Happy holidays!!!

[Religious Dick]

I have no problem wishing some one Happy Hannukah and most of my Jewish friends have no problem wishing me a Merry Christmas, even though i haven't been inside a church in ages and i am just to the theistic side of agnostic.

I suppose that depends a lot of the views of the particular jew. Now I've seen everything...

http://brothernathanaelfoundation.org/videos

[Amianthus]

You are correct in that the Roman Rite set the date for Christmas as December 25th. The eastern rite has it around January 6 or 7th.

The Feast of Epiphany is on January 6th. During the Middle Ages, the entire period between December 25th and January 6th was celebrated as one holiday, with a gift given on each day leading up to the Feast of Epiphany; hence the "Twelve Days of Christmas". The eve before Epiphany was sometimes called "Twelfth Night", and this is the traditional celebration used in the SCA in modern times.

[Amianthus]

The whole story: Christmas day is the celebration of the birth of Christ, and was usually spent in church. Then there was a period of time for travel for families to gather, symbolizing the travels of the three wise men from the east. During this time, according to legend, many came to see the Christ child and drop off gifts, which led to the tradition of people giving gifts every day during this period. The Feast of Epiphany on January 6th is the celebration of the arrival of the three wise men and the delivery of their gifts to the Christ child, and is the traditional day that a feast was held for families who had finally gathered during this holiday season. In feudal societies, this was also one of the feast days that a land owner was required to provide a feast to his vassals and serfs (the other was Easter).

[Amianthus]

And the reason for celebrating the birth of Christ when we do is also explained by the length of time of this celebration. Christ was most likely born in the spring; however in an agricultural society, taking off 2 weeks in the spring could be disastrous for the crops. So, the celebration is done in a period of time when the harvest and slaughter is already done, and no prep work for the next season is really needed yet. While Easter is (sometimes) celebrated during the spring planting season, it's only a three day celebration and is easier to work into a planting schedule.

[Xavier_Onassis]

They say that the shepherds would not have been tending their flocks around Bethlehem in late December, according to anthropologists, who have studied where the grass would be abundant. The date suits the time of the year in Europe in which there is one last period in which to have a feast, as there are no crops being harvested and from January through April or May, people had to live on what they had stored or what they hunted until the next growing season. There was also the defunct religion of Mithra, who was said to have been born on December 25th. Mithraism was the main religion practiced by Roman soldiers around the time of Jesus' birth. It was a religion that excluded women, and died out as a result: no women means no church ladies.

I see nothing wrong with wishing anyone a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays. I see the "war on Christmas" to be a stupid construct of the ultra right.

[BT]

I have no problem wishing some one Happy Hannukah and most of my Jewish friends have no problem wishing me a Merry Christmas, even though i haven't been inside a church in ages and i am just to the theistic side of agnostic.

I suppose that depends a lot of the views of the particular jew. Now I've seen everything...

http://brothernathanaelfoundation.org/videos

Brother Nathan seems to be an interesting person. I wonder if he knows Cindy Sheehan?

[Xavier_Onassis]

Brother Nathan is definitely anti-Semitic, even though apparently he was born a Jew.

He is right on the money about Newt sucking up to Israel, though.

Moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem would be expensive, dumb and dangerous. And surely not something that could be accomplished in a year, let alone a day.

The international airport is in Tel Aviv. Most of the business of the Embassy involves visas for travel.

It would be inconvenient for Israelis as well. A dumb idea whose time should never come.