Comments on: Winter Solstice

Winter Solstice

Tryptophan-5ht — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 14:06:25 -0800

Are you miffed that Christmas just isn't about Jesus anymore? Annoyed that is all seems to be about commercialism and spending money? You Christians can now empathize with the ancient pagans who were miffed that Christmas just wasn't about Mithras anymore. But don't feel bad about jacking Christmas from them, Mithras jacked it from Apollo, who borrowed it from the Etruscan god Sol.

By: Postroad

Postroad — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 14:09:13 -0800

All holiday--political and religious and marking whatever should all be about drinking beer, eating hot dogs, and buying shit from near-by malls....that will bring us all together as one great people. The other oddities merely separate us.

By: jon_kill

jon_kill — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 14:12:53 -0800

I found a recipe for hot rum toddy last night. If I need to pray to Mithras for it to turn out right, so be it.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 14:24:20 -0800

There's some excellent material on the more recent history of Xmas at this Pepys Diary thread.

By: Mayor Curley

Mayor Curley — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 14:34:19 -0800

My birthday is December 24th, so I'm working on pulling the rug out from under that Jesus guy. "Curlmas" would be so much better.

By: konolia

konolia — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 14:55:51 -0800

In my opinion "Christmas" is simply a winter holiday. For one, Jesus was probably born in the spring; for another, it isn't just Christians who celebrate it. If I had my way November 30 would go straight to New Year's day. *full disclosure-I do have a Christmas tree and there will be presents, too much food and relatives-but I know darn well that it really isn't about Jesus anymore, if it ever was. If ya go ahead and make it secular then Jewish kids can have a visit from Santa too. * To me the real holiday is Resurrection Sunday (Easter to the rest of you) and even tho I do like bunnies and chocolate eggs, I do focus on the real meaning of the day.)

By: majick

majick — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 14:56:16 -0800

"Are you miffed that Christmas just isn't about Jesus anymore?" No. I am not.

By: lerrup

lerrup — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 15:00:55 -0800

As the Pepys Diary site says, every culture in the northern hemisphere celebrates the solstice in some way, hence stone circles aligning with sunrise on that day, etc. This was long before that upstart Apollo.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 15:10:13 -0800

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.

By: bradth27

bradth27 — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 15:12:29 -0800

To me the real holiday is Resurrection Sunday (Easter to the rest of you) and even tho I do like bunnies and chocolate eggs, I do focus on the real meaning of the day.) Ah yes, the real meaning of Easter.

By: Dillenger69

Dillenger69 — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 15:20:33 -0800

Isn't easter when Jebus comes out of his tomb and if he sees his shadow you get 6 more weeks of lent?

By: badstone

badstone — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 15:30:34 -0800

"Ancient Christians had an alternate explanation; they claimed that Satan had created counterfeit deities in advance of the coming of Christ in order to confuse humanity." - bradth27's link "Giant, flying, lizards -- you moron! That's one of God's EASIEST jokes!" - Bill Hicks

By: Reverend Mykeru

Reverend Mykeru — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 16:14:30 -0800

Excuse me, but as a fundamentalist Christian I must object to the levity in this post in the strongest possible way. Not only were the other gods mentioned mere idols while mine is the real God™, I also think there should be a spoiler warning when any information is disseminated about the history of Christianity and other religions. Lord knows it's only by huddling down a rabbit hole of complete ignorance and lack of perspective that I can maintain my faith. Thank you. Carry on.

By: lometogo

lometogo — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 16:44:37 -0800

As our next Texas governor, Kinky Freidman, once wrote in one of his more memorable songs "They don't make Jews like Jesus anymore". He ain't Kinky, he's my governor

By: konolia

konolia — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 17:41:11 -0800

All I know is that if I can stay out of Wal-mart, it will be a good holiday. Unfortunately I already know that isn't possible. Bah, humbug.

By: Eekacat

Eekacat — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 17:49:21 -0800

They don't make Jews like Jesus anymore.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 18:05:53 -0800

Thursday on Frontline: From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians.

By: signal

signal — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 18:21:22 -0800

Konolia, Easter is also much, much older than Christianity, probably older than Judaism, Where do you think the rabbit and egg motifs come from? Fertility rites, that's where.

By: the fire you left me

the fire you left me — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 18:27:34 -0800

Jesus is nice. Ralph Reed is not nice. Also, don't forget Sinterklaasje.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 19:33:56 -0800

Can we please not play "bait konolia" in this thread? We just did the god argument for the year.

By: ROU_Xenophobe

ROU_Xenophobe — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 19:56:02 -0800

Easter is also much, much older than Christianity Easter may be older than Christianity, but the feast of the Resurrection isn't. And a clever reader will note that konolia said: To me the real holiday is Resurrection Sunday (Easter to the rest of you) implying that she's well aware of the distinction. Likewise, I hate Christmas*, but am fond of the feast of the nativity. And advent too. *My loathing for Xmas has yet to reach its bounds.

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 22:57:53 -0800

I like the pretty Christmas lights. All the rest of it, especially winter, I can do without.

By: thatwhichfalls

thatwhichfalls — Tue, 09 Dec 2003 23:55:32 -0800

"As we all know, Christmas is that mystical time of year when the ghost of Jesus rises from the grave to feast on the flesh of the living! So we all sing Christmas Carols to lull him back to sleep. " Family Guy

By: Robot Johnny

Robot Johnny — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 07:48:49 -0800

Jebus?

By: troutfishing

troutfishing — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 10:43:56 -0800

Christmas is about Jesus and Christianity and nothing else whatsoever. The archeological evidence which misleads us into believing in the existence of Pre-Christian pagan civilizations (which are supposed to have worshipped some satanic version of Christmas involving cannibalism, orgies, or Lord knows what) was put there by God during the creation of the world in order to test our faith in the literal truth of the account in Genesis. We're not doing well in this test either, and I somehow don't think God is pleased at all. Don't be misled. The steep road down to Hell is paved with naive, overly credulous belief in "science", but scientific theories are so feeble they can't even predict the weather two days into the future and so all scientists really do is milk the government for fat contracts which vacuum up our hard-earned tax money so they can cook up elaborate myths - like "Global Warming", "Relativity", "Genetics" and so on - that are designed to advance an evil liberal humanist agenda which is really the advance guard of a vast socialist conspiracy. But don't take my word for it. Read your Bible and see for yourself.

By: goethean

goethean — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 10:44:09 -0800

Another Christmas link, from bradth27's link.