The Nativity

I was going to write something about Christmas, but thought I would post this excellent article about the Nativity and its origins, originally posted by Acharya on the Freethought Examiner.

Every year in the United States, a great furor breaks out around Christmastime, based on the desire of millions of American Christians to see supposed symbols of their faith on public property, such as in schools and government buildings. Secularists and other non-Christians have been objecting and filing lawsuits to prevent what they consider a breach of the "separation of church and state" principle of the U.S. Constitution. The result, of course, is a flurry of news items in all major media decrying the "assault on Christmas." Included in this alleged "assault" are calls for the removal of Christian nativity scenes depicting the birth of Jesus Christ, traditionally said to have occurred at midnight on December 24th, leading to Christmas Day on the 25th. In this regard, for centuries many millions of Christians worldwide have thus believed that December 25th is the birthday of the Lord and Savior Jesus, which is why this day is called "Christmas."

December the month of winter-solstice celebrations

In the modern era, many millions of people have also become increasingly aware that this time of the year is not depicted biblically—contrary to popular belief—as the birthday of Jesus Christ but was in reality an ancient Pagan celebration of the sun, taking place at the winter solstice. These winter-solstice celebrations can be found in many places globally, from Japan to the Americas, dating back thousands of years. Some of them, such as the ancient Greco-Roman celebration of Brumalia or the Roman Saturnalia, lasted for several days preceding the solstice time. In the 2010 calendar, for example, Brumalia begins on November 24th, while December 11th represents the birthday of Bruma, Roman Goddess of Winter. Rather than being confined to a particular day or week, the winter solstice is celebrated throughout the month of December in the northern hemisphere, with other examples such as the birthday of the Japanese sun goddess Amaterasu on December 8th, the Roman Festival of Lux Mundi or the "Light of the World" on the 10th, the Amitabha Buddha of Light's birthday on the 12th and the Festival of the Egyptian sun god Sokar on December 22nd. Other sun gods such as Mithra, Sol and Horus were likewise born on December 25th, which represents the end of the three-day period of the winter solstice, the latter word meaning "sun stands still."

The rebirth of the sun

Egyptian baby sun god Sokar in ark
with triple god Ptah-Sokar-Osiris

All around the northern hemisphere, beginning in ancient times and continuing to this day, it has been recognized that the days in December are the shortest of the year, with the culmination of the "sun's dying"—as this natural phenomenon came to be viewed—on the 21st-22nd. The ancients perceived the sun to "stand still" or be "dead in a cave" for three days before being renewed, resurrected or "born again" on December 24th-25th. Hence, in some cultures, such as Egypt, an image of a baby representing the sun, lying in an ark, bark or "manger," was brought out of the temple at this time to be shown to the people, who would celebrate his birth with great joy and festivity, as this time symbolized the return of the healing, savior sun and renewal of life on Earth.

A close look, therefore, at the abundant winter-solstice celebrations in the month of December that essentially represent the birthdays of the sun god will afford us a solution to the problem of the purportedly "Christian" creche and its public display: Return the solstice to its ancient meaning and make the nativity scenes reflect what they truly represent—the birth of the sun. Having thus basically secularized the displays, there will be no conflict with the law and U.S. Constitution.

Sources & Further Reading

Group requests removal of nativity
SC fire department removes nativity display
The 2010 Astrotheology Calendar
Winter Solstice: The REAL Reason for the Season
Jesus Christ as the Sun God throughout History
Christ in Egypt: The Horus-Jesus Connection

Christians should read this. They think their religion was dropped from the sky one day, as if by magic, with no influence from any other religion. Nothing could be further from the truth. Every symbol that they hold most dear was already in place thousands of years ago; the Christians simply revised it for their own purposes. That Nativity scene on someone's front lawn reenacts the birth of the new sun at the winter solstice, year after year. As such, there is no point complaining about "Christian" symbols being publicly displayed--they are ancient pagan symbols, too. My favorites are the ones with Santa Claus in them. I guess some people want to cover all grounds.