DID YOU KNOW (I didnt think so) CHRISTMAS
Christmas day was transferred from Jan. 6th to Dec. 25th in 1582 by Julius I.
Christmas Decorations. The great feast of Saturn was held in December when the people decorated the temples with green things. This custom was transferred to Christmas.
Christmas carols are in commemoration of the song of the angels to the shepherds at the nativity.
Christmas box. A small gratuity given servants, etc. on Boxing Day…the day after Christmas. In the early days of Christianity boxes were placed in churches for promiscuous
charities.
Christmas. British slang for railway guard.
December 24th, 2006 at 5:17 pm
On the first point, see http://russian-crafts.com/customs/christmas.html
Paraphrase: The 1582 date was when most of Europe adopted the Gregorian calendar. January 7th under the Julian calendar was 25 December under the Gregorian. […according to the article, that is. The difference between those dates is greater than the 10 days difference between the two calendar types. No matter what, the calendar mishmash is a big factor bethind the twelve days business.]
Julius I was back in the 300-400 range, if we’re talking Popes, that is.
December 24th, 2006 at 9:30 pm
I was just watching Rick Steves travel show, and he brought up the bit about some Pope decreeing that 25.12 as X-mas day how does that fit in with your 1st paragraph ?
December 25th, 2006 at 1:38 pm
Huskysooner is correct about the 4th century being the time when those upstart Christians started taking the Saturn out of Saturnalia. Actually, though, it was an early Christian “historian” named Sextus Julius Africanus ( no, I’m not kidding ) who first popularized the notion that Yeshua of Nazereth was born on December 25. And the Gregorian calendar doesn’t even jive with itself, because we now know for certain that Herod the Great died in 4 B.C., and there’s a good chance that Herod ordered the Massacre of the Innocents BEFORE he died, so that would place the first Christmas at least 2 years prior ro Herod’s demise. Anyway, humans were celebrating the
winter solstice before they invented gods, and since the Vatican couldn’t get folks to stop celebrating this “pagan” holiday, Pope Julius I pre-empted the “return of the sun” with the “coming of the son”. SOLSTICE is the reason for the season.
December 25th, 2006 at 6:02 pm
For more, see the ”Bran King”. Suggested reading for those interested in “That Old Time Religion”…….”The White Goddess” by Robert Graves. I couldn’t make it through the book but, another one is the “Golden Bough” by Frazier (sp?)
When the calender was changed they had to wack a few days pushing Christmas back to Dec. 25th…….as I understand it.
And Merry Christmas.