So absolutely true. I’m very drawn to the Celts and Druids as well. Christianity is based on myths taken from many different cultures. I wish people would read and learn history. I was brought up in an evangelical church similar to those in the Assemblies of God and I left after doing research. Thank you for this.
This Evangelical cousin of mine responds to posts like this by sticking her fingers in her ears & humming or singing loudly, going to her " happy place ".
She has her own revisionist version of the truth in which critical thinking is avoided like Dracula with herpes, & progress is EVIL, which is the universe that most Evangelicals live in. & 'Murrica is still a - leading the world & Protestant Christianity is the dominant belief system. & Ozzie & Harriet are still living, also Lawrence Welk.
Most Christian holidays have their roots in pagan traditions. It cracks me up that holy (t)rollers think they have an in with their deity celebrating their myths based on such traditions.
Humans can convince themselves that any weird crap is true. Look at the Flat Earthers, the Young Earth Creationists, the moon missions were staged or the people who believe that reptile people have invaded every niche in society.
I remember a really interesting story how Stanley Kubrick was involved in the “fake” moon landing. I knew it had to be bullshit and sure enough it was published on April 1. Very well done.
I'm officially some kind of secular Buddhist / Daoist ( some people didn't get the memo that Buddha never claimed to be a god, etc. ) pantheist, whatever.
Christmas is just as unchristian as Halloween. Even Easter, as celebrated today, has pagan influences. Jesus wasn’t even born in December. Most experts agree, as the shepherds were still tending sheep in the fields, he was probably born in October.
Not to get astrological, but Jesus would have been born in the late winter as he was the leader of the Piscean (religious) age that just passed. The leader always has the sun sign of their age.
As the last supper was Passover, he would have died in April.
I know that I might be bursting a FEW bubbles BUT EVEN IN MY YOUTH, Christmas has pretty much NEVER been about the Jesus of the Bible, Christmas was about St. Nicholas, AKA Saint Nick, Sinter Klaas, Father Christmas, Pere Noel, NOT some Hebrew kid in a barn. Not EVEN with Protestant Southern Baptist parents & a standard - issue Baptist upbringing. It's nominally, almost *ACCIDENTALLY* been about baby Jesus. CONSTANTINE would go off the wall getting things sorted.
Thank you for this accessible and thorough history of winter holiday traditions. In a music class I taught this week, it was fun to see their surprise learning that “trick or treating” as well as Christmas caroling both come from “souling”, which itself traces back to the celtic tradition of “mumming” .
This is gonna hit my FB friends hard when I share it! They got angry over the Paris 2024 Olympics “Last Supper” controversy. I keep telling them it's all human-created fictional narrative with a purpose, but they continue to ignore me and hold fast to their indoctrinated POV of fiction as “unassailable truth”. Fundamentally, all of our current issues are the result of theist religions which are authoritarian in nature and have intentionally robbed people of critical thinking skills.
The Romans had a celebration called Saturnalia that involved feasting and the exchanging of gifts as well as decorating the home with evergreen trees. It's clearly the basis of our Christmas. The use of evergreen trees, wreaths and garland to symbolize eternal life was also a common tradition among the ancient Egyptians, Chinese and Hebrews. As people weren't about to give up their ancient traditions and celebrations the church had little choice but to appropriate it. Many peoples that lived in colder climates had some form of winter celebration around the winter solstice (usually the 22ⁿᵈ December) when the days start to become longer again.
As for the modern ‘Christmas Tree’, it was introduced to Britain by Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's husband. It was a central European tradition, particularly in Germany, Latvia and Estonia, dating back to the 16ᵗʰ century. I assume it's intended to symbolize fertility, survival of a harsh winter. It is possibly related to the ‘paradise tree’ of medieval mystery plays performed on the 24ᵗʰ December, the name day of Adam and Eve. The central prop of these plays was a fir tree decorated with red apples and round white wafers representing the Eucharist and redemption. The apples symbolised the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and this the original sin that Jesus Christ is said to have relieved us from. So there is a somewhat tenuous link between Jesus and ‘Christmas trees’ after all. When the trees moved into homes the apples were replaced with red baubles.
