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December 26, 2007
I'm a dirty polytheist...
... Run, go tell all your friends.
So, I was in a religious debate last night that I had no right to be in because my knowledge of modern religion is very minimal. That is because I'm a history buff. Particularly I'm a Roman History buff. So, I was trying to explain where some of the conventions of modern day Christmas are rooted. For instance, the holiday's modern date has little to do with the birth or rebirth of Christ, it was actually commonly believed to have been selected to compete and or replace Saturnalia. Saturnalia was a religious celebration honoring Saturn in Rome. It was celebrated on December 17th initially but was eventually given a full week of celebration toward the end of the polytheist Roman rule.
Saturnalia (which predates the Christmas holiday, and I believe even the birth of Christ) is a great deal like Christmas, but it has a few key differences. First of all, it's honoring a deity, next it was a date when children were given leive from school, small presents were exchanged, and Rome gathered to celebrate unity under Saturn with a feast. In fact, the modern nativity scene has unconnected similarities as well:
A statue of Saