The Sunday Mail
Shingai Rukwata Ndoro Chisel The Debris —
ONE major aspect about the Greek “Iesous”(translated as “Iesus” and “Jesus” in Old and Modern English, respectively) is his purported birth celebrated by Christians as “Christmas” (from Old English words “Cristes moesse,” meaning “the festival of Christ” Online Etymology Dictionary).
From Geography, we learn that generally, the earth experiences up to four seasons, Winter, Autumn, Summer and Spring, except for areas along the equator and the poles. The movement of the earth around the Sun causes this. During the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, the earth is at the most southerly point.
“Solstice” is a word derived from the Latin “sol” (sun) and “sistere” (to stand still), because at the Solstices, the earth is assumed to “stand still or pause” in declination, that is the apparent movement of the earth’s path south comes to a stop before reversing direction to the north, ascending upwards for the warm and comfortable long days of summer.
At the same time, the Sun will be at its weakest and the earth is considered to be standing still for three days.
On the third day, in ancient times, it was considered to be the annual rebirth or resurrection (revived) of the Sun and there were festivities and celebrations for the new life.
Had it not started to reverse its direction, people on the other side of the world will suffer death from the prolonged very low temperatures.
For saving people from such agony, the sun is viewed as the literal saviour of the world. Before Christianity, the Greeks and Romans had the festival of the “annual rebirth” of the Sun-deity, Saturnalia, for seven days up to December 25.
Saturn was the Roman deity of agriculture and vegetation.
“For three days, after the sun reaches its solstice, it appears to stand still.
This period of pause, between the Suns descent and Ascent, wrought paralysing dread and fear into the hearts and minds of the early pre-Christians. Over time, they established rituals and traditions concerning this period (December 22 to December 25).
They passed the word through oral tradition, and eventually, after their societies established writing, wrote it down, concerning their Sun (deity): the sun shall lay in a grave (point of solstice) for three days.
But after three days the sun shall rise, be resurrected, (according to Webster’s Dictionary, the word resurrect is linked to the word resurge, which means to rise again, to revive), and ascend toward heaven, (progressively ascend northward to the position of the summer sun).
And when the sun completes its ascent upward toward the point of its summer solstice, it will comfort us and bless us with warm weather and long days and will save us (be a saviour) from the ravages of winter.” – The Astrological Foundation of the Christ Myth.
In the Northern Hemisphere, this “birth” of the Sun, light of the world, occurs on the 25th of December and was adopted by the Greeks and Romans to be the birth of a mythical Greek“Iesous” (Jesus).
Therefore, December 25 is the third day of the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere when the Sun begins to visibly “ascend” again and gain strength.
“In 275 CE, December 25th was formalized by (Roman) Emperor Aurelian as the birthday of Deus Sol Invictus, the Invincible Sun, and it is claimed that Aurelian likewise combined the Greek festival of the sun (deity) Helios, called the Helia, with (Roman) Saturnalia as well to establish this solstice celebration.
The date of Christmas was fixed by the Roman Catholic Church’s Pope Julius I in 337 CE.
It was then first appeared on the Calendar of Filocalus or Philocalian Calendar in 354 CE, listed as “Natalis Invicti,” which means “Birth of the Unconquered” (Sun). The Calendar also names the day as that of ‘natus Christus in Betleem Iudeae: “Birth of Christ in Bethlehem Judea.” Jesus is claimed to be the “Sun of Righteousness” in the…book of Malachi 4:2, “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.” — D.M. Murdock, ‘Christ in Egypt.’
The 25 is thus the first and shortest day after the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, in which for three days the sun’s rays are at their weakest and rises in the same spot.
The day was then met with celebrations and “unbridled carnival” because if the Sun was to “remain” in the south, the north will suffer misery.
Christmas is not observed by Seventh Day Adventists (SDAs) and Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs) as it is purely an astronomical occurrence that was historicised and adopted into Christianity. Without being scriptural, those Christians observing it are celebrating the “birth of the unconquered Sun.”
Non-religiously, lets have fun and merry about life and the impersonal sun!
Resource:
The Shocking Pagan Origin of Christmas edited by John D. Keyser, www.hope-of-israel-org/cmas1.htm
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