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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 12/21/2007 : 23:08:03
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Let's do us a little Yuletide History,‘k, to get ourselves firmly into the spirit & the spirits of this most joyous of the seasons. We all like History, don't we? Of course we do, ‘specally the dirty bits.
It has been well documented in both sectarian and secular writings that the Northern European Winter Solstice celebrations of the Pagans were plagiarized by the Catholic Church and used to support the story of the birth of Jesus, the Christian version of God's Son. That was in spite of the fact that no one was, nor is today, certain of when, exactly, Jesus of Nazareth was born. Indeed, there is some confusion as to many of the dates surrounding that unfortunate gentleman, who's ministry, sadly, lasted but about a year after his Baptism. But such trivial details, while anathema to the Skeptic & the Scholar, seldom bother anyone else, especially if he/she is true to a Faith, so Christ's Mass has become an established ceremony throughout Christendom in spite of, again, having no support whatsoever in Scripture, nor even so much as a mention of the ceremony.
In these latter times, Christians ‘round the world have been joined in that celebration by others of differing Faiths and even those with no Faith whatsoever, and let's be honest here; let us acknowledge the final truth of the matter once and for all: Everybody loves a party and any excuse is a good one!
So whence came the original dates of the Solstice celebrations, then? It is not all that easy to state definitively because most if not all of the ancient Heathen cultures were pretty damned good, eyeball astronomers and they could have germinated amongst any of the various, northern peoples of Europe. Other cultures throughout the world had Solstice celebrations as well, although as time passed and the Church expanded its influence, those too were suppressed & replaced with the Christian version.
The Matsakaya sun watching shrine at Zuni, around 1920
The Pre-Columbian Aztecs had a calendar known as the Sun Stone, that is over a century older than the quaint Gregorian one in common use today, and quite as accurate for their version of the year, demonstrating an enviable expertise in astronomy and mathematics.
While the Europeans of those early times were woefully behind in the sciences as compared to the Egyptians, Greeks & Arabs, they too, were familiar with the Solstices. Stonehenge, like many monuments & tombs, is perfectly situated according to both.
As these “primitive” peoples knew exactly when the Solstices came around, there can be little doubt that peoples even more ancient than they were aware of them as well. Of particular note would be the hunter/gatherers; nomadic folk who relied upon a firm knowledge of the seasons for their travels to and from productive areas within their ranges, and used the positions of the sun & stars as exact markers of seasonal change; a sort of celestial timepiece, as it were. It is not beyond the realms of possibility -- indeed, it is quite probable -- that the Cro-Magnon and even the Neandertal peoples knew of them as well.
An ancient star chart carved in a sliver of mammoth ivory
A star chart on the walls of Lascaux Caves
Of course, a great many legends sprang up and prospered around these dates and some continue on today in the forms of various Sunday School stories such as The Three Wise Men and surviving Pagan legends like the one of Santa Claus.
http://uploa
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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Edited by - filthy on 12/21/2007 23:24:11
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 12/21/2007 : 23:18:54 [Permalink]
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For some reason, this post got cut. Here then, is the balance of it:
If the Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year, it is also the longest night. To celebrate the impending return of the Sun and a less snappy climate, that near endless-seeming night was one of feasting & drinking & the sharing of gifts as well as some happy if opportunistic fornication, and that is another purely Pagan tradition that remains firmly in place with us to this day, albeit considerably different from the more peaceful & practical, original shindig. The differences are due to the modern proliferation of predatory retail outlets, automobiles, airport security, hard liquor & firearms, sidewalk Santas, itinerant preachers, ostentatious displays, commercial turkey farms, Maalox, and the relentless caroling of Songs of the Season that ooze smarmily and mercilessly from PA Systems & radios throughout the lands, to the despair of even the Obeisant, and the utter disgust of the Curmudgeon.
But put all of that aside to consider later. After all, it is no more than glance in the rear-view mirror of Time and while a good tale to tell, and even a relevant one, it is scarcely a celebratory salutation.
So now, at this moment of Solstice, I extend my Warmest of Greetings and Best of Wishes to all and with them, leave this modest, philosophical gift:
The caravan of life shall always pass
Beware that is fresh as sweet young grass
Let's not worry about what tomorrow will amass
Fill my cup again, this night will pass, alas. ~~ From The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, as translated from the Farsi
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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| Edited by - filthy on 12/21/2007 23:39:37 |
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Heathen's Greetings!