I was born in West Berlin and remember the Christmas celebrations well. Santa Claus visited on the 6ᵗʰ December, Saint Nicholas day with small gifts for the ‘good’ children and a bundle of birch twigs to punish the ‘bad’ children—in Holland children receive all their Christmas presents on the 6ᵗʰ. In Germany it's Christmas Eve that's celebrated rather than Christmas day and it's pure torture for children. The bulk of the day is spent setting up and decorating the tree. Then, around 18:00 there's Christmas dinner, traditionally goose and red cabbage (obviously there are potatoes of one sort or another and there are other vegetables too, but red cabbage is key). After that there is more waiting and finally, after an interminably long and insufferably boring day, at around 20:00 a bell is rung and we're finally allowed to enter the room and unwrap our presents. No sooner have we done that by 20:30 and it's time for bed! That day seemed to last weeks, time passed soooo slowly. If only all our problems were so trivial! Although, at the time it really did feel unnecessarily cruel 😉.
So absolutely true. I’m very drawn to the Celts and Druids as well. Christianity is based on myths taken from many different cultures. I wish people would read and learn history. I was brought up in an evangelical church similar to those in the Assemblies of God and I left after doing research. Thank you for this.
All religions and myths, including those embraced by Druids, are bullshit. There is no need to replace one form of bullshit with another.
On the other hand, shared celebrations, unsupported by any myth, that bring people together, are good things.
This Evangelical cousin of mine responds to posts like this by sticking her fingers in her ears & humming or singing loudly, going to her " happy place ".
La La La La I can't hear you La La La :D
She has her own revisionist version of the truth in which critical thinking is avoided like Dracula with herpes, & progress is EVIL, which is the universe that most Evangelicals live in. & 'Murrica is still a - leading the world & Protestant Christianity is the dominant belief system. & Ozzie & Harriet are still living, also Lawrence Welk.
Most Christian holidays have their roots in pagan traditions. It cracks me up that holy (t)rollers think they have an in with their deity celebrating their myths based on such traditions.
Humans can convince themselves that any weird crap is true. Look at the Flat Earthers, the Young Earth Creationists, the moon missions were staged or the people who believe that reptile people have invaded every niche in society.
Let’s not forget Q-Anon 🙄
I remember a really interesting story how Stanley Kubrick was involved in the “fake” moon landing. I knew it had to be bullshit and sure enough it was published on April 1. Very well done.
The people who believe that Trump can walk on water or FLY. Uh, boy... I'd like to see this sludge - monster do something other than SLITHER. OR NOT.
Stanley Kubrick was such a PERFECTIONIST that Jack Nicholson & Shelley Duvall delivered good performances to keep him from erupting !
My favourite ‘April Fool’ is still the David Attenborough spaghetti trees: https://youtu.be/8scpGwbvxvI
Lol. Indeed! I’d forgotten about this one. 😂
Try explaining THAT to most Evangelicals. Good luck.
Christmas is 1 of SEVERAL holidays repurposed by the Emperor Constantine that were " pagan " festivals to unify the " Holy Roman Empire ".
Constantine claimed Christianity, but it was supposedly nominal, a largely POLITICAL move. He still revered the sun god, again supposedly.
As a practicing Druid I approve of this message
I'm officially some kind of secular Buddhist / Daoist ( some people didn't get the memo that Buddha never claimed to be a god, etc. ) pantheist, whatever.
We are a TransHuman. Are we God? 👀 we find gods in Human Siblings. 💜🐝🐝🌙👹📚🔥
Loved this connection to Christmas and Soltice traditions! Great Hustory lesson!
I will have to wait until first of mo to pay
I'll just wait until substack gets their shit together and stops putting AI in charge.
