So it's Christmas again.
Ralphie is still shooting his eye out. Mr. Potter is still bilking the hard-working citizens of Bedford Falls, and Starbuck's is still serving peppermint mocha flavored coffee.
And millions of Americans are attending church services, some of them for the first time this year, in order to celebrate a hijacked festival. A festival of the Invincible Sun that was celebrated by Christians and pagans alike in a Christian Roman Empire of the 5th century. A festival that morphed into Jesus' birthday one year, and changed how we view the Christian religion ever since.
I was very much taken by the recent comments of a Roman Catholic Cardinal who defended the celebration of Jesus' birthday on Decenber 25th, a defense in light of rising objections based on emergent historical records. His defense? Why, the festival of the Annunciation, where the Virgin Mary was visited by angels and impregnated with the essence Savior of the World, is celebrated on March 25: 9 months to the day before December 25th. Since all human gestations take exactly 9 months, Christ must have been born on December 25th.
Trouble is, the festival of the Annunciation was first celebrated in the 6th century. Around 100 years after Christmas was hijacked by the Catholic Church.
Funny how that works.
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