No one knows what day Jesus Christ was born on. From the biblical description, most historians believe that his birth probably occurred in September, approximately six months after Passover. One thing they agree on is that it is very unlikely that Jesus was born in December, since the bible records shepherds tending their sheep in the fields on that night. This is quite unlikely to have happened during a cold Judean winter. So why do we celebrate Christ’s birthday as Christmas, on December the 25th?
The answer lies in the pagan origins of Christmas. In ancient Babylon, the feast of the Son of Isis (Goddess of Nature) was celebrated on December 25. Raucous partying, gluttonous eating and drinking, and gift-giving were traditions of this feast.
In Rome, the Winter Solstice was celebrated many years before the birth of Christ. The Romans called their winter holiday Saturnalia, honoring Saturn, the God of Agriculture. In January, they observed the Kalends of January, which represented the triumph of life over death. This whole season was called Dies Natalis Invicti Solis, the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun. The festival season was marked by much merrymaking. It is in ancient Rome that the tradition of the Mummers was born. The Mummers were groups of costumed singers and dancers who traveled from house to house entertaining their neighbors. From this, the Christmas tradition of caroling was born.
In northern Europe, many other traditions that we now consider part of Christian worship were begun long before the participants had ever heard of Christ. The pagans of northern Europe celebrated the their own winter solstice, known as Yule. Yule was symbolic of the pagan Sun God, Mithras, being born, and was observed on the shortest day of the year. As the Sun God grew and matured, the days became longer and warmer. It was customary to light a candle to encourage Mithras, and the sun, to reappear next year.
Huge Yule logs were burned in honor of the sun. The word Yule itself means “wheel,” the wheel being a pagan symbol for the sun. Mistletoe was considered a sacred plant, and the custom of kissing under the mistletoe began as a fertility ritual. Hollyberries were thought to be a food of the gods.
The tree is the one symbol that unites almost all the northern European winter solstices. Live evergreen trees were often brought into homes during the harsh winters as a reminder to inhabitants that soon their crops would grow again. Evergreen boughs were sometimes carried as totems of good luck and were often present at weddings, representing fertility. The Druids used the tree as a religious symbol, holding their sacred ceremonies while surrounding and worshipping huge trees.
http://www.essortment.com/all/christmaspagan_rece.htm
I was looking at T5 on Google maps to see how to get there and noticed a very strange shape plane on the tarmac
I also noticed the interesting montage of aerial photos. Some were while construction was still taking place.
YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2009 when…
1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.
2 You haven’t played solitaire with real cards in years.
3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 4.
4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.
5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don’t have e-mail addresses.
6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your mobile phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the shopping.
7 Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen
8. Leaving the house without your mobile, which you didn’t have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.
10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee.
11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )
12 You’re reading this and nodding and laughing.
13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.
14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.
15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn’t a #9 on this list
AND NOW YOU ARE LAUGHING at yourself.
Contrary to popular opinion, you can’t actually manage time, you can only manage what you do during time.
So… how do you feel about time?
Generally younger people want time to speed up and older people want time to slow down.
My theory of time perception that as we age we tend to experience time passing more quickly. Ask any body of any age, did last year seem to faster than any other?
When we were five years old a year is 20% of our live and that is a big chunk. When I was forty, a year was 2.5% of my life. That is a much smaller chunk (although it of course the same amount of time – barring leap years). So a year is relatively less time in my forties than when I was younger and it just seems to pass more quickly
As time marches on we can choose to feel bad, indifferent or good about it.
Because we do tend to think about time often, then, for the sake of our happiness, it follows that we should try to feel good about it.
How do we do this? Well, whenever we think about the past, present or future, we do so in a way that makes us feel good.
1. When we think of the past, focus on things that bring a smile to our faces. Achievements we’re proud of, events we enjoyed, people we enjoyed being with… even embarrassing moments that make us laugh now. Whatever makes us feel happy.
2. When we’re in the present, try to BE in the present. To enjoy and appreciate what we have RIGHT NOW. From the “big” things, like the wonderful people in our lives, to the littlest things.
3. When we think about the future, we think about the GREAT things we expect it to bring. We visualize having everything we want, being happy, and having everyone around us be happy.