We are Devo :D
Christmas is just as unchristian as Halloween. Even Easter, as celebrated today, has pagan influences. Jesus wasn’t even born in December. Most experts agree, as the shepherds were still tending sheep in the fields, he was probably born in October.
Not to get astrological, but Jesus would have been born in the late winter as he was the leader of the Piscean (religious) age that just passed. The leader always has the sun sign of their age.
As the last supper was Passover, he would have died in April.
I disagree. Sources I have seen say early winter/late fall
I know that I might be bursting a FEW bubbles BUT EVEN IN MY YOUTH, Christmas has pretty much NEVER been about the Jesus of the Bible, Christmas was about St. Nicholas, AKA Saint Nick, Sinter Klaas, Father Christmas, Pere Noel, NOT some Hebrew kid in a barn. Not EVEN with Protestant Southern Baptist parents & a standard - issue Baptist upbringing. It's nominally, almost *ACCIDENTALLY* been about baby Jesus. CONSTANTINE would go off the wall getting things sorted.
Thank you for this accessible and thorough history of winter holiday traditions. In a music class I taught this week, it was fun to see their surprise learning that “trick or treating” as well as Christmas caroling both come from “souling”, which itself traces back to the celtic tradition of “mumming” .
This is gonna hit my FB friends hard when I share it! They got angry over the Paris 2024 Olympics “Last Supper” controversy. I keep telling them it's all human-created fictional narrative with a purpose, but they continue to ignore me and hold fast to their indoctrinated POV of fiction as “unassailable truth”. Fundamentally, all of our current issues are the result of theist religions which are authoritarian in nature and have intentionally robbed people of critical thinking skills.
The Romans had a celebration called Saturnalia that involved feasting and the exchanging of gifts as well as decorating the home with evergreen trees. It's clearly the basis of our Christmas. The use of evergreen trees, wreaths and garland to symbolize eternal life was also a common tradition among the ancient Egyptians, Chinese and Hebrews. As people weren't about to give up their ancient traditions and celebrations the church had little choice but to appropriate it. Many peoples that lived in colder climates had some form of winter celebration around the winter solstice (usually the 22ⁿᵈ December) when the days start to become longer again.
As for the modern ‘Christmas Tree’, it was introduced to Britain by Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's husband. It was a central European tradition, particularly in Germany, Latvia and Estonia, dating back to the 16ᵗʰ century. I assume it's intended to symbolize fertility, survival of a harsh winter. It is possibly related to the ‘paradise tree’ of medieval mystery plays performed on the 24ᵗʰ December, the name day of Adam and Eve. The central prop of these plays was a fir tree decorated with red apples and round white wafers representing the Eucharist and redemption. The apples symbolised the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and this the original sin that Jesus Christ is said to have relieved us from. So there is a somewhat tenuous link between Jesus and ‘Christmas trees’ after all. When the trees moved into homes the apples were replaced with red baubles.
I was born in West Berlin and remember the Christmas celebrations well. Santa Claus visited on the 6ᵗʰ December, Saint Nicholas day with small gifts for the ‘good’ children and a bundle of birch twigs to punish the ‘bad’ children—in Holland children receive all their Christmas presents on the 6ᵗʰ. In Germany it's Christmas Eve that's celebrated rather than Christmas day and it's pure torture for children. The bulk of the day is spent setting up and decorating the tree. Then, around 18:00 there's Christmas dinner, traditionally goose and red cabbage (obviously there are potatoes of one sort or another and there are other vegetables too, but red cabbage is key). After that there is more waiting and finally, after an interminably long and insufferably boring day, at around 20:00 a bell is rung and we're finally allowed to enter the room and unwrap our presents. No sooner have we done that by 20:30 and it's time for bed! That day seemed to last weeks, time passed soooo slowly. If only all our problems were so trivial! Although, at the time it really did feel unnecessarily cruel 😉.
Mumming: dressing up as ghosts or devils and performing antics for food and drink