How the Winter Solstice was stolen by Christmas

[Joanne98]

Christmas in America is really about the Winter Solstice. Americans are quite out of touch with Nature, the reason for seasonal changes, and the importance of the Solstices. What is the common denominator that has all these religions vying for "their most important day" on or near Dec. 25th? It is the Winter Solstice. Humans have celebrated the Winter Solstice for millennia. It could be argued that the Winter Solstice is the single most influential and important event of the year. We're hardwired to appreciate the end of short days and that day's lengthening to more sun and longer days. Many holidays conform to this time and celebrate on or near Dec 25th. The Winter Solstice, Dec 21, and the Summer Solstice, June 21, are the most dramatic of the Natural Holidays. Many, many candles are lit on this shortest of nights, in many religions, in many countries, and in many customs outside of Christianity.

The date of Christmas, December 25, was borrowed from another religion. At the time Christmas was created in AD 336, Mithraism was very popular. The early Christian church had gotten tired of their futile efforts to stop people celebrating the solstice and the birthday of Mithras, the Persian sun god. Mithras' birthday was December 25. So Pope Julius I decided to make Jesus' official birthday coincide with Mithras' birthday. All honest Biblical scholars (Christian and non Christian) admit and agree that Jesus was not born on Dec. 25. Dec 25 became the consensus date, and a logical way to assimilate the pagan, and Earth based Winter Solstice gatherings into the Christian religion. The writings in the Bible contradict the creation of Christmas on Dec 25 because of weather. The shepherds and their flocks were not "in the fields;" they were in shelter; no one travelled in mid winter (it was too hard), and a manger at night on Dec 25 in Bethlehem was very cold. The Holy Family's whole journey, if at all, started at another time of the year.

Since 336 AD in Christian Rome, we have had Dec 25 designated as Jesus' birthday. Before that date, there were many myths very similar to the Biblical account of Jesus' life that circulated in the Middle East for hundreds of years before Jesus. In these myths, the hero was always born near the Winter Solstice. Roman 'Attis' was a son of the virgin Nana, born on Dec 25 and died on Mar 25 (Spring Equinox) after being crucified on a tree. Greek 'Dionysus', Persian (and Roman) 'Mithra' and Egyptian 'Osiris' have been worshipped since Neolithic times and were all born on Dec 25. Other pagan gods whose "birthday' was on Dec. 25 are Horus, Attis, Dionysus, Tammuz, Hercules, Perseus, Helios. Bacchus, Apollo, Jupiter and Sol Invictus.

According to most sensible researchers, the date of Jesus' birth is April 17, 6BCE. The Urantia Book says Aug 21, 7 BCE.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/How-the-Winter-Solstice-wa-by-Douglas-Morrison-101222-25.html

[mzteris]

1. according to SENSIBLE researchers

there was in reality no such thing as "Jesus' birth" . . .

Funny how people want to unrec the truth. Doesn't change it though. "Christmas" is a continuation of pagan traditions. . .

[Dave From Canada]

2. Sweet. I play a drinking game on how many winter soltice topics are created in this forum

during Christmas. LOL!

[rug]

17. I was drunk two days after Thanksgiving.

[Bragi]

3. Agreed

I just read a quite readable book for anyone interested in how Christianity was manufactured by the Roman Empire during its decline,as follows:

"The Jesus Mysteries: Was The Original Jesus A Pagan God?"

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jesus-Mysteries-Was-Original-Pagan/dp/0722536771/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1293295520&sr=1-1

The premise is that the godperson Jesus, for which no historical proof exists, is actually a composite of several pagan gods. Eventually, the myth of Jesus is embraced by the Roman empire and made into the official state religion, while all other religions were banned.

The book is very well documented with a myriad of interesting footnotes.

- B

[BrklynLiberal]

4. Are there any current religious holidays that are not based on or stolen from, the ancient pagan

celebrations? I think not.

Easter is another "Christian" holiday that has its roots in ancient pagan rites.**
http://www.religioustolerance.org/easter1.htm

I also recall reading that according to research of the stars, and "the shepherds in the fields", the migration for census, etc. at the time, that Jesus was actually born some time in April.

