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Noetical
Flip Horrorshow
Registered: 11/28/04
Posts: 9,230
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I just found out Christmas is ...
#5083031 - 12/19/05 06:07 PM (18 years, 3 months ago) |
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... was stolen from pagans by the Christians. The whole tree and present thing was a pagan thing. Also Santa was Turkish.
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drtyfrnk
PresidentialCandidate 2008
Registered: 01/24/05
Posts: 2,961
Loc: Ontario, Canada
Last seen: 14 years, 5 months
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Re: I just found out Christmas is ... [Re: Noetical]
#5083046 - 12/19/05 06:11 PM (18 years, 3 months ago) |
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the christians pwned the pagans hardcore!
-------------------- It's Krang, Bitch!
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barfightlard
tales of theinexpressible
Registered: 01/29/03
Posts: 8,670
Loc: Canoodia
Last seen: 14 years, 3 months
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Re: I just found out Christmas is ... [Re: Noetical]
#5083057 - 12/19/05 06:14 PM (18 years, 3 months ago) |
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And got his red and white from the Fly Arganic
-------------------- "What business is it of yours what I do, read, buy, see, say, think, who I fuck, what I take into my body - as long as I do not harm another human being on this planet?" - Bill Hicks
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lemon_lw
Stranger
Registered: 10/17/04
Posts: 3,622
Loc: That Way
Last seen: 16 years, 6 months
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Re: I just found out Christmas is ... [Re: Noetical]
#5083071 - 12/19/05 06:16 PM (18 years, 3 months ago) |
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yep damn christans. keeping some of the things older religions had so they didnt feel like they were losing everything when they had to convert making it easier to force feed the masses. i guess its a good thing jesus was born on the exact same day, huh
-------------------- In the belly of the Leviathan, one can either despair and perish, or be cheerful and persevere.-Dean Koontz
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moog
Stranger
Registered: 02/15/05
Posts: 1,296
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Re: I just found out Christmas is ... [Re: Noetical]
#5083605 - 12/19/05 08:24 PM (18 years, 3 months ago) |
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That's why i celebrate Saturnalia instead of Christmas. It's all about drunken orgies. Damn Christians had to take out the best part when replaced it with Christmas.
PRAISE SATURN!!
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Shroomism
Space Travellin
Registered: 02/13/00
Posts: 66,015
Loc: 9th Dimension
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Re: I just found out Christmas is ... [Re: Noetical]
#5083614 - 12/19/05 08:25 PM (18 years, 3 months ago) |
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Christians stole a lot of things from Pagans
Also.. jesus was not born in December.
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rogue_pixie
faerydae
Registered: 07/28/04
Posts: 3,977
Loc: UK
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Re: I just found out Christmas is ... [Re: Shroomism]
#5083627 - 12/19/05 08:28 PM (18 years, 3 months ago) |
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Aye, January I believe.....
And Santa aka St Nicholas wore green, the image painted of him now is that of the corporate giant, Coca Cola!
-------------------- "Whatever you do, you need to keep moving. Because when you stop moving you die (physically and emotionally). Good luck and blessings of happiness and fortune." ~ RandalFlagg RIP
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Shroomism
Space Travellin
Registered: 02/13/00
Posts: 66,015
Loc: 9th Dimension
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Re: I just found out Christmas is ... [Re: rogue_pixie]
#5083649 - 12/19/05 08:32 PM (18 years, 3 months ago) |
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No one knows what day Jesus Christ was born on. From the biblical description, most historians believe that his birth probably occurred in September, approximately six months after Passover. One thing they agree on is that it is very unlikely that Jesus was born in December, since the bible records shepherds tending their sheep in the fields on that night. This is quite unlikely to have happened during a cold Judean winter. So why do we celebrate Christ?s birthday as Christmas, on December the 25th?
The answer lies in the pagan origins of Christmas. In ancient Babylon, the feast of the Son of Isis (Goddess of Nature) was celebrated on December 25. Raucous partying, gluttonous eating and drinking, and gift-giving were traditions of this feast.
In Rome, the Winter Solstice was celebrated many years before the birth of Christ. The Romans called their winter holiday Saturnalia, honoring Saturn, the God of Agriculture. In January, they observed the Kalends of January, which represented the triumph of life over death. This whole season was called Dies Natalis Invicti Solis, the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun. The festival season was marked by much merrymaking. It is in ancient Rome that the tradition of the Mummers was born. The Mummers were groups of costumed singers and dancers who traveled from house to house entertaining their neighbors. From this, the Christmas tradition of caroling was born.
