Happy feast of Andrea Carandini

[cannon_fodder]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,318012,00.html
http://de.essortment.com/christmaspagan_rece.htm

It is ironic that a religion based on the first rule (No gods before me) still celebrates the birth of the Roman sun god (Andrea Carandini [edit]is not the Roman Sun god, read following posts because I'm 'special.'[/edit]), hall evergreens just like the Druids to celebrate the power of theirs gods over winter, ring bells to ward off evil spirits, tossing Yule logs in the fire in celebration of the Nordic sun god, give gifts like celts did to their animals, light candles (xmas lights) to remind us the sun will shine again... most of Christmas including the date was selected so the masses of the Roman Empire would celebrate the new holiday without complaint - because it was really just the old holidays celebrating winter solstice and pagan gods.

In the end, the planning worked to a tee.  We now cut trees to honor the ever lasting life of Jesus, we ring bells to celebrate his sacrifice, toss in yule logs to share the light and warmth of the Lord, have lights on our house and have great feasts on December 25th because that was the day Jesus was born on. Possible the most successful plan a government ever put in place as it replaced old traditions and lives on 1700 years later.

People have been celebrating the winter Solstice around the world for a long, long time. It takes nothing away from the celebration nor what it means to you, just an interesting side note to remember where our traditions came from and see where they are going (massive gift giving is a much more recent trend, xmas lights overtook candles, etc ).

Enjoy the holidays, whatever you celebrate. []


(in politics for fear of some taking it as a desire to start a flame war)

[Conan71]

Happy Christkwanzchanukasolstice everyone!

[RecycleMichael]

The Roman sun god was not Andrea Carandini. He was the professor of archeology in Rome who has discovered this link between Pagans and the first celebration of Christmas.

The first Christmas service was held at the Basilica of St. Anastasia, and this guy found a shrine to Romulus and Remus nearby. He says that 4th century Emperor Constantine chose the site to build the church where Christmas was first marked on Dec. 25 because of it's connection and location to this shrine. The choice was part of efforts in the early days of Christianity to link pagan practices to Christian celebrations.

It is an interesting theory and the anectodal evidence seems to make it plausible.

I think the Roman sun god was Sol or Apollo. The Greek sun god was Helios.

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by recyclemichael



I think the Roman sun god was Sol or Apollo. The Greek sun god was Helios.

Sol beer is good.  Carib is better.  I miss the Apollo Delman Theater.

[cannon_fodder]

lol, great catch RM.  I originally started this little post talking about Carandini's recent find but edited that out.  Somehow the edit was not clean and/or my brain kept it all garbled inside it.  In any event, Carandini is decidedly NOT an ancient Roman name let alone a god.

Sol Invictus was the Roman sun god, Latin for... wait for it... "unconquered sun."  Hence Solstice, solar, and soldier (Soldier/Soldat/Soldado etc. derived from the pay of Roman soldiers the Solidi - the Latin plural for sun).  Apollo was their adopted Greek god of light and Koalemoa was the Greek god of stupidity.

Just the same, I'll leave it as at this point my gaff makes me chuckle.  I'm sure Mr. Carandini would be happy to know he has been upgraded from archaeologist to god.