BTW: Thanks for posting this.

Best line in the article: "In America, the religion of Santa Claus is stronger. "

**

Origins of the name "Easter":

The name "Easter" originated with the names of an ancient Goddess and God. The Venerable Bede, (672-735 CE.) a Christian scholar, first asserted in his book De Ratione Temporum that Easter was named after Eostre (a.k.a. Eastre). She was the Great Mother Goddess of the Saxon people in Northern Europe. Similarly, the "Teutonic dawn goddess of fertility known variously as Ostare, Ostara, Ostern, Eostra, Eostre, Eostur, Eastra, Eastur, Austron and Ausos." 1 Her name was derived from the ancient word for spring: "eastre." Similar Goddesses were known by other names in ancient cultures around the Mediterranean, and were celebrated in the springtime. Some were:
Aphrodite from ancient Cyprus
Ashtoreth from ancient Israel
Astarte from ancient Greece
Demeter from Mycenae
Hathor from ancient Egypt
Ishtar from Assyria
Kali, from India
Ostara a Norse Goddess of fertility.

[Hestia]

5. I find it interesting how humankind has held onto the Pagan themes

of this time of year. Lights, trees, feasting, wreaths & trees... these are hardwired into our DNA and no matter how hard someone tries to purge them, we do the same things year after year, millennial after millennial. It connects us to the past and our ancestors.

[BrklynLiberal]

6. The irony is howmany people who follow these "religious" traditions have no idea that their

origins lie in the ancient pagan rites.

They would scream "blasphemy" at you for saying such things.

[TalkingDog]

7. Mithras

http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcpa1.htm
All that needs to be said.

[rug]

18. Not quite.

http://www.edwardjayne.com/christology/mithra.html

[struggle4progress]

31. The Roman Cult of Mithras by Manfred Clauss

Book Review by Ursus

... All that remains to reconstruct the cult are some archaeological artifacts scattered across three continents, and a few oblique references in literature from mostly hostile sources. This is precisely the situation that confronts students of Mithraism ... Manfred Clauss is a Professor of Ancient History at the Free University of Berlin ... The final chapter looks at the relationship between Mithras and Christianity. Claus doubts that either religion influenced the other; both were simply heir to a common body of Greco-Oriental religions. Clauss' work is an enjoyable and erudite read on an interesting topic. Ultimately we may never know some of the finer points about the cult ...

http://www.unrv.com/book-review/roman-cult-of-mithras.php

[BlueJazz]

8. Reminds me of the whole "Music Thing"

Modern day songs and such were all borrowed from what went on before.
No matter what is playing on the radio, It's all been done before...it's just not quite the same.
...And there's nothing truly wrong with that...I mean, we don't go to War over the fact that Blues was borrowed from the Negro Spirituals or Gospel stuff. We just love/like it all the same.

[randr]

9. The story of the birth of Jesus has many historical references

and one would think by now the Christian community would have come clean with a more accurate birth date.
That Christmas time was usurped from Paean ceremonies is a long established fact.
My personal sharing of tradition with Christians at this time of year is my sense of a universal understanding that the light has returned, the days are getting longer, and we are heading back into the days of production.
I have often heard the Christ referred to as the "light of the world", that works for me.
Christmas traditions are easy to trace, for instance:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/23/reindeer-magic-mushrooms_n_801006.html

[Bragi]

16. Actually, not so

My understanding is that there is no actual evidence that the Jesus Christ described in the New Testament ever existed as an historical person.

[former9thward]

24. Your understanding is not very good.

Very few historians of the period doubt the existence of Jesus. Roman historians and writers of the time specifically mention Jesus in their writings such as Pliny the Younger, Tacitus and Suctonius.

[COLGATE4]

25. Josephus mentions him, but only in passing, and certainly not

with the degree of attention that a Messiah would have gotten. Josephus can spend three or four pages talking about the locaL tavern keeper, but Jesus only merits a couple of lines in all his writings.

[former9thward]

27. Jesus was considered a revolutionary by the Roman authorities.

Ultimately that is why he was executed. It was not in the interest of Roman writers to glorify or promote him. Think what you want but you are flying in the face of modern historians of the period. Whenever this topic is brought up atheists who are generally fact driven in most other aspects of their life seem to feel very threatened that there was a real historical figure associated with the rise of Christianity. They are forced to deny facts and use convoluted logic in doing so. Weird.

