There is a war on Christmas

Of course those fighting are ignorant of history.

I finally snapped..........{sigh}

All week long - at work and to a lesser extent at home - I've been spammed relentlessly -- by well-meaning family & friends -- with a slew of "Hey kids, let's get together and SAVE Christmas!" chain emails. I've deleted them without comment -- except the occasional eye-roll to the other non-Christians (I know who they are -- the forwarders apparently do not.......or maybe they do) who appeared in the list of forwardees............but one from today finally made me snap.

It started out with a picture of decorated tree, and beneath it said:

"It's a CHRISTmas tree -- get it you morons? CHRISTmas, CHRISTmas, CHRISTmas! And we're not going to let the filthy pagans destroy it!"

The person who sent it to me added her own commentary -- "I LOVE this! Pass it on to everyone you know!"

Ok, being a Pagan myself, this was the last straw. Nobody calls me - or any of the many lovely Pagans (truly among the very best people I know) of my acquaintance - filthy and gets a pass.

My response (done as a "reply all" to everyone she'd sent it to):

Dear Friends:

Greetings to all of you in this most festive of multi-holiday seasons.

So much has been written - and said - lately about protecting the symbols of Christmas -- this email being a perfect example -- that I thought we should discuss for a moment what those symbols are, and what they really mean.

Let's start with the "Christmas" tree. Many of you may not be aware that the tradition of placing decorated greenery (trees, boughs, etc.) at the hearth is actually a Pagan tradition which pre-dates the birth of Jesus by centuries. Since evergreens - unlike other trees - maintain their greenery year round, Pagans revered them as symbolic of the immortal nature of the Gods. Pagans would bring evergreens (either whole trees or just boughs depending on their local tradition) into the home during the winter solstice festival and decorate them with the symbols (coins, fruits, flowers, etc.) of the prosperity they hoped would visit their family in the coming year. Even the later tradition of decorating greenery with lights (the first being candles) has it's roots in Pagan traditions.

Yule logs........well, they are exactly what their name implies. In celebration of Yule, a special log would be brought to the hearth, wished upon and then lit from the remains of the preceding year's log (and kept burning until morning to ensure good luck in the coming year).

Holly, ivy and mistletoe -- yep, all Pagan, and symbolic of fertility and everlasting life.

Caroling -- you got it, Pagan as well. Celtic Pagans would travel from door-to-door with their "wassail" bowl (wassail being derived from the Anglo-Saxon term "Waes hael", meaning - literally - "be whole" - a blessing for good health and prosperity. The drink itself was a potent combination of spirits, spices, sugar and eggs -- somewhat similar to our current "eggnog"), gifting their neighbors with songs in exchange for a refilling of their wassail bowl and "snacks" (cakes and candies)..............and there you have not only the origin of the gift-giving tradition, but the reason why we leave snacks for Santa as well.

Last but not least, let's look at the day itself.........December 25th. Biblical scholars disagree as to when Jesus was actually born, with most of them leaning more towards early spring (mostly due to the account of shepards having "watched their flocks by night" - a practice they perform during lambing season in the spring), so why was December 25th chosen as the date to celebrate Jesus' birth? There was much debate in the early days of Christianty as to when - exactly - Jesus' birth should be celebrated. We have the Romans to thank for the date we currently observe.

In 270 ce, the Roman emperor Aurelian - recognizing the existence of many different Pagan - as well as Christian - sects within the empire sought to blend all the differing solstice celebrations into a single festival - Dies Natalis Invicti Solis, the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun - on December 25th. This date was later adopted by the Catholic Fathers in Rome -- circa 320 ce -- in an attempt to co-opt the existing Pagan celebrations........their hope being that this would aid in their push to convert the remaining Pagan religions to Christianity - especially, Catholicism........and it worked.

So, my friends, there you have it. Most of the "traditional" symbols of "Christmas" are actually traditions which were stolen from the Pagans. If you want to preserve the "symbols of Christmas", then you might want to come up with some.....you know, of your own.

Oh, and since you're being such jerks about it.........and I think I can speak on behalf of all FILTHY Pagans everywhere.............these symbols belong to US, and you can't have them anymore. You've done enough damage with them - and to them - already, so we're taking them back.

Your Friend,

The Filthy Pagan

ps.........we'll leave you the nativity. That one you can have.