Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Nice having Hanukkah & Christmas overlap this year. We were also mercifully spared most of the "War on Christmas" crap. It should be obvious by now, especially on Black Friday, that it's a war we wage on ourselves & has nothing to do with religion or saying "Happy Holidays" as a simple courtesy to non-Christians. Back in the 1920's & 30's anti-semites were accusing Jews of undermining the Christian religious significance of the holiday.
I used to know a few Jews with "Hanukkah Bushes." Now I know Hindus, Baha'ists, wiccans & atheists that take what they like from Christmas tradition, most of which originally came from pagan practices anyway, along with ancient tales from Persia grafted on to the original oral accounts, It was pagan practices centuries ago that turned Puritans against the observance pf Christmas. But Northern Hemisphere humans need a festive holiday to get us past the solstice & the six or seven weeks of darkness & cold until the frigid clear day in February when we first feel the heat of the sun on our backs. I worked for a Indian guy with American wife, they celebrated a form of Christmas even though she' participated in his Hindu sect & temple (which apparently didn't require a renouncing of Christianity). Hindus love festivals, colorful decorations & lights. He believed Hinduism was the "mother" of Christianity, & Jesus had spent his so-called "lost years" in India receiving instruction from holy men. He was o.k. with all the signs & wonders surrounding the birth of Jesus - he just disputed that they were unique. Of course great holy people have extraordinary births; the circumstances, he said, predict what kind of holy person the baby becomes. The place, the weather, the position of the stars, the visitors, the supernatural beings, how animals react, he said, all mean something.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
I used to know a few Jews with "Hanukkah Bushes." Now I know Hindus, Baha'ists, wiccans & atheists that take what they like from Christmas tradition, most of which originally came from pagan practices anyway, along with ancient tales from Persia grafted on to the original oral accounts, It was pagan practices centuries ago that turned Puritans against the observance pf Christmas. But Northern Hemisphere humans need a festive holiday to get us past the solstice & the six or seven weeks of darkness & cold until the frigid clear day in February when we first feel the heat of the sun on our backs. I worked for a Indian guy with American wife, they celebrated a form of Christmas even though she' participated in his Hindu sect & temple (which apparently didn't require a renouncing of Christianity). Hindus love festivals, colorful decorations & lights. He believed Hinduism was the "mother" of Christianity, & Jesus had spent his so-called "lost years" in India receiving instruction from holy men. He was o.k. with all the signs & wonders surrounding the birth of Jesus - he just disputed that they were unique. Of course great holy people have extraordinary births; the circumstances, he said, predict what kind of holy person the baby becomes. The place, the weather, the position of the stars, the visitors, the supernatural beings, how animals react, he said, all mean something.