[Bragi]

33. I'm not threatened if there was or was not a Jesus

My reading indicates that there are no -- none, zero -- contemporary references to the Jesus person in Roman records of the period during which he was supposed to be alive. This includes no record whatsoever of any trial and/or execution of this person, despite the fact that Romans were quite good record keepers on such matters.

I say that as someone with no personal stake in this debate. Even if there was a real historical fgure called Jesus, most of what was written about him (including the small number of non-banned gospels) was written long after he was allegedly dead by people with a sake in claiming him to be a) real and b)important. It's noteworthy that claims about Jesus being god didn't even emerge until long after his death, and weren't accepte by the oficial church until the 4th century.

My personal view is that Jesus was likely not an historical figure, but is more likely a composite of several pagan gods, a fusion that was created because it suted the politics of the time to do so. My sinle favorite book on this is "The Jesus Mysteries: Was the original jesus a Pagan God?" by Freke and Gandy, which I would highly recommend to anyone with an open mnd who is interested in the topic

[struggle4progress]

34. Where can we find these wonderful complete Roman records of which you speak?

The materials on which the Romans wrote were fragile (wax tablets), expensive and fragile (papyrus and vellum), or very very expensive (stone monuments). The fragile materials survived rarely and only in fragments (unbder unusual conditions), unless recopied again and again

... The body of Spartacus was not found. A large number of his men fled from the battle-field to the mountains and Crassus followed them thither. They divided themselves in four parts, and continued to fight until they all perished except 6000, who were captured and crucified along the whole road from Capua to Rome ...<[br />Appian
Civil Wars I, 120

Do you imagine we have somewhere in some archive the names of the 6000 executed? It is unlikely that most names were ever recorded by the state, since the whole point of the crucifixions was to demonstrate that the condemned were wretched nobodies in comparison to the glory and power of the Roman state. Spartacus himself is remembered because he commanded a note-worthy slave revolt for over a year in the heart of the empire:

So little remains about Pontius Pilate, for example, that his actual title was unknown until 1961

[shimmergal]

38. Of course there's no "actual evidence"

"Actual" i.e. documentary, evidence from that time, exists only for those people from the ancient world who were of a certain social status and/or lived nearer the centers of Empire.

This doesn't prove his non-existence, so what are you trying to say?

As for "as described in the New Testament," charisma is in the eyes of the beholder.

[eridani]

22. If shepherds were watching their flocks by night--

--it was pretty hot in the daytime.

[former9thward]

28. Why would you say that?

Do you know what the weather was like in that area on a particular day or even season 2000 years ago? I am unaware such reports exist. I have been in that are twice in the winter months and it was not cold at all at night.

[eridani]

32. Weather and climate are two different things

Dry Mediterranean climates have chilly nights in the winter, and are hot in the summer. There would be no reason to pasture sheep at night other than it being too hot during the day.

[former9thward]

35. You are throwing out generalities.

You don't know the climate in that area 2000 years ago. It is not disputed, for example, that the climate of Europe was much warmer 1000 years ago than it is now. No matter what the climate is the weather can be different than what is 'normal'. As I said I have been there twice during winter breaks and you could be outside quite comfortably at night with a t-shirt on.

[eridani]

36. But it is not stifling hot during the DAY in the winter

It is in summer

[struggle4progress]

10. The fact that the author cites the Urantia Book as an authority rather well discredits the op-ed

... William S. Sadler and his wife Lena Sadler ... were approached by a neighbor who was concerned because she would occasionally find her husband in a deep sleep and breathing abnormally. She reported that she was unable to wake him at these times. The Sadlers came to observe the episodes, and over time, the individual produced verbal communications that claimed to be from "student visitor" spiritual beings. This changed in early 1925 with a "voluminous handwritten document", which from then on became the regular method of purported communication ... In 1924, a group of Sadler's friends, former patients, and colleagues began meeting for Sunday intellectual discussions, but became interested in the strange communications when Sadler mentioned the case and read samples at their request ... A smaller group of five individuals called the Contact Commission, including the Sadlers, was responsible for gathering the questions from the Forum, acting as the custodians of the handwritten manuscripts that were presented as answers, and arranging for proofreading and typing of the material. The Sadlers and others .. now all deceased, claimed that the papers of the book were physically materialized from 1925 until 1935 in a way that was not understood ...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Urantia_Book

