WIN-IEC: Christmas Lesson

www.history.com (click on video gallery - click on "History of Christmas)

VOCABULARY:

1. RECENT: something that happened not so long ago (e.g. recent history)
modern (recent fashion)
2. ORIGIN: – a) source: the thing from which something develops, or the place where it comes from ( often used in the plural )
-the origins of the universe
-The expression has an uncertain origin
- Customs that are French in originb) ancestry: the ethnic group, social class, or country that somebody belongs to or that somebody's family comes from ( often used in the plural ) a great family whose origins stretch back to the Middle Ages. OR: He has Canadian citizenship, but he’s originally Korean.
3. SOLSTICE: longest or shortest day of the year (either of the times when the Sun is farthest from the equator, on or about June 21 or December 21. The summer solstice falls in June in the northern hemisphere but in December in the southern hemisphere, and vice versa for the winter solstice.)
4. TO DRAG: pull something along with effort: to move something, especially something that is too large, heavy, or difficult to carry, by pulling it along the ground or across a surface e.g. “He dragged the fallen tree out of the road”
5. EVERGREENS: evergreen treeS: a tree or bush that retains its foliage (leaves) throughout the, like pines, furs, spruce.
6. ANCIENT: old: very old; of distant past: belonging to the distant past. E.g. The three ancient kingdoms of Korea.
7. IN HONOUR: to commemorate, to celebrate something (I had a party in honour of my grandmother)
8. AGRICULTURE: farming: the occupation, business, or science of cultivating the land, producing crops (rice, wheat, barley, corn), and raising livestock (cows, pigs, horses…)
9. WORSHIP: treat somebody or something as deity (GOD) : to treat somebody or something as divine and show respect by engaging in acts of prayer and devotion; take part in religious service: to take part in a religious service; love somebody deeply: to love, admire, or respect somebody or something greatly and perhaps excessively or unquestioningly
10. SECT a religious group with beliefs and practices different from those of the more established main groups ( Scientology Church)

11. PAGAN or HEATHEN non-believer in any of the ‘accepted’ gods (The God of the Bible, Torah, Koran)
12. TO TAKE HOLD – to become strong and well-established, to become accepted. E.g. Western food has taken hold in Korea.
13. IT REMAINS A MYSTERY it is still not known. The name of the murderer still remains a mystery.
14. TO THEORIZE: to speculate or form a theory about something. E.g. Scientists have theorized the existence of living beings on other planets.
15. TO ADOPT: 1. legally raise another's child: to raise a child of other biological parents as if it were your own; 2. choose and decide to use/do/accept something. E.g. “They adopted my plan.’ ‘The hospital adopted a new name.’ The previously worst student adopted a new attitude and become the best.
16. FEAST: holiday, celebration; elaborate food and drink
17. TO OUTLAW: make something illegal and unacceptable. “In Canada, smoking in public spaces, including bars and restaurants, is outlawed.”
18. ORNAMENT: decoration
19. TO SULK to be quiet in a bad-tempered silence: a period, state, or show of resentfulness and refusal to communicate; TO SULK AWAY: to continue to be silent in an angry way
20. SEMINARY school for training clergy (priests, ministers, or rabbis)
21. TO SETTLE THE MATTER: to bring an argument or discussion to an end. The kids were fighting over the toys until their mother settled the matter by taking all of the toys away.
22. ROTUND: corpulent, round in body, fat
23. ICON: 1. an image of a holy person; 2. somebody famous for something: somebody or something widely and uncritically admired, especially somebody or something symbolizing a movement or field of activity (Elvis Presley is the all-time rock'n'roll icon)
24. RETAIL: selling directly to consumers (Hyunday Dept. Store is a famous Korean retail store). Retailer: someone who’s in the business of retail
25. TO SEEK, (past tense and past participle SOUGHT): to look for, to search for
26. TO DELIVER (trans. Verb, w. an object): to carry something to somebody (e.g. deliver a letter); to produce (to deliver a baby)
TO DELIVER (intrans., no object), to do as has been promised or expected from.
I always buy Tide laundry detergent, because it delivers (washes my clothes the best!) Christmas delivers. (It brings warmth, family and joy – all that is expected


Tapescript: HISTORY OF CHRISTMA

It’s a holiday known as much for shopping as the birth of the Christ Child.
Christmas is a mix of the old and the new, of surprisingly recent traditions and history that goes back thousands of years.

We’ve old heard the biblical origins of Christmas, but societies have been celebrating light and birth in the darkest days of winter centuries before Jesus walked the Earth.
In the Norse country this winter celebration was known as Yule. Around December 21st, the winter solstice, fathers and sons dragged evergreens indoors as reminders of life, and set logs on fire as a promise of good fortune.

Ancient Rome had its own December festivals. One week before the winter solstice, Romans began celebrating Saturnalia, an orgy of food and drink, in honour of Saturn, the god of agriculture. Some Romans, particularly soldiers and government officials, also worshipped Mythra, the son god. It is believed that to this small but powerful sect, the birthday of Mythra on Dec. 25th was the holiest day of the year.

By the 1st century AD, pagan traditions were being challenged, as Christianity took hold throughout the Empire, but Christ’s birthday remained a mystery, since the Bible doesn’t mentions exactly when he was born. Since pagan Rome already celebrated the birth of Mythra on Dec. 25th, it is theorized that the Church adopted the date as the birth of the Christ Child. In the 4th century, the church made it official, declaring Dec. 25th as the Feast Day of the Nativity. The church knew it could not outlaw the pagan traditions of Christmas, so it came to accept them. The evergreens traditionally brought indoors were decorated with apples, symbolizing the Garden of Eden. These apples would eventually become Christmas ornaments.

The story of Santa Claus also begins in the fourth century, with the death of Nicholas, a beloved Turkish bishop. The anniversary of his death became known as Saint Nicholas Day. On Dec. 6th, good children hoped to receive gifts from the kindly saint. Bad children sulked away with nothing. In Holland he was known as Santer Klaus.

1500 years later, in America, a seminary professor named Clement Clark Moore, re-imagined the legend of Saint Nicholas. In 1822, Moore wrote a poem called “The Night before Christmas,” about a good-natured saint names Santa Claus who was pulled by a group of reindeer, and came down the chimney on Christmas Eve. Like St. Nicholas, Santa Claus spread good cheer and gave gifts to children. Less clear was exactly what Santa Claus looked like. Then in 1863, Thomas Nasst, a cartoonist for Harper’s Weekly, settled the matter once and for all, with his version of the Christmas saint. Nasst’s Santa was rotund and jolly, with a full white beard and a sack full of toys. An American icon was born.

It’s no wonder that Santa Claus became an irresistible image to America’s retailers, forever linking Christmas with shopping. To most people, however, Christmas means much more than buying gifts. Humankind has long sought warmth, family and joy during the dark days of winter - and year after year Christmas delivers.