the origin of christmas...

The date of December 25th probably originated with the ancient "birthday" of the son-god, Mithra, a pagan deity whose religious influence became widespread in the Roman Empire during the first few centuries A.D. Mithra was related to the Semitic sun-god, Shamash, and his worship spread throughout Asia to Europe where he was called Deus Sol Invictus Mithras. Rome was well-known for absorbing the pagan religions and rituals of its widespread empire. As such, Rome converted this pagan legacy to a celebration of the god, Saturn, and the rebirth of the sun god during the winter solstice period. The winter holiday became known as Saturnalia and began the week prior to December 25th. The festival was characterized by gift-giving, feasting, singing and downright debauchery, as the priests of Saturn carried wreaths of evergreen boughs in procession throughout the Roman temples.

Variations of this pagan holiday flourished throughout the first few centuries after Jesus Christ, but it probably wasn't until 336 AD that Emperor Constantine officially converted this pagan tradition into the "Christian" holiday of Christmas. The word "Christmas" is a combination of the words "Christ" and "Mass." The word "Mass" means death and was coined originally by the Roman Catholic Church. The ritual of the Mass involves the death of Christ, and the distribution of the "Host", a word taken from the Latin word "hostiall," meaning victim. In short, Christmas is a Roman Catholic word of Roman Empire origin.

any questions comments or concerns?...

That is true, the Romans decided to convert a pagean holiday into a christain one. It takes the focus off of competing religions. However, I am wondering if you are trying to say that these pagean holidays are held in conjunction with christmas, as in are they similar or are their purposes similar?

A question to which we may never here the answer directly from the wise behemoth, as he has announced his departure from these hallowed halls.

December 25 is nearest the Winter or Summer Solstices, depending what hemisphere you're in. But Christmas on the Orthodox (Julian) Calendar is January 7.

Here is some of the Best info I found so far as to the Origin of Christmas. "Best" in terms of the content that can be found regarding this topic and simple, direct and compact explanation. I'm quoting the "Non-Religiously Biased" sections that are easily cross referenced as to their Factual Nature. These quotes are coming from a Muslim site and I'll be editing out the parts that are written from a Muslim point of view and avoiding anything other than just the basic historical aspects. I'm using this page, minus a couple sections, because it contained the most details & most complete description I found so far.

Christ Mass, or Christmas, is one of many Christian celebrations which finds its origins in pagan ritual. To understand its origins one must examine the cult of the sun god. Be it Roman, Persian, Babylonian, or Egyptian worship of the sun god, there are common features. In general, the festivals of sun god worship occurred throughout the year and were based on the path of the sun and the relative hours of day and night. Therefore, the most significant pagan rites occurred during transition periods such as the vernal equinox, autumnal equinox, summer solstice, and winter solstice.

As autumn progresses to winter, the days get shorter and shorter until the winter solstice. At that point, the daylight hours begin to increase again. With respect to sun god worship, then, this represented the birth of the sun. In Rome and northern Europe, it was celebrated as the birth of Mithra, the sun god. These celebrations were ultimately merged with Christian teachings, perhaps to make Christianity palatable to the pagan masses.

By adopting [seasonal] festivals as Christian, the early Church sought both to win the allegiance of the populace as well as to harness the vitality of such festivals. While there is nothing to indicate the actual time of Jesus� birth, such an event most easily correlated to winter solstice festivals. The Roman celebration of the birth of the sun god, Mithra, for instance, had also been observed on December 25th .... the Church adopted the winter solstice as Christmas. The birth of God�s sun at the solstice easily correlated to the birth of God�s son. (Ellerbe p. 146)
The birth of Osiris in Egyptian pagan worship also correlated with the winter solstice.

An Egyptian winter solstice celebration of the birth of Osiris, the divine representation of masculine fertility, on January 6th became the Christian Epiphany. The Church declared that it signified the manifestation of Jesus� divinity. Yet, the spirit of both Christmas and the Christian Epiphany embodied timeless celebrations of the winter solstice. The difference between them was due more to a difference in calendars than a difference in meaning; the Egyptian calendar was twelve days behind the Julian calendar.

Key Points:
Winter Equinox/Solstice - The birth of the sun. The birth of Mithra on December 25th. Often celebrated with yule fires, processions of light, and tree decorating.

Spring Equinox/Solstice - The sun is resurrected and gains prominence over the night. Fertility celebrations involving symbols such as the egg and the prolific hare. Easter

If anyone want's to see the complete page which includes info about Easter as well and the symbol of the Cross along with the Muslim Religious Opinions about the above topics, (which I did not include in this post), you can view it here....
etori.tripod.com...

I read a site a while back, no it wasn't a conspiracy wacko site heh, but it had some good ideas, one of which was Jesus was born around or on September 11th. Funny that...

hmm? Isnt it all about saint nick who dropped presents down chimnies to the poor? and dissapeared?

Originally posted by Monk
hmm? Isnt it all about saint nick who dropped presents down chimnies to the poor? and dissapeared?

The Story of St. Nick no doubt has to do with the Santa Claus Character for obvious reasons. The fact that Santa is called St. Nick is a pretty obvious clue to that in fact.

The whole Christmas Holiday including all the other symbolic and traditional things such as the Christmas Tree, Yule Logs, Mistletoe, Dec. 25, etc. is what has been linked back to the Pagan and Druid traditions thousands of years before the Birth of Christ. From what I found during a search for St. Nick he was born about 270 A.D.