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Christmas is actually a pagan holiday - a holdover from sun (not Son) worship.
BTW, wasn't "whole lotta duct tape" a song by Led Zeppelin?
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Sun worship? Ever since people learned to predict the future ( = make a calendar) by astronomy, the two equinoxes and the longest and shortest days of the year have been holidays in most cultures.
Christmas at least used to be at the shortest day of the year. Not the perfect day for sun worship
The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a f***ing golf cart.
"I don't know, extraterrestrial?"
"You mean like from space?"
"No, from Canada."
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Maybe it was meant as a celebration to the fact, that the shortest day is through and the sun would appear more every day.
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"Not the perfect day for sun worship"?
They considered it a rebirth of the sun - it was getting stronger every day from that points (okay, they were off by a few days). If you don't believe it, though, you can look it up. It's not just a theory. A Roman leader wanted to unite his citizens, pagans and Christians, and figured this was a way to do it.
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It used to be a religious holiday but in recent times it has become a shopping/consumer event.
New version: WinHeist Version 2.1.0
There's a fine line between crazy and free spirited and it's usually a prescription.
I'm currently unsupervised, I know it freaks me out too but the possibilities are endless.
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I'm 40 years old, I don't remember a single Christmas that was in any way religious.
We did try to go to midnight mass at Lichfield cathedral about 20 years ago after the pubs had closed but the queen was there and we weren't allowed anywhere near the place.
Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them.
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Elton? In Lichfield?
PooperPig - Coming Soon
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He plays an impressive organ.
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Pipe or Mouth?
PooperPig - Coming Soon
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The Queen was in a pub? In Lichfield? She must have been shopping for the Queen Mum's Mackesons!
Life is like a s**t sandwich; the more bread you have, the less s**t you eat.
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Yes, to the Gods of consumerism.
Seriously ... If you believe in such things good for you.
We, my parents, sister and I (and bf/gf if applicable) , usually do a posh (food, wine, ...) christmas eve dinner, and on Christmas day, we (at least used to ) have an extended family party, of my father's side of the family ) and we celebrate new year day with my mother's side of the family.
I'd rather be phishing!
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Religious? Nah!
PooperPig - Coming Soon
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It's not "Religion" for us.
For me and my house it is about a person, The birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Merry Christmas CP.
<><
:Ron
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Because its summer in the bottom half of the world, Christmas, New year and few weeks off work means a long summer holiday. Can't wait....
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Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter wrote: Christmas
Yes.
One need only look at the name to see that Christmas has a significant Christian history - hence why songs such as "Silent Night", "Hark the Herald Angels Sing", "We Three Kings of Orient Are", "Joy to the World", etc, have been Christmas staples for over a century.
And although there used to be pagan celebrations around the same time each year, they haven't been the mainstream reason for December celebration since the Middle Ages, when Christianity swept over Europe.
Mind you, nobody can force you to have a Christian Christmas - hence why the old pagan ceremonies are surging in popularity again
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Yes, but Christians hijacked the Pagan festival Yule (Jul) for the date as they did Easter (Eostre) for the crucifixion. Early Christians were a canny bunch and inserting Christianity into and existing festival was much like early Microsoft making it easy to open WordPerfect files in Word. It's sort of insidious - and works! The first mention of December as being Christ's birthday wasn't recorded until about the 3rd century AD. Even the year is open to debate but it was most likely 2 -4 BC.
I get the comments about it being over commercialised, but I think there's also a magical/spiritual element too, although these feelings are probably cultural in origin too. We got time off, presents and feasted, how can that not imprint a bias?
Clearly it has significance for Christians, but this time of year is special to many cultures too as you stated. I'm not a Christian myself (I was raised one), but I LOVE Christmas and play carols on my guitar. (dem Christians have some nice toons!)
Life is like a s**t sandwich; the more bread you have, the less s**t you eat.
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I'm not religious, but my whole family are so at Christmas I go hang out with them, go to church with them, enjoy their company etc
Then I go back to my life of hedonism
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Indoors evergreen with ornaments that symbolize the sun: ☑ (I'm not really sure why though)
Better food than usual: ☑
Rampant consumerism: ☐
Anything Christian: ☐
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Very much the latter for me.
No object is so beautiful that, under certain conditions, it will not look ugly. - Oscar Wilde
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I used to believe. When I was little my experience with Christmas was religious and we had a traditional dinner, followed by Holy Mass at midnight. When I started distancing myself from Christianity, the Holy Mass at midnight became a place to hang out with my friends and still be joyful as it is a holiday nevertheless.
Now that I live a more isolated life - not that socially active any more, but I do have a few very close friends, besides my girlfriend, I see it more as a holiday and a little bit of time for me and her to enjoy ourselves. Like making a special dinner, going somewhere on holiday, have a good time and get in contact with our families as well. Even though there is some taint on the whole Christmas/New Year holiday, as my grandfather who was like a father to me died in this time a few years back, we also gather together and remember him. In general it is still a joyous occasion and a bit of time off.
I no longer hold any religious value to it.
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For my family, Christmas is a celebration of Christ. We exchange gifts in remembrance of the gifts He received. It is not religious; religion is man's attempt to reach God - it is a relationship with our Saviour.
Peace, goodwill to all.
Tim
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Both,
It is a religious holiday. It is some peoples (and mine) day to celebrate a birthday.
It is also a great day to get together with my family and my wifes family and eat food that would make us 300lbs if we ate it everyday. A day to give some gifts to friends and family and a day to just enjoy.
So yes both.
It is not my favorite holiday though.
To err is human to really mess up you need a computer
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Chile Colorado, rice, beans, side beef taco, chips, and salsa.
I am on a MS Lync meeting now, on mute, and I am slowly falling a sleep.
For today, it can't get any better than this.
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