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=> THE ORIGINS OF CHRISTMAS

THE ORIGINS OF CHRISTMAS
Posted by Maggie (Guest) - Monday, December 26 2005, 20:34:15 (CET)
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Here are transcripts from my Christmas show on Saturday, December 24, 2005.


THE ORIGINS OF CHRISTMAS

Christmas has it’s origins in Mesopotamia, ( Bet Nahrain). The Assyrians celebrated the two Equinox, Spring, (Nissan) which is the Akitu Festival, (Akitu-meaning building life on earth) and the Winter Equinox. The Winter Solstice, December 21 was the start of celebrating the harvest. amidst the dying nature. All things would turn brown except the evergreen, which would remain green and fresh all year long. This became the symbol of life, which is why it was called, “The Tree of Life.”

At winter time, it was too cold to go anywhere or do anything. People would take this opportunity to rest and celebrate their harvest, and relax during winter.

Most ancient Assyrian households would take an evergreen into the house and decorate it with apples, pomegranates, and berries, to signify their harvest. Each household would also light candles to signify the light of the sun, which was a representation of Allaha Ashur to remind them of the light and warmth of Ashur during a bleak and dreary winter. Ashur was depicted standing in the middle of the sun with the sun’s rays emanating to give warmth and light to the world. Many cultures took the symbol of Ashur and carried it with them into other territories as they established their own culture.

This celebration carried into Western cultures, starting with the Romans, who called it Saturnalia. Saturnalia means the sun is at the farthest point from the planet Saturn. Later on, as migrating Assyrians were moving from Mesopotamia to other destinations, one of the Assyrian groups known as the Celtic Hittites moved to Europe and settled in what we know today as United Kingdom. They took these traditions with them and spread this celebration throughout Europe. The Celtic Hittites became known later as the Celts who were nature worshippers and revered many of the Assyrian traditions, such as the Tree of Life, which later became known as the Christmas Tree. They also carried the worship and celebration of Istarte, (Ishtar) and Tammuz with them.


These traditions carried into history. 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

The practice of tree worship has been found in many ancient cultures. Often, trees were brought indoors and decorated to ensure a good crop for the coming year. Trees have also been linked to divinity. Assyrian-Babylonians associated the palm tree with Baal. So did the Egyptians with the god Baal-Tamar, while the Greeks and Romans believed that the mother of Adonis was changed into a fir tree. Adonis was one of her branches brought to life.

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 their own winter solstice, known as Yule. Yule was symbolic of the pagan Sun God, Mithras, (taken from the worship of Ashur) 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, 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, just as Ashur represented the sun. The traditions were taken directly from the Assyrian worship of Ashur in the wheel of the sun, and many cultures still revere this symbol. In fact, a country was named for Ashur, which is Azerbaijan, which literally means "sun". (Assur became Azur, which in turn became Azer).

The Mistletoe was also considered a sacred plant for the Druids, and the custom of kissing under the mistletoe began as a fertility ritual. Holly berries were thought to be a food of the gods.

Christmas (Christ-Mass) as we know it today, most historians agree, began in Germany, though Catholics and Lutherans still disagree about which church celebrated it first. The earliest record of an evergreen being decorated in a Christian celebration was in 1521 in the Alsace region of Germany. A prominent Lutheran minister of the day cried blasphemy: “Better that they should look to the true tree of life, Christ.”

In the middle ages, Europeans took the word Christmas from ancient Christian compound words of Christ-Mass. Today, throughout Europe, the Germans, the French and the English call it Christmas, also known as Boxing Day, which comes from the church alms boxes given to the poor or needy during the Christmas holiday. In France, this tradition became known as Christ bundles given to the poor by French nuns. In the Netherlands, Christ Bundles became known as Christ Krindle and this is how the word Chris Kringle became the Western proper name of Santa Claus.


THE LEGEND OF SANTA CLAUS

St Nicolas, or as Assyrians call him Mar Nicola was a pious man who was born in Myra, Lycia in Mesopotamia, (present day Turkey.) Mar Nicola is said to have been a faithful Christian who fasted every Wednesday and Friday. He worked hard all year long and turned his wages into gold balls. Each year he would pick a few needy families that were poor or could not afford to marry off their daughter. He would throw these gold balls through the window into the house of a needy family. Sometimes if the window was not open, he would throw the balls through their chimney so that the household would be able to afford what they needed or give their daughter a wedding.

One day a needy family had hung their stockings to dry by the fire place. Mar Nicola dropped a gold ball through the chimney and a gold ball landed in one of the stockings. This is how the tradition of hanging the stockings from the fireplace got started.



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