TIRANA, Dec 25 /ATA/ Catholic and Orthodox believers celebrate Christmas this Saturday.
December 25 is the marked day of the birth of Jesus Christ, which is celebrated all over the world.
In Albania, Christmas celebrations resumed after the 1990s when the ban on religion put by the dictatorship was abolished. Christmas dinner is preceded by a day of fasting, during which meals are prepared to be served on the evening of the holiday.
Bethlehem is the birthplace of Christ who was born two thousand years ago.
The pre-Christmas services read passages from the Old Testament about the Birth of Christ, highlighting the prophecy of Micah, which foretells Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Savior, and Isaiah’s prophecies about the coming of the Messiah: The Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and will call him Immanuel, which means God is with us (Isaiah 7: 14-15). For to us a child is born, to us a son is given and the government will be on his shoulders and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. (Isaiah 9: 6-7).
Christmas is also called the Nativity of the Lord and God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Christmas celebrates the birth as a man of the Son of God, the one who together with the Father and the Holy Spirit is truly God in eternal life.
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