Christmas is almost always the happiest day of the year. Children like to think of it as their own holiday. But for everyone it is a very special time.

At Christmas, we follow old customs. We feel the magic of the season. And we try to care more deeply for others.

Christmas is filled with wonderful things to see, hear, smell, and taste. And there is the special warmth that Christmas brings, a mixture of joy, love, and peace.

Christmas gets its name from a special service or mass held in churches on Christmas Day. Christ's Mass, or Christmas, celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ.

At Christmas, we remember the beautiful story of Jesus' birth, or nativity.

Long ago in the Holy Land, the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary. He told her that she would be the mother of Jesus. Then Mary and her husband Joseph went to Bethlehem . The city was so crowded that they had to stay in a stable. There Mary gave birth to Jesus and laid him in a manger A manger is a trough where farm animals eat their hay.

Angels came down from heaven to tell the shepherds in the fields about Jesus' birth. They brought a message of peace on earth. A bright star appeared in the sky above Jesus' birthplace. Three Wise Men ? or kings ? who studied the heavens, followed the star's light to the stable. They presented the baby Jesus with gifts of gold, frankincense , a sweet-smelling incense, and myrrh a bitter scent.

We remember the visit of the three Wise Men on Epiphany January 6. Epiphany comes from a Greek word that means "to show." At Bethlehem, Jesus first showed himself to the world. Epiphany is also called Twelfth Night. It marks the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas.

At Christmas, many families set up figures in a creche or manger scene, in their homes. Saint Francis of Assisi started this custom. It reminds people of Jesus' birth in the stable. Saint Francis used live animals and real people in his creche.

Animals were the first to see Jesus in the stable at Bethlehem. This was thought to be a sign of blessing from God. In some countries, farm animals are given special food at Christmastime. Some people scatter seeds for birds to nibble.

Jesus was born about two thousand years ago, though we do not know the exact number of years. For more than three hundred years after his birth, no one kept a careful count of the years. Few people in those days knew or cared about Christmas.

Now, we number our years from Christ's birth. Perhaps you have seen the letters B.C. or A.D. next to a year. B.C. means "Before Christ" and includes all the years before Jesus was born. A.D. stands for two Latin words, Anno Domini , that mean "In the year of Our Lord." This means all the years after Jesus' birth.

Before Jesus was born, most people were pagans . This means that they prayed to the sun, the moon, and many different gods of nature.

Late December can be a cold, dark time of the year. December 21 is the shortest day of the year. But by December 25, the days get longer again. The pagans of the Roman Empire called December 25 the "Birthday of the Sun." During their winter holidays, they gave each other dolls, candles, and evergreen branches.

No one knows the exact day when Jesus was born. Some early churches celebrated Jesus' birth on different dates through the year in March or May or December! By about 325 A.D., many of the people in the Roman Empire had become Christians. A few years later, Pope Julian chose December 25 as the date for Christmas. Some people even thought that this was the actual day Jesus was born.

Late December had been a holiday time for hundreds of years. The pagan Romans had celebrated their Saturnalia at this time of the year. And Jewish people have held their eight-day Hanukkah celebration since about one hundred and fifty years before the birth of Christ.

As Christianity spread through Europe and to other parts of the world, new customs were added to old ones. Many pagan customs were kept. All parts of the world gave traditions of their own to make Christmas as we know it today.

Over the years, Christmas has been celebrated in many different ways. But everywhere the joy of Christ's birth and the happy customs of the season are important parts of the holiday.

Weeks before December 25, people begin preparing for Christmas. Families bake cakes and cookies. They put up decorations and wrap presents. Stores set up displays to attract shoppers.

Sometimes the four weeks before Christmas are called Advent. In many churches, candles set in evergreen wreaths are lighted on each of the four Sundays of Advent.

Children in Germany often have Advent calendars with little shuttered windows in them. Each day they open one more window. They find a surprise inside ? a picture of a toy or a holiday scene. Somehow it seems to make the long wait for Christmas pass more quickly.

