Mince pies and presents

Son of etc: yes, it is called CHRISTmas. They re-named the festival.
You could re-name Ramadan as Passover, if you wanted, but it still wouldn't be Jewish.

 

Like it.

 

All I am saying, Ricky is that in my country Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. I thought that I would like to make that clear.

 

S.O.E. Is Luton not in YOUR country


(hear hear!! let's put the CHRIST back into CHRISTmas)

 

Yes, very good. I approve.
But why the tree, the holly/ivy/mistletoe, why December 25th?
(And so on)
Do you know when & why the festival of 'Christmas' came into being, and what is was called & for before that?

 

Ricky, I am not sure about why December 25th. But I think the Ivy etc. came from traditions in Bavaria and Saxony (Holy Roman states).

 

I believe the tree comes from the heathen Nordic / Germanic mid winter feast, where symbols of vegetation played an important part. Why December 25th ? I don´t know, we celebrate Christmas on the 24th in Norway, but it has to do with when the sun "turned" and the days got longer.

 

The "Christmas" tree is relevent because of St Boniface the first Christian Martyr. If anyone is interested, I'll post a precis of his story.

 

We are all here to debate, learn and teach. So go ahead, I want to learn.

 

I also know of many traditions related to Christmas and the New Year's day, which have their origin in the pagan times, like fireworks, throwing nuts into a room's corners, and many others. The christianity never annihilated all of the previous religion.

 

(hear hear!! let's put the CHRIST back into CHRISTmas) [/quote]

The only word I have to add is "Amen!"

 

The only word I have to add is "Amen!" [/quote]
Fairly easy to do - just remove all aspects of it rooted somewhere other than Christianity.
What you would probably end up with is people sitting down to a communion meal together, maybe a church service too, and on a different day.

 

All I got to say is this;

You can go practice your religion's practices. I honestly don't care, I won't ask questions, and I won't make biased posts with the soul intent of pissing you off over it.

I only ask that people do the same for me and my religion.

 

Fair enough. I don't think anyone has suggested otherwise yet.

 

I think there's only one think to stay away from Christmas-it's commertialistion. I always get angry when I see in some supermarket a Christmas tree in November :bang: :angry:

 

I highly doubt Boniface was the first Christian martyr; he was murdered in Friesland in 584.

Moonchild: yes you are right! Europe is being overrun by the American way of celebrating Christmas, which frankly very few people I know want to happen.

 

OOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooops!!!

That should have read "First English Christian Martyr"

He was in Friesland (as Roel pointed out) Bringing the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the natives, who at the time worshipped fir trees.
The natives didn't take his message to heart, and they brutally murdered him using two highly sprung fir trees to rip him in half.
Some time later, another Christian missionary met with the same tribe. This time they accepted the joyous news of the Gospel, and turned from their tree worshipping idolatory. As a token of their repentence they vowed to use their fir trees to the glory of Christ & Christianity, and they were quickly incorporated into what we now know as Christmas.

 

...which in itself was a converted Germanic celebration, that of Midwinter or the turning of the sun. Wow, is anything about this festivity even remotely Christian?

 

Trying to analize our celebration is a bit offensive, especialy when people start telling us that it in't Christian and what the Holiday *really* means.

 

I have always wondered on what basis a non-Chritian celebrated Christmas