Wednesday, 27 August 2008
The Usurper
There is the belief that Christianity grafted itself onto this anciently celebrated period around the Winter Solstice, chose this period as the opportune time to celebrate Jesus' birth, and so gradually effected the passing from one faith to another relatively seamlessly. Attempting to to do otherwise would be an act of cultural crudeness doomed to failure. Now we have the same process of a new faith being grafted onto an old, and in this case the orgy of consumerism at Christmas and New Year's marks the new god of human materialism. 'Human materialism' as it as nothing to do with faith in the natural world which could theoretically amount to a kind of materialism. This modern religion is specifically restricted to the materialism of human imagining and creation in the form of consumerism. So the new faith of materialism/consumerism, which is a kind of anti-faith, as it is ultimately truthless, effects a coup d'etat and usurps the celebratory season by imposing its values onto that time, with the core rituals now involving maximum consumption of consumer goods by consumers. Out with the old, in with the new.
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7 comments:
What's the story, morning glory? Writing about Christmas in August? It just ain't right! It reminds me of the dufus down the street who still has his Christmas lights up - the temperature is 95 degrees! He might as well leave them up. By the time he gets them down, it will November!
Thought just came to me thother night. Not sure why.
Yeah, this'd occurred to me, as well. Though, to be fair, the modern Festive Season is, at least, "a time for families" and "the Real Meaning of Christmas" (whatever that is), so there is something vaguely resembling meaning there. Easter, by contrast, now has no deeper meaning than an excuse to go on holiday and eat chocolate.
As a minor nitpick, though, the dating of Christmas probably had little to do with anything Pagan (though it isn't fully clear); but it probably wouldn't have become such an occasion for partying if it wasn't so conveniently placed near the Winter Solstice. Or maybe it'd just have replaced some other festival and picked up traditions from that, so we'd have a big Christmas holiday in the middle of September or something, and just have a generic "winter holiday" over December/January.
Are you sure the placing of Christmas in the solstice isn't intentional? THough either way the effect I presume could be seen as identical.
i'd always gathered the date of Xmas was deliberately placed close to the Winter Solstice. The Viking can only read CS Lewis so he may be in error.
winter solstice is dec 21. Dec 25 was recognised as the first noticeable sign of the days getting longer and was celebrated by pre-christian pagans for the coming warmth associated with the lengthening of the days and numerous events were celebrated on this day for this reason.
In Roman pagan religions (Roman Catholic Church was born out of the Roman Empire) Attis was a son of the virgin Nana. His birth was celebrated on DEC-25. He was sacrificed as an adult in order to bring salvation to mankind. He died about MAR-25, after being crucified on a tree, and descended for three days into the underworld. On Sunday, he arose, as the solar deity for the new season. His followers tied an image of Attis to a tree on "Black Friday," and carried him in a procession to the temple. His body was symbolically eaten by his followers in the form of bread. Worship of Attis began in Rome circa 200 BC. You can see the similarities with the later Jesus who was adopted as the new centre of the religious cult of the Roman Empire, the Roman Catholic Church (The first pope was Constantine, the Emporor of the Roman Empire)
In Greek Religion Dionysus is another savior-god whose birth was observed on DEC-25. He was worshipped throughout much of the Middle East as well. He had a center of worship in Jerusalem in the 1st century BC. Some ancient coins have been found in Gaza with Dionysus on one side and JHWH (Jehovah) on the other. In later years, his flesh and blood were symbolically eaten in the form of bread and wine. He was viewed as the son of Zeus, the Father God.
In Eygptian Religion Osiris is a savior-god who had been worshipped as far back as Neolithic times. "He was called Lord of Lords, King of Kings, God of Gods...the Resurrection and the Life, the Good shepherd...the god who 'made men and women be born again'". Three wise men announced his birth. His followers ate cakes of wheat which symbolized his body. Many sayings associated with Osiris were taken over into the Bible. This included: 23rd Psalm: an appeal to Osiris as the good Shepherd to lead believers through the valley of the shadow of death and to green pastures and still waters
Worship of Osiris, and celebration of his DEC-25 birth, were established throughout the Roman Empire by the end of the 1st century BC.
In Persian Religion Mithra was a Persian savior. Worship of Mithra became common throughout the Roman Empire, particularly among the Roman civil service and military. Mithraism was a competitor of Christianity until the 4th century. Their god was believed to have been born on DEC-25, circa 500 BC. His birth was witnessed by shepherds and by gift-carrying Magi. This was celebrated as the "Dies Natalis Solic Invite," The "Birthday of the Unconquered Sun." Some followers believed that he was born of a virgin. During his life, he performed many miracles, cured many illnesses, and cast out devils. He celebrated a Last Supper with his 12 disciples. He ascended to heaven at the time of the spring equinox, about March 21.
The Babylonians celebrated their "Victory of the Sun-God" Festival on DEC-25. Saturnalia (the Festival of Saturn) was celebrated from DEC-17 to 23 in the Roman Empire. The Roman Emperor Aurelian blended Saturnalia with a number of birth celebrations of savior Gods from other religions, into a single holy day: DEC-25. After much argument, the developing Christian church adopted this date as the birthday of their savior, Jesus. The people of the Roman Empire were accustomed to celebrating the birth of a God on that day. So, it was easy for the church to divert people's attention to Jesus' birth.
andrew & elberry: As I say, there's uncertainty; but the idea of Christ being born on the 25th came up in the early 3rd century (or that's the earliest date known), probably due to early church tradition that he was crucified on march 25th. (Some ancient Jews had the idea that prophets lived an integral number of years, i.e. were conceived and died on the same day. Hence birthday = death day + 9 months. It would seem someone decided to apply this to Christ.) (Most of this you can read on the wikipedia page about Christmas, for whatever wikipedia's worth.)
As to why Easter isn't simply on march 25th, well, that's because Easter was the Christian way of marking the Jewish Passover (Christ having been crucified during the Passover), which fell shortly after the spring equinox. As to why Christians do not, however, celebrate Easter at the same time every year as the Jews celebrate Passover, that's a long story. (See here if you really want to know all the details.)
Anonymous: I'd like to see some backup to those assertions, which seem a tad doubtful in places. The Church never had a significant argument about the date of Christmas, although there were doubts as to whether it should be celebrated at all (it being a degenerate pagan habit to celebrate the birthday of one's leader.) According to wikipedia, Attis was killed by a rampaging boar sent by Zeus to destroy some people's crops, not crucified. Constantine was never pope, and the first pope was St. Peter.
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