Christmas "under siege"? Christmas is a PAGAN tradition [View All]

[Julius Civitatus]

I find it hilarious how all these right-wingers are whining and screaming out loud about "secular liberals" trying to "destroy Christmas." What a pathetic excuse for a scandal. The best part is that you know it's all a fabrication by the usual bunch. Check out today's excellent column by Frank Rich in the NY Times.

For those actually wondering about Christmas, the celebration of Christmas, and all these bizarre traditions surrounding the Christian celebration, please check these links I'm providing you for your enlightenment. Make sure you mention these FACTS next time an asshole wingie tells you about Christmas being "under siege."
(You're welcome.)

In short, Christmas wasn't always celebrated by Christians; it's a relatively recent festivity, but it has PAGAN origins. Roman emperors from the Late Empire pretty much created Christmas as a way to make the official Christianity more palatable to the pagan majority; these people observed several winter solstice celebrations, including the birth of Isis (Egypt and middle east), the birth of Mithra (Roman Empire and middle east), the Yule honor to the Sun god (northern barbarian tribes, Europe), and many others.

For the record, nobody knows for sure when Jesus was born. Some say September, some say January 6th. The date of December 25th was a Roman imposition to unite several pagan religions under Christian Roman rule.

If you see a fundie friend doing the mistletoe kiss tradition, tell them they're engaging in ancient pagan fertility rituals that often progressed into wild orgies. Tell them you are ready to celebrate the tradition "all the way." See them go apoplectic.

If a fundie friend or relative set up a Christmas tree, tell them you respect their worshiping of the Yule and the totem-tree of Nordic barbarian pagans. Heck, you are an open-minded librul after all!
If they want to celebrate "Saturnalia," you absolutely respect that!

http://de.essortment.com/christmaspagan_rece.htm

http://www.gotquestions.org/Christmas-traditions.html

http://wilstar.com/xmas/xmassymb.htm

http://www.religioustolerance.org/xmas_tree.htm

http://www.serve.com/shea/germusa/pagan.htm

And then to make matters even more complicated, bring Santa Claus, which has an actual Christian origin (Saint Nicholas), but got completely mixed with Nordic myths and legends.

http://www.serve.com/shea/germusa/nikohelp.htm

PS: Ironically this post, which is just a collection of historical FACTS about Christmas, will be construed by the wingers as another "attack" on Christmas. Ugh!