Post #440,605
12/25/21 5:30:18 PM
12/25/21 5:30:18 PM
|
Absolutely stupid. But expected
All Christmas traditions are stupid. I have a tiny little Charlie Brown tree because that's what my wife wants. It's stupid.
My neighbor came over. 80-year-old feisty lady. She was dropping off various breads and picking up the cookies that my wife baked. Craziness. She announced that she doesn't believe any of this and that she is a pagan. My wife baked for days. I won't pretend to say what my wife believes in.
On the other hand it is the glue that the neighborhood social relationships are based on. My wife giving me a cheesecake delivered to the neighbor turn it into an email address and communication. It might have taken me years to get that if my wife had not baked that cheesecake.
Traditions have a reason. We just need to recognize them.
|
Post #440,606
12/25/21 6:23:00 PM
12/25/21 6:23:00 PM
|
Pagan?
Be aware that just about everything you think of about Christmas tradition is actually "Pagan tomfoolery" adopted by the Church because the people would no let go of it.
For the Christian part.
If there is any truth to the story of Jesus at all, he was born in the spring time. The Romans scheduled tax time in the Spring, just as it is today - for very, very good reasons - and everything else about the story calls for springtime. Even in the Levant, shepherds were not out in the fields in December, and nor were the sheep.
Bethlehem was far too small to have an "inn", and, if the home (probably of one of Joseph's relatives) was full, the livestock, including manger, would be on the first story of the house.
The Church assigned December 25th, because that was the time of festivals for the re-birth of the Sun, as it still is for Pagans today.
Pagans have a much better understanding of "The true meaning of Christmas" than Christians - so fuck Charlie Brown.
|
Post #440,608
12/26/21 9:04:27 AM
12/26/21 9:04:27 AM
|
Re: Pagan?
Yeah, I had a history professor that I particularly enjoyed who liked to show how control mechanisms of different religions and physical constraints molded societies as they grew. The Christmas takeaway is that my wife and I try to make things better for someone else.
This year my wife's cousins were having a Christmas Eve party so we bought 10 lbs of Italian sausage (they're all of Sicilian decent.) They canceled the party Thursday night. We found a food pantry that would accept perishable food and donated the sausage to them. They seemed happy to get it and it made us feel good so I guess it all worked out in the end. That makes us good pagans? Cool! I'm up for it! "Religion, n. A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable."
~ AMBROSE BIERCE
(1842-1914)
|
Post #440,611
12/27/21 4:28:42 AM
12/27/21 4:28:42 AM
|
I saw a suggestion the other day that the theft went the other way around.
Normally you would be celebrating Sol Invictus right now, but there was an error in the timeline.He suggests that by the time of the attempted revival of Sol Invictus, the 25th of December was already established as Christmas, and the Solists tried the establish it for their own god in an attempt to steal the Church's thunder (eh, mixed metaphors much?). Feels a bit bass-ackwards to me, as it seems logical that this was just an attempt to steal the day back, after the Christians first had stolen it from the Sol cult. But then this may be linked to his speculation that "there were two different sun god cults", Sol Invictus and an older original (just) Sol. IMO, Occam's razor would suggest it's the same god and cult, just like it's the same star; that the added "Invictus"was just a re-launch branding excercise. --
Christian R. Conrad
The Man Who Apparently Still Knows Fucking EverythingMail: Same username as at the top left of this post, at iki.fi
|
Post #440,612
12/27/21 9:14:20 AM
12/27/21 9:14:20 AM
|
Considering it means unconquerable or undefeated, yeah, clearly trying to take it back
|
Post #440,609
12/26/21 9:49:50 AM
12/26/21 9:49:50 AM
|
Obligatory Cold War Steve.
|
Post #440,613
12/27/21 9:15:01 AM
12/27/21 9:15:01 AM
|
Would that make sense if I recognized the faces?
|
Post #440,614
12/27/21 11:09:47 AM
12/27/21 11:09:47 AM
|
It's a theme with him.
Mary and Joseph being turned away at the beach or in various places, with BoJo's cronies hooting and hollering, and the police doing their bidding. The woman in the background on the right is Priti Patel - the UK Home Secretary. She's more than a bit of a monster. The guy in brown on the left is Jacob Rees-Mogg (as Scrooge). I'm not sure who the guy on the far left is. HTH a little. Cheers, Scott.
|
Post #440,615
12/29/21 6:45:46 PM
12/29/21 6:45:46 PM
|
Steve Baker, MP? Far left he is not ;-)
|