Christmas is a time when families and friends like to be together and share the joy of the season. Often people travel a long way to be with their loved ones during the holiday. Grandparents who live far away may come to visit their grandchildren.

We try to keep in touch with people we care about even if we cannot be with them. We make long distance telephone calls and send Christmas cards, letters, and gifts. Christmas is a time to remember the people we love.

As December 25 gets closer, people set up Christmas trees. The story of the Christmas tree comes to us from Germany.

Hundreds of years ago, the Germans were pagans. Each winter they sacrificed a young person in front of an oak tree. Around the year 750 A.D., a missionary named Boniface came from Rome to teach the people about Christ. He told them to bring pine trees into their homes as a sign of change from the old ways. The oak tree had meant death. But evergreen trees stand for life. Even in winter their needles stay green.

Slowly, Christmas trees became popular. Early trees were trimmed with paper, cloth, nuts, and metal foil. About five hundred years ago, the religious leader Martin Luther put candles on his Christmas tree. He thought they looked like the stars on Christmas night. We still put strings of lights on our Christmas trees.

About 1835, the first Christmas tree in America was decorated. A few years later in England, Queen Victoria decorated a tree at Windsor Castle. That is where the British royal family spends Christmas. Soon Christmas trees became very popular. Nearly every home in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, and France had one.

Christians take their name from Jesus Christ. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in Judea, sometime between 6 and 4 BC, to a devout Jewish couple named Mary and Joseph, descendants of King David. He grew up in Nazareth, in Galilee, and at the age of 30 was baptized in the River Jordan by a prophet called John the Baptist. John had been preaching and baptizing people as a mark of repentance for sins. He heralded the coming of one greater than himself. After his baptism, Jesus gathered round him a band of twelve disciples (the 'apostles'), and went about the countryside preaching, teaching and healing the sick. He announced the coming of God's rule and declared the need for people to repent of their sins and believe the good news of God's kingdom. When, after many months together, Jesus asked his disciples who he was, their leader, Peter, declared 'You are the Christ'—the 'anointed one', the Messiah of Jewish expectation.

At the age of 33 Jesus was arrested, tortured and put to death by the Roman authorities, with the collaboration ofJewish secular and religious leaders, probably about AD 29-30. He died by crucifixion, a common but very painful method of execution. But he rose from the dead three days later, appeared to some women followers and his disciples on a number of occasions during the next 40 days, and then returned to his Father in heaven.
Christians therefore believe in a living Christ, not a dead hero. The crucifix and the cross have become symbols of the suffering Saviour and the risen Lord. Friday and Sunday, the days on which respectively he died and rose, have become 'holy' days.

Christians believe that Jesus Christ is both 'Son of God' and 'Son of Man'—fully human and fully divine and without sin. In him, the One God, Creator of heaven and earth, came down to men, in order to raise men to be with God. This is the incarnation, achieved through his birth of a virgin mother, conceived by the Holy Spirit. Jesus took on himself the limitations of human nature. He also took responsibility for the sins of the human race, reconciling God with men and men with God. This is the atonement, achieved through his death. But he died only to rise again to new life. This is the resurrection. Those who believe in Jesus are not only saved from their sins but will be raised to new life when Jesus comes again. Meanwhile, through the Spirit of God living in them, they are guided and strengthened in their pilgrimage on earth.

