sotto voce

'The celebration of 'Christmas' (Christ's Mass) was the invention of a brutal and corrupt police state.'

How far is this true, and are there signs of totalitarian interest in this event today?

Sheshbazzar

Only that we are force fed on this garbage from infancy, and socially pressured to conform, and always to remember to say; 'Thank you more please!'

Toto

Where does that quote come from? Does the brutal and corrupt police state refer to the Roman Empire, Charlemagne, or some other ruler who instituted general holidays corresponding to Christian feast days?

Chili

Christmas is derrived from 'the Christ-mass' and that is not equal to Christ's mass as offered for him or her celebrated in his honor or something like that.

There is no historic memorial in the Christ mass but it is a presentation of the prevailing mood that finds its crisis moment in this glorious midnight, midwinter, midlife event when, and only when Christ can be born unto them.

It is celebrated for 2 days because that is when the sun stopped on the other side of life, to say that the light of common day has lost its lustre and shine and does not seem to be real at this point in life.

It is not party-time at all, and is preceded by Advent to show the color purple as the high-point of involutional dispair in the mind of the believer, who, lo and behold may recognized the white candle in the Advent wreath as his own baptism candle calling his name to announce the good news that Christ will be born unto him.

If indeed this is true the Magi will follow the Star of Beth-le-hem shining on him, and the gifts of St. Nicholas foreshadowed on Dec. 6 will be his on Jan 6 when the Magi arrive if he is still home in the stable that he had made for himself; to say that his mind was and remained entertained by the good news that he had received.

So it is an allegory and that is all it is and those clowns just put on the show.

Sheshbazzar

I have the seven annual Sabbath's of Yahh-Yahweh to observe and to keep in their appointed seasons.

I observe the spring and the fall equinox's, and the summer and the winter solstices.

And the coming in and the going out of the moons and of the months in their seasons.

And I also observe all of The Festivals and Holy Days of those among whom I dwell.

No one coerces me, and I coerce no one. I observe all of these things in their seasons because I love learning and life.
It is always its own reward.


Sheshbazzar The Hebrew

Roger Pearse

The statement seems to be a crude falsehood, presumably uttered from hate. Police states do not exist before modern times, for one thing. For another, the origins of the celebration of Christmas are murky, but certainly go back into days when Christianity was illegal.

Probably; most totalitarian ideologies try to invent their own replacements for Christian holidays. Indeed it is almost a fingerprint for oppressive politics, that it can't leave such things alone.

I have been unable to locate any instance of this "quote" on the web. Did you make it up, or did you copy it from somewhere, and if so where?

All the best,

Roger Pearse

sotto voce

Did Rome exploit populations from Hadrian's Wall to the Persian border by consent?

sotto voce

Evidence?

tanya

Stonehenge

Chili

I always thought that it is a Catholic thing that is celebrated on Dec.25 to show the involution of faith as depicted by the numbers 2 and 5 wherein the believer is urged to look inside and there see a glimmer of hope in the darkness that surrounds a tiny light, now in the inner sanctum of their being to lead their way. Kind of like Noah did when he send a dove to scout.

It has nothing to do with with equinox that is for star gazers only who look outside to find new life, and if they ever do it will be a burning bush to scorch their hair that makes them hyper active in response to quench their thirst. And flipping pages they will go, squaking all the while like a rooster with its head chopped off untill finally they run out of steam and will die there nonetheless, having missed the Magi, obviously, with their head on fire for the Lord.

But they are fun, and do deserve an appause for their good effort, so they say, as the elect are not chosen by them.

The diffence is in the manger, I suppose, where solid food is found that keeps them entertained until the Magi do arrive and make Beth-le-hem true to its own name. And so the star of Bethlehem is real, but certainly is not up in the sky where even the light of common day is an illusion and the stars at night are just a shimmer to shine their fantasy.