Re: OT The Roots of Christmas

[stanitarium@earthlink.net]

good research there Rick.
as a SUNN (amplifiers/cabinets) Worshipper i look for all things relating 
to sun sunn sunking etc. here is a good graphic of the Christianity/Sun 
God connection(and a good song to boot)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eaWtNhdihk&feature=channel_page
s

from a scholar I know:
>"Don't forget the root of Christmas too!  December 25 is actually 
>the birthday of the Persian Sun God, Mithras, not Jesus. Constantine, 
>basically fabricated Christmas as part of his political strategy 
>to unite the Roman Republic, because it was comprised of so many mystery 
>cults, Roman gods, diverse beliefs, etc, and he needed to bring the 
>people together under a common state religion.  Since Constantine 
>worshiped  the Sun God (Sol Invictus or Mithras), he basically swapped 
>birthdays, giving that birthday to Jesus, and also making the Solar 
>calendar week start on Sunday (Sun = Sun God = Sol Invictus, Mithras, 
>etc).  People go to church today on Sunday, because of Constantine, 
>though the original Christians likely worshiped on Saturday. But back to 
>Christmas, people lit candles in worship of the Sun God, brought in 
>trees as a part of Mithras workshop, and gave gifts as part of the 
>festival in honor of the agriculture god, Saturn.  Even the story of 
>Jesus, the resurrection, the  whole bit, is all a clone of the story of 
>Mithras, which precedes  Christianity by over 600 years....and it goes 
>deeper into  Zoroasterism, with an almost duplicate story of a man who 
>was born a  god-child, was sought to be destroyed by dark forces, birth 
>was  marked by miracles, was religiously active in his 20/30's, 
>professed  a belief of resurrection, judgment day, heaven and hell, 
>etc....all  600-1000 years (and debatably longer) before the dawn of 
>Christianity. Mithraism, the official religion of the Roman empire in 
>274 CE was actually the main rival of Christianity during this time 
>(4th century AD), because they were identical in many respects.  
>Christianity won out because of Constantine's political campaign to unit 
>the republic under one monotheistic state religion.  So, Christmas is 
>basically a past-together holiday of Saturn and Mithras celebrations, 
>along with the Sol Invictus mystery cult"
>
>
>I had also heard that the Solstice celebration amongst many of the 
>Northern shamanic tribes involved the ritual burning
>of the largest felled tree in the forest (the Yule Log) and that the 
>Solstice celebration was the biggest party of
>the year.       I had heard (and I don't know if this is verifiable)   
>that Constantine moved the official celebration of
>Jesus of Nazareth's birth to the 25th in order to allow for these 
>celebrations to continue but in a Christian way
>without upsetting all of his subjects.    
>
>Fascinating stuff.    I think that the cooption of myth and ritual 
>happens continually with
>conquering and conquered peoples.
>
>This is highly evidenced in the African rituals that were coopted by the 
>slave owners in the Caribbean and North and
>South America.............
>
>..................all a part of our sometimes violent heritage as human 
>beings.................let's just hope that
>some alien race doesn't come along (ala 'Day the Earth Stood Still') and 
>take us to task for
>our heritage.
>
>Peace to all of you, whatever you believe.
>
>Rick
>