"The Earth Belongs to HaShem and the Fullness Thereof."
The Origins of Christmas
Part Two
By Ben Ruach HaKodesh (John of AllFaith) 12.16.09
To read the entire study now, go to my Noahide Nazarene Website:
http://allfaith.com/Religions/Noahide/christmas.html
December 25th
As I explain in several studies on my Noahide Nazarene Website, following the Diaspora (70 CE) and the exile of the Jews from the Roman Province of Iudaea (Eretz Israel) many false doctrines arose within the Way Movement. Master Y'shua describes these false doctrines as the Nicolaitan Heresy in the second and third chapters of his Revelation. As I describe there, the Nicolaitan Heresy (also known as the the error of Balaam and the teaching of "that woman Jezebel" -- i.e. Babylon the Great) is the overlaying of Pagan beliefs and doctrines onto the Way taught by Master Y'shua. The rites of December 25th are among these added traditions of men (Col 2:8, II Thess. 2:15). Despite the unsuccessful attempts of Dionysius Exiguus and others to justify the date, the reason December 24th was chosen was to continue the traditions of Saturnalia and other Pagan winter solstice holiday traditions. There is no biblical support for this date.
Saturnalia
The Roman celebration of Saturnalia ran from December 17-25.
Simply stated, during this week each community would pick someone to play the role of "Lord of Misrule." As I discuss elsewhere in some detail, it was common for Pagans to personify their gods in various ways. The most common of these was temple prostitution wherein the devotee engaged in sexual intercourse with the priest (qadesh) or priestess (qadeshah) in order to mystically and carnally merge with the deity. These temple surrogates are mentioned and condemned several places in the Bible as I discuss Here, for instance: "There shall be no Qadeshah of the daughters of Israel, nor a Qadesh of the sons of Israel... (Deuteronomy 23:17).
In the same way, the "Lord of Misrule" represented the spirit of darkness, lawlessness and abuse and took upon himself the excesses of the people. During the week this surrogate was given every imaginable luxury and excess; he was "King for the Week." Hedonism reigned supreme among the people and nothing was off limits. Having been overshadowed by the new Christ Mass celebrations many of the Saturnalia rites were later reborn as Brazil's Carnivaal or Mardi Gras. Not only the Lord of Saturnalia, but everyone engaged in these hedonistic celebrations. They roamed the streets naked or in costumes drunk singing raucous carols and looking for victims, sex partners, fellow revelers and so on.
Ginger Bread Men and Transubstantiation
As part of the Saturnalia rites the Pagans ate little biscuits, often shaped like human beings or animals (now known as Christmas cookies and ginger bread men). St. Nicholas Magazine (May 1875) recounts one of the surviving stories in the tale of the Gingerbread Boy. In brief, the wife in a childless couple was baking cookies one day and fashioned one in the shape of a boy. When she opened the oven a real boy (made out of gingerbread) jumped out and ran off. The woman, her husband, the farmhands, even the animals chased the boy but the boy would taunt them, saying:
I've run away from a little old woman,
A little old man,
A barn full of threshers,
A field full of mowers,
A cow and a pig,
And I can run away from you, I can!
Finally the fox joined in the chase and caught the boy:
Presently the gingerbread boy said, "Oh dear! I'm quarter gone!"
And then, "Oh, I'm half gone!"
And soon, "I'm three-quarters gone!"
And at last, "I'm all gone!"
and he never spoke again. (Read the whole story Here)
The Gingerbread Man tale has several versions but as far as we know none are the original. For more on the Gingerbread Man consult the SurLaLune Fairy Tales site. In 1890 for instance the story was updated by Joseph Jacobs as published as "Johnny-Cake" in his English Fairy Tales collection, but the story is clearly much older. Given what is known there should be no real doubt that originally the account held Pagan references to human sacrifice and a satirical memorial to one boy who sought unsuccessfully to escape (a similar chase of the victim is recounted in the Wickerman tales). This eating of the sacrificial boy may remind Catholics of their doctrine of Transubstantiation (the Papal doctrine whereby the Communion Host literally becomes the blood and flesh of Jesus to be consumed again and again -- in violation of Scripture: Heb 6:6).
During Saturnalia rape, incest, bestiality, most anything imaginable was allowed and even encouraged. The courts were closed and anything went.
