Within this essay I will best shine light on the holiday that we call Christmas. First the name Christmas comes from the Old English word Cistes Maesse, which means "the mass of Christ." Most customs of this holiday can be traced to pagan origins and not Judeo-Christian origins. One of the most important concepts of Christmas is the observance of December 25th as the birth of Christ, which is actually another example of the mythical Chirst watering down the story of the true and historical Christ. The adherance of December 25th as Jesus's birthday comes from the worship during the Winter Solstice. The cultures of the centuries which were before the birth of Jesus revered the Winter Solstice as the birth of most of their gods, avatars, and saviors because during the Winter Solstice the days or daylight is shorter, so many ancient cultures figured that "god" must be spending most of his tome here on earth.
Before I go on I must say that the Winter Solsitce is now said to be on December 22, but we did not always have our present calendar. First there was the several superancient calendars such as from Egypt, Mesopotamia, Sumer, and Israel. After the birth, life, and death of Jesus, Mark created the start of present Christianity in his Jesus Movements. The Roman emperor Constantine saw that his country's religious beliefs needed a make-over, so they could chnage from the old polythiestic worship. In doing this he changed the calendar. Many others have tampered with the calendar such as Julius Caesar, and Pope Gregory-his reforms are the ones we presently use, the Gregorian calendar is what our calendar is called.
Two of the first gods to be born on the Winter Solstice comes from the anceint Egyptians (Khemetians) and their names are Auser or Osiris and Heru or Horus. Other gods and saviors such as Krishna and the more recent Mithra, who was most likely directly used, were also said to had been born on the 25th of December. Considering the many calendars one should not find it hard to believe that some groups would have their Winter Solsitce festival in January, namely January 6th. The truth is that there is little known about the birth, life, and death of Jesus. The places, times, and circumstances are very often disputed because of conflcting evidence. Many historians claim that Jesus was born in a cave in Cush, now Ethiopia. Some say the Nativity scene is accurate, but they will argue if he was born in Bethelham (named after the god Bethel and Ham the so called ancestor of blacks, which is another comparison between god and black man, just as in the word Abraham-father of many nations) or Narareth because he was called Jesus of Nazareth, and he took the vow of the Nazarene, never to cut his hair. The time that Jesus was born was most definitely not in December, nor any time within the Winter. It was most likely in the Spring when one considers that the shepards were out watching their sheep graze., but many Chrsitians and Bible scholars say that this a metaphor for Jesus and his people because he is called the lamb, due to his famed innocence and his people are called his flock; however, this is an example of selective acception of metaphors
The 25th was chosen to counter, but not forget the pagan festival connected to the Winter Solstice, such is the Nordic festival called Yule, which I will discus later. Rome celebrated the feats called the "Invincible Sun" on the 25th because of the short days. In the Eastern chruches it was celebrated on January 6th. After Romes manipulation of the calendar and their patchwork job of Jesus and Christianity, January 6th was Chritianized by a feast called Epiphany, which comnes from the Greek word meaning manifestation, appearnace, or revelation. Possibly the appearnace of a new god of the Winter Solsice. From December 25th to January 6th is now called the "12 Days of Christmas." Later Epiphany focused on two events in which one is inaccurate and the other is connected to another pagan festival. The first event is Jesus's baptism (Mark 1:9-11) and the other event is him changing water into wime at Cana of Galilee (John 2:1-12) which is compared to one of his parallels from Greece, Dionysus (a copy of Osiris), who was the winegod; his festival was held also in the Aegean Islands (Crete, Pelan) and Anatolia. It is obvious what would the so-called son of god or god himself, considering your belief, be doing turing water, the essence of life, to wine. The connection of this event and the wine god Dionysus is "cut-and-dry." When Epiphany reached America, Jan 6thh became associated with the visit of the Magi to the infant Jesus seen in the Nativity (Matthew 2:1-12)
The use of December 25th as Christmas comes indirectly from the Winter Solstice rituals. One of those fetivals is were the custom of the Christmas tree came from. Yule was a Nordic festival where they brought a log in doors to be burned. In Nordic or Scandinavian country, the only tree that could survive the very cold Nordic Winters was the evergreen, which is what the original and most Christmas trees are today. The trees were kept upright to keep them out of the way and the Nordic people also believed that the evergreen had a special imbued life since it could grow during the cold of the Winter. Yule was accompanied by dancing, singin, and huge feast. Other festivals were held at this time. In Germany, they were praising the god Oden with food and dance, and the Romans celebrated Saturnelia after the Roman god Saturn. Years later the evergreens were christianized with apples to represent the Garden of Eden, but why waste food when ornaments give the same appearance, which is exactly what happened.
Two other types of evergreen flora were added to the Christmas festival. The first is the holly and the wreatth, in which both were used to represent Jesus's so-called "Crown of Thorns," which were used to add that needed humility that all saviors and gods must have. The second evergreen vegetation is the mistletoe in which a man could kiss a woman if she had wandered under the hanging mistletoe, without fear of being thrashed. The mistletoe tradition most likely comes from many cultures and it is based partially on fact. The mistletoe has toxic properties and its magical powers date back to Nordic and Celtic legends. Native Americans and other cultutres found out that the mistletoe could be used as an abortive and cotraceotive. In other words, the kiss of any woman without recourse comes from the act of sexual intercourse without the consequences of unwanted pregnancies. Eastern mistletoes have proven to be fatal to childrenif digested. This really contradicts the gift giving part of Christmas.
The secular aspects of Christmas all either come from heathen religionn or aristocratic American society. The most important of these is the belief in Santa Claus. Santa Claus originates from a Turkish priests Saint Nicholas (who is often represented as a black man until his arrival to America), he also said to be a Roman Saint, but the truth is that this is most likely about two separate men. Nonetheless, the name Santa Claus is an alteration of the Dutch, Sint Nikolas (Sinter Klaas) His feast day was originally Decemeber 6th. His red suit comes from many places, partially from the bishop mither and cope of the Dutch saint. The traditions of his reindeer and the North Pole as his home come from Scandinavia. One reindeer, Rudolph, was created by the Montgomery Ward department store as a store promotion. Elves were already in all Eastern cultures, but the grren most likely comes from the Celtic customs related to Leprechuans.
Other characteristics of Santa Claus like his big belly and white beard come from the popular look at the time (1800's), which was of the tycoon robber barons. These images were created in stories by Washington Irving, cartoons by Thomas Nast, and the poem, "A Visit from Saint Nicholas," by Clement Clark Moore. Santa Claus is synonymous with Saint Martin, Pere Noel, the Weihnachtsmann, St. Nicholas, England's Father Christmas, Germany's Kris Kringle, the Italian Befana, and the Russian woman known as Babouschka. The tradition of Santa Claus coming down the chimney and the hanging of stockings comes from Holland who originally got it from the Orient. Santa Claus himself is partially rendered from the Chinese kitchen gods (hearth gods), or ma-chungs; they were symbolized with paper images which were burnt as an offering to send up the chimney to heaven, to the hearth god, Tsao Chun.
Christmas was introduced to New York through Dutch settlers. The Puritans tried to get rid of Chirstmas, until the focus was placed on giving gifts to children instead of adults. This was a clever plan by the people to keep Christmas. During all of the festivals which were before Chirstmas, especially the Oriental ones, gifts were exchanged and visits were made. The visits were the beginnings of caroling, which comes from the word carole, a round dance. As one can see Christmas is truely a festival worshiping a lie.
