SPIRITUALITY/RELIGION - Keep Saturn in Saturnalia!

"For centuries, we have kept quiet and let our holiday to be trampled by 'religious correctness.' But no more. We Romans had have enough! It's time to take a stand for Saturn!

"Long before there was this so-called 'Christmas' we reveled in the weeklong festival of Saturnalia. It was a time to celebrate the children and the downtrodden of society, as well as to have some darn good fun. And let me tell you, as the people who invented the vomitorium, we Romans know something about having fun. You think you Americans over-indulge at the holidays? Hah! Bet you never ate a whole roasted boar, sang in a naked choir or burned down a major public building to celebrate the season.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/clay-naff/keep-saturn-in-saturnalia_b_795683.html

SPIRITUALITY/RELIGION: The History of Christmas

I. When was Jesus born?

A. Popular myth puts his birth on December 25th in the year 1 C.E.
B. The New Testament gives no date or year for Jesus’ birth. The earliest gospel – St. Mark’s, written about 65 CE – begins with the baptism of an adult Jesus. This suggests that the earliest Christians lacked interest in or knowledge of Jesus’ birthdate.
C. The year of Jesus birth was determined by Dionysius Exiguus, a Scythian monk, “abbot of a Roman monastery. His calculation went as follows:

http://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/Christmas_TheRealStory.htm