Merry Christmas!
My name is Philip Turgati.
I was born November 20, 1951.
Growing up in “The Bronx”, I attended Catholic schools.
Since I was a child I knew from the nuns that the date for celebrating Christmas was an arbitrary one. It was chosen for many reasons, one of which was its proximity to the pagan festival for the winter solstice.
When Christianity started making inroads into the surrounding pagan cultures the Catholic Church (which was the only Christian Church at the time) felt that since an exact date for Christ’s Birth could not be both agreed upon and confirmed, choosing one that showed the ending of darkness in our world giving way to light was perfect (the solstice).
I, personally, have no problem with this date for Christmas. I believe, first of all, as the Bible and history tells us that the First Christian Church was founded upon the Apostle Peter as the head of The Church established by Jesus. So, leading from that knowledge, I am willing to accept this date not only for the common sense of their reasoning but also because their authority to set any Christian Feast comes from God.
For more on the origin of choosing December 25th for Christmas.
What do you think.
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December 24th, 2006 at 7:35 p12
Hey, i finally found my way here. lot of traffic this time of year.
was here earlier but couldnt find parking……
oh well. anyway MAJOR KUDOS to you for at least admitting the relation between xmas and winter solstice. Its a start, i can see a light at the end of the tunnel.
As i always remind you, im not tryimg to ruin your faith, just trying to make it more truthful, more real. i also have no problem with celebrating xmas on dec 25th. as you say its their (cath. chrch) game, their club, they can make it whenever they want. all i ever sought was recognition that they had other motives for making it THAT day. thanks
i must disagree when you say that the cath. chch was the ONLY christian church at the time. you dont say when this time was but there were as i recall many factions of christians from shortly sfter jesus death til many, centuries later, when your cath church finally succeeded in crushing them all.
for anyone interested in more about the origin of xmas and its relation to paganism and other things visit this site:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/winter_solstice.htm
they also dispell many other religious. myths
i look forward to discussing the pagan relationship to easter and all its trimmings in the spring. in the meantime … 3 ho’s and a merry christmas. i know 3 ho’s would give me a merry xmas.