Whatever the Urantia Book is, it is not the sort of document that would usually recognized as a scholarly source for dating events, real or alleged, two millennia prior on (say) "Aug 21, 7 BCE"

Unfortunately, a similar sloppiness pervades the entire op-ed

[UBtheNEWS]

23. Urantia Book credibility

The middle third of The Urantia Book is the history of our planet—Urantia, which etymologically means "our place in the heavens." The UBtheNEWS project documents how new discoveries and scientific advances are increasingly supporting The Urantia Book's version of history. Its history of our world starts with the birth of the solar system, recounts the geophysical development of the planet and all the major evolutionary stages and mutations of plant and animal life, and ends with a million year history of humanity’s genetic and cultural development. When it was published in 1955, much of its historical information was inconsistent with or not yet addressed by scholarship. Some of the corroborations are especially intriguing, like the Adam and Eve Report (genetics), Gobekli Tepe Report (archaeology) and the Garden of Eden Report (geology).

The first third of the book contains theological and cosmological information. The last third, “The Life and Teachings of Jesus,” recounts all the years of Jesus life and provides detailed explanations of the major events in his life.

UBtheNEWS.com is designed to assist people who are starting to learn about The Urantia Book. On the home page you will find a link to syllabus material on The Urantia Book (UBtheNEWS was asked to prepare this for the World Religions class at Denison University.) The syllabus gives several pages of basic information about the book and then provides 35 pages of highlights. The Urantia Book is over 2000 pages, so a "best of" version can be very useful for getting started.

UBtheNEWS is an independent, family-operated, public service project.

[jimlup]

11. My son says Dec 25 was actually the winter solstice in a different calendar

Is that true?

[struggle4progress]

15. The Roman calendar was in terrible disarray at the time of the Julian reform

... Caesar crossed the Rubicon on January 10, 49 BC of the official calendar, but the official calendar had drifted so far away from the seasons that it was actually mid-autumn ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_calendar

The Julian reform originally put the winter solstice on or near 25 December, but the Julian calendar slipped about three days for every four hundred years, relative to the astronomical cycle, so by the time Christmas was fixed, 25 December would no longer have been the solstice

... In 46 BCE, Julius Caesar in his Julian calendar established December 25 as the date of the winter solstice of Europe (Latin: Bruma). Since then, the difference between the calendar year (365.2500 days) and the tropical year (365.2422 days) moved the day associated with the actual astronomical solstice forward approximately three days every four centuries, arriving to December 12 during the 16th century. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII decided to restore the exact correspondence between seasons and civil year but, doing so, he did not make reference to the age of the Roman dictator, but to the Council of Nicea of 325, as the period of definition of major Christian feasts. So, the Pope annulled the 10-day error accumulated between the 16th and the 4th century, but not the 3-day one between the 4th AD and the 1st BC century ...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_solstice

[jimlup]

19. Thanks useful information

[TalkingDog]

20. The other theory posits

that it takes about 3 days before it becomes clear that the days are getting longer.

So while the Solstice was recognized, the "rebirth" or "birth" of the sun was celebrated.

While the calendar explanation might be more accurate, I like the idea of this theory.

[demosincebirth]

12. If you don't believe, why do you care?

[RC]

14. Curiosity. Why do we do the things we do? Believe what we do.

Facts matter. Helps us to understand the world we live in.

[demosincebirth]

29. Why do some need facts about things they don't believe in? Don't make sense to me.

[Dave From Canada]

21. Because they feel threatened and/or left out. It's the same old attacks on Christmas seen every

year. It's funny though. I never hear any of these types of things when it comes to Ramadan or Hanukkah. Unless everyone believes that a tiny bit of oil can actually burn for eight days.

[COLGATE4]

26. Because I doubt many people care enough about Channukah to

dispute it, starting with most Jews.

