Silly Christians

I am always intrigued by the traditions and where they come from--Christmas for example is the day we (as Christians) celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ...way back when he was born in mid July. I am still amazed how many Merry Christmas wishing Christians don't know this. I would figure they would learn the truth about something as important as His birth, the birth of the Savior, of God, but no. Jesus born in July? Poppycock! Surely you jest!

But I jest not. I don't know how much detail I have to go into because it seems common knowledge for some and unheard of by others. I think it has to do with how hardcore a Christian you are. Casual church goers don't seem to know and don't seem to care, but the Evangelical Christians usually respond: "I know." when I say Jesus wasn't born on December 25th.

After that there is a bridge of sorts, let's call it the Bridge of Truth. I am standing on Truth inviting others to come across the bridge and share in Truth. But they don't want to come! So I scoop up truth and mold it like a snowball and throw it at them:

"If we celebrate Christmas to remember the birth of Christ (back in July), where do the evergreen trees come in? How does that tie into the birth of Jesus? Because evergreen trees such as Pine and Fir do not grow in Israel/Palestine (Bethlehem) at all."

I know the snowball was too much when they say those magic words: "Hmm. I don't know. I will look into it and get back to you." It's like they have the same class where the Prof says, "Now this is what you say if struck with the snowball of truth..."

So where are we now? Christmas is not the day to celebrate Christ's Birth (I mean, for many it is, but it is not the reason for the tree, the presents, the gift giving, eggnog and all that) It is from the Yule Time Celebration by the Nordic Vikings and the Winter Solstice by the Germanic Pagans (which is very similar to the Nords). They were afraid of Oden who they believed flew over their houses at night to see who would prosper or perish, as a result they stayed inside--and if they had to go outside they made sure to do good deeds as those would be seen by Oden if he passed by.

The Yule time was a celebration of the return of the sun to rid the land of winter. They would burn huge logs called Yule Logs in a giant bonfire. They would feast until the logs burned, which was usually about 14 days. This was the time that the beer and wine made early in the year had fermented enough to be imbibed and they enjoyed a feast from fresh meat (animals slaughtered so they wouldn't have to be fed during winter). Yule starts on the 21st...kinda around the time of Hanukkah. (not really, Hanukkah supposed to be celebrated late November, but that conflicts with turkey day, so they got bumped up.)

Speaking of Bumping up, The celebration of the birth of Christ (in July) is celebrated in December because the original celebration (Solstice/Yule) took place at that time. Any good Pope knows you can't let the Pagans have their holiday. But it is difficult to undo a tradition, especially a tradition that predates Christianity. As is common practice the Catholics decided to celebrate Christ's B-day at the same time as the Pagan celebrations because the pagans grossly outnumbered the Catholics. Around the 4th century Christians outnumbered Pagans and they brought the celebration down to one day: the 25th of December.

From there it was outlawed by the puritans in England(1400's), and changed many times until the standard gift-giving, season-to-be-sharing holiday it is now (late 1800's). Then Coca-Cola gave us the modern rendition of Santa Clause.

I would just like to say Happy Yule Time Solstice.

I would also like to say it doesn't matter who started the tradition, as traditions--traditionally--evolve and change as the years go by.

And to you grumpy Christians: don't be so indignant about "loosing the meaning" of your holiday, as it wasn't yours to begin with.

Enjoy your X-mas, be safe, enjoy your family and togetherness.

(there is a cool article about Christmas on the History Channel Website also)