for today's christian, the origin of christmas is, and should be, the birth of jesus christ as recorded in the bible. nothing more and nothing less. however, most of what we witness on december 25th each year has absolutely nothing to do with that blessed day, which probably occurred in late summer or early fall about 2,000 years ago. in fact, most of the customs and traditions of christmas actually pre-date the birth of jesus, and many of them are downright deceptive in their meaning and origin. anyway, who cares when christ was born?
如今的圣诞节，按照圣经上的记载，应当起源于耶稣基督的诞生。这个解释不偏不倚，正好合适。然而，我们在每年的12月25日所经历大多数事情，和耶稣诞生的那一天没有任何联系。他的诞生，可能是在约2000年前的某个夏末或者初秋。实际上，很多有关圣诞节的习俗和传统比耶稣诞生出现的更早，其中一些是完全脱离耶稣诞生的意义和起源的。话说回来，谁又在乎耶稣是哪天诞生的呢？