[demosincebirth]

30. These same persons tread lightly when discussing Islam. I wonder why?

[awoke_in_2003]

40. I don't tiptoe around islam...

or any other mythology- they are all rubbish invented by people who thought the world was the center of the universe.

[pscot]

13. Nobody stole the solstice

It still happens every year, whether the Church wills it or no.

[roger_pearse]

37. Mithras?

"What is the common denominator that has all these religions vying for "their most important day" on or near Dec. 25th? It is the Winter Solstice. Humans have celebrated the Winter Solstice for millennia. It could be argued that the Winter Solstice is the single most influential and important event of the year...."

Such claims need more than words to back them up.

"The date of Christmas, December 25, was borrowed from another religion."

No ancient source says so.

"At the time Christmas was created in AD 336, Mithraism was very popular."

In the 4th century the cult of Mithras was on the decline. Nor do we know that "Christmas was created in AD 336" -- no ancient source says so.

"The early Christian church had gotten tired of their futile efforts to stop people celebrating the solstice and the birthday of Mithras, the Persian sun god. Mithras' birthday was December 25."

No ancient text records any "birthday of Mithras."

"So Pope Julius I decided to make Jesus' official birthday coincide with Mithras' birthday."

No ancient source records this either.

Isn't it curious how gullible these Christian-haters are? I mean, it would have taken seconds to check all these claims, but none of them do.

"Dec 25 became the consensus date, and a logical way to assimilate the pagan, and Earth based Winter Solstice gatherings into the Christian religion."

No ancient text records any of this either.

"Before that date, there were many myths very similar to the Biblical account of Jesus' life that circulated in the Middle East for hundreds of years before Jesus. In these myths, the hero was always born near the Winter Solstice."

I see we're about to get some of the Kersey Graves "Sixteen crucified saviors" nonsense. Even atheists are embarassed by this.

"Roman 'Attis' was a son of the virgin Nana, born on Dec 25 and died on Mar 25 (Spring Equinox) after being crucified on a tree."

No ancient text records any of this either. In ancient mythology Attis was the boyfriend of the Phrygian goddess Cybele. One day he went off and shagged a nymph -- and his missus found out. In a rage she cursed him with madness. While under the influence he sat down under a pine tree and chopped his willy off (as you do). Then he died (as, in a pre-antiobiotic era, you do). Then the lady calmed down. No more Saturday nights, and all that. So she went and asked Father Zeus to resurrect the lad. Zeus, no mean shagger himself, disapproved of this infidelity=castration idea, and refused.

One myth -- a weird one -- says his mom was called Nana, who got pregnant after eating an apple that an earth deity had spilt its seed on. No ancient source connects Attis with 25 Dec. There was a festival of Cybele around the spring equinox, but that's about it.

Again, why don't people CARE about getting their facts straight?

"Greek 'Dionysus', Persian (and Roman) 'Mithra'"

Mithras was never resurrected, because he never died. Dionysius ... er, no.

"and Egyptian 'Osiris' have been worshipped since Neolithic times and were all born on Dec 25."

There is nothing in the ancient sources to say this of any of them.

"Other pagan gods whose "birthday' was on Dec. 25 are Horus, Attis, Dionysus, Tammuz, Hercules, Perseus, Helios. Bacchus, Apollo, Jupiter and Sol Invictus."

Notice how the post has repeated itself -- just sticking together stuff without even re-reading it. All of this is bunk, of course, or almost entirely so.

Hate does funny things to people. It makes them believe anything, so long as it serves their malice. Why on earth write lies about someone else's religion? And why on earth, what sort of ill-bred asshole, does it on the date of their major festival?

I hope this helps the more normal reader. Be wary of this stuff. The haters manufacture the craziest lies. Whatever our beliefs, surely we all want to get the raw facts right?

All the best,

Roger Pearse

[The Wizard]

39. Santa Claus is God

He can ride a reindeer drawn sleigh through the sky and visit every child on Earth in one night, knowing who's been naughty and who's been nice. This is not a mere mortal.
The festival of light in the dead of winter is common in many cultures. Shining a light in the darkness raises spirits, unless you're trying to hide.