Susie is still around...trying to get in the Christmas mood

Hi all, I am still alive and I am surviving through finals. One more Thursday and then I am done until Jan.! I will be partying a lot in between!! I am still finding things to blog about, I just never have time to actually write one. I found a story today that I wanted to write about.

On ABCnews.com I found this story: Christians Aiming to Boost Religion which is about how a bunch of Christian conservatives are trying to force people to put "Christ" back into Christmas by trying to make businesses put up signs that say "Merry Christmas" instead of the considerate and neutral term of "Season's Greetings" or "Happy Holidays".

My first problem with this is that "Christ" was not even born on December 25th! That was a day that Constatine picked to prove a point. Dec. 25th was first "the important Mithraic feast Dies Natalis Solis Invicti (the Birth of the Unconquered Sun). Replacing the pagan feast with Christmas was likely a ploy to make Christianity, the newly official religion of the Roman empire, more palatable to Roman legionnaires, many of whom had been devotees of Mithraism." Constatine decided to put Christmas on Dec. 25th to prove a point that any other belief would not be tolerated. Of course then he went out and killed all of the "pagans" since they did not believe in "his" religion. Should we begin that again too? Shall we revisit the Crusades and have that occur all over again, oh wait, that is basically the Iraq/Afghanistan war...right. We both have different beliefs and have decided to kill others for it.

Second of all, long before "Jesus", the holiday season was celebrated by many. The History channel has a neat summary of the history of Christmas. "Centuries before the arrival of the man called Jesus, early Europeans celebrated light and birth in the darkest days of winter. Many peoples rejoiced during the winter solstice, when the worst of the winter was behind them and they could look forward to longer days and extended hours of sunlight." There are many traditions that we do for Christmas that have been around since way before Christianity. Just to mention a few: "In Scandinavia, the Norse celebrated Yule from December 21, the winter solstice, through January. In recognition of the return of the sun, fathers and sons would bring home large logs, which they would set on fire. The people would feast until the log burned out, which could take as many as 12 days. The Norse believed that each spark from the fire represented a new pig or calf that would be born during the coming year. The end of December was a perfect time for celebration in most areas of Europe. At that time of year, most cattle were slaughtered so they would not have to be fed during the winter. For many, it was the only time of year when they had a supply of fresh meat. In addition, most wine and beer made during the year was finally fermented and ready for drinking. In Germany, people honored the pagan god Oden during the mid-winter holiday. Germans were terrified of Oden, as they believed he made nocturnal flights through the sky to observe his people, and then decide who would prosper or perish. Because of his presence, many people chose to stay inside."

The history of Santa is great too and yet on one bible website I visited to try to find some info. some guy was ranting on about how horrible it is for kids to believe and follow the Santa tradion. "The legend of Santa Claus can be traced back hundreds of years to a monk named St. Nicholas. It is believed that Nicholas was born sometime around 280 A.D. in Patara, near Myra in modern-day Turkey. Much admired for his piety and kindness, St. Nicholas became the subject of many legends. It is said that he gave away all of his inherited wealth and traveled the countryside helping the poor and sick." He became known as the protector of Children and sailors. Why is this bad? If anything, it is a good story to tell Children. It is also a great way for children to fuel there imagination which is important for their development. What is wrong with believing in Santa, a symbol of peace, love and Unity?

The Christmas tree has been around for many years, way before Christianity. It also has a good story behind it and you can read it at The History Channel's web site. Ancient people would decorate there homes in boughs or with a tree to remind them that even though it is winter and cold, the trees still grow and soon it will be spring time again.

Warning: rant up ahead... This quote just made me sad: "There is a revival taking place in our nation that is causing Christian and right-minded people to say, `Wait a minute. We've gone too far,'" says the Rev. Patrick Wooden Sr., pastor of the Raleigh church. "We're not going to allow the country to continue this downward spiral to the left." Wait now, Bush only won the election by one state by a couple hundred thousand votes and many Democrats are Christian too. The "right-winged nut jobs" have not won anything first of all. Secondly, since when is being considerate to other's beliefs and wanting to wish everyone well during this time of the season bad? I don't get why the Christian conservatives think that since Bush won that all of a sudden they have the right to throw Chrisianity into everything. This is still America!!! Freedom to believe in what you want!? This country is composed of people from all over the world and from all kinds of faiths, beliefs, and backgrounds! The damn country was founded by people escaping religious persecution, but now all of a sudden they think that they can start it again! Why? Should we start hanging non-christians again because we think that they are witches? I don't get it? If these people want to be so accurate then they should not put up a tree, have no Santa, no presents, and they should be celebrating another day.

Just replace the word Grinch and you get: How the Christian conservative right stole Christmas...

Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you all enjoy and celebrate what YOU want to celebrate.

I can only hope that the celebration of peace, love, unity, and respect spreads on.