Editing Christmas Eve (section)

== Historical events ==
[[File:Khaki-chums-xmas-truce-1914-1999.redvers.jpg|right|thumb|A cross, left near [[Ypres]] in Belgium in 1999, to commemorate the site of the 1914 Christmas Truce. The text reads ''1914—The Khaki Chum's Christmas Truce—85 Years—Lest We Forget''.]]
A number of historical events have been influenced by the occurrence of Christmas Eve.

=== Christmas truce ===
{{Main|Christmas truce}}
During [[World War I]] in 1914 and 1915 there was an unofficial [[Christmas truce]], particularly between [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British]] and [[German Empire|German]] troops. The truce began on Christmas Eve, 24 December 1914, when [[German Army (German Empire)|German troops]] began decorating the area around their [[trench warfare|trenches]] in the region of [[Ypres]], Belgium, for Christmas. They began by placing candles on trees, then continued the celebration by singing [[Christmas carol]]s, most notably ''[[Silent Night (song)|Stille Nacht]]'' ("Silent Night"). The [[British Army|British troops]] in the trenches across from them responded by singing English carols. The two sides shouted Christmas greetings to each other. Soon there were calls for visits across the "[[No man's land]]" when small gifts were exchanged. The truce also allowed a breathing space during which recently killed soldiers could be brought back behind their lines by burial parties. Funerals took place as soldiers from both sides mourned the dead together and paid their respects. At one funeral in No Man's Land, soldiers from both sides gathered and read a passage from [[Psalm 23]]. The truce occurred in spite of opposition at higher levels of the military command. Earlier in the autumn, a call by [[Pope Benedict XV]] for an official truce between the warring governments had been ignored.
[[File:Scott 1371, Apollo 8.jpg|thumb|right|180px|[[Apollo 8]] commemorative stamp of the [[Apollo 8 Genesis reading|Christmas Eve Genesis reading]], issued in 1969, includes the ''[[Earthrise]]'' photograph by NASA astronaut [[William Anders]]]]

=== Apollo 8 reading from Genesis ===
{{Main|Apollo 8 Genesis reading}}
On 24 December 1968, in what was the most watched television broadcast to that date, the [[Apollo 8]] astronauts [[William Anders|Bill Anders]], [[Jim Lovell]] and [[Frank Borman]] surprised the world with a reading of the Creation from the [[Book of Genesis]] as they orbited the Moon.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo8_xmas.html|title=The Apollo 8 Christmas Eve Broadcast|publisher=NASA National Space Science Data Center|date=25 September 2007|access-date=12 April 2008| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080419065805/http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo8_xmas.html| archive-date= 19 April 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref>

In 1969, the [[United States Postal Service]] issued a stamp ([[Scott number|Scott#]] 1371) commemorating the [[Apollo 8|Apollo 8 flight around the Moon]]. The stamp featured a detail of Anders' famous photograph ''[[Earthrise]]'' of the Earth "rising" over the [[Moon]] (NASA image AS8-14-2383HR), taken on Christmas Eve, and the words, "In the beginning [[God]]...".