<OT> Merry Christmas

[Kurt Wall]

In a 0.3K blaze of typing glory, Shawn Tayler wrote:
> On Wed, 24 Dec 2003 11:37:59 -0500 "David A. Bandel" <david at pananix.com> prattled on about:
> 
> > Saturnalia
> 
> Ok, this is a new one on me....

Saturnalia is the original Roman holiday converted to Christmas after
Constantine converted the Empire to Christianity. In England, at least,
the mid-winter festival was the Yuletide, which conveniently fell in
what we now call December. Easter, of course, celebrates the old pagan
holiday of Oestre, a frank and unabashed fertility goddess. Hence the
egg, and also the origin of the hormone named estrogen.

Christians, of which I am one, have very few holidays ("holy days")
that aren't heavily influenced by the pagan religions they replaced,
largely because the early missionaries quickly learned to co-opt
native celebrations and overlay them with Christian symbols, themes,
rituals, and motifs.

Kurt
-- 
Workers of the world, arise!  You have nothing to lose but your
chairs.