Yet, success was not without cost. Persecutions were common. And they, more often than not, led to quarrels and disputes which divided and weakened the church, sometimes irretrievably. But then, with the issue of the Edict of Milan by the Emperor Constantine in AD 313, persecutions ceased. Christianity was now officially tolerated and before long became the state religion. On the one hand, the church's alliance with the state had a high price: until that time Christians had been a persecuted minority; from now on it would be convenient to be a Christian for political, economic and social reasons. On the other hand, the alliance, first in the form of the Holy Roman Empire and later . The birth of the church through national churches, resulted in the After Jesus had ascended to his Father in heaven, flowering of Western Christian culture his followers gathered in Jerusalem to await the coming of the Spirit of God whom Jesus had With the growth of the Holy Roman Empire promised. Ten days later, the Holy Spirit came,developed the power of Christendom's chief and Peter, leader of the twelve apostles, filled religious leaders—the Pope of Rome and the with new boldness and power, addressed the Patriarch of Constantinople—and a struggle for crowds. He told them that Jesus, whom they had supremacy. In 1054 the Pope excommunicated the crucified, and whom God had raised from the Patriarch and the Patriarch did the same to the dead, was the promised Messiah, and called on Pope. This formalized the separation of the Greek them to turn from their sins and be baptized in his and Latin churches. They became the Eastern name. Three thousand responded to this first Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches preaching of the Christian message and were respectively, and the break is known as the great baptized.

From Jerusalem the church spread outwards until, by the close of the century, it was strong in Asia Minor, Macedonia, Greece and Rome. The expansion was due largely to the efforts of Paul, the first great Christian missionary. Paul made known the good news about Jesus—the 'gospel'. He used to full advantage the widespread law and justice which resulted from the 'Roman peace', the ease of communication made possible by the Greek language, and the privileged position accorded to the Jewish religion. And the churches which he founded in turn preached the gospel, so that by the end of the second century the church had spread throughout the Mediterranean world, into Egypt, Notth Africa and even France. Christianity was providing a real reason for living: life in this world and hope in a world to come.

Along with the rest of Europe, the church emerged from the darkness of the Middle Ages into the light of the Renaissance. But it found itself suddenly confronted with the stirrings of physical and spiritual freedom, and individual and national independence. In 1515-1516 in Germany, a young monk and scholar named Martin Luther became convinced, while preparing lectures on Paul's Letter to the Romans, that salvation could come only by faith, not by good works as the church was teaching. When challenged, he refused to submit to the Pope's authority. The Reformation had begun, the movement from which churches of the Protestant tradition spring. Today, although in decline in Europe and North America, Christianity is rapidly gaining converts in Africa, South America and parts of Asia. It claims a world membership of 900 million.

Christians worship together. Any group of Christians, meeting together regularly, whether in a home, a school hall or in the open air, is called a church. Special buildings for Christians to meet in have also come to be called churches.
Down the centuries, the building of churches has made an important contribution to the artistic and architectural heritage of the world. Churches are usually among the most beautiful and outstanding buildings in the villages, towns and cities of Europe, America and Australasia. Their towers and spires rise above the neighbouring houses, pointing people to God, and the great ornamented cathedrals of the Western world are rivalled only by the great sculptured temples of southern India. One usually enters a church or cathedral by the west door. At the far end, directly facing the west door, is a table on which is placed a cross and two or six candles, or simply two vases of flowers. To left and right are pulpit and lectern.

Whether in a church building or elsewhere, Christians meet together to worship God, to learn together and to celebrate their beliefs. Shortly before he died, Jesus commanded his disciples to commemorate his death until his return to earth at the end of the present age. Ever since that night, Christians have done this in thecelebration known as the Mass, the Eucharist, Holy Communion or the Lord's Supper. For churches of the Catholic and Orthodox traditions, this is the main service, often held daily. It is the main way in which the faithful receive help from God and feel his presence. Prayers are said, passages from the Bible are read and explained, hymns are sung, and bread and wine are consecrated to represent the body and blood of Christ. The priest then distributes the bread and the wine (or the bread only) to the faithful who gather round the table. In churches of the Protestant tradition, the emphasis is different. Holy Communion may be celebrated less frequently: in some fortnightly or monthly or only twice a year. The main way in which believers receive spiritual nourishment is through hearing the word of God and obeying it. In the main service on Sundays the preaching , of the 'Word of God' is of chief importance. Prayers are said, passages from the Bible are read, hymns are sung and then a sermon is preached. The preacher concludes with a call to the people to hear the word of the Lord. Christians also worship individually. They experience God in private prayer and devotion as well as in corporate worship with other believers. But Christian worship involves serving people as well as God. Medical, educational and relief work has always been a vital part of Christian activity worldwide. Christianity is a world-affirming and not a world-denying religion. God created a good world. It was man who succumbed to temptation and introduced sin. Yet, God so loved the world that he sent a redeemer. And salvation is achieved through God's redeeming the world and not by man's renouncing it. For this reason Christians work for the physical as well as the spiritual well-being of mankind.

