Author Topic: What irks me about the holidays  (Read 156763 times)

Offline delalluvia

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Re: What irks me about the holidays
« Reply #80 on: December 18, 2010, 01:52:23 pm »
Thanks for the Chi-Rho info.  I thought there was some sort of Christian symbolism.  So basically the X is standing in for 'good'.

I double-checked my almanac. Not only is there a total lunar eclipse on the Solstice, but the moon is also full!  :o How exciting is that?  :D

WOW!!!

Even more reasons for we pagans to break out the bubbly!!

Offline delalluvia

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Re: What irks me about the holidays
« Reply #81 on: December 18, 2010, 03:16:51 pm »
History of Christmas in America:

The pilgrims, English separatists that came to America in 1620, were even more orthodox in their Puritan beliefs than Cromwell. As a result, Christmas was not a holiday in early America. From 1659 to 1681, the celebration of Christmas was actually outlawed in Boston. Anyone exhibiting the Christmas spirit was fined five shillings. By contrast, in the Jamestown settlement, Captain John Smith reported that Christmas was enjoyed by all and passed without incident.

http://www.thehistoryofchristmas.com/ch/in_america.htm

Marge_Innavera

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Re: What irks me about the holidays
« Reply #82 on: December 18, 2010, 03:35:35 pm »
you can blame Queen Victoria for the popularization of the Christmas tree in the United States.  It was an image of the Royal Family in the 1860's that was republished in the United States that caused Christmas trees to proliferate here.  Prior to that it was more or less limited to Germans and German immigrants.  (Of course, that's where the royal family started it, because of the House of Hannover taking the English crown.

Christmas trees started to appear in the US in the 1850s.  It was generally a reflection of Queen Victoria being the trendsetter in the US at that time, but obviously took off on its own after that.  The earliest references to Christmas trees in western Missouri (some German immigrants; not many that far west) are from the mid-1850s.

The earliest illustrations show what we'd call "table top" trees today.
« Last Edit: December 18, 2010, 05:29:14 pm by Marge_Innavera »

Marge_Innavera

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Re: What irks me about the holidays
« Reply #83 on: December 18, 2010, 03:42:35 pm »
People celebrate Christmas for different reasons. There is no right or wrong way to celebrate Christmas. I celebrate because it´s fun. I like to receive and give presents, I love the food and I enjoy my Christmas tree. Leave us sinners alone to have some fun before we marsch off to hell.


Why people write Xmas? Because it´s shorter  

I don't identify as a Christian anymore and haven't for more than 2 decades but I love Christmas.  Holidays are part of our psychic landscape, so it isn't surprising that people attach various meanings to them.  I now think of Christmas as 1) an acknowledgement and celebration of the themes of new life, and light starting to increase at a cold, relatively dark kind of year; it isn't hard to get a spiritual meaning out of that and 2) a celebration of the best of my family's history.  Works for me.  My sister, a former Catholic convert and now a fellow member of the "Nones", has struggled with that too.

Christmas carols and certain scents can pack a psychic punch for many people that blows all the sermonizing and disapproval away like specks of dust.  Scents, especially, tend of have that override effect.

As far as people saying "Happy Holidays", "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Solstice" is concerned, IMO people who are bothered by that need a sense of perspective.  It's amazing, the things folks get bent out of shape about this time of year.  
« Last Edit: December 18, 2010, 05:30:06 pm by Marge_Innavera »

Marge_Innavera

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Re: What irks me about the holidays
« Reply #84 on: December 18, 2010, 04:44:11 pm »
Oh, and here in Pennsylvania we have Gus the Groundhog hawking state lottery tickets to the tune of "Jiingle Bells."

Bah! Humbug!  >:(

Gus must be a gamblin', winter-lovin' cousin of Puxatawny Phil!

Marge_Innavera

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Re: What irks me about the holidays
« Reply #85 on: December 18, 2010, 05:28:09 pm »
I double-checked my almanac. Not only is there a total lunar eclipse on the Solstice, but the moon is also full!  :o How exciting is that?  :D

Some details about the eclipse -- looks like most or all of us will be able to see it one way or another:

"A total lunar eclipse will take place on December 20/21, 2010. It will be visible after midnight Eastern Standard Time on December 21 in North and South America. The beginning of the total eclipse will be visible from northern Europe just before sunrise. The end of the total eclipse will be visible rising at sunset for Japan and northeastern Asia, it also appears very visible to the Philippines just after sunset (as in Partial lunar eclipse). It will be the first total lunar eclipse in nearly 3 years, the last being on February 20, 2008."
(Wikipedia)  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_2010_lunar_eclipse 


"On the heals of the Geminid meteor shower, a total lunar eclipse will be visible on the first day of winter, December 21, 2010. About 1.5 billion people will be able to view this total lunar eclipse.

"This early celestial Christmas present will be visible totality on four continents: all of North and South America, in Asia it will be visible in much of Japan and Korea, as well as western and northern parts of Europe. People in Hawaii and the North Island of New Zealand will also be able to view the total eclipse. In Africa and most of Asia, the eclipse will only be partial.

" 'Unlike a solar eclipse, a lunar eclipse can be viewed by a great number of people over a vast area of the globe,' Ben Burress, staff astronomer at Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland, Calif., said in a statement.

It has been nearly four years since a total lunar eclipse was visible in North America and it won't be until "Tax Day", April 15, 2014.

Examiner.com  http://www.examiner.com/christian-worldview-in-national/total-lunar-eclipse-will-be-visible-dec-21-2010

Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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Re: What irks me about the holidays
« Reply #86 on: December 18, 2010, 11:43:00 pm »



[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uSvFVqlLKM&feature[/youtube]


 ::)
"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
(and you know who I am...)


Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne)
and Pee-wee in the 1990 episode
"Camping Out"

Offline Penthesilea

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Re: What irks me about the holidays
« Reply #87 on: December 19, 2010, 07:49:25 am »


[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uSvFVqlLKM&feature[/youtube]


 ::)


I like it. :)
Like how the people are popping up behind the couch, and the laughter when they're finished. "Yaay, we done it!" :D

Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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Re: What irks me about the holidays
« Reply #88 on: December 19, 2010, 11:56:51 am »


 ;D
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS5WjGvFDuo[/youtube]

"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
(and you know who I am...)


Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne)
and Pee-wee in the 1990 episode
"Camping Out"

Offline sopytofu

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Re: What irks me about the holidays
« Reply #89 on: December 19, 2010, 12:15:22 pm »
                         [youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi2J0ihhhsw[/youtube]

In Sweden we have this tradition every year, the 13 th of december. Its a lucia tåg, and its the same thing every year. i have probably seen it atleast 32 times, so it has become very boring thing for me! I am glad its over for this year. I wonder what i will feel about it when i sit in the a nursing home. I probably will become crazy