Christmas began.
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In Roman times there was a man who became known as Saint Nicholas.
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He is said to have given gifts to the poor and provided dowries for poor girls who wouldn't otherwise be able to marry.
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The idea of the gift giving St.
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became joined with the Northern idea of Spirit of Christmas festivities.
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It was a poem written in 1831 by the American writer Clement Moore, which popularized Santa Claus throughout the world.
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Twas the Night Before Christmas told the story of how Santa visits every house in the world on Christmas Eve and brings toys for good girls and boys.
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Since that time, parents have secretly bought toys for their children at Christmas.
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When the children awake on Christmas Day, they find toys by the chimney or under the Christmas tree.
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They are told that Santa Claus and his reindeer brought them.
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Adults also give gifts to each other at Christmas time.
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No wonder that the store sells so many things then.
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It is often said that Christmas is becoming too commercialized.
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In the rush to get everything ready to buy the gifts, decorate the house and tree, give parties, visit family and friends, and attend special Christmas events.
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The original reason for celebrating is sometimes forgotten.
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Only when people go to church or sing Christmas carols or attend musical performances about Jesus birth do they remember that Christmas is the birthday of Christ.