Christmas is celebrated on the 25th of December in Britain, with a Christmas dinner for the whole family. During the weeks before Christmas Day, British people send cards, watch nativity plays and go to carol services. They also decorate their homes and churches with green leaves, paper decorations and colourful electric lights.
Many of the Christmas customs in Britain began long before Jesus was born. They came from earlier festivals which had nothing to do with the Christian church. A long time ago people had mid-winter festivals when the days were shortest and the sunlight weakest. They believed that their ceremonies would give the sun back its power. The Romans, for example, held the festival of Saturnalia around 25th December. They decorated their homes with evergreens to remind Saturn, their harvest god, to return the following spring. Some of these customs and traditions were adopted by early Christians as part of their celebrations of Jesus' birthday. In Victorian times some new ideas such as Father Christmas, Christmas cards and crackers were added to the celebrations.

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Exercise:
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