Three out of five Indonesian people work on the land. Many are subsistence farmers, growing only enough to feed their families. But some work to grow cash crops to sell in the cities and to export. Most farmers are smallholders. On crowded islands like Java and Bali, the average farm is only half a hectare. But it's warm all year round, with plenty of rain and rich, black volcanic soil. Farmers here can grow two or three crops each year on the same field.

Rice is Indonesia's most important crop. Villagers' rice fields are usually watered in turn and they often share the buffalo or tractor used for ploughing. New rice seeds, which produce more grain, are being sold to farmers. But these need costly chemical fertilizers and pesticides, which can be harmful to the environment.
Away from Java and Bali, many of the other islands aren't so fertile, and crops like corn, cassava, sweet
potatoes and the sago palm are more important. In rainforest areas some people live by hunting wild animals and collecting food plants. On islands like Flores, Sumba and Timor, people clear patches of land to grow crops for one
or two seasons, then move on. Dryland farmers in these places to are finding ways of growing crops in settled farms without spoiling the land.

After oil, cash crops are Indonesia's most important export. When Indonesia was a Dutch colony, land was taken to grow rubber, coffee, tea, cocoa and sugar for people in Europe. After Indonesian independence, some of this land was given back to the local people. But a lot is still being used by cash crop businesses while smaller farmers are running out of land.
Land is also used up by companies for property development, mining, power plants or even tourist resorts. Each time farmers pass land on to their children there is less to share out between them. Land shortage is one reason people migrate to the cities to find work. Indonesia has always traded its natural resources. At first spices were most important, then crops like rubber and coffee. Later it started to export timber, coal and oil. Indonesia is the biggest producer of natural gas in the world.

Now the government is encouraging Indonesian manufacturing industries that make raw materials more valuable by turning them into finished goods like tee-shirts or toys. Most of these industries are on Java. About seven per cent of the whole population work in factories, but the number is growing. Transnational companies can move their work around the world. They set up business wherever raw materials are cheapest and taxes are lowest, or where people are paid the least. This means that the companies can keep more money as profit when they sell their goods.

Wages in Indonesia are kept extremely low to attract the transnational companies and their jobs. Many Indonesian workers are paid barely enough money to live on. This is because government fears that if wages were higher, these big companies would go somewhere cheaper.

Indonesian people have always made and decorated things. They do this not only for profit, but also for pleasure, as seen in the carved posts of Sumatran houses and the ornate wayang costumes. Their traditional carvings and textiles are famous around the world. But these days most customers are tourists, and they can't always tell the difference between a hand-made object and a factory copy.

Most tourists come to enjoy Indonesia's beautiful scenery and hot weather. Bali is very popular. Many people come here to sunbathe, visit the temples, climb volcanoes and scuba-dive on the coral reefs. Indonesian tourism is an important source of foreign exchange for the country, but it can damage the environment. Local people sometimes even have to leave their villages to make way for tourist resorts.

Indonesia's natural resources were the reason the islands were colonised. Now they are being sold to raise money for internal development, and to pay back loans from other countries. Indonesia's challenge is to balance these demands against the real needs of the people now and in the future. For example, the Indonesian government can raise money by selling fishing permits to foreign factory ships, but if too many fish are caught they might die out altogether. Mining has harmful effects, too. The Indonesian land is damaged, rivers polluted and local people forced away. Most seriously, the forests being cut and sold as timber will probably never recover. Once the land is bare of trees, monsoon rains can cause floods and landslides. And the forests are homes for people as well as wildlife.

