johndarling7

[johndarling7]

THE TRUE STORY OF : Christmas

This is a transcript of a video on my youtube channel

(The video is also fully closed captioned!)

Christmas is a time that always makes me feel warm and nostalgic.

As a child I grew up eager and excited for Christmas morning every year when I’d be able to tear apart mysterious boxes to find presents inside. My mother would deck the halls with boughs of holly and it was always our job to decorate the Christmas tree. Christmas, for me, was a time of tradition ,but I never once stopped to think: What exactly is Christmas? Of course being raised in a good Christian Home, I was taught that it’s the day where we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. But like most things in life, you discover that what we’re often taught half truths as children. So in this video we’ll be discussing the origin of many of the Christmas traditions we hold near and dear to our hearts Let’s start with the Yule Log

We can track the origin of the Yulelog back  to pre-Christian Scandinavia in Norse country.During the time of the year when the days are shorter and darkness devoured the light.

Fathers and their sons would venture into the snowy forest to fetch the largest log that they could find.

They'd  drag the log back to their homes and they’d set it afire.This marked the beginning of what is known as Yuletide, or the Winter Solstice.

The Yule Log would remain lit for 12 days and It is said that during this time sacrifices were given to the fire to ensure fruitfulness and fertility for the year to come This is also where we get the beginnings of what we now know as the Christmas Tree Yule Trees would also be bought into the home.

The Norse Pagans admired Evergreen trees because, unlike the other plants that were ravaged by the winter, the Evergreen remained ever green. It was seen as a symbol of fertility and immortality and it’s spirit filled the home and blessed it’s inhabitants. Mistletoe was another plant celebrated by the Norse pagans at this time.

In Norse mythology, Loki, the trickster god used mistletoe to fashion a spear to kill Baldur, the son of Frigga: the wife of Odin. When Baldur passed, it was said that from that point forward, the mistletoe would be used only to bring love, not death.

Mistletoe was considered an aphrodisiac that was never to touch the ground

Women while walking beneath it were said to be made sexually available, intoxicated by the power of the mistletoe.

For the 12 days that the Yule Log burned, great feasts and joyous gatherings commenced to honor the Norse god Odin.

Odin was said to roam the sky during to solstice collecting the souls that have passed on that year.

Meat was in abundance and as the winter raged outside, the Norse Pagans celebrated in the warmth round the Yule Log.

But the Pre-Christian Norse were not the only ones with Winter Solstice traditions, In Pre-Christian Rome, a ruckus party under way.

Saturnalia took place a week before the Winter Solstice to celebrate the God Saturn, the God of excess. The Saturnalia Celebrations were a time where roles were reversed. Slaves became masters and masters became slaves.

The orgy of drink, sex and over indulgence continued on for an entire month. But that wasn’t the only celebration underway in Rome. A much more solemn celebration was practiced by an elite group of influential Romans who worshiped Persian God, Mithra- the God of the Unconquerable Sun.

They celebrated his birth, which signified the end of the dark days of winter and the return of the dominance of the sun.

Mithra happened to be born on December 25th and of course that’s not a coincidence. When Rome invaded Britain, their customs influenced the British and Saturnalia became known as the festival of fools

As Christianity began to spread in the 4th Century, it struggled to compete with these Pagan traditions. The Church of Rome eventually said if you can’t beat em, join em and they appropriated many of these pagan symbolism as part of their official Christianity.

And so December 25 became the birth of the Son of God, rather than the birth of the God of the Sun. The Feast of Fools became known as the Christ’s Mass. ’ Despite the new association with Christianity, the debauchery of the Feast of fools continued and in 1652, Christ’s Mass eventually was outlawed in England after the execution of King Charles the 1st.

However, when Charles the 2nd restored the Monarchy, the tradition continued on.

The Puritans were not very pleased with this. See, the Puritans believed that Christianity should be separate from paganism and they took this belief with them to the New World.

Unfortunately while they tried to stop Saturnalia celebrations, they still continued in the New World.It’s in fact because of Saturnalia celebrations in the new World that the first police force in New York was created in 1828 to control gang rioting. The American Sunday School Society fought for the validation of Christmas during the mid 19th Century.They argued that they could teach children about the birth of Christ with reenacting the nativity while bribing them with candy and subsequently filling their pews.