But then on the 25th of December, the Lord of Misrule was publicly executed, indicating the passing of the Dark back to the Light, lawlessness to law, chaos to order. The people pretended that none of the abuses had taken place as they returned to comparatively civilized life in preparation for the New Year.
At first the followers of the Way were appalled by these acts but as the Universal Churchthe Way in 4th century, Saturnalia was incorporated and "Christianized" by the Roman Church and with it came ever more Pagan converts. replaced
Christmas Trees
Christmas trees (like the Tannenbaum or sacred fir tree) are specifically forbidden by the Torah and yet, as with Saturnalia, they were incorporated by the Nicolaitane Church to bring ever more Pagans -- like the Asheira cult -- under the dominion of the Roman Church. Of this forbidden practice we read:
In the KJV:
Jeremiah 10:1 "Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:
10:2 Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
10:3 For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
10:4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
10:5 They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.
In the NNB:
Jeremiah 10:1 Hear the word which YHVH speaks to you, house of Israel!
10:2 Thus says YHVH, "Don't learn the way of the nations, and don't be dismayed at the signs of the sky; for the nations are dismayed at them.
10:3 For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe. 10:4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it not move.
10:5 They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and don't speak: they must be carried, because they can't go. Don't be afraid of them; for they can't do evil, neither is it in them to do good."
Traditions of the sacred tree are ancient. The pre-Christian Romans honored the evergreen pine to celebrate the spring festival of Arbor intrat. Each March 22 in honor of the Spring Equinox (Easter, Eostar, Ostara, Sham el Nessim, Higan, Nowruz etc) devotees of goddess Cybele cut down a pine tree and carried it to the Palatine temple for worship. The tree was wrapped in tinsel (bandages), wreathed with violets and decorated to mourn the death Attis, the self castrated son of Cybele who died beneath a pine tree. Three days later Attis was miraculously restored to life.
According to the poet Virgil the Romans decorated sacred trees with little masks of the fertility god Bacchus even as people today place ornaments on Christmas trees. It was believed that as the wind blew these ornaments around, Bacchus granted fertility to whatever the masks looked upon. Therefore trees around the fields, the stables and elsewhere were decorated. The Romans also believed that woodland fairies and nature spirits (like Christmas elves) lived in the branches of the decorated trees (possibly giving rise to the custom of leaving milk and cookies out on Christmas Eve).
The worshipers of Mithras Sol Invictus (the Roman Sun god worshiped by Constantine until the day of his death: for more on this see Here) also believed that the souls of the recently dead occupied the trees awaiting rebirth. Trees were decorated by these people to call forth the shimmering presence of the Sun (Sol Invictus). Mithraism was a major factor in the doctrinal foundation of the New Religion of the Universal Church and to them the Winter Solstice and Saturnalia marked one of the four Sacred holidays.
Mithras Sol Invictus
Born from the rock (petra genetrix), Marble, 180-192 AD.
From the area of S. Stefano Rotondo, Rome. Pre-Muslim Egyptians also honored a sacred tree; in their case the palm tree. Their sacred tree also held promises resurrection and good fortune and, like the Christmas tree, was brought into their homes and decorated during the winter solstice. Likewise, the Sacred Groves of the Baal and Ashtaroth worshipers are repeatedly condemned in the Torah. The Christmas tree is merely the Nicean Christan expression of these ancient Pagan customs.
Mistletoe
The mistletoe found on the sacred oak was considered especially sacred to the ancient Celtic Druids. On the sixth night of the moon Druid priests in white robes cut oak mistletoe with a golden sickle. They sacrifice white bulls while uttering prayers that the recipients of the mistletoe would prosper in all ways, including fertility and sexual prowess.
It is taught that the Norse god Balder was killed by the god Hoder using an arrow made of mistletoe while fighting for the pleasure of Lady Nanna. Mistletoe is a potent poison used by Druids and others that reaches deep within the soul according to the Will of Mage. Like so many other Pagan traditions this one was Christianized to draw in more Pagans and continue the ancient ways in a new form.
Mistletoe both empowers and gives license to sexual promiscuity, hence the Universal Church established the tradition of "kissing under the mistletoe" in preparation for the hedonism of Saturnalia. Even today it forms a frequent part of the Yule-tide observances and even many Christians place it on their door posts and exchange ritual kisses.
Next:
Santa Claus
