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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Winter Solstice Rituals and History

For ages past, Winter Solstice was celebrated and rituals of fire and light lit up the world on the darkest day of the year.

Historical evidence suggests that Winter solstice has been celebrated as far back as the stone ages. Monuments dating back to 3200 B.C can be found that align with the sunrise on solstice.

In medieval times, Winter solstice was a time of feating and celebration. Many farm animals and cattle were slaughtered, as famine was prevalent in these times and feeding extra mouths was worrisome.

Ancient rome celebrated Saturnalia, a week long celebration held in ancient rome dedicated to Saturn, seen as a ruler of agriculture.

Yule Log/Candle Ritual:

Candles traditionally and used in many Winter Solstice rituals. The Yule candle represents prosperity and to welcome in the coming light of the sun. Bring this light into your house and hearth!

Solstice Gift Exchange Ritual

Gift giving is also a wonderful tradition of Winter Solstice! Let your community warm you and show your gratitude for those you love in your life.

Solstice gifts should be meaningful and intimate. They often have close ties with nature.

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Santa (and Christmas) isn't about slaughtering cattle, not sure about the point you're trying to make here.

Christian gift-giving is linked to the three wise men who brought gifts of gold, incense and myrrh to the newborn baby Jesus.

Candles.... it gets dark early in December, everybody uses candles....[/quote]

The PP just posted a ton of information showing that almost no Christmas traditions began with the bible.  Gift-giving at winter solstice definitely has nothing to do with the 3 wise men, as it existed well before the bible was even in print and before literacy was widespread.   But go ahead and stick to your previous beliefs - we wouldn't want to challenge them or anything.  [/quote]

The pp just posted a lot of random links that don't prove much (because they don't resemble Christmas much, e.g. Helios) except that people across the globe, from Norway to Mongolia, independently come up with traditions that resemble each other in some but not all ways. Why not add Christians to these diverse peoples.

The bigger point, of course, is why anybody should care. Santa is most certainly not an article of Christian faith, nor are trees. They're fun, that's all.
[/quote]

The links are from opinion blogs with no actual documentation. One of the myths mentioned rode a sleigh (made of fish bones) pulled by horses, and pp stated it was reindeer.

[/quote]

Then there was the link about Helios, who circles the sun every.single.day and makes it rise and set. Move along, nothing to see there.

Meanwhile, back to an interesting question: did modern pagans simply steal trees (and everything else) from pagans who lived 1,000 to 2,000 years ago?[/quote]

It’s hard to have a discussion when all of the relevant posts were deleted. 
[/quote]

It's not hard at all given that modern paganism probably has little relationship to the deleted posts about Helios and the fishbone sleigh.

Go ahead, explain to us how modern paganism doesn't cherrypick ancient peoples' legends to create a hodgepodge of its own myths. [/quote]

There were many other comments that were deleted. Odin, the Sami, shaman, etc.

It’s ALL a hodgepodge. Including many of the religious elements.

Many of the traditions in the winter season - including Santa - are not “owned” by Christians.
[/quote]

What do you mean, "owned"? Of course Christians "own" Santa (St. Nick, delivers gifts on Christmas Eve), just as other religions "own" their own traditions.[/quote]

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