They were discussing the celebration of Christmas on Radio 4 this morning and, if I remember correctly, much of how we ‘do’ Christams is a Victorian invention, much of it courtesy of Albert. As was their want the Victorians tidied up a lot of the more folk customs that surrounded Christmas before. So what we have as Christmas now is only about 100 years old; there have been about 1900 years that may have had a very different look to them.

id go for a pagan winter solstice orgy any day
those christians hijacking the solstice have sucked out the true meaning of xmas
(fortunately? its been replaced by norwegian wood, a fat man with a beard and a rampant conumerism orgy)
i think we all contemplate the true meaning to some extent, the days are so short the nights long, it nicely marks the end of 1 year and we are looking forward to the new one
its natural to want to celebrate surviving another one and party hard on the darkest day of the year

Things like this thread make me wonder what the meaning of life is, I mean if Xmas as we know it now is as good as it gets then we are all in trouble as a race.

Some of the posts above have been a hell of a lot more eloquent, but the outcome will probably be the same.

we are all in trouble as a race.

…Correct

I spend a lot of time pondering the original meaning of this festival -the return of our home towards the sun. Most welcome. Also, I like elements of the christian festival too and elements of the modern consumerist festival.

That’s what being English is all about, embracing the myriad of cultures.

Pooked and bored. Who cares about Christmas? Not me’.

Heard this at a carol singing session. Very funny. Try singing it. To yourself if necessary…

God Rest Ye, Unitarians

To the tune of “God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen”

Gods rest ye, Unitarians, let nothing you dismay;
Remember there’s no evidence there was a Christmas Day;
When Christ was born is just not known, no matter what they say,
O, Tidings of reason and fact, reason and fact,
Glad tidings of reason and fact.

Our current Christmas Customs come from Persia and from Greece,
From solstice celebrations of the ancient Middle East.
This whole darn Christmas spiel is just another pagan feast,
O, Tidings of reason and fact, reason and fact,
Glad tidings of reason and fact.

There was no star of Bethlehem, there was no angels’ song;
There couldn’t have been wise men for the trip would take too long.
The stories in the Bible are historically wrong,
O, Tidings of reason and fact, reason and fact,
Glad tidings of reason and fact!

I did a few years ago.
I lived in the country and my car had broken down, so I was having to motorbike evrywhere. I’d been working on a contract 120 miles and rode home at weekends. In December, that’s a long, cold and miserable trek home. One the last mile or so home, I’d cross a hill and see the estate I lived on and the gatehouse at the entrance to the estate. It was lit up like the residents had bought every light in the pound shop. Cheap lights, but from a mile away I could feel the warmth and the glow that said “home”. Another house a coulpe of miles away was the same – lighting up the night.
That’s when I realised, Christmas is nothing to do with christianity and all to do with bribging some light to the darkness
oh right, Saturnalia

breaking open a Tennents Super at 08:30

Is that a celebration …

… or diagnosis?

much of how we ‘do’ Christams is a Victorian invention, much of it courtesy of Albert. As was their want the Victorians tidied up a lot of the more folk customs that surrounded Christmas before. So what we have as Christmas now is only about 100 years old; there have been about 1900 years that may have had a very different look to them

My grandparents generation used to practice an old (local?) custom on Christmas Eve – could well be a pre-Victorian tradition. Not heard of it outside of my part of the world though, and don’t know of anyone else that does / did practice it…

…burning a faggot on Christmas Eve

I kept it up for a while after my grandfather died – but after moving away with work, faggots just became harder to get hold of for the burning.

The story went – as it was passed down to me, not from Google, that burning a faggot on Christmas Eve brought good luck to the house. On the other hand, if you awoke on Christmas moring and there was some faggot left unburnt – bad luck on the household until next Christmas Eve’s burning

It’s much more recent than that in Scotland, my mum moved to Scotland in 1939 (war, from London) and remembers my (religious) gran bursting into tears on Xmas day as the butchers boy came round to take an order. A lot of shops were open as the Scots did New Year…

I was out for a ride this morning at 5am (as you do) and I stopped to look at a bright star in the sky.
All was silent and still.

I felt like a 2-wheeled Mage from the East.
I didn’t have any Frankenstein, Gold or Myrrh though, but it did feel quite Christmassy for a couple of minutes.

waits for 1st

burning a faggot

joke

btw emma what does “pooked” mean …even google doesn’t know!

I do, but then I’m a Christian. I personally think it’s a shame that one type of celebration was merged into another, would have been a lot simpler in the long run to have a ‘new’ celebration on a separate date… But we can’t do much about that now. Most Christians are aware that we don’t know the exact date of Jesus’ birth, but the fact that one day a year is set aside to celebrate it is a good thing. For me it’s a very special time as it marks the birth of my saviour, and a very humbling scene it is too.

For me it’s a very special time as it marks the birth of my saviour

‘Fraid not…

Merry Yuletide, anyway and a Happy New Year.

btw emma what does “pooked” mean …even google doesn’t know!

I think I attempted to write a naughty word in my v. drunken emotional state last night and mu iPhone, obviously realising that swearing is bad changed it for me. Good little iPhone 🙂

I enjoy the ‘true’ meaning of Christmas even though most Christians acknowledge Jesus wasn’t born on 25th December and also acknowledge that 25th Dec is a Pagan festival date and that’s all cool, share and share alike.

I think it’s important humans have a communal celebration, or at least it is for me, and whatever importance you attach to that is up to you.

I think it’s legitimate to mark the birth of Jesus on that day without getting your knickers in a knot over the historical veracity of that date.

But then that’s just me…

over the historical veracity of that date of his actual existence.

Unlike Roy Wood.

which ‘original meaning’? – there seem to be dozens…

i roll with the ‘have a drink, go to bed early, wake up at noon, eat a mince pie and a tangerine, play scrabble with gran, repeat’ school of Christmas.

its all about gold frankenstein and grrr , innit
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YB5f9oLG-k[/video]

Its about one religion nicking another religions festival date so that they could take over. Christians beat the Pagans. They did the same at Easter.

Oh and Christmas is also about wearing silly hats round a large table (made of numerous unmatched tables) eating too much then falling asleep until the dishes are done.

Well, you obviously don’t or you wouldn’t have crossed out ‘Christ’ with an ‘X’ in your original question. :•)