Christmas Eve refers to the evening preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25.It is a culturally significant celebration for most of the Western world and is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation of Christmas Day.
One reason celebrations occur on Christmas Eve is because the traditional Christian liturgical day starts at sunset, an inheritance from Jewish tradition,which in turn is based in the story of creation in Genesis: "And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day."This liturgical day is followed for all days in the Eastern rite and the custom of beginning Christmas celebration (as well as Sunday and the other major festivals) in the preceding evening is preserved in western Churches that have altered the liturgical day to start at midnight, for example the Roman Catholic Church. Many churches still ring their church bells and hold prayers in the evening before holidays; for example the Nordic Lutheran churches. In some languages, such as the Scandinavian, Christmas Eve is simply referred to as "Christmas Evening".
Since Christian tradition holds that Jesus was born at night (based in Luke 2:6-8), Midnight Mass is celebrated on Christmas Eve, traditionally at midnight, in commemoration of his birth.The idea of Jesus being born at night is reflected in the fact that Christmas Eve is referred to as "Heilige Nacht" ("Holy Night") in German, "Nochebuena" ("the Good Night") in Spanish and similarly in other expressions of Christmas spirituality, such as the song "Silent Night, Holy Night".
Christmas is also celebrated as a secular holiday by many non-Christians; however, in the Indian subcontinent, though not celebrated by non-Christians, the festival is nevertheless known as "the big day" (Hindustani baṛā din).
聖誕夜，即聖誕前夕（12月24日），中文又稱「平安夜」（源自著名的聖誕歌曲《平安夜》（Stille Nacht）），在大部份基督教社會是聖誕節慶祝節日之一。聖誕夜傳統上是擺設聖誕樹的日子，但隨著聖誕節的慶祝活動提早開始進行，例如美國在感恩節後，不少聖誕樹早在聖誕節前數星期已被擺設。
在英國，平安夜如在工作日，有時會被銀行及貿易公司視為短日（下午休息）。
傳統教會的聖誕期在平安夜開始。除非當日是星期日（參看待降節），守夜的聚會據說是在12月24日早上。然而，在午夜前參加聖誕節的聚會是不被允許的。聖誕季節繼續直至1月4日，如當日是星期六，則至1月5日，當主顯節（顯現日）慶祝時。
傳統上不少基督徒會在平安夜參與子夜彌撒或聚會，通常在世界各地的教堂內舉行，以表示聖誕日的開始。一些教會則會在晚上較早時間舉行燭光崇拜，通常會有耶穌降生故事的話劇表演，亦會享用大餐，一般會有火雞或火腿作為主菜。德國的傳統菜色則是燒鯉魚。
wiki : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_Eve
中文 : http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%81%96%E8%AA%95%E5%A4%9C
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