Before the time of Constantine, the early church never celebrated birthdays. Birthday celebrations with the giving of gifts had long been a pagan tradition and was banned by the early church. Celebrating the birth of Messiah was considered to be blasphemous.
Before Jesus had even been born, the pagans had long been celebrating the birthday of the god Mithras on December 25. In the year 274, The Roman Emperor Aurelian had actually designated Mithras birthday as an official Roman Holiday.
Mithras
Mithras was the Persian Sun God said to be born on December 25, 600 bc. Although Constantine declared Christianity as the only "legal" religion, to Constantine, Mithras was the "supreme god". Constantines logo was of the sun and could be found on all his coins.
After Constantines "conversion" to Christianity, he built his triumphal arch bearing the image of Mithras, the "unconquered sun".
In his new city of Constantinople, he set up a statute of the sun god, bearing his own features.
The day set aside to worship the god Mithras was on "The venerable day of the Sun, " i.e. Sunday.
Also during the festival known as Saturnalia, Mithras birthday was one of the Romans favorite festivals. A time for good cheer and gift giving. A time where houses and towns were decorated with garland, greenery and lights. Saturnalia was a TWELVE DAY celebration - reflecting the 12 month calendar of the sun.
This was a time when the Ashiera Cult, who worshipped trees, would cut trees down and bring them into their homes and decorate them with silver and gold in hopes of being blessed with fertility. Round ornaments were placed on the trees to symbolize the male organs.
Jeremiah 10 - "Hear the word ADONAI speaks to you... 'Don't learn the way of the heathen...for the customs of the peoples are nothing. They cut down a tree in the forest; a craftsman works it with his axe; they deck it with silver and gold. They fix it with hammer and nails, so that it won't move. LIke a scarecrow in a cucumber patch, it cannot speak. It has to be carried , because it cannot walk. Do not be afraid of it - it can do nothing bad; likewise it is unable to do anything good!"
The FEAST of Saturnalia - also commemorated the dedication of the temple of the God of Saturn. The customary greeting was "HO! Praise Saturn!" This phrase was to be repeated three times.
God of Saturn Father Time
The god of Saturn was depicted by figures referred to as Santa or Father Time. His wife was also a god referred to as Mother Earth.
Oden, was the oldest and wisest of the Gods. He had a long white beard and on one night a year, on the solstice in December, he would lead a hunt on his horse to seek out evil doers. People would leave out grain for his horse and food for the spirits.
PAGAN GOD ODEN (WODEN ====> "WODEN's Day"===> Wednesday)
Earth Mother, also made visitations to her people every year. She carried a jeweled stick with holly ivey and mistle toe.
In 575 AD, the early church forbade the pagan custom of garlanding houses with laurel greenery.
During Saturnalia, a beggar or a jew, was selected by the community to be indulged for a week. On December 25, the victim was poisoned with mistletoe and then brutally raped and murdered to "destroy the forces of darkness." (i.e. Kissing under the mistletoe)
During this week, the communities would drink and feast and go from house to house singing naked. (Caroling)
Human shaped biscuits were eaten in honor of the human sacrifice to be given on December 25. (Ginger bread men)
Because of its known pagan origin, Christmas was banned and considered illegal in the state of Massachusetts from 1659 - 1681.
On December 25, 1881, 12 jews were brutally murdered, huge numbers of jews were maimed, and many Jewish women were raped.
St. Nicholas, was a senior bishop at the council of Nicea. He wrote that Jews were "children of the devil that killed our Lord Jesus".
At the council of Nicea - "Those who openly or secretly keep the Sabbath and follow other practices in the manner of the Jews are not to be received into communion, nor into prayer, nor into the church".
The Council of Laodicea - "It is not permitted to receive festivals which are by Jews, nor to hold a festival together with them. Christians must not Judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day...but if any be found to be Judaziers let them be anathema from Christ."
Constantine wrote, "Let us have nothing in common with the Jews, who are our adversaries. This irregularity of observing Passover, must be corrected, in order that we may no more have anything in common with the parricides and murderers of our Lord."
In 321, Constantine deleted the Sabbath day (friday night to saturday night) and replaced the Christian day of worship with "the day of the venerable day of the Sun" in honor of MIthras.
A fourth century mosaic found in the city of Rome portrays Yeshua as the sun god, driving his chariot across the sky. (santa riding through the skies on his sleigh)
Helios- sun god
St. Peters
By the 5th century, it had become common practice for worshippers entering St Peters Basilica in Rome to turn at the door and bow down to worship the rising sun. Thus fulfilling Ezekiels vision in Ezekiel 8:6-16.
Once Yeshua was viewed as a manifestation of the Sun god, Saturnalia became known as Christmas, The Birthday of Jesus.
And where did the red suit come from?
in 1931, Coca Cola ran an advertisement depicting "Santa" with a long beard and wearing a "coca cola red" winter solstice outfit.
BRIAN ASRIEL NEWMAN'S HISTORICAL NOTE:
The Biblical name for "Santa" was Baal. The Priests of Baal wore red suits and pointed hats, like the Tiara of the Popes and Pharoahs, and Santa's pointed hat. They also practiced human sacrifice, painting eggs red with the blood of murdered children, and putting them on evergreen trees to represent Nimrod's Baals.
