Yes, I know it's early. Not my fault. Mitch posted some Christmas musing on his blog and it got me Googling up the Origins of Christmas, and the ensuing knowledge is too good not share.

First up is The Origins of Christmas and Easter which is a highly scholarly-looking page in which the author explains how the Roman vestival of The Saturnalia. Mind you, I went straight for the information and completely missed the rather large CHRISTIAN CHURCHES OF GOD logo at the top, and the preamble which states "The facts are that neither [Christmas and Easter] are at all Christian . . . They are directly contradictory to the laws of God and His system." That aside, the research is pretty impressive, and nicely footnoted. Like I said, I skipped the preamble at first so it wasn't until about 2/3 down the page when I read "There is nothing Christian about so-called Christmas and, indeed, it is so steeped in false religious superstition that it is a direct breach of biblical law. No Christian can observe it and remain a Christian." that I realized the intent of this page.

Still, lots of good info there, and the section on Sinterklaas is something I bet Mirjam and Hannah would get a kick out of. If they read this blog.

Next up: The Origins of Christmas. Be warned: this garish-looking site has a green background, bolded black text with occasional red text, so it's a bit of an eyesore to read. On the plus side, this site has none of the "Christmas isn't Christain!!" agenda the previous site had. The page also mentions The Saturnalia, but then discusses how many Germanic traditions helped shape the holiday. As this webpage is part of linguatics.com much focus here is on wordplay, with an interesting disection of the word Chrismas itself. Heavy focus on Saint Nicholas and his origins, as well as the origins of the Christmas tree.

Oddly enough, while reading this page, it gives the impression that Christmas didn't really catch on in the United States until the end of the 19th century. This seems to contradict a lot of information I've seen before, and I'm wondering if it's simply a case of, ironically (for a linguistics site) poor phrasing. Christmas was obviously around, so even throughout the 19th century must have beena recognized celebration, but didn't have anything resembling its current scope and importance until the end of the 19th century.

Next up is The Celtic Origins of Christmas. This is the one I knew most about prior to this research--the whole Solstice/Sung god connection. (But, surprise! The Celts weren't the only ones who had such a holiday.) This site talksa bout the origins of the word "Yule", but so do the other two sites I've listed.

Lastly, just for shits and giggles, I give you Historical Origins of Christmas Traditions. This one's a must read just for the entertainment factor. Thrill to the GIF animation at the top of the page that turns the worn "Santa" into "Satan"! Marvel at the paradoxical sentiment of Love and Peace as he spits out venomand bile at the holiday! Hell-- you can make a drinking game out of it: evertime it quotes the Bible, drink; everytime it calls something "phallic", drink; everytime it mentions "the whore church", drink twice. It's an absolute riot--although, from the looks of it, it does give an interesting analaysis of the meaning behind the carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas". See, even from the mouth of zealots comes the occasional grain of wisdom.

But, OK, there you go. A wordy Blog entry about Christmas and it isn't even Dec 12 yet. Gonna be a loooooong Holiday Season, my peoples. :)