Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Have a Pagan Christmas!

It’s funny how many of our celebrations are based on ancient pagan holidays.

It was interesting to learn that long before the birth of Christ, the ancients celebrated December 25th as a holy day.

In 4000 BC the ancient Egyptians celebrated the birth of Horus, on December 25th, a deity who was also born to a virgin mother, visited by 3 wise guys, and who was crucified, only to be resurrected three days later.



The original St. Nicholas (circa 270 AD) was a Catholic priest with a foot fetish. It is said that he stalked around at night and depositing coins in people’s shoes.



Check out these bizarre Christmas traditions across the world! Other countries have bizarre traditions for Santa:

- In the Netherlands he is called Sinterklaas and he places his nuts in children’s shoes while they sleep.

- In Greenland, kids get Mattak on Christmas morning, a whale skin with a strip of blubber inside.

Even the Christian communion ritual has pagan roots. Ancient Celtics performed Holy Communion by eating the flesh and drinking the blood of a scared horse.

In Wales at Christmas, someone dresses up as Mari Lwyd (the lucky gray mare of Christmas), hiding under a horsehair sheet while carrying a horse's skull on a pike.

In some foreign countries, Santa Claus brings something for the bad girls and boys, and it ain’t a lump of coal: