How the Unconquerable Sun lost His Birthday to Jesus Christ!
The Wrong Date of Birth
In the United States and other countries, we celebrate Christmas on about December 25th every year and for religious people, this is the birth of Jesus the Son of God! But this is not his true birthday. Several different dates have come up through the years as the true day including March 20 of 6 BC because for the eclipse of Jupiter by the moon that Magi witnessed in the East or some time in September because Roman did not take the censuses in the winter month.
In addition, the year is about the correct day but it could be off by several years one way or the other. The fact is a man named Jesus was born and then killed by the Romans on Friday about 3pm in the evening, most likely in April with the year being between AD 30 to 33. The death date is more likely to be correct as the Romans keep detailed records but their is a bit of an issue about what king what in power and the time exact time frame.
The crazy thing is most people don’t realize that Cleopatra VII died just about 30 years earlier. The her death and the Roman Empire changing from a Republic to a Monarchy as Octavian become the first master of the Roman world helped lead the rise of Christianity and the fall of the Roman Empire. Jesus was one of the first hero’s to demand that the house of God be a temple of pray and not a temple that conducted business, i.e. merchants and money changers littered the temple courts not unlike tourist traps today, litter our great Wonders of the World.
The Beginning of Christmas
A solstice which when the Earth’s Poles reaches its maximum tilt away from the Sun which creates the shortest or longest day of the year depending on which hemisphere, i.e. the equator to the top or bottom of the globe. It happens twice a year as is the Winter or the Summer Solstice. In the Northern Hemisphere, the Winter Solstice is December 21st but it is the Summer Solstice for the Southern Hemisphere. As the Summer Solstice is June 20th or 21st for the Northern Hemisphere and Winter Solstice for the Southern Hemisphere.
The Equinox was also important as that would be the day that the light would be equal on both parts of the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. Spring Equinox is about March 21 for the Northern Hemisphere but for the Southern Hemisphere it is called the Autumn Equinox. Between September 21th to 24th, this is reversed for the Northern and Southern Hemispheres were the Northern is now in the Autumn Equinox and the Southern is in the Spring.
The Solstice and Equinox were in important part of most human societies throughout history. The Solstice and the Equinox would created many gathering throughout the world and became special dates within their lives and for most, their religious belief systems. These were important for knowing when to plant, harvest, tend to live stock, groups of people to move from summer to winter homes.
If you look around the world, you will find that many of the monuments that were created have a direct link to these four days. Places like Stonehenge in England, Machu Picchu in Peru, Chichen Itza in Mexico, Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, Newgrange in Ireland, and The Pyramids in Egypt. These are just a few. More and more prehistory sites are being found that have relationship with the Solstice and the Equinox as science have found a way to look back at the night sky and the monuments line up to these and/or other stars, galaxies, or other celestial items.
Being able to predict when to plant seeds, collect crops, move from the heat of the desert to the mountains, deal with livestock, etc. was in important factor for early man to survive and become the dominant species on Earth. These traditions would be come a way of life, death (human sacrifice), celebrations, the building blocks of a community, and create deep rooted believes. Many of these became holidays and festival for the pagans.
Pope Julius I set Jesus birth date on December 25th during his rule between 337 and 352. He chosen the date to coincide with the pagan Festival of Saturnalia which was a Festival for the Birth of the Unconquerable Sun. The Roman God Saturn was an agricultural deity and festival was for the promise of spring. It was original was held on December 17th but over time, it was a week long festival that ended on December 23rd.
The festival started with a sacrifice at the Temple of Saturn where the priest would uncover his head which was the opposite of the normal way things were done. The God of Saturn also had wool around his feet through the year. The wool would be cut away as part of the festival ceremony. The Roman Senate would then have the deity’s image placed on a sumptuous couch so the deity could be a part of the festival. The deity was offered food. Then a public banquet was held.
The festival was a holiday from all forms of work including school, exercise regiments, the court were closed, and it was the one day that no declaration of war could be made. After the public rituals and banquets were completed. People would return home and keep observing the holiday which included sacrificing a suckling pig to the God of Saturn. This was also a time when slaves would be free to wear items that were generally only allow to be wear by Rome Citizens and they were free to speak freely without the threat of any punishment. The masters would also provided table service for the slaves. It was a continual party and carnival atmosphere.
It was also a time to elect a King of the Saturnalia who would order people around and would presided over the party. The King was choose by having a coin baked into a cake and cutting a piece until it was found. The King could command anything that he wanted and it would be obey by all. It was a festival of role reversal and the prohibited gambling and dice playing were allowed. (So, basically spring break for the whole place.)
This holiday would turn into Christmas. Another item during the festival was on December 19th. It was a day of gift giving. Children would get toys and adults would get gift according to the social statue of the giver. This included a lot of gag gifts, candles, books, pets, clothing, writing tables, balls, perfumes, a pig, cups, etc. But some of the gift would be a slave or exotic animals. (So, nothing has changed.) But sometimes verses or poems accompanied the gifts which today is the greeting card industry. The gift giving was mainly on that day but could be for the whole festival. The festival was held throughout the Empire.
At first, the Christian Church tried to force pagans and other groups to stop their holidays and festivals. This was not well received and many of the pagans would not let them go and it created issues to converting pagans into Christians as pagans refused to get up their holidays and festivals. Around 600 DC, Pope Gregory I was the one who issued instructions to his missionaries to incorporate pagan customs, beliefs, and holidays into the church.
He was brilliant man. His missionaries were to allow the pagans holidays and festivals and then twist them into becoming a part of the Church with religious means behind pieces of the festival and slowly turn them into Church Holidays and Festivals. These changes slow turned Christmas into one of the biggest Christian Holiday across the World. The biggest being Easter.
A Few Christmas Traditions from Pagan Festivals
Celebrating the Winter Solstice is the first which was way Christmas is celebrated at the end of December as the Solstice is around the 21st each year. The overeating and partying dates back to the the Roman Holiday Festival of Saturnalia.
Exchanging gifts goes back to the Roman holiday Festival of Saturnalia which was celebrated around the Roman Empire and you did not have to be in Rome to celebrate it.
The Germanic and Scandinavians brought evergreen trees into the house during the winter solstice symbolize the return of life and light during the tough winters. The Pope had his missionaries make it a symbol of Christ which turned it into a Christmas Tree. The pagans hung apples on the tree which is why we hang ornaments on the tree.
The Druids started the Mistletoe as it was considered an powerful healing item from their sacred oak tree. Mistletoe was hung on the door as a symbol of peace. Kissing under it was sybol of love and freindship. The English churches actually banned the use of mistletoe as it was such a powerful symbol of paganism. But as time went by it was allowed back.
The Nordic and Germanic Paganism would burn a Yule Log in honor of the god Thor to bring protection and good luck. This tradition is slowly going away as most of us no longer have fire places in our homes.
Santa is not just one pagan but a mix of all the spirit and gods and mythical characters. The Church helped push that St. Nicholas to make it more Christian but Coca Cola is the actual one that put Santa on the map in 1931. Haddon Sundblom painted Santa with rosy cheeks, a white beard, and twinkling eyes by a poem from Clement Clark Moore’s 1822 poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” with an advertising campaign. Thanks to this campaign and those after it. Santa is one of the most recognized characters on earth.
NORAD Tracks Santa
In 1955, Sears-Roebuck ran a advertisement for callers to call Santa in Colorado Springs newspaper which transferred the calls to the Sears Catalog Operators. The phone number that was printed was incorrect and children started calling the Red Phone Line to the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) Operations Center in Colorado Springs. In the White House, the Red Phone was installed during President Kennedy to go straight to the Soviet President to stop a nuclear war.
The Red Phone at CONAD in Colorado Springs was to be used only by a 5 star general or the President of the United States to command a nuclear strike. The base commander answered the phone, shaking I am sure as he thought he was being ordered to conduct a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union. But rather, a 5 year old child was asking for Santa. Thinking it was a Christmas Eve joke, he realized that it was not. He handled it like a professional. Professional Dad that is! They number got an overwhelming amount of calls and they fielded them all. But he went a step further, he called the local radio station to say that they were tracking a UFO and it looked like it was Santa’s Sled.
The mistake lead to the largest outreach programs in the United State Government that tracks Santa every year on the Norad’s Website which tracks Santa on December 24th, takes calls to talk to children, and does other things. The calls will come from over 100,000 children from all over the world. They will be transferred to a person that speaks their language including Finnish, French, Japanese, Danish, Greek, Spanish, Etc. The volunteers will tell them what time Santa will be in their areas.