[dandelion]

Jeez, like I guess they never heard of Saturnalia or Winter Solstice...

[yankeedame]

Jeez, like I guess they never heard of Saturnalia or Winter Solstice...

No, but did you know that New Year's Day in ancient Rome was/is our April 1st? And that on New Year's Day the Romans ran around playing (practical) jokes and tricks on one another? Which is why we today clown around on April 1st and call it "April Fools Day". We're unknowingly celebrating the ancient Roman's New Year Day.

(Hey, when it comes to worthless trivia I'm full of it!)

[MrsEmmaPeel]

My thoughts exactly

[Skywalk]

I thought everyone knew that a great deal of "Christian" culture was, in fact, co-opted from contemporary or more ancient sources?

Mithras is the Savior-God whose birthday was celebrated on December 25th. Not just "winter solstice" but specifically Dec. 25th. Why is that important? Because Christianity was in competition with Mithraism and later needed to win over more adherents, thus they brought that date in.

Just as we all know Easter is derived from the many-named, many-faced goddesses of fertility--Astaroth, Ishtar, Astarte, etc.

Why is this important? Well, if you go around claiming that JESUS, specifically, is the only Way to the Father then it makes a dent in your credibility if these holidays that are allegedly built around your deity are taken from other religions/cultures. It further dents the credibility of said religion, because there are so many other savior gods who have similar myths that came BEFORE the birth of Christ, that it makes Christianity seem like the copy of other religions, rather than the reverse being true.

[Henchman]

TOGA! TOGA!

[#3Fan]

Jeez, like I guess they never heard of Saturnalia or Winter Solstice...

That's what I was thinking. I'd imagine that's been celebrated for 10,000 years. Dec 21 is not Dec 25, innacurate calendars back then notwithstanding.