Problems with Christmas

[albino_pygmy]

Feel better?

No, I want to punch a puppy and melt a snowman, and then I'll feel peachy

[HauntedGabe]

No, I want to punch a puppy and melt a snowman, and then I'll feel peachy

Would not advise it! With your luck the puppy would bite you first and then piddle and the snowman's after-math would ruin your footwear.

[albino_pygmy]

Wow, you take the fun out of everything, don't you? :P

[HauntedGabe]

Awe, aren't you just a ray of Sunshine Pygie! Just miss'n the Pyg,
'cause I want to hug you, and squeeze you and call you George.

To put you in the Florida Holiday Spirit Pyg....

[albino_pygmy]

Awww, I feel like I'm back home now. Thanks Gabe!

[HauntedGabe]

That is what friends are for my dear boy!

[the7thAve]

I celebrate Christmas b/c it's fun, but I also enjoy the pagan roots of the holiday Yule.

Now, before I get into any sort of heated discussion, let me just say that I'm a moderately devout Catholic who enjoys celebrating Saint Nicholas, the birth of Christ, etc. just as much as anyone else... but I do find the pagan roots of the holiday to be interesting.

Way back "in da day" when the Catholic Church and its militant followers were forcing everyone to convert to Christianity, the Church attempted to outlaw the celebration of all pagan holidays, including Yule and Samhain.

Yule was the celebration based around the Winter Solstice, also known as the shortest day of the year. Back then, the year was divided in to halves: the "light" half and the "dark" half. The light half was the time of year when day was longer than night and good reigned on earth. The dark half was the opposite: it was the time of year when there was more night than day and the balance of power shifted towards evil.

The Winter Solstice, being the shortest day of the year, was the day when evil had the absolute most control over the earth. On a good note, and the main reason it was celebrated, is because this is when good would begin taking control back from the dark side, that is b/c the next day is when the days would begin to get longer, dispelling the evil dark half of the year.

This was celebrated in many ways, the original way being much like Samhain (which would later become Halloween in much the same way that Yule became Christmas) in that farmers, who suddenly had some time on their hands to party between harvest and spring planting, would go door to door making a big racket and demanding treats of various forms, either gifts, food, or most appropriately: libation.

The reason we have Christmas trees is because the evergreen and holly, two plants that not only survive the winter but thrive in it, represent hope and life in the midst of death and evil. Lights were/are used as a symbol of light (good) banishing the darkness (evil).

And while there are plenty of folks out there who may say that Santa Claus is pagan, I'm sorry to say that he is not. Santa Claus, as I'm sure many of you know, is just an Americanized version of the Dutch word for Saint Nicholas, Sinterklaas.

So anyway, the early Church, realizing that they could not keep people from celebrating Yule, decided it would be easier to attach a Christian meaning to the celebration and call it a Christian holiday (many Christian scholars claim that Jesus was probably born sometime in September). So that is why we celebrate the birth of Jesus at the same time as Yule and the Winter Solstice.

oh, and X-Mas isn't some attempt to take Christ out of Christmas, X is an ancient Greek symbol for Christ and Xmas is a very, very old abbreviation originally used by the early Church to avoid religious persecution.

So, to sum it all up, Jesus isn't the only "reason for the season," as they say, but it's mostly a mixture of ancient (Western) pagan tradition and, not-quite-so-ancient-but-still-pretty-dang-old Christian tradition.


And then, there's this guy:


Krampus.
Google him up for a good look at some good old Eastern European (Austria mostly) Christmas tradition.

[elvistelth]

Krampus.
Google him up for a good look at some good old Eastern European (Austria mostly) Christmas tradition.

BEST POST EVER!!!! I didn't even read most of what you wrote but your
Krampus picture ROCKS!!!

[the7thAve]

haha, thanks!

[elvistelth]

Have you ever seen the Venture Bros. Christmas episode that had the Krampus in it?

[the7thAve]

yep. Krampus also made a cameo on the Colbert Report during this past season.

[elvistelth]

I didn't know that, as I don't watch him. Good to know, though.

[the7thAve]

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of Mr. Colbert either, but when you're flipping through the channels it's hard not to stop when you see ol' Krampus strutting his stuff on cable tv.

There's several other "companions" of Saint Nick, whose job is to, basically, punish the bad kids, while Nick rewards the good ones. Some especially notable ones are Ruprecht and Black Pete.

[Berdo]

What I don't like about Christmas is that it cuts into Thanksgiving celebrations. I like to see pilgrim and turkey decorations before garlands and lights go up. Isn't Santa at the end of the Thanksgiving day parade traditionally the official start of the Christmas season? The day after Halloween, Christmas stuff is everywhere. Give Tom Turkey his props.