The ancient European pagans celebrated the midwinter festival and a number of other festivals long before Christianity ever existed!
Babylonians celebrated the feast of the Son of Isis with gluttonous eating and drinking, and gift giving and the goddess of fertility, love, and war.
The Romans held a festival on 25 December called â Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, celebrating their own god Sol Invictas - PAGAN.
The Persian god Mithras, the Syrian sun god Elah Gabal, the German Sol, the Greek Helios and the Mesopotamian Shamash. But also Saturnalia, honouring Saturn, the God of Agriculture. The law courts and schools were closed. No public business could be transacted an this is where the holidays originated - ALL PAGAN!!!
Wax tapers were given by the more humble to their superiors. The origin of the Christmas candle - PAGAN!!
In Rome groups of costumed went from house to house entertaining their people. And this was where the carolling Christmas tradition originated PAGAN!!
Statues of the Mother and lover or Mother and son were paraded through the streets not only in Italy but also in Africa, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany and Bulgaria. Thus, the symbolism of the Heavenly Virgin and the infant child paraded on a yearly basis are not of Christian origin. They stem from the Mother-goddess religion, which is very ancient ENTIRELY PAGAN!!.
Scandinavian countries celebrated Yule honouring Thor - PAGAN.
In Germania (not Germany) they celebrated midwinter night followed by 12 wild nights of eating and drinking. The 12 days of Christmas PAGAN!!
The church under Pope Julius I declared that Christâ s birth would be celebrated on December 25 in 350 AD in order to try to hijack the PAGAN festivals but it was largely ignored. Christians did not really celebrate Christmas until 378 but it was then dropped in 381 and not resurrected until 400.
The Christmas tree stems from pagan tradition and ritual surrounding the Winter Solstice, which included the use of holly boughs ivy and other foliage as an adaptation of pagan tree worship. Holly and ivy represented male and female. Mistletoe was considered a sacred plant, and the custom of kissing under the mistletoe began as a fertility ritual - all PAGAN!!
Santa Claus came from the Dutch â Sinterklaasâ and was a tall figure riding a white horse through the air and usually accompanied by Black Peter, an elf who punished disobedient children. Also the origin of the reindeer, sleigh and the elves ALL PAGAN!!
America actually banned Christmas several times and is the originator of the expression â Happy Holidaysâ which came about because of the pagan origins of Christmas to include all religions and traditions!!
The Venerable Bede, an early Christian writer pointed out that the Christian church absorbed Pagan practices when it found the population unwilling to give up the festivals. Thus a lot of what Christians now see as Christians practices are in fact pagan!!!
There's no true meaning. Everyone claims differently.
to answer your question : the Gift of Giving .
But to us atheist, it is just a few days off work, a drinking and eating orgy, a chance to catch up with family and friends, and in the great consumerism tradition, spend too much money on presents
The first Noel the angel did say
Was to certain poor shepherd in field as they lay
In field where they lay in keeping their sheep
In a col winter night that was so deep.
The Catholic authorities admit that Christ was not born on Dec 25. Research on Catholic Encyclopedia and find out
Jesus was born in April or May. Ask any historian.
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 Christâ 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 â wheel,â 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 Christâ 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: â Better that they should look to the true tree of life, Christ.â
being with family and friends
traditions..................
Christmas time for many is the best time of the year.
A time to bond with family for gift giving and cheer.
But if you did some research of how it originated,
you'd ask yourself, "Is it proper for true Christians to celebrate it?"
You can ask any Christian, anyone on the Earth
What December 25th is and they'll say, "Christ Jesus' birth".
Was Jesus really born20in December?
According to the Bible, he wasn't.
Does Christmas come from true Christians?
No, it surely doesn't.
The Jewish month of Chislev or our November/December,
was not pleasant in Bethlehem . It had cold and rainy weather.
The Bible writer Ezra confirmed that when cold Chislev came,
people were "shivering on account of the showers of rain". (Ezra 10:9, 13)
Jeremiah also wrote that when this month arrived,
people said it was so cold you couldn't "stand outside"! (Jeremiah 36:22)
So if he was born in December and conditions were so poor,
why would shepherds on this night be "living out of doors"? (Luke 2:8-12)
Well where does Christmas come from? I surely have to tell 'ya.
It's from an ancient festival whose name was Saturnalia.
During this pagan party, people exchanged gifts.
Its date was very familiar. December 25th.
This date was someone's birthday: Tammuz was his name.
It was a festival that would give all of us great shame.
They used the tall green Christmas tree and wreaths were all around
to represent phallus as researchers have found.
The mistletoe had powers they put it into use
it was to promote fertility, the first step to reproduce!
The ornaments you've come to know they made their use of these
Except for round glass globes they used human heads on trees!
If this were Christ's true birthday
and he was really for it
wouldn't he tell us to do it?
Wouldn't he support it?
So think about this info
and read the Bible through
then take a moment and ask yourself:
"What would Jesus do?"
could you narrow it down some
we each have our own meanings for it...all all of them are true to us
The pope deemed the 25th as the observational day of the mythical Jesus.
Mainly to spite the Persian myth their god Mithra was born on the 25th
so the pope named it to their god to spite the Persians.
this is why Catholics celebrate christmass....all modern religions spawned from the Catholic church so they kept the day as well
Neither Jesus, any of his disciples, or any 1st century Christian celebrated Jesus' birth at any time.
The "true meaning" of Christmas was to get money and power for the clergy of the Church beginning in the 5th century. After a new country was conquered by the armies, the church (which had nothing to do with the teachings of Christ--only the names were kept) went in wanting their cut of land, money and power by telling those people, "Hey guys! Our religion is just like yours. Your -------(insert name here) is just like our -------(insert another name here). Join us." "Or die by this guys sword."
And we wonder where today's Islamic radicals get that bit about join Islam or die?
So we see Christmas has nothing to do with Christ or his teachings. It has a lot to do with greed and pagan teachings which God condemned.
so the pope named it to their god to spite the Persians"
you forgot
Horus, the Egyptian Sun God and son of Isis
Attis, Krishna,
Dionysus,
Mithra
Jesus Christ;
All these were from a virgin birth on December 25th, with 12 disciples, burial for 3 days and resurrection and performing of miracles
Why Dec 25?
because it is fore told in the sky by the movment of the Sun.
The Sun dies every year, from the 21st (solstice, lowest point in the sky) to the 25th, when the Sun reverses and begins to return to its former, higher path, after being stationary for 3 days At the solstice, the Sun is said to be at its weakest power.
on Chistmas EveThe brightest star, Sirius, will aline with the belt of Orion ( also called the three kings) and point to where the sun will rise on Christmas Morn. hence the Three kings follow the brightest star to find the birth of the Sun.
You don't have to belive me just look at the skys these things will happen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQLD59fK_...
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