First Dec. 25 Xmas tied to pagan shrine
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The church where the tradition of celebrating Christmas on Dec. 25 may have begun was built near a pagan shrine as part of an effort to spread Christianity, a leading Italian scholar says.
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It fell on Christmas Day, and so maybe the way to start is with something snappy about St. Nick Saban, or the Miracle off 27th Street, or perhaps how Dolphins owner H. Wayne Huizenga unwrapped his best holiday gift last.
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Pilgrims and a new Palestinian leadership celebrated Christmas in the town of Jesusâ birth with prayers for peace on Saturday, lifted by fresh hope following Yasser Arafat&#39;s death.
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By ROBERT WELLER DENVER - A homeowners association in southwestern Colorado has threatened to fine a resident $25 a day until she removes a Christmas wreath with a peace sign that some say is an anti-Iraq war protest or a symbol of Satan.
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Several thousand pilgrims celebrated Christmas Eve in the traditional birthplace of Jesus on Friday, welcoming the new thaw in Israeli-Palestinian relations and voicing hopes for peace in the Middle East.
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Gloom was banished from Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem for the first time in years on Monday as Christian pilgrims from all over the world flocked here to celebrate Jesus' birth in an atmosphere of renewed tranquility.
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Thousands of pilgrims and a new Palestinian leadership celebrated Christmas in the town of Jesus's birth Saturday with prayers for peace after the death of Yasser Arafat.
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By Sharon Kiley Mack, Bangor Daily News, Maine  Dec.
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Across the country, initiatives are sprouting to push commerce out of Christmas and focus on tradition.
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Christmas celebrations have been held at the Church of Nativity in the Palestinian town of Bethlehem, the historic birthplace of Jesus Christ.
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BETHLEHEM, West Bank  - Muslims and Christians joined together on Christmas Eve in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, holding their breath that the festive season would be peaceful and possibly the start of a new dawn.
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as a temporary mortuary, as a truck pulled in with another load of bloated Thai and foreign bodies. peak of the Christmas and New Year tourist season.
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People tore open presents and enjoyed Christmas feasts with their families across the globe on Saturday. Christians in Indonesia packed tightly guarded churches despite fears of terrorist attacks.
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An emerging thaw in Israeli-Palestinian relations helped draw several thousand pilgrims to the traditional birthplace of Jesus on Christmas Eve, but crowds were far smaller than during the mid-1990s.
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Worshippers brought hopes for greater peace in the coming year as they flocked to Manger Square in Bethlehem and to St. Peter's in the Vatican to hear Christmas messages urging an end to violence, particularly in the Middle East. But from Indonesia to Iraq, fear overshadowed the festivities.
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GEORGE TOWN, Malaysia  - The sweet smell of incense from a centuries-old Chinese temple, the perfume of a Hindu shrine decked in flowers and the call to Muslim prayer.
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Authorities estimated that more than 2.3 million worshippers had traveled by bus, car, bicycle to participate in the annual observance honoring the nation&#39;s patron saint.