Merry Christmas. Have a list full of fun “Did You Know?” type of stuff to share. Let’s get started.
1. Did you know Christmas wasn’t celebrated by Christians until the year 354? That’s right! A Greek saint named Saint Nicholas was known in modern-day Turkey as a jolly old fellow who delivered gifts to children on this special day. St. Nick’s tradition continued, and later evolved into who we now call “Santa Clause”.
2. Jesus was not born in the winter time. If you believe in the Bible, and believe that Jesus walked the earth, then you should know what the genocidal/purely mythological and in no way should be taken literally good book says. “She gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. 8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.” Shepherds working the fields, keeping watch of their flocks? Doesn’t sound like it was winter to me…
3. This was originally a pagan holiday that was “adopted” by the Christians. As it states on World Bulletin by ErtanKarpazli, “December 25 marked what was known as the Winter Solstice. Sol is the ancient Latin word for ‘Sun’, and Stice literally means ‘standing still’. It was celebrated by sun-worshippers as the day signaling the middle of winter, the shortest day of the solar calendar.”
In addition to pagans, the Romans who were around before Christianity also celebrated December 25th as a special holiday. Karpazli says “ December 25 marked their most important holiday, Saturnalia. This was later renamed to ‘Sol Invicti’, which means ‘the unconquerable sun’, in honor of the Syrian sun-god Apollo. Ancient Egyptians also used to celebrate December 25 in worship of Ra, or Horus, the sun-god child of Isis and Orisis. In Mesopotamia, the mythical god Marduk, who was believed to fight against the cold and darkness, was also worshipped on this day. The Aztecs on this day would sacrifice children in worship of their sun-god, Huitzilopochli. North-western Europe hosted festivities for the Nordic god Balder, while the Ancient Greeks dedicated the day for Adonis and Dionysos. For the Ancient Persians, December 25 represented the birth of Mithra, the sun-god.” (Side note: Horus also basically shares ALL the same traits as Jesus Christ such as virgin birth, 12 disciples, performed miracles, was crucified, died, and rose from the dead 3 days later.)
4. Did you know that pagans worship nature, and create idols out of organisms found in nature? Hence, the Christmas tree.
5. Read this article about 5 direct quotes from the Bible specifically said by Mr. Christ, and how literally EVERYONE who celebrates Christmas goes against most of these ideals, such as not making a show of your giving in Matthew 6:2, how worrying about money can strangle your spirituality in Matthew 13:3 and 7, and how wealth/materials security can blind us to our real needs in Revelations 3:17.
So to wrap it up (pun intended), everyone enjoy your holiday, enjoy the time with your families, enjoy the presents, and enjoy the food. Don’t take any of the historical elements of Christmas too serious or you will upset yourself. Just take it for what it is. A capitalists dream, a consumers nightmare, and a child’s reason for getting good grades. Merry Christmas y’all.
100%!
ReplyDelete