In northern Europe, many other traditions that we now consider part of Christian worship were begun long before the participants had ever heard of Christ. The pagans of northern Europe celebrated the their own winter solstice, known as Yule. Yule was symbolic of the pagan Sun God, Mithras, being born, and was observed on the shortest day of the year. As the Sun God grew and matured, the days became longer and warmer. It was customary to light a candle to encourage Mithras, and the sun, to reappear next year.
Huge Yule logs were burned in honor of the sun. The word Yule itself means ?wheel,? the wheel being a pagan symbol for the sun. Mistletoe was considered a sacred plant, and the custom of kissing under the mistletoe began as a fertility ritual. Hollyberries were thought to be a food of the gods.
The tree is the one symbol that unites almost all the northern European winter solstices. Live evergreen trees were often brought into homes during the harsh winters as a reminder to inhabitants that soon their crops would grow again. Evergreen boughs were sometimes carried as totems of good luck and were often present at weddings, representing fertility. The Druids used the tree as a religious symbol, holding their sacred ceremonies while surrounding and worshipping huge trees.
In 350, Pope Julius I declared that Christ?s birth would be celebrated on December 25. There is little doubt that he was trying to make it as painless as possible for pagan Romans (who remained a majority at that time) to convert to Christianity. The new religion went down a bit easier, knowing that their feasts would not be taken away from them.
Christmas (Christ-Mass) as we know it today, most historians agree, began in Germany, though Catholics and Lutherans still disagree about which church celebrated it first. The earliest record of an evergreen being decorated in a Christian celebration was in 1521 in the Alsace region of Germany. A prominent Lutheran minister of the day cried blasphemy: ?Better that they should look to the true tree of life, Christ.?
The controversy continues even today in some fundamentalist sects.
Many of our modern Christmas traditions began hundreds of years before Christ was born. Some of these traditions date back more than 4000 years. The addition of Christ to the celebration of the winter solstice did not occur until 300 years after Christ died and as late as 1800, some devout Christian sects, like the Puritans, forbade their members from celebrating Christmas because it was considered a pagan holiday. So what is the history behind these traditions?
The Christmas tree is derived from several solstice traditions. The Romans decked their halls with garlands of laurel and placed candles in live trees to decorate for the celebration of Saturnalia. In Scandinavia, they hung apples from evergreen trees at the winder solstice to remind themselves that spring and summer will come again. The evergreen tree was the special plant of their sun god, Baldor.
The practice of exchanging gifts at a winter celebration is also pre-Christian and is from the Roman Saturnalia. They would exchange good-luck gifts called Stenae (lucky fruits). They also would have a big feast just like we do today.
Mistletoe is from an ancient Druid custom at the winter solstice. Mistletoe was considered a divine plant and it symbolized love and peace. The tradition of kissing under the mistletoe is Druid in origin.
The Scandinavian solstice traditions had a lot of influences on our celebration besides the hanging of ornaments on evergreen trees. Their ancient festival was called Yuletide and celebrated the return of the sun. One of their traditions was the Yule log. The log was the center of the trunk of a tree that was dragged to a large fireplace where it was supposed to burn for twelve days. From this comes the twelve days of Christmas.
Even the date of Christmas, December 25, was borrowed from another religion. At the time Christmas was created in AD 320, Mithraism was very popular. The early Christian church had gotten tired of their futile efforts to stop people celebrating the solstice and the birthday of Mithras, the Persian sun god. Mithras? birthday was December 25. So the pope at the time decided to make Jesus? official birthday coincide with Mithras? birthday. No one knows what time of year Jesus was actually born but there is evidence to suggest that it was in midsummer.
So, if you are celebrating any of the western traditions of Christmas this year, remember that you are actually enjoying the rituals and activities of several ancient religions whose traditions have been borrowed by the Christians over the years for the celebration of the birth of Christ.
Happy Holidays!
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Penguarky Tunguin
f n o r d
Registered: 08/08/04
Posts: 17,192
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Re: I just found out Christmas is ... [Re: Shroomism]
#5083654 - 12/19/05 08:35 PM (18 years, 3 months ago) |
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Two words for this thread. James.....Arthur.
That is all.
McKennaDMT
-------------------- Every mistake, intentional or otherwise, in the above post, is the fault of the reader.
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DNKYD
Turtle!
Registered: 09/23/04
Posts: 12,326
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Another two words for this thread: FUCK CHRISTIANS
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bigbadwolf
Wild Man Willy
Registered: 11/12/03
Posts: 173
Last seen: 16 years, 6 months
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Re: I just found out Christmas is ... [Re: DNKYD]
#5083690 - 12/19/05 08:43 PM (18 years, 3 months ago) |
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I think it would be mosre meaningful to celebrate on the solstice than the 25th. For me at least.
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