Peter & Rigo

Winter Solstice Celebration

I was originally writing this as a response to a blog post called Osiris Claus. Where I see that it does have a bit of the history behind the advent of Christmas, I think there's much more to it. Here I tried to delve into it but have also not done a thorough job and throw in tangents that may not be necessary. Take out of it what you will, but my point was to show that what we take as faith as handed down by our culture has deeper and forgotten roots. This should lead one to possibly think about the "truth" in religion and if we should believe what we do.

This is my response:

The problem with Santa, among other traditions seen in the US today, is that these ideas come from an amalgamation of past religions, mostly from the Western half of the Old World. So the problem lies in the fact that over thousands of years each culture seems to create their own religious figures, all the while borrowing from the ideologies of cultures that they interact with. In Mesopotamia and around the Mediterranean, there's so much interaction going on that any religion ends up being bastardized by whichever culture has the most power of the day, or merely which has the power of drawing favor.

Personally, I think Santa in today's use comes from a 4th century Nicholas of Myra; where Myra happens to lie in what is today Turkey. His story goes that he took all of his wealth and made three golden balls which he rolled into the window of some recently orphaned sisters. One of the balls happened to roll into a stocking.

Before this, it can be taken in a number of directions. I enjoy the Osiris angle, although you kept the story PG by failing to mention that after Set dismembered Osiris' body and Isis collected it all, she was unable to locate his penis, as a catfish had eaten it. This is where the whole "Immaculate Conception" thing comes into play.

This brings me to my next point. I believe that it's not actually Osiris that has the December 25th birthday, but rather Horus, Osiris and Isis' child. However, as mentioned before, things get sticky here. We're talking about a thousand or more years of Egyptian religious evolution where different dynasties promoted different ideas. So it is believed that Osiris is Horus' father, but eventually the two melded together to become one single deity. Just to make it more confusing, I believe Ra was also thrown into the mix. And to make things even more confusing, Isis is often switched out with the goddess Hathor who was the wife of Ra, so has therefore become boththe mother and wife of Horus. Oh, and finally, Atum was eventually also considered to be the same deity as Ra/Osiris who were the sun god.

And this is the big thing here. All the major deities seem to be the sun god. Odin is found in Norse ideology, Saturn/Kronos with the Greek, Indra with the Hindu, Baal with the Canaanites, Ashur/Shamash in Assyrian, and so on.

But tied with these gods are generally two other deities creating a trinity, for example, Thor with the Norse, Apollo in Greece, Krishna/Vishnu with Hindu, Resheph for the Canaanites, and Mithra in Zoroastrianism. Most often these are the sons of the sun god.

Then to seal up the trinity, usually there is a female associated with the two, often times being the mother of the son. This is Freya/Volva with the Norse, Minerva/Aphrodite in Greece, Shiva in Hindu, Apam Napat in Zoroastrianism, and Astarte in Ugaritic (which is actually where we get the name "Easter").

Oh, and so if you haven't caught on yet, there's also that Trinity of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit/Ghost. What I think is amusing is that the Egyptian trinity eventually got to the point where the gender of the female third became ambiguous and forgotten about. But what was this portion of the trinity associated with? The "breath" or soul of the people.

Why I bother to mention all of this is to show a common theme over a variety of religions. And why might there be this universal belief about the universe? Well, I believe it's all tied to the recordation of our seasonal trends and celestial movements tied to them. Everyone seems to have a celebration of the solstices and equinoxes and sometimes the half-way points in between. Check out this "Wheel of the Year": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel_of_the_Year

OK, so now back to Christmas. The idea of the "Christmas Tree" can be linked back to Egypt, like you said. However, down there the most ubiquitous tree is the palm tree, which is said to grow one branch a month, representing a sort of calendar with the twelfth branch to grow signaling the winter solstice and New Year. Looking around the Mediterranean cultures seem to gravitate to a given tree that is a staple to their society. Often the sun god was said to have lived in a given tree. The Norse had the Yggdrasil which brought forth the idea of the Yule log. The druids held the Oak tree in high reverence. Romans clung onto the idea that evergreen trees held some sort of power as they stay green even through the year, so they would decorate their house with them during the winter for good luck. Oh, and by the way, crosses made out of pine trees were often used as a representative of the "tree of life".

As for the celebration of Christmas itself, it can be linked back to the honoring of the Sun God, Saturn, by the Romans. They had a festival named Saturnalia where societal roles became reversed. Slaves would wear a hat called a Pileus (which made them look a bit like Santa) and were served meals by their masters. People would greet each other by shouting "Io, Saturnalia", Io being an exclamation which later became Latinized to "Ho".