The animals and plants that have adapted to life in Indonesia are very varied. So we say that Indonesia has a high biodiversity. To the west, animals and plants are more like those found in Asia. There are tigers, leopards and the nearly-extinct Javan rhinoceros. Kalimantan has 21 types of monkeys and apes. Farther east there are animals with pouches, like those in Australia. Altogether Indonesia has more plant species than does the whole of Africa or America. This diversity is put at risk when mining and logging companies are invited onto the land.

Local Indonesian people find it hard to live in their traditional ways and to be self-sufficient in areas where the natural resources are being exploited. For example, Irian jaya now has huge copper and gold mines. A quarter of Indonesia's export earnings come from the coal, oil and gas extracted from Kalimantan. These places are being changed forever as forests are cut, new roads built and transmigrants move in bringing new and different lifestyles. Indonesian National parks and tourism Nature and marine reserves and national parks have been set up, where logging, fishing and mining are not supposed to be allowed. But sometimes this means local people are forbidden to enter or use the forests or seas that their families have used for centuries, while mining or fishing companies are still allowed in. Mount Merapi in central Java, is an active volcano. But thousands of people live on its lower slopes, in villages like Tangkil. Along the paved road are small stores, two mosques, schools, a health centre, market, and the village head's office. Communities in Indonesia are carefully organized; Tangkil village is made up of 10 sub-villages or kampungs.

Houses in Indonesian villages are still made in the traditional style, woven bamboo on a wooden frame. Most families have
clay tiles on their roofs and concrete rainwater tanks. There are separate rooms for cooking, and for sleeping and socializing, with a bamboo platform covered in mats making a big bed in one corner. But there are no windows; it's fairly dark inside even in the daytime.

Families here grow rice, cassava, corn and chillies in the ground, and tree crops like jackfruit and cloves. They keep chickens and goats, and a new government scheme is encouraging them to keep cows as well. Tangkil is 900 metres above sea level and although the topsoil is fertile, just below is the hard rock of the volcano. The ground is too hard to hold water, and wells are impossible to dig. The nearest river is seven kilometres away, so people depend on rain for their water supply. Between November and March, rain falls heavily onto the fields and from the steep, tiled roofs into the water tanks. But from April to October, it hardly ever rains and the tanks have to be used for farming as well as the household. Some people buy water from a visiting tanker to top-up their rainwater tanks, but it's still hard to keep the fields watered in the dry season.

Both men and women work hard in Indonesian Villages, but the women have a double workload as they work around the house as well as the farm. This means feeding the animals, washing clothes and gathering fuel as well as cooking and cleaning.
Most of the children go to school for at least a few years. But they are expected to sweep the earth floors and the yard before breakfast, and help feed the animals in the afternoon.

Indonesian villages have a village head and secretary appointed by the government. They know everything that goes on in the different kampungs, and recently organized electricity for Tangkil village. But the different kampungs also have their own organizations. Most married men and women belong to a savings club. Each week every member contributes an equal amount of money, and they take turns to receive the whole amount. It might be used for house improvements or to buy seeds, to buy clothes for the family, or to buy a new goat.

The teenagers have their own groups, too, and usually meet at the mosque to study, chat and play volleyball. They recently clubbed together to buy a tape recorder and loudspeaker for the mosque - and for parties.

What people in Indonesian vilalges really want is a reliable water system. Most villages can't afford it themselves. Education is important to Javanese families. Most of the children in Jatiwakas go to elementary school despite the cost of uniforms and books. There's a lot to study: first, the national language, Bahasa Indonesia, as well as the local language of Javanese. Then there's maths, science and social studies like history, geography and 'PANCASILA,' the political beliefs of the state. Not forgetting religious studies, domestic science, art and crafts, and of course, sports. Older children have to travel by bus or bicycle to get to the secondary schools.

Indonesia has some very good universities, but it's hard for someone from an ordinary family to afford the fees. Most students leaving high school head for the cities to look for work in the factories there.