The Origins and History of Christmas - Pagan Influences and Saturn Worship

Posted by Greg Scott

Circular Solstice Calendar and Celtic Cross

Going back to at least 217 BC, Saturnalia was the most popular Roman holiday of the year as a midwinter celebration of the Winter Solstice.  December 25th was once called, “Natalis Solis Invicti” or the Birthday of the Invincible Sun.  It was first celebrated on December 17th for one day.  It was later extended to three, then officially five but celebrated in seven days by the first century A.D.  The Romans inherited the holy day from the Etruscans who may have originated from Asia Minor and founded the town of Saturnia in their home in Etruria.

It was customary to “deck the halls” with boughs of laurel, green trees, and many lamps and candles.  The social roles were reversed during this time in which slaves were temporarily relieved of their duties while being served by their masters and allowed to wear less formal clothing.  This could be where we get “dawn we now our gay apparel” in a well known holiday song.  Public gambling was permitted.  Friends would exchange gifts at this time as part of the tradition.  Slaves also wore a felt cap to show they were not slaves which may be our modern “santa hat.”  Saturnalia is actually described on NASA’s Saturn website.


 Four thousand years ago in Sumeria, Marduk was believed to be fighting every year for daylight as the length of days waned, against his opponents of chaos.  Fields had been harvested and the people also participated by burning effigys of Marduk and the priests would recreate the story of Marduk.

Antoine François Callet's Depiction of "Saturnalia"

According to religious philosophy expert Jordan Maxwell, the ancient calendar was created in a circular fashion.  One point of the calendar marked the vernal equinox which connected horizontally to the autumnal equinox but was bisected at 90 degrees where the summer solstice connects on the opposite side to the winter solstice.  This in effect creates a cross within a circle which is found on most Celtic crosses and also divides the calendar into the four seasons or four “gospels.”  The last supper is believed to represent this as there are four groups of three [months] disciples gathered around Jesus in the center.

On December 22nd the sun reaches its farthest southward and continues to rise and set from the same point for three days.  On December 25th the “Sun King” is born.

NASA describes winter solstice "Saturnalia" on their website

In the Yule Log Celebration which is commemorated around December 21st, pagans are reminded that death is not the end, but rather beginning of something new.  The sun god, Mithra, was born on December 25th and a Dionysian festival took place on January 6th.  The word “Yule” actually means wheel which may refer to the cycles of the year.

The best known part of the Yule celebration was the decorated tree which is still in use today as part of Christian tradition.  Romans and the early Christians actually banned the evergreen tree as part of the celebration until they eventually adopted it rather than fighting it.

Finally there is Santa Claus who we refer to as Saint Nicholas.  Nicolas was born in the third century in what is now Turkey.  Nicholas used his inheritance to help the sick and became Bishop of Myra.  Dioclytian, a Roman Emperor that despised Christians, imprisoned Nicholas.  When he was released from prison he attended the Council of Nicaea in AD 325.  The Puritans who first came to America did not have any reverence for St. Nicholas until the Dutch did so at a later time.

Finally in 1821, “Sante Claus” was introduced in a children’s book, The Children’s Friend.  In this poem he came from the north driving a sleigh and flying reindeer.  This helped New York writers domesticate Christmas and change it from drunkenness, vandalism and irresponsibility into something harmless toward home and shops.

Though early Christians rejected pagan worship, they eventually adopted their customs and rituals.  They maintained that December 25th was not the birth of Christ but might have been April 20th, or May 20th until Pope Julius christened the date December 25th.  When Christianity melded with pagan rituals, Jesus became synonymous with the literal sun as well as the Son of God.

Source(s): Manly P. Hall’s Story of Christmas, Astrotheology by Jordan Maxwell, StNicolasCenter.org, histmyst.org,  penelope.chicago.edu, web.eecs.utk.edu
Photos: RedIceCreations.com, artexpertswebsite.com, NASA

http://consciouslifenews.com/is-christmas-really-sun-or-saturn-worship/114112/ 

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Jesus was born years earlier than thought, claims Pope

The entire Christian calendar is based on a miscalculation, the Pope has declared, as he claims in a new book that Jesus was born several years earlier than commonly believed.

The Pope also weighs in on the debate over Christ's birthplace Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP

By Nick Squires, Rome

4:02PM GMT 21 Nov 2012

The 'mistake' was made by a sixth century monk known as Dionysius Exiguus or in English Dennis the Small, the 85-year-old pontiff claims in the book 'Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives', published on Wednesday.

"The calculation of the beginning of our calendar – based on the birth of Jesus – was made by Dionysius Exiguus, who made a mistake in his calculations by several years," the Pope writes in the book, which went on sale around the world with an initial print run of a million copies.

"The actual date of Jesus's birth was several years before."

The assertion that the Christian calendar is based on a false premise is not new – many historians believe that Christ was born sometime between 7BC and 2BC.

But the fact that doubts over one of the keystones of Christian tradition have been raised by the leader of the world's one billion Catholics is striking.

Read more at........ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/the-pope/9693576/Jesus-was-born-years-earlier-than-thought-claims-Pope.html