Ezekiel 8 also mentions the Mistletoe, calling it "sniffing the twig". Whichever woman was caught under the mistletoe by a man belonged to that man for the night. Much like the Feast of Lupercalia on February 14th where a number was painted on a woman in wolf's blood and men would draw from a box held by the priests of Lupercal (Baal, the mighty ... Read Morehunter) and pull out a card called a "Valentine." The woman with the corresponding number painted on her was the man' sex partner until the next February 14th.
Look up "Krampus" if you ever get a chance, its the Germanic origins of Santa's Elves.
Krampus was a giant black beast with goat horns and goat hooves covering in black fur, in children were bad he arrived with Santa and kidnapped and ate the children.
Ofcourse, it all originally came from Babylon-Baal and Easter and Tammuz, the Babylonian Trinity, just keep switching names throughout history. And the whole world wondered after the whore of Babylon.
Sources:
Brian-Asriel Newman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gVFm8yFUPo&mode=related&search=
Origins of Christmas (pt. 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CboZn6wV0Us&mode=related&search=
Origins of Christmas (pt. 2)... Read More
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMdPXqx5kzY&mode=related&search=
Origins of Christmas (pt. 3)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QAj4C6jvtE&mode=related&search=
Origins of Christmas (pt. 4)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDRUs-A1C9A&mode=related&search=
Christmas: Mirth or Myth
http://www.history.com/media.do?id=history_of_christmas&action=clip
The History Channel's brief history of Christmas explained via video!
http://www.beyondtoday.tv/programs/archive/?ProgramID=bt017
Christians who don't celebrate Easter!
http://www.lcg.org/cgi-bin/tw/telecast/tw-telecast.cgi?category=Media1&item=1104443923
Christmas is Pagan video courtesy of Leona Dorothy!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Wl-KjWRxewI
A quick video on the Christmas Tree
http://youtube.com/watch?v=cK-0GLUswwk&mode=related&search=
Winter Solstice Celebration video
http://youtube.com/watch?v=yAgoTEQ7afM
Booddocks' Cartoon on Christmas!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7612817243226715504&sourceid=searchfeed
Wonderful lecture on Christmas!
OTHER GREAT RESOURCES:
http://beyondtoday.tv/booklets/HH/HH.pdf
(This is one of the best articles on Christmas and Easter that's available on the internet, fully supported by scripture. Please read!)
http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=mini_home&mini_id=1290
(The History Channel's article about the History of Christmas!! - MUST READ!)
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03724b.htm
(The Catholic Encyclopedia's article on Christmas - even they acknowledge it's pagan origins!!)
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761556859/Christmas.html#s2
(Microsoft Encarta's article on Christmas)
http://www.mala.bc.ca/~Johnstoi/euripides/euripides.htm
(This is Euripides, a 5th cent Greek Tragedian poet who wrote in one of his plays ("The Bacchae") about the worship of Dionysus and what it entailed. Please read this online text of his play and look at all the parallels with the worship of this ancient god today in the form of Christmas!)
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Periods/Roman/Topics/Religion/Mithraism/David_Fingrut**.html
(A fantastic article about the pagan cult of Mithra - Must read!)
http://www.cs.utk.edu/~mclennan/BA/SF/WinSol.html
(Excellent Article about Greek and Roman festivals on the Winter Sostice from a classical scholar)
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Macrobius/Saturnalia/home.html
(The Latin text of the Roman grammarian Macrobius of 5th cent Rome. This details the practices of Saturnalia, but it has no English equivalent. I'm hoping those of you who have taken Latin may translate the text, or at least try! haha. If noone translates it, I will work on it after I take Latin here in school)
http://communications.uwo.ca/western_news/opinion.html?listing_id=22431
(Article posted in Western News, a publication sponsored by the University of Western Ontario)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/06/HOG3NMPDG11.DTL
(San Francisco Chronicle artice dealing with the history of Christmas)
http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=Pagan%20History%20of%20Christmas&scope=books&FORM=BCNR#q=Church%20History&bookid=d622b08a45924c23&p=7
(An online book on Church History to A.D. 325)
http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=Pagan%20History%20of%20Christmas&scope=books&FORM=BCNR#q=Church%20History&bookid=1f8a1350b4d94367&p=11
(An online book on Church history until the dawn of the Reformation)
http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=Pagan%20History%20of%20Christmas&scope=books&FORM=BCNR#q=The%20Puritans%20and%20Christmas&bookid=96d718ba6fc6be54&p=7
(An online book about the Puritans and their history - I don't agree with everything they did, but they had similar reasons for prohibiting the celebration of Christmas)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas
http://www.religioustolerance.org/winter_solstice.htm
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/calendar/saturnalia.html
http://www.locksley.com/6696/xmas.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_solstice
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagan_beliefs_surrounding_Christmas
http://www.michaelrood.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sol_Invictus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturnalia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Christmas
http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&id=-2t-7Dn6oGYC&dq=%22father+christmas%22+pagan&prev=http://books.google.com/books%3Fq%3D%2522father%2Bchristmas%2522%2Bpagan&lpg=PA207&pg=PA207
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicholas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patron_saint
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origins_of_Santa_Claus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wodanaz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule_Goat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secularization_of_Christmas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_winter_festivals
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karachun
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yalda
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Days_of_Christmas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphany_%28Christian%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Christmas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_Eve
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Solstice_Festival
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanukkah
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_around_the_world#Finland:_Joulupukki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Christmas_traditions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wreath
http://www.liza-kliko.com/laurel-wreath/
http://www.questmagazine.com/library_christmas_german.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Christmas_traditions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dionysus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dionysian_Mysteries
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacchanalia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor%27s_Oak
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yggdrasil
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_lights
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_card
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_season
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_carol
http://www.plumpstocking.com/stockingstuffers/christmas-stocking.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liturgical_Calendar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule_Log
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithraism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Two_Babylons
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiramis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammuz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goddess_worship
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astarte
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_mythology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_religion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Roman_religion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Christianity
http://www.biblebelievers.com/babylon/00index.htm
http://www.whitedove.cc/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=42&Itemid=39
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistletoe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_ham
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freyr
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bl%C3%B3t
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_Mythology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_mythology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_paganism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Saxon_mythology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithra
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithras
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithraeum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Mithras%2C_London
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Periods/Roman/Topics/Religion/Mithraism/David_Fingrut**.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Solar_gods
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/home.html
http://www.mystae.com/restricted/streams/gnosis/mithra.html
http://www.eaec.org/bookstore/books.htm
http://www.cuttingedge.org/
http://www.religioustolerance.org/xmas_tree.htm
http://www.balaams-ass.com/journal/resource/xmass.htm
http://www.exposingsatanism.org/christmas.htm
Origins of Christmas (pt. 1)
http://www.youtube.com/wat
Origins of Christmas (pt. 2)... Read More
http://www.youtube.com/wat
Origins of Christmas (pt. 3)
http://www.youtube.com/wat
Origins of Christmas (pt. 4)
http://www.youtube.com/wat
Christmas: Mirth or Myth
http://www.history.com/med
The History Channel's brief history of Christmas explained via video!
http://www.beyondtoday.tv/
Christians who don't celebrate Easter!
http://www.lcg.org/cgi-bin
Christmas is Pagan video courtesy of Leona Dorothy!
http://youtube.com/watch?v
A quick video on the Christmas Tree
http://youtube.com/watch?v
Winter Solstice Celebration video
http://youtube.com/watch?v
Booddocks' Cartoon on Christmas!
http://video.google.com/vi
Wonderful lecture on Christmas!
OTHER GREAT RESOURCES:
http://beyondtoday.tv/book
(This is one of the best articles on Christmas and Easter that's available on the internet, fully supported by scripture. Please read!)
http://www.history.com/min
(The History Channel's article about the History of Christmas!! - MUST READ!)
http://www.newadvent.org/c
(The Catholic Encyclopedia's article on Christmas - even they acknowledge it's pagan origins!!)
http://encarta.msn.com/enc
(Microsoft Encarta's article on Christmas)
http://www.mala.bc.ca/~Joh
(This is Euripides, a 5th cent Greek Tragedian poet who wrote in one of his plays ("The Bacchae") about the worship of Dionysus and what it entailed. Please read this online text of his play and look at all the parallels with the worship of this ancient god today in the form of Christmas!)
http://penelope.uchicago.e
(A fantastic article about the pagan cult of Mithra - Must read!)
http://www.cs.utk.edu/~mcl
(Excellent Article about Greek and Roman festivals on the Winter Sostice from a classical scholar)
http://penelope.uchicago.e
(The Latin text of the Roman grammarian Macrobius of 5th cent Rome. This details the practices of Saturnalia, but it has no English equivalent. I'm hoping those of you who have taken Latin may translate the text, or at least try! haha. If noone translates it, I will work on it after I take Latin here in school)
http://communications.uwo.
(Article posted in Western News, a publication sponsored by the University of Western Ontario)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
(San Francisco Chronicle artice dealing with the history of Christmas)
http://search.live.com/res
(An online book on Church History to A.D. 325)
http://search.live.com/res
(An online book on Church history until the dawn of the Reformation)
http://search.live.com/res
(An online book about the Puritans and their history - I don't agree with everything they did, but they had similar reasons for prohibiting the celebration of Christmas)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://www.religioustolera
http://penelope.uchicago.e
http://www.locksley.com/66
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://www.michaelrood.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://books.google.com/bo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://www.liza-kliko.com/
http://www.questmagazine.c
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://www.plumpstocking.c
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://www.biblebelievers.
http://www.whitedove.cc/in
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://penelope.uchicago.e
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
http://penelope.uchicago.e
http://www.mystae.com/rest
http://www.eaec.org/bookst
http://www.cuttingedge.org
http://www.religioustolera
http://www.balaams-ass.com
http://www.exposingsatanis
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