polska: Christmas tree

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer such as a spruce, pine or fir, associated with the celebration of Christmas. It may also be an artificial tree of similar appearance. The custom was developed in Central Europe, particularly Germany and Livonia (now Estonia and Latvia), where Protestant Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. The tree was traditionally decorated with "roses made of colored paper, tinsel, apples, wafers, and confectionery". Moravian Christians began to illuminate Christmas trees with candles, which were often replaced by Christmas lights after the advent of electrification. Today, there is a wide variety of Christmas ornaments, s…

Evidence: 29 • authority: 72

Advent is a season observed in most Christian denominations as a time of waiting and preparation for both the celebration of Jesus's birth at Christmas and Jesus's return at the Second Coming. It begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, often referred to as Advent Sunday. Advent is the beginning of the liturgical year in Western Christianity. The name comes from Latin adventus ('coming; arrival'), translating the Greek parousia from the New Testament, originally referring to the Second Coming. The season of Advent in the Christian calendar anticipates the "coming of Christ" from three different perspectives: the physical nativity in Bethlehem, the reception of Christ in the heart of th…

Evidence: 21 • authority: 72

The concept of Germany as a distinct region can be traced to Julius Caesar, who referred to the area east of the Rhine as Germania, meaning the land where the Germani live. Germanic tribes prevented annexation by the Roman Empire, although the Roman provinces of Germania Superior and Germania Inferior were established along the Rhine. Following the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Franks conquered the other West Germanic peoples. When the Frankish Empire was divided in 843, the eastern part became East Francia, and later Kingdom of Germany. In 962, Otto I became the first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. During the High Middle Ages, the Hanseatic League, dominated by German ports, est…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Christmas is a festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A liturgical feast central to Christianity, Christmas preparation begins on the First Sunday of Advent. Advent is followed by Christmastide, which historically in the West lasts twelve days and culminates on Twelfth Night. Christmas Day is a public holiday in many countries and is observed by a majority of Christians; it is also celebrated culturally by many non-Christians and forms an integral part of the annual festive holiday season. The traditional Christmas narrative recounted in the New Testament, known as…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The National Christmas Tree is a large evergreen tree located in the northeast quadrant of the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, D.C. Each year since 1923, the tree has been decorated as a Christmas tree. Every year, early in December, the tree is traditionally lit by the president and first lady of the United States. Every president since Franklin D. Roosevelt has also made formal remarks during the tree lighting ceremony. Since 1954, this event has marked the start of month-long festivities known as the Pageant of Peace. The line of smaller trees representing the U.S. states, the five U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia around the National Christmas Tree is referred t…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Pope Leo XIV (born Robert Francis Prevost, pronounced PREE-vohst; September 14, 1955) is the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City. Born in Chicago, United States, Prevost became a friar in the Order of Saint Augustine in 1977 and was ordained as a priest in 1982. He earned a Doctor of Canon Law degree in 1987 from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. He performed extensive missionary work in Peru in the 1980s and 1990s, working as a parish pastor, diocesan official, seminary teacher, and administrator. Elected prior general of the Order of Saint Augustine, he was based in Rome from 2001 to 2013, though traveled extensively. He then returned to Peru a…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The Palmarian Catholic Church (Spanish: Iglesia Católica Palmariana), officially registered as the Palmarian Christian Church and also known as the Palmarian Church, is a Christian church with an episcopal see in El Palmar de Troya, Andalusia, Spain. The Palmarian Church claims to be the exclusive One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church founded by Jesus Christ. It claims that the Holy See, the institution of the papacy and the headquarters of the Catholic Church was moved to El Palmar de Troya at the Cathedral-Basilica of Our Crowned Mother of Palmar, under the auspices of the Patriarchate of El Palmar de Troya, in 1978, due to the alleged apostasy of the Roman Catholic Church from the Cat…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The Vatican Christmas Tree, also called the Saint Peter's Square Christmas Tree, is the decorated tree that is erected annually in the Saint Peter's Square directly in front of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City to celebrate the Christmas holiday season. The tradition of placing a Christmas tree and a life-size Nativity scene in Saint Peter's Square started in 1982 during the pontificate of Pope John Paul II, when the Polish-born Pope introduced the Northern European tradition of the Christmas Tree to the Vatican. Though the tradition of erecting a Christmas Tree was celebrated in northern and central Europe, such as in Poland, Pope John Paul II's country of origin, it was not yet cel…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Christmas is the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, which, in Western Christian churches, is held annually on 25 December. For centuries, it has been the subject of several reformations, both religious and secular. In the 17th century, the Puritans had laws forbidding the ecclesiastical celebration of Christmas, unlike the Catholic Church or the Anglican Church, from the latter of which they separated. With the atheistic Cult of Reason in power during the era of the French Revolution, Christian Christmas religious services were banned and the three kings cake was forcibly renamed the "equality cake" under anticlerical government policies. Later, in the 20th century, Christm…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Christmas lights (also known as fairy lights, festive lights or string lights) are lights often used for decoration in celebration of Christmas, often on display throughout the Christmas season including Advent and Christmastide. The custom goes back to when Christmas trees were decorated with candles, which symbolized Christ being the light of the world. The Christmas trees were brought by Christians into their homes in early modern Germany. Christmas trees displayed publicly and illuminated with electric lights became popular in the early 20th century. By the mid-20th century, it became customary to display strings of electric lights along streets and on buildings; Christmas decorations d…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

A Chrismon tree is an evergreen tree often placed in the chancel or nave of a church during Advent and Christmastide. The Chrismon tree was first used by North American Lutherans in 1957, although the practice has spread to other Christian denominations, including Anglicans, Catholics, Methodists, and the Reformed.