Christmas cards 圣誕賀卡的起源：
The custom of sending Christmas cards started in Britain in 1840 when the first 'Penny Post' public postal deliveries began. (Helped by the new railway system, the public postal service was the 19th century's communication revolution, just as email is for us today.) As printing methods improved, Christmas cards were produced in large numbers from about 1860. They became even more popular in Britain when a card could be posted in an unsealed envelope for one half-penny - half the price of an ordinary letter.
圣誕賀卡可追溯到1840年統(tǒng)一便士郵政(uniform penny post)的出現(xiàn)，此項(xiàng)改革實(shí)現(xiàn)了英國(guó)境內(nèi)郵件遞送費(fèi)用的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化。(新鐵路運(yùn)輸系統(tǒng)為公共郵政服務(wù)系統(tǒng)創(chuàng)造了條件，成就了19世紀(jì)的通信革命，與電子郵件對(duì)現(xiàn)代人的影響無異)。隨著印刷術(shù)的改進(jìn)，從1860年起，每年會(huì)生產(chǎn)大量的圣誕賀卡。當(dāng)郵寄非密封的卡片只要半便士(普通信件郵費(fèi)的一半)時(shí)，郵寄賀卡變得異常流行。
Traditionally, Christmas cards showed religious pictures - Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus, or other parts of the Christmas story. Today, pictures are often jokes, winter pictures, Father Christmas, or romantic scenes of life in past times.
從傳統(tǒng)上來講，圣誕賀卡都印有一些基督教方面的圖片，比如圣母瑪麗，約瑟和小耶穌，或者其它包含有圣誕故事意義的圖片。今天的圣誕賀卡通常是笑話、冬季景致，圣誕老人以及一些反應(yīng)生活中浪漫場(chǎng)面的圖片。
為什么圣誕節(jié)要戴紅色的圣誕帽，英國(guó)人圣誕節(jié)戴紙帽子的悠久傳統(tǒng)
All over Britain on Christmas Day, families can be found sitting around their dining tables enjoying a traditional lunch of roast turkey with all the trimmings - and all, regardless of age, wearing coloured paper hats. It is rumoured that even the Queen wears her paper hat over lunch!
圣誕節(jié)當(dāng)天，全英國(guó)的家庭都會(huì)坐在餐桌前，吃一頓傳統(tǒng)的圣誕大餐，塞滿了各種餡料的烤火雞。無論年齡老幼，所有人都會(huì)在頭上戴一頂彩色紙做成的紙帽子。據(jù)說，就連伊莉莎白女王也會(huì)戴紙帽子哦!
So why this quaint tradition? Where do these paper hats come from? The answer is the Christmas Cracker.
那為什么會(huì)有這個(gè)古怪的傳統(tǒng)呢?戴紙帽子的傳統(tǒng)來源于哪里?答案就在另一項(xiàng)圣誕傳統(tǒng)活動(dòng)——圣誕拉炮!
A Christmas Cracker is a cardboard paper tube, wrapped in brightly coloured paper and twisted at both ends. There is a banger inside the cracker, two strips of chemically impregnated paper that react with friction so that when the cracker is pulled apart by two people, the cracker makes a bang.
圣誕拉炮是用硬紙板做的紙筒，再用色彩鮮艷的彩紙包裹在外面，兩端擰緊。在拉炮里會(huì)有一個(gè)爆竹，當(dāng)兩個(gè)人拉動(dòng)拉炮兩端時(shí)，拉炮里的兩條浸漬紙就會(huì)發(fā)生摩擦，發(fā)出“嘣”的響聲。
Inside the cracker there is a paper crown made from tissue paper, a motto or joke on a slip of paper and a little gift.
拉炮里會(huì)裝有紙做的皇冠、寫在紙上的名言或笑話，還會(huì)有一些小禮物。
Christmas crackers are a British tradition dating back to Victorian times when in the early 1850s, London confectioner Tom Smith started adding a motto to his sugared almond bon-bons which he sold wrapped in a twisted paper package.
圣誕拉炮成為英國(guó)傳統(tǒng)的歷史可以追溯到維多利亞時(shí)期，約在19世紀(jì)50年代早期，倫敦的一個(gè)糖果商湯姆-史密斯把寫有名言的紙片放在了他售賣的糖果包裝里，包裝方式就是在糖果外用紙將兩頭擰緊。
The paper hat was added to the cracker in the early 1900s. The cracker was soon adopted as a traditional festive custom and today virtually every household has at least one box of crackers to pull over Christmas.
到了20世紀(jì)初，紙帽子也被放到了圣誕拉炮里。很快，拉炮就成了英國(guó)人過圣誕節(jié)的傳統(tǒng)習(xí)俗。現(xiàn)在，所有的英國(guó)家庭至少都會(huì)準(zhǔn)備一盒拉炮留到圣誕節(jié)時(shí)來拉響。
12月25日，是基督教徒紀(jì)念耶穌誕生的日子，稱為圣誕節(jié)。
從12月24日于翌年1月6日為圣誕節(jié)節(jié)期。節(jié)日期間，各國(guó)基督教徒都舉行隆重的紀(jì)念儀式。圣誕節(jié)本來是基督教徒的節(jié)日，由于人們格外重視，它便成為一個(gè)全民性的節(jié)日，是西方國(guó)家一年中最盛大的節(jié)日，可以和新年相提并論，類似我國(guó)過春節(jié)。
西方人以紅、綠、白三色為圣誕色，圣誕節(jié)來臨時(shí)家家戶戶都要用圣誕色來裝飾。紅色的有圣誕花和圣誕蠟燭。綠色的是圣誕樹。它是圣誕節(jié)的主要裝飾品，用砍伐來的杉、柏一類呈塔形的常青樹裝飾而成。上面懸掛著五顏六色的彩燈、禮物和紙花，還點(diǎn)燃著圣誕蠟燭。紅色與白色相映成趣的是圣誕老人，他是圣誕節(jié)活動(dòng)中最受歡迎的人物。西方兒童在圣誕夜臨睡之前，要在壁爐前或枕頭旁放上一只襪子，等候圣誕老人在他們?nèi)胨蟀讯Y物放在襪子內(nèi)。在西方，扮演圣誕老人也是一種習(xí)俗。
Christmas, annual Christian holiday commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ. Most members of the Roman Catholic Church and followers of Protestantism celebrate Christmas on December 25, and many celebrate on the evening of December 24 as well. Members of the Eastern Orthodox Church usually delay their most important seasonal ceremonies until January 6, when they celebrate Epiphany, a commemoration of the baptism of Jesus. Epiphany also traditionally commemorates the arrival of the Three Wise Men of the East in Bethlehem (near Jerusalem, Israel), where they adored the infant Jesus and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The official Christmas season, popularly known as either Christmastide or the Twelve Days of Christmas, extends from the anniversary of Christ’s birth on December 25 to the feast of Epiphany on January 6.
Christmas is based on the story of Jesus’ birth as described in the Gospel according to Matthew (see Matthew 1:18-2:12) and the Gospel according to Luke (see Luke 1:26-56). Roman Catholics first celebrated Christmas, then known as the Feast of the Nativity, as early as 336 ad. The word Christmas entered the English language sometime around 1050 as the Old English phrase Christes maesse, meaning “festival of Christ.” Scholars believe the frequently used shortened form of Christmas—Xmas—may have come into use in the 13th century. The X stands for the Greek letter chi, an abbreviation of Khristos (Christ), and also represents the cross on which Jesus was crucified.