It is Christmas morning (3:00am here
in Eastern Ky.) and I am having a hard time sleeping. I usually play my FM
radio on these endless nights, however all the stations consist of Bing Crosby Christmas
hits. Don’t get me wrong, I like Mr. Crosby, just not tonight. While the hours
before daylight linger on, let me expand on this very popular holiday, and why
it makes absolutely no sense. Jesus was
not born in December. Christians took existing holidays for their own means
during a time where few were willing to stand up to the bloodshed the church
unleashed. The original date of the celebration of the Christian "Christmas"
in Eastern Christianity was January 6th (Epiphany). When the Church realized
that pre-existing Pagan holidays were far more enjoyable than their own
holiday, they moved the date to overshadow the feast of Solstice, Yule,
Saturnalia and others to gain converts. So
now we call it Christmas and it is December 25.
"Christmas" pagan origins were hard
to shake and Christmas was banned in England from 1644-1660. However, that
still didn't work. People just did it in secret behind the back of the Church. The
Christians and the church couldn't stop people from putting up their Yule
decor. The Yule tree was still being placed, Mistletoe was still being hung in
a doorway, and Yule logs were burning bright. Presents were exchanged, because
it had been a tradition since the days of Rome rule, to bring offerings and
gifts during the Saturnalia.
Several hundred years pass, prior to the
American Civil War (1860’s) December 25th had degraded quite a bit from the times
of old. For the majority of normal people it was a minor holiday with a mass
occurring on the 25th that few attended because Sunday service was more
important. Christmas came and went, it was no big deal, just another day on the
calendar.
At the turn of the Industrial age,
commercialism may have actually saved Christmas in North America. However, most
people in the 21st century blame commercialism on destroying it. After the
Civil war, commercial interests found that by making Christmas as a time of
giving and decorating they could increase their profit margins substantially.
So, far from being ruined by commercialism, the fact that Christmas is now the
most celebrated season of the year. Thanks CorpGov! Christmas was saved because
it got a good advertising campaign. Rudolph the red nose reindeer started out
as a coloring book given out by Montgomery ward. Santa Claus got his red suit
from a Coca Cola Advertisement. "Frosty the Snowman" was created by
musicians inspired by Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, and who wanted a slice of
profit. “A Christmas Story" (1983)
is a movie that becomes more and more popular every year, and is considered by
many to be the view of American Christmas. However, I don’t think Jesus was
mentioned more than once in the whole movie. Several years ago, Corpgov became
unhappy that non-Christians weren’t participating in the consumer holiday. To
fix the problem, they changed “Christ” to “X”, and behold, a holiday every
American consumer can enjoy. I hope all my readers have a wonderful “X” mas.
Sincerely,
Homestead Hermit……..
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