Thursday, December 21, 2023
The Paganism Of The Christmas
Seven years ago I woke at 3:33 AM to view the first winter solstice lunar eclipse. I climbed out onto the roof of the Fort Greene Observatory and lifted my eyes to the heavens. A sliver of silver topped the Earth’s satellite. I stripped naked to bathe in the light of the sun off the moon. The frost on my skin was the only human sacrifice within sight. After thirty seconds I retreated within the Observatory and shivered myself to sleep .
Today is also the shortest day of the year and this morning I woke at 7:14.
I had moved several years ago Myrtle Avenue across the Fort Greene Park. I climbed onto the roof at 7:15. The sun peeped over East Brooklyn at 7:16. The temperature was 31 F. I stripped off my and stood facing the sun. My skin surrendered to the cold by 7:17 and I retreated with haste from the winter's solstice, wishing I was dancing around a blazing bonfire with a pagan horde celebrating the solstice in languages no longer known to history, but settled for a retreat from the first day of winter.
Few people in the modern age and even fewer Christian realize that Christmas had been lifted from the ancient Druid's Alban Arthan or the Lighting of the Shore celebration of the rebirth of the sun. The Celtic holiday feast also coincided with the final stages of fermentation of wine and beer.
My friend the ex-model from Paris abhorred Christmas as an orgy festival. Brigitte is a devout fundamentalist. To her the Bible is fact and she wrote on Facebook.
"Christmas is a disgusting pagan holiday that comes from Roman orgies where they would choose a torture scapegoats by forcing them to eat and indulge in all sorts of excess and then brutally murder them."
She later added, "Some of the most depraved customs of the Saturnalia carnival were intentionally revived by the Catholic Church in 1466 when Pope Paul II, for the amusement of his Roman citizens, forced Jews to race naked through the streets of the city. An eyewitness account reported before they were to run, the Jews were richly fed, so as to make the race more difficult for them and at the same time more amusing for spectators."
Sounds like a good time had by all.
So happy solstice one and all.
I wish I was drinking beer, but my beer-drinking days are over, so comrades one and all Happy Grianstad.
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