administrative problem for the Roman Empire as it tried to coordinate the solar Julian calendar with the lunar calendars of its provinces in the east

The Oriental Orthodox (other than the Armenians), the Eastern Orthodox, and the Eastern Catholics who follow the same traditions have a twelve-day interval between the two feasts. Christmas and Epiphany are celebrated by these churches on 25 December and 6 January using the Julian calendar, which correspond to 7 January and 19 January using the Gregorian calendar

the church in the early fourth century fixed the date as December 25.

Kış gündönümü: For that hemisphere, the winter solstice is the day with the shortest period of daylight and longest night of the year

Saint Francis of Assisi is credited with creating the first nativity scene[4][5][6] in 1223 at Greccio, central Italy,[4][7] in an attempt to place the emphasis of Christmas upon the worship of Christ rather than upon secular materialism and gift giving

Within a hundred years every church in Italy was expected to have a nativity scene at Christmastime. Eventually, statues replaced human and animal participants

Taking down Christmas decorations before Twelfth Night, as well as leaving the decorations up beyond Candlemas, is historically considered to be inauspicious

The traditional colors of Christmas are pine green (evergreen), snow white, and heart red.

The Roman Catholic Church later abolished the precept of fasting (at an unknown date at the latest in 1917), later, but kept Advent as a season of penitence. In addition to fasting, dancing and similar festivities were forbidden in these traditions. On Rose Sunday, relaxation of the fast was permitted. Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches still hold the tradition of fasting for 40 days before Christmas