So Christmas, a tradition that was initially outlawed in America, slowly started to become solidified in the minds of Americans in the new world.

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol also contributed to the establishment of Christmas as a tradition. In fact Literature was a huge part establishing Christmas Culture Clemence Clark Moore wrote the Night Before Christmas which solidified the mythology of Santa Claus complete with reindeer and gifts delivered down the chimney. Santa Claus came from St. Nicolas, who was a  Greek Orthodox Bishop from what is now known as Turkey.

The story of St. Nicolas is that when discovering that a neighboring family was destitute and on the brink of selling one of their daughters to the brothel, St. Nicolas collected coins and placed them in one of the daughters’ shoes at night.

This is where we get the tradition of placing stockings on the fire place.  Santa Claus as we know him today is an amalgamation of many interpretations of St Nicolas. His appearance was initially solidified by an illustration by Thomas Nast.  

but the Santa we know and love today is a specifically Americanized Santa designed by Coca-Cola in 1920!

The character has become a massive advertising tool for the holiday season. A holiday season that does seem to be more about consumerism than anything else. There’s a lot of debate about whether or not Christmas is a Christian Holiday. Every year we hear about the “war on Christmas, which is supposedly about taking the "Christ out of Christmas” My question is: was Christ ever IN Christmas? The date of when Jesus was born is not listed in the bible and I strongly doubt that shepherds were herding sheep in the winter. Either way, what I love about Christmas is that it means something different to everybody. For you it may very well mean the birth of Christ and I honestly don’t have a problem with that. But for me it’s about being with the people I love. It’s about giving and making memories. Happy Holidays, and always remember and never forget that you are beautiful and you are loved! My Youtube Channel

Support my channel: http://www.patreon.com/katblaque Business Inquiries: kattyblaque@gmail.com STORE / FACEBOOK / TWITTER / INSTAGRAM /YOUTUBE

[johndarling7]

Dream (by Marcin Sobas)

[johndarling7]

Cool

by Peter Mohrbacher; check out his Kickstarter here. Via Max Playing Cards.

[johndarling7]

Pretty

Zaqiel, Angel of Purity

The 9th fallen angel in my watchers series. The rest are at www.angelarium.net

[johndarling7]

Love this blog! 😊

[johndarling7]

Wish I had more nights like these. #hauntlife

[johndarling7]

Found primarily in green, trolls are creatures of Nordic myth and folklore known for their dim-witted nature, carnivorous habits and near indestructibility. Trolls are usually described as ugly and hunchbacked and are believed to dwell deep under hills, in dark forests or in caves since they are wary of both light and sound: exposure to too much sunlight is said to turn trolls to stone, and the fear of sound is attributed to tales of Thor smiting trolls for his amusement. Trolls are generally antagonistic towards mankind and are believed to carry people off to imprison or eat them.

A key characteristic of trolls in Magic is their ability to regenerate. This does not come from folklore, but rather from the troll in Poul Anderson’s Three Hearts and Three Lions which then led to the ability being added in Dungeons & Dragons and cemented the now infamous troll rapid healing.

[johndarling7]

If you have ever wanted to scare people and get paid to do it, now is your chance! The Nightmare on 13th is hiring for actors RIGHT NOW! #hauntedhouse #nightmareon13th

[johndarling7]

favorite races of middle earth

[johndarling7]

Come check out our witchy booth at Art on You Studios Halloween In Summer Festival! Here all day!

[johndarling7]

This is a recent molt from Vampira, our metalic pink toe tarantula. #molt #fangs #goodnight #tarantula

[johndarling7]

May it be a light for you in dark places, when all other lights go out.

[johndarling7]

Aww

Do not fear, young Peregrin Took….

for cutepippin

[johndarling7]

[johndarling7]

🎉 I met @adoredelano on my birthday! Check that off the bucket list. #dragqueen #rupaulsdragrace #party #ilookfuckingcool

[johndarling7]

I love the views from here. #Hiking #utahwilderness

[johndarling7]

Just a reminder…

If you own any card worth more than $1.05, you own a card worth more than its weight in silver.

If you own a card worth more than $78, you own a card worth more than its weight in gold.