With this holiday, pretty much everything from the justice system to any merchant shop were shut down for a week. Originally these days were December 17-23, eventually varying Caesars pushed it back to five and three days of celebration. On the original schedule, the fifth and sixth days were when presents were made and given to children which seems a bit like the modern Christmas tradition.

But the crazy part about this that has thankfully since been forgotten are all of the human sacrifices. Christmas starts of the "Twelve Days of Christmas" which, traditionally was seen as twelve days of bonfires to celebrate the renewal of the sun. On one of these twelve days following Christmas, the 29th of December, the Catholics celebrate "Childermas" or the "Massacre of the Holy Innocents". This is the day that is said to have been when Herod was told of a Savior's birth (Jesus) who would one day take over his throne. So it was said that he sent his soldiers out to kill all of the newborns on that day. However, within past celebrations, there was once the tradition of putting clay dolls under an evergreen tree. This may have replaced even older practice of sacrificing children as a way of giving up their blood to re-energize the sun as it seems to stand still on the day of the solstice. Children were actually put under a tree, something like the Yule log, and were lit afire. Today this may be why we light up our Christmas trees.

As a reference, I point to the Bible, Ezekiel 20:26-31:

26 I let them pollute themselves with the very gifts I had given them, and I allowed them to give their firstborn children as offerings to their gods--so I might devastate them and show them that I alone am the LORD.

27 "Therefore, son of man, give the people of Israel this message from the Sovereign LORD: Your ancestors continued to blaspheme and betray me,

28 for when I brought them into the land I had promised them, they offered sacrifices and incense on every high hill and under every green tree they saw! They roused my fury as they offered up sacrifices to their gods. They brought their perfumes and incense and poured out their drink offerings to them!

29 I said to them, `What is this high place where you are going?' (This idol shrine has been called Bamah--`high place'--ever since.)

30 "Therefore, give the people of Israel this message from the Sovereign LORD: Do you plan to pollute yourselves just as your ancestors did? Do you intend to keep prostituting yourselves by worshiping detestable idols?

31 For when you offer gifts to them and give your little children to be burned as sacrifices,* you continue to pollute yourselves to this day. Should I listen to you or help you, O people of Israel? As surely as I live, says the Sovereign LORD, I will not give you a message even though you have come to me requesting one.

Another long-forgotten tradition held within the Twelve days of Christmas was done on the twelfth day. This involved nominating a "King of Fools". This twelfth day is the 6th of January, which is also known as "Epiphany" and as the day that was thought to be when the Magi found Baby Jesus and gave him His three gifts. The process of selecting this "king" was done in a variety of manners depending upon one's location, but was often figured out by putting a bean into a bread and he who came up with the bean was the "Chosen One".

Once chosen this person was proclaimed the "King of Fools" they could do whatever they wanted -- anything hedonistic or sacrilegious. Asses were lead into the places of worship and palms fronds were hung up in the trees. A procession was done and the "King of Fools" was given a crown of holly (which is rather thorny) and a purple robe to denote prestige. Ritual flagellations were also done. The only downside to this hierarchical jump in status was that once the end of this month was completed, the chosen king would have to slit his own throat. The odd thing is that as the evergreen pine was a revered tree, a pine cross was often used as a symbol of this "tree of life".

Now it may be obvious that in our modern world we've moved from Christmas to a story commonly associated with Easter. It went from the birth of the Son/Sun, to their death. This is difficult to explain, but what I think about this is that this Christmas celebration looks at the solar year. Other cultures such as the Babylonians, take eleven days to celebrate the New Year in the spring, as this is when the lunar year is thought to come full circle.

I won't get much into Easter, but the very ironic thing about the Christian celebration of this holiday is that it is named after the Semitic deity Astarte. She is the lunar warrior goddess that represents fertility and in Egyptian ideology was said to be a daughter of Ra.

Just like Christmas, Easter wasn't celebrated until the fourth century. Before this time Passover was celebrated and can be seen as a correlation to the holiday in other European names for the day, for instance the Spanish call Easter "Pascua". Where the idea of eggs and a giant bunny come in is another story, and just as silly as Santa Claus and a Christmas tree. I suppose you can't ask for much less when you have over two thousand years of tradition where the reason for doing what you do to bring back fond memories of one's childhood has been lost to the ages.