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First off something interesting I noticed today as I was reading the Boston Herald and the Boston Globe. The Boston Herald had on page 17 a little piece about Senator Scott Brown's "holiday" party. The Boston Globe (that's the liberal communist paper, or so the cons claim) also had a small bit about the party, they called it a "Christmas" party
The differences between the Christmas tree and the Hanukkah
Christmas is a public holiday, Hannukkah is not.
Christians and non christians alike put up Christmas trees. Very few non Jews put up Menorahs
The Menorah can be traced directly to Holy Scripture, the Christmas tree can not
Is it really a big deal? Can't we just understand that different people - regardless of their religious beliefs - celebrate different holidays and allow public displays of decorations for them all?
Is it really a big deal? Can't we just understand that different people - regardless of their religious beliefs - celebrate different holidays and allow public displays of decorations for them all?
+1
I am so used to having a Menorah near the Tree that I basically associated them both together.
True, centuries before Christ, pagns brought in trees and plants to celebrate winters solstice..
That's why - despite being technically Christian myself - I just cannot stand that whole "Jesus is the reason for the season" meme.
No, Jesus is ONE reason for the season. There were plenty of others before that.
It didn't even really "take" throughout the whole Roman Empire until 400CE or so. There are sporadic accounts of similar observations (at various dates in the calendar) as far back as 200CE in North Africa.
And it gets even better as we investigate the question of why we can call it a Menorah. The Hebrew word menorah means simply "lamp" or "candelabra" That would be like calling a Christmas tree "a tree"
The religious term for the menorah, meaning the one used on Hannakkah, is Hanukkiah
True, centuries before Christ, pagns brought in trees and plants to celebrate winters solstice..
The use of a tree as a Christian symbol didn't begin until the 15th-16th century. It however was used far earlier in Pagen worship.
Quote:
Evidently, customs involving evergreen trees spread and became part of life in many places. The Encyclopaedia Britannica states regarding the Christmas tree: "Tree worship was common among the pagan Europeans and survived their conversion to Christianity." It did so in various rites and customs, including "the custom...of placing a Yule tree at an entrance or inside the house during the midwinter holidays."
The broad way leading the evergreen tree to modern popularity was paved in 1841 when the British royal family used a decorated spruce for their Christmas celebrations. Today the Christmas tree is recognized all over the world, and the demand for countless millions of natural and artificial Christmas trees seems endless. Meanwhile, Scandinavian rock carvings provide silent testimony, literally set in stone, that the Christmas tree is no of Christian origin.
The Christmas Tree It's Pre-Christain Origin - Auburn Journal (http://my.auburnjournal.com/detail/195219.html?content_source&category_id&search_filt er&event_mode&event_ts_from&event_ts_to&list_type& order_by&order_sort&content_class=2&sub_type=stori es&town_id - broken link)
OMG, do we have to go through this every year? I think most Christians and indeed most Americans know that many of our Christmas customs have pagan origins.
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