Well, today marks Christmas in the US. It's an experience, my first christmas abroad. Egyptian christians are mostly orthodox and they celebrate Christmas on January 7th though.
It's actually quite interesting the story of how the whole thing of dec 25th vs jan 7th Christmas began. Because actually when you think about it, Christmas should have been Jan 1st, Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ and the calendar widely in use today is based on the same event. So it only makes sense for Christmas to be on Jan 1st.
However, It seems that at some point in time people thought we had a slight glitch in the calendar system and that the calendar year did not accurately represent what a year should be. They then started calculating the time difference to compensate for it and "move" Christmas. Everybody agreed the error was around 7 days, weirdly enough, they could not then decide on whether to add or subtract those days. They calculated miniscule difference in the calendar year, and added them up across centuries, but they couldn't determing the "sign" of the magnitude. One would think they knew what they were doing doing all those calculations, but one would be wrong.
So some ended up adding those days and some ended up subtracting them. That's supposed to be how the whole December 25th vs Jan 7th started, and that's how they are equidistant from Jan 1st. Kinda funny.
So, back to Christmas here. It's been totally commercialized of course. It's almost all about holiday shopping and then gathering with family and friends and opening up the presents. It is still kinda nice to see the festivities everywhere. Huge Christmas trees, lights on the houses.
One thing I'd noticed is that people at stores, restaurants, etc. make sure they are politically correct. They never tell you "Merry Christmas", rather "Happy Holidays", and you make out of that what you may :)
I also got the best Christmas present. Helal, Mostafa, and Khalid got me this super nice shelf stereo unit. Plays mp3, audio cds, and FM. Helal knew I liked this unit since we saw it together at Best Buy, so I came back home last night (Christmas Eve) to find it neatly wrapped and placed right in front of the door. It was awesome, and I have no idea how they managed to keep it as a suprise since we're together 99% of the time :) Thanks guys, you made my Christmas, you're the best!
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Merry Christmas. This is my second here. Amr
Merry X-Mas and happy new year.
Interesting bit about the jan 7th vs. dec 25th date. Didn't know that. :)
Thanks guys, Merry Christmas and a very happy new year to you :)
Been so long since we last chatted ESPNSTI! How is it goin man? This must be either your first visit to my blog or else you have been in the dark for too long :)
I have to admit that my explanation is a gross simplification, and might be found to contain some inaccuracies, but it should be pretty much the gist of it anyway. Or at least what I made out of it when I read about the subject some time ago :)
Ho Ho Ho
Merry X-Mas and a Happu New Year
Merry Christmas Chris :) And Happy new year :D
Mabrook ya man for the shelf stereo unit...sounds really cool mashaa Allah :) Enjoy the holidays & tc.
Merry Chirtams and Happy New Year Chris....I believe as much as christmas is commercialized in the States...yet it has a different taste...I used to love the atmosphere...the spirit is awesome...and the presents also gives a warm feeling, coz as it happened with you, you will find someone keen on making u happy and buy you something, that u liked...see it is the concept, not the present itself...also, the christmas day with the family gatherings...and the eve with the special dinner accompanied by warm wishes, laughs, and so many family/friendly intimate moments...I think this is so cool.
Thanks Sarrah, Thanks Nerro!
I know it's gonna be a very long holiday in Egypt too come Jan 7th, cuz of 3eed el ad7a, Kol sana wento tayebeen mokadaman :)
And you're right Nerro, it does feel warm. You do need a family around this time of the year though...
I was actually invited to Christmas dinner by an American friend here. That was very cool, and it did add a sparkle to my christmas day.
Zooma and Emad!
Thanks guys, merry christmas and happy new year.
Say hi to the ma'am for me ya Hazim, kol sana wento tayebeen :)
Hey Chris, about the christmas dates thing, i just came across something that kinda explains it, here it goes:
People were using something called the Julian calendar for some years B.C. Christmas was celebrated on December 25th of the Julian calendar. That calendar was not very accurate though, it had a small error that made it a bit longer than it should be. That error accumulated throughout the years and shifted from what it was supposed to be by some days.
Then the Gregorian calendar was introduced to correct that tiny error in the Julian calendar.
So some churches started to celebrate christmas on December 25th , And some other churches (like the orthodox church) mapped December 25th from the Julian calendar to it's equivalent in the Gregorian calendar. Which turns out to be January 7th of the subsequent year.
Which means that Christmas in orhodox churches will shift every x hunderd amount of years (i'm not sure about the value of x).
Merry Christmas man, GOD bless.
Chrissyyyyyyyy
I miss you loads ya walad enta!!!
I wish you a very merry christmas as if you were among your caring family and loving friends.
Take very good care of yourself. I bet it's very cold there in Uncle Sam's lands... elbes fanneletein '7elf '7elaf we 7ot gornan fe sedrak :)
Love ya :X:X:X:X:X
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