Image by Price|Photography via FlickrSome Consider It The Most 'Holy' Day Of The Year.
Most historians, and Christian scholars know that Jesus was not born on December 25th.
This is backed up by circumstances surrounding Jesus' birth.
Not only is the date a fraud, but also so are the practices.
This is like mixing 'dung with balsam'.
Sure there is an adopted religious (paganish) Nativity scene about Christ.
Christmas originated in Rome in the 4th century.
Christmas was a Christian substitute for the pagan celebration of winter solstice.
This celebration was a part of another Roman celebration called Saturnalia.
At that time the Romans honored Saturn, the ancient god of agriculture.
Romans did this by glorifying Mithra, the ancient Persian god of light.
The Roman Catholic Church chose December 25 as the day for the Feast of the Nativity.
The Church replaced festivities honoring the birth of the Mithra by commemorating the birth of Jesus.
The Church hoped to draw pagans into its religion by overlapping their revelry.
Advent continues to Christmas Day.
They also look forward to the Second Coming of Christ.
He decreed that the season end on Epiphany, January 6th.
It expanded throughout Europe, into Egypt, and eventually into America.
This created many distorted long-standing Christian traditions of Christmas celebrations.
They associated the plant with the Norse goddess of love, Freya, and developed the custom of kissing underneath mistletoe branches.
The dramatization of the biblical story of Jesus' birth was a practice begun by Saint Francis of Assisi in the 13th century.
According to ancient tradition, the ashes provide protection against bad luck during the year.
At one time, Germany supplied the world with almost all of the decorative glass ornaments for Christmas trees.
Most children also receive gifts on Christmas Eve.
On Christmas Eve, families traditionally gather around Christmas trees decorated with lights, ornaments, and Lebkuchen, which are spiced cookies cut into decorative shapes.
The Advent wreath, which consists of four candles anchored in a circle of evergreen branches, originated with German Lutherans; many churches and families have adopted the tradition.
In Italian folklore Santa Claus is not a prominent figure.
According to folk belief, La Befana--whose name refers to the word Epifania (Epiphany)--was too busy to accompany the Three Wise Men on their journey to visit the infant Jesus in Bethlehem.
She also visits bad children and leaves them lumps of coal or bags of ash.
Most people who celebrate Christmas also participate in such secular customs as watching Christmas plays, feasting, singing, and helping the poor.
They then throw these letters into the fire.
Children open their gifts on Christmas afternoon.
They also give small gifts known as Christmas boxes to those who have performed personal services
throughout the year.
Before then Christmas had been an ordinary workday in many communities, particularly in New England, where early Puritan objections to Christmas celebrations remained highly influential.
These early Christmas traditions in America quickly changed.
In an English tradition that survived in some parts of North America, Christmas revelers would dress in costume and progress from door to door to receive gifts of food and drink.
The rapidly expanding industrial economy of the 19th century flooded the market with new goods for sale, and also helped establish a new middle class.
Giving gifts to children and loved ones eventually replaced the raucous public celebrations of the past, and Christmas became primarily a domestic holiday.
Commercial innovations such as department stores and mass advertising further expanded the custom of exchanging Christmas gifts.
Many holiday celebrants regretted these changes and began voicing the now common grieve that Christmas has become too commercial.
The holiday forged a sense of nondenominational Christian spirit in the communities, as it promoted a sense of collective good will.
Although it has become a Day to reflect on goodwill toward mankind, the core of Christianity's foundation (Jesus' birth) has pagan roots.
All of the Christian traditions need to be investigated thoroughly, if one is to take them literally.
With Christmas there is the symbol of the Christ child.
There are also other pagan images, adopted for various reasons.
To include the worship of any image or object is an abomination.
Biblical Scriptures read:
"Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth:" - Deut.
"And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
6:5.
So much so that many of blameless life have been deceived of Satan, and while praying have mingled with their prayer worldly business, whereupon they have become at that time abominable in the sight of God.
But what do ye when ye are making prayer? Ye wash your soul from sins through the mercy of God.
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