Xmas

Ah Christmas (which shall now be known as Xmas =) ). The second time of the year that I hate as a baker (the first being Easter), for not only the busy, rushed, stressed people, or the extra workload from people fretting that they'll run out of food, but also for the freakin Xmas carols that are blasted through my workplace hour after hour, day after day, with no end in sight. Luckily, they have not started at my current workplace yet, and hopefully I'll get out of hearing them this year! But I'm not holding my breath.

Now, I do not hate Xmas out of any kind of secret need to 'go against the man' so to speak. I love a good party, good food and time with friends and family as much as any other person does. I hate it because at this time of year, the religious folk seem to think that it is alright to force their crap down my throat more than they do during the year. "Keep Christ in Christmas". "Don't forget your saviour this holiday season". "Celebrate the birth of our holy man".

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Shall I point out that the judeo-christian religions are not the only religions with a messiah born on the 25th of December in their holy texts/scriptures? (Ignoring the fact that nowhere in the bible does it state the 25th of December is jesus's birthday.) In the last 6,000 years historians have documented over 2,780 gods/goddesses. And out of them over 120 'creator gods' and more than 25 jesus like man-gods that were birthed for the evils of mankind and who were resurrected in either 3 or 5 days after they were killed/crucified/sacrificed their own lives. Most notably out of those 25 are: Horus: who 'lived' about 3,000 years before christ. Krishna about 1,000 years. And Mithra: about 600 years before christ. All of these have nearly identical stories to the christian ones. Funny that.

Then we come to the actual Xmas celebration itself. Everyone (who is true to facts) knows that it was originally a pagan holiday. But what does that mean? Anyone who was not 'christian' was a pagan/atheist. The end of the year would have bought parties to almost every civilisation ever existed, so the celebration itself would not be all that special really. One source says that it was a Roman holiday. And a pretty scary holiday at that.

Roman pagans first introduced the holiday of Saturnalia, a week long period of lawlessness celebrated between December 17-25. During this period, Roman courts were closed, and Roman law dictated that no one could be punished for damaging property or injuring people during the weeklong celebration. The festival began when Roman authorities chose “an enemy of the Roman people” to represent the “Lord of Misrule.” Each Roman community selected a victim whom they forced to indulge in food and other physical pleasures throughout the week. At the festival’s conclusion, December 25th, Roman authorities believed they were destroying the forces of darkness by brutally murdering this innocent man or woman.


More info here: http://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/Christmas_TheRealStory.htm


So this Xmas I will put up my pagan tree, with all its pagan decorations and glory.; to celebrate that my hubby and I have made it through another year, and to celebrate the one to come. I will put time and effort into personal handmade presents for my loved ones; I will not be buying crap that people do not need, I will be contributing as little as possible to the overspending during the holiday period. We will sit down one night and do the calendar up for the coming year, and feel joy over the things we have planned, and know that there will be more joy in the things we do not have planned yet. I will endeavour to think about everyone less fortunate than myself and my family and friends, the people in the world who do not have what I have, and I will say a wish for them. But more than that, I will endeavour to do what I can for them, monetarily, and actively be the voice for them, in the hope that next Xmas, they can share in some of the joy of a good year ending.

And I will do all this without your gods, without your religion. I do not want to participate in your religious celebrations, your religious Xmas carols, nor your religious scaremongering on this holiday season. So please, for the love of all things holy, keep your faith to yourself this holiday season, and I will keep my non-faith to myself. If you proselytize to me, I will remind you that your 'man-god' is only the latest one in a long line of messiahs, and he is nothing special nor is he original. And like all the other 25 that you do not believe in, I do not believe in yours.