My sister, the Rev. Jarvis, forwarded a column from an Anchorage paper written, I believe, by Elise Sereni Patkotak (I can find no link) about the nonissue of stores wishing us happy holidays:
As the debate over Christmas in stores continues, I have what I think is a great suggestion. Why don’t we put Christmas back in church and ask the stores to butt out altogether?…I have no problem with a midwinter festival. But let’s call it that. Let’s have all the traditions and ceremonies we want surrounding it. Buy expensive gifts for your loved ones or get drunk at parties or overeat at sumptuous meals – whatever works for you. But let’s not pretend this has anything to do with the birth of a child two thousand years ago who came with a message that is the antithesis of the celebration we now claim to hold in his name….
So I don’t want Christmas back in the stores. I think saying happy holidays there is just fine.
Great idea Jeff! Rememeber the REAL reason for the season is the Winter Solstice celebration whether by such people as the Druids in northern Europe or the Romans with their Sol Invictus festivals. After Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of Rome in the 4th century, the original celebrations got morphed over the centuries into the Christmas celebration we have today. Few historians actually think Jesus, IF he really existed, was born on December 25, anyway. As an Atheist, and especially at this time of year, I can’t resist this moment to take a swipe at the historicity of Jesus:
http://www.eastbayatheists.org/jesusneverwas.html
Merry Christmyth to all!
That makes good solid sense, Jeff, especially when political partisans use a tradition that started out as holy, (Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men), to make a new grounds for combat. Isn’t it funny that the ‘celebration of Christmas’ would pre-empt church services? Giving of gifts is nice, but not a grounds for political skirmishing.
Another blame-Irving-Berlin-firster:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/20/AR2005122001011.html
Unfortunately, Christmas will be in the stores as long as there’s a marketing person who thinks that the word has draw and people will pull out their credit cards to cover all the stuff we can’t afford to buy. For a funny look at it all, and an unabashed use of that suddenly testy noun “Christmas” — “It’s Always Christmas Time (for Visa)!” by the Austin Lounge Lizards.
would this be those same mega-chirches who are reportedly cancelling Christmas services on Christmas day…hypocrisy knows no bounds….
People do find the smallest things to complain about. Whatever happened to “I once cried because I had no shoes…”?
Christmas is Christmas, the accepted birthdate of Jesus. The older some of us get, the more willing we are to overlook the commercial side of Christmas, and be glad we are still here to celebrate it…
According to the History Channel Web site, the holiday we know as Christmas began because the early church chose to impart its beliefs into a Roman society dominated by pagan holidays and raucous behavior.
The celebration of Christmas, therefore, began in truly religious terms, beginning in the fourth century when church officials decided to finally honor the birth of Jesus (the church had long since celebrated Easter).
The Romans at the time celebrated the holidays of Saturnalia, which honored Saturn, and Juvenalia, which honored Roman children. Still another holiday honored the god of the unconquerable sun, Mirtha, also known as the rock god. It was a sacred event celebrated exclusively by the upper classes of Rome.
It’s little surprise, then, that the early church claimed the pagans’ holiday as its own, celebrating the birth of the Son of God instead of the sun god.
The celebration honoring Mirtha was held on one day, December 25.
So what we know as Christmas today began as the Feast of the Nativity about 1,500 years ago.
I wonder if Billy Henry’s birth will be celebrated 1,500 years from now.
Word to that. Brilliant.
Christmas is the adaptation of the pagan winter solstice celebrated by ancient Indo-Europeans. It was known as Yul that became Noël in French, for example. The first mention of the birth of JC on December 25 was in 354. In 525, Dyonisius the short officialized the date and called this year : year 1. In fact, on the ancient calendar this year is 754, the year of the creation of Rome.
Then the solstice was celebrated in different ways, like the one explained by WJ Jones. Also, in Rome, “gifts” were part of the celebration at the end of December, beginning of January known as the period of Estrela (stars). In the bible this moment is know as the story of the 3 kings.
First, Christians tried to fight against the perpetuation of pagan celebrations. Then, they just took them over. There are many examples of that.
MITHRAS, WJ, MITHRAS.
And a merry mithras to you all.
[...] BUZZMACHINE: “Happy damned holidays” …. (buzzmachine) [...]
Elise Sereni Patkotak is at http://www.elisepatkotak.com/ and that column is here: http://www.elisepatkotak.com/index.php?/site/comments/christians_win_war_on_christmas/