Replies

And to top the Saturnalia....I give you Mithra. I mean if we are going to back in time, lets go way, way back.

In the end you believe what you believe.

Mithra was:

born of a virgin in a stable on the winter solstice--frequently December 25 in the Julian calendar (the emperor Aurelian declared December 25 to be the official birthday of Mithra, circa 270 CE)--attended by shepherds who brought gifts;
worshiped on Sundays;
shown with a nimbus, or halo, around his head;
said to take a last supper with his followers when he returned to his father;
believed not to have died, but to have ascended to heaven, whence it was believed he would return at the end of time to raise the dead in a physical resurrection for a final judgement, sending the good to heaven and the wicked to hell, after the world had been destroyed by fire;
to grant his followers immortal life following baptism.
Followers of Mithra:

followed a leader called a 'papa' (pope), who ruled from the Vatican hill in Rome;
celebrated the atoning death of a savior who has resurrected on a Sunday;
celebrated sacramenta (a consecrated meal of bread and wine), termed a Myazda (corresponding exactly to the Catholic Missa (mass), using chanting, bells, candles, incense, and holy water, in remembrance of the last supper of Mithra).
The emperor Constantine was a follower of Mithra until he declared December 25 the official birthday of Jesus in 313 CE and adopted the cult of Christianity as the state religion.