<OT> Merry Christmas

[Keith Antoine]

On Thu, 25 Dec 2003 03:19 pm, David A. Bandel wrote:

> Saturnalia is the original Roman festival that started modern day Xmas
> (at least some of the traditions). Before Christ was born (and even
> after) the Romans danced in the streets with packages wrapped in
> brightly colored paper (presents) and gave them away.
>
> Several hundred years later, unable to wipe out the pagan festival, the
> Roman Catholic Church declared 25 Dec (the height of the Saturnalia
> festival more or less) as Christ's b'day.
>
> Yule Logs come in from some similar Germanic holiday about this time,
> and other things are incorporated (Mistletoe comes to mind, but I forget
> where that came from).  Santa is a fairly recent (only several hundred
> years old) invention from N. Europe if I remember correctly.

Mistletoe dates back to the Celts and was sacred to the Druids, but it is 
wrapped in the mists of time, it means in celtic "all heal", so had magical 
properties.

> Anyway ... that's an _extremely_ abbreviated "history".

-- 
Keith Antoine (GANDALF) aka 'SKIPPY'
18 Arkana St, The Gap, Queensland 4061, Australia:: PH:61733002161
Practising Geriatric, Retired Electronics Engineer, Knowall, Brain in storage