Primus Pilus Posted December 25, 2008 Report Share Posted December 25, 2008 In the spirit of holiday cheer, just wanted to take a moment to say Merry Christmas to all of you crazy Christians out there. Hope you are having a wonderful day. I woke to find Maty's book "Ancient Rome on 5 Denarii a Day" peeking out from my stocking. My wife had no clue that he is a prominent member of our forum. That really made my day. Cheers everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caesar novus Posted December 25, 2008 Report Share Posted December 25, 2008 (edited) Merry Christmas to all of you crazy Christians out there. Maybe the Constantine era Romans were wise to have a more inclusive idea of Christmas that reached out to pagan sun worshippers, war mongers, and the like. They set it to the winter solstice in the 10th ("dec") month of Romulas, which would now be December 22 if the changeover to gregorian calendar hadn't knocked it askew. Christmas, during the early centuries, was the most variable of the Christian feast days, and was often confused with the Epiphany, and celebrated in the months of April and May. Pope Julius I, in the fourth century commanded a committee of bishops to establish the date of the nativity of Jesus. December 25 (the day of Sol Invictus, the invincible sun) was decided upon. Not coincidentally, that is the day when the "pagan world celebrated the birth of their Sun Gods ... because that is when the sun turns toward strength. I realize the materialistic side of Christmas has spread to secular, buddhist, confucian etc. worlds, but what about the spiritual side? When that gregorian calendar change delinked Christmas from the solstice we saw the rise of secular renaissance and enlightenment movements that put a squeeze on mankind's natural religious nature, which then came out in fringe ways such as from hippie sun worship to kwanzaa. Why not take a lesson from Halloween, which thrives in a synthesis of the pagan and Christian ("all hallows eve"). Reset Christmas to Dec 22 and encourage bonfire parties at stonehenge-like sundial structures around sunset. Pay tribute to Constantine's war god by throwing straw filled replicas of your enemies into the fire. The Christian intellegensia can continue to put the focus on the "true" spirit of Christmas, but meanwhile there is a socially binding ideology for the rest Edited December 25, 2008 by caesar novus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursus Posted December 26, 2008 Report Share Posted December 26, 2008 Ho, ho, ho and a bottle of rum. May Santa have been good to all nice Romanophiles. And even to the naughty ones like Nephele! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nephele Posted December 26, 2008 Report Share Posted December 26, 2008 Ho, ho, ho and a bottle of rum. May Santa have been good to all nice Romanophiles. And even to the naughty ones like Nephele! Naughty Nephele was relatively well-behaved on Christmas Day , as I spent the day at Radio City Music Hall -- as a spectator, not as a dancing Rockette. -- Nephele Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klingan Posted December 26, 2008 Report Share Posted December 26, 2008 Merry Christmas everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornelius_sulla Posted December 27, 2008 Report Share Posted December 27, 2008 (edited) Me and a mate decided to revisit our wasted youth this year as our christmas theme. We dressed down in our oldest Slayer t-shirts, turned the metal up to 11 and got hammered! We bought ourselves a keg for christmas and drank the lot between us. Fun at the time but now my head feels as if it was cleaved in twain by a gladius. Merry Christmas and a drunken New Year to all! Edited December 27, 2008 by cornelius_sulla Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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