Let me start by saying, Christmas is certainly not a Christian holiday. It was celebrated far before Jesus, whose birth was actually around September anyway.

When Christianity became the main religion in Rome, the christian leaders found that they couldn't stop people celebrating Saturnalia: a pagan tradition that saw people giving and receiving gifts. They decided that Jesus' birth should coincide with this already established tradition, so invented the fact that Jesus was born on 25th December - the climax of the Saturnalia celebrations.

This meant that those pagans and Romans who were celebrating Saturnalia were also, without knowing it, celebrating this newly named "Christmas". Many pagans were converted to Christianity this way, as they were told that they could still celebrate Saturnalia.

The Saturnalia celebration started with Roman oficials naming an innocent person "an enemy to the Roman people" who was to represent the "Lord of Misrule" during this week long celebration. The person was forced to indulge in food and other pleasures throughout the week, and was brutally murdered on the 25th December to signify the destruction of the forces of darkness this person had been chosen to represent.

Also, throughout the week, Jews were forced to run naked through streets after a heavy meal while crowds of Romans pelted them with various missiles. After this they were usually tortured and/or murdered.

Father Christmas is often thought to be a representation of Saint Nicholas, but Saint Nicholas never even gave gifts to people. The belief stemmed from the year 1087, when a group of sailors moved the bones of St. Nicholas to an Italian deity's sanctuary. This deity was called "the Grandmother" and she filled children's stockings with her gifts. The sailors replaced the Grandmother with St. Nicholas, but continued to celebrate the gift-giving traditions.

Later on, this St. Nicholas-worshippinng cult spread across Europe to German and Celtic pagans who worshipped a god called Woden. He had a long white beard, and rode a horse through the sky one night in Autumn. When the St. Nicholas worshippers came along, they combined this image with St. Nicholas who was actually mediterranean. Woden also had his night rescheduled to the 25th December.

Christmas trees were also taken from paganism. The Asheira, a cult of Pagans, used to worship trees and often brought them into their homes and decorated them. This is yet another belief that Christianity has stolen and painted with a Christian veneer.

So, if you've managed to read all that, then just remember what you're actually celebrating when you open your present, watch a natvity play, or decorate your tree.

Sorry to ruin the "Christmas spirit" but as that spirit is actually one of murder, torture, anti-semitism, theft of beliefs, and lies, then I don't really think it's a bad thing.

Oh right! Did't know that,thanks for telling me

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COME TO MY SS FORUM TO GET POINTS!

Awww, Jack! Where did you get all that Information from?

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I bet you didn't even read it, you're just getting your post count up

Who? Me or Daniel?

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Sorry, I posted that before I saw your post, so it was directed to A_s.

I got that information from various sources, such as a Semitic website.

It's alright lol.
Erm, I want to act like I never read that. I hope it's just an acusation rather than the truth. Christmas, Christmas, Christmas,
Why Christmas!?

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It's extremely likely it's the truth. There are loads of accounts of the practices of Saturnalia, such as from the ancient Greek historian Lucian.

There are also those from reverends, proffessors, rabbis, and even a Pope.

I always though Christmas was to celebrate the birth Jesus

Quite interesting, although, like others, I wish I hadn't read it

You learn something new every day

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Yep, that is what they teach you in RE/RS just because it's simpler and "nicer" than the truth.

RE is a pile of poop, wasted hours of my life

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bounce with me.

I just treat Christmas as like an end of year celebration. I'm not a religious person, I'm not even spiritual anymore in fact.

I really enjoyed RE as a subject. I took the short course GCSE and got an A grade and then I chose Religious Studies for A-Level which wasn't really about the bible - more about philosophy and ethics.

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