Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Happy Solstice Day!

I'm not going to rehash all the details of Christianity creating Christmas to replace Saturnalia and other pagan celebrations around the time of the Winter Solstice and New Year. However, I do wish to remind folks that today being the Winter Solstice made it a big deal to many ancient pagan pre-Christian groups. And, were it not for those elements we would be celebrating Christ's birth later in the Winter when he was actually born. Some of my more legalistic and anal-retentive Christians abhor Christmas for this reason, forgetting that it really doesn't matter when we celebrate Christ's birth provided that we as Christians celebrate His death EVERY day! Given my previously-mentioned issues with S.A.D., I find anything festive that emphasizes LIGHTS this time of year to be a good thing. Furthermore, given this is a relatively cold and dark time of year, any festival which emphasizes celebration of Winter and joy and reinforcement of filial and community bonds through get-togethers and gift-giving is a good thing. In fact, given that God created the Winter Solstice, why don't Christians celebrate that annual astronomical event with as much vigor as any pagans in history?

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