Christmastime for the Jews

Ok listen up because I'm about to, in the parlance of Charlie from Always Sunny, crack an egg of knowledge all over you. Some of you probably know a lot of this stuff already, and others of you I've talked to about it. But it wasn't until this morning in the shower that I realized why I find it such an important message to spread. And here it is: Christmas has nothing at all to do with Christianity or Jesus….historically speaking. As a culture we have chosen to forget this. The following is taken from the History Channel's website:

The middle of winter has long been a time of celebration around the world. 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.

In the early years of Christianity, Easter was the main holiday; the birth of Jesus was not celebrated. In the fourth century, church officials decided to institute the birth of Jesus as a holiday. Unfortunately, the Bible does not mention a date for his birth (a fact Puritans later pointed out in order to deny the legitimacy of the celebration). Although some evidence suggests that his birth may have occurred in the spring (why would shepherds be herding in the middle of winter?), Pope Julius I chose December 25. It is commonly believed that the church chose this date in an effort to adopt and absorb the traditions of the pagan Saturnalia festival.

Funny isn't it, that people complain about the commercialization of Christmas when the holiday itself was a marketing campaign from the start? A lot of Jews hate on Christmas (Lord knows I hate on the gawd awful music), or at the very least feel left out around this time of year. And there's something sad about that because what was once a beautiful festival celebrating nature has been confiscated by the Church, leaving non-Christians and atheists to recognize it as a day off of work and little else. It's time to recognize this time of year for what it is, a holy transition point in our year, a day from which all days will begin to get longer, and a holiday that a man in a funny hat once proclaimed to be the birthday of the son of God. Don't let anyone rob you of the true meaning of Christmas or of anything else. Because the further we stray from our Mother Earth, the easier it is to destroy Her.

And I guess what I'm really trying to preach here is not so much that we all learn to recognize this holiday in our own way, but that we all learn to question things in our lives more. On the whole I see a major lack of creative and independent thought in our culture today. I believe it to be a very healthy thing to question everything worth questioning, everything not worth questioning, even your own thoughts. These upcoming years are critical to our survival and evolution as a species, and if we want good things to happen we have to make them happen. We are immensely more powerful and creative than most of us give ourselves credit for.

Many blessings to you today and for the upcoming year. Peace, love and light.

"You can't hide from the truth, cause the truth is all there is"