Featured Image: Depiction of nativity with Christmas tree backdrop. CREDIT: Jeff Weese SOURCE: Wikipedia Commons (This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.)
From youtube uploaded by Jesusistheway1001
Featured Image: Depiction of nativity with Christmas tree backdrop. CREDIT: Jeff Weese SOURCE: Wikipedia Commons (This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.)
From youtube uploaded by Jesusistheway1001
from The Huffington Post
Posted: 22/12/2012 11:04
The origins of Christmas are pretty much well known. There was a whole virgin birth in a manger while trekking across Africa or something, but what is less well known is that it was originally a pagan holiday which was criminalised until 1907 in the US.
It was in 601 that Pope Gregory I wrote to Melitus (his missionary in England) telling him “not to stop such ancient Pagan festivities” but to “adapt them to the rites of the Church, only changing the reason of them from a heathen to a Christian impulse”. So all those who have been claiming for years that Christmas was, in fact, actually a pagan holiday – you were right and Pope Gregory I handily put it in writing for you. . . . Read Complete Report
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from NBC News
By Stephanie Pappas
Pre-Christian traditions abound in the beloved winter holiday
When you gather around the Christmas tree or stuff goodies into a stocking, you’re taking part in traditions that stretch back thousands of years — long before Christianity entered the mix.
Pagan, or non-Christian, traditions show up in this beloved winter holiday, a consequence of early church leaders melding Jesus’ nativity celebration with pre-existing midwinter festivals. Since then, Christmas traditions have warped over time, arriving at their current state a little more than a century ago. . . . Read Complete Report
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from youtube
Uploaded by TriforceMinistries3
Uploaded on Nov 12, 2011
CHRISTMAS EXPOSED !!!!!!!
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From the New Statesman
BY NINA CAPLAN PUBLISHED 23 DECEMBER 2012
Here’s to a well-fortified Christmas.
Christmas comes but once a year, takes up about a sixth of said year and half the annual budget, makes us fat, cross and compromised and leaves us stranded on the cusp of another January, gasping like beached fish and in dire need of another holiday to recover.
All of which, believe it or not, is positive, since it constitutes a gold and sparkly reason for alcoholic adventuring. Christmas may be the most boring time of the year in culinary terms – turkey being, in my opinion, a mere excuse for interesting additions, like the European equivalent of rice – but when it comes to drink, this truly is the season to be jolly. . . . Read Complete Report
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from shamanswell.org
By Bill on February 1, 2011 – 8:16am
Imbolc is a festival of the Celtic Wheel of the year. Some background on Imbolc from TheWhiteGoddess:
This holiday is also known as Candlemas, or Brigid’s (pronounced BREED) Day. One of the 4 Celtic “Fire Festivals. Commemorates the changing of the Goddess from the Crone to the Maiden. Celebrates the first signs of Spring. Also called “Imbolc” (the old Celtic name).
This is the seasonal change where the first signs of spring and the return of the sun are noted, i.e. the first sprouting of leaves, the sprouting of the Crocus flowers etc. In other words, it is the festival commemorating the successful passing of winter and the beginning of the agricultural year. This Festival also marks the transition point of the threefold Goddess energies from those of Crone to Maiden.
Wikipedia has more on the history Wheel of the Year here.
Here’s more on the The Wheel of the Year from TheWhiteGoddess: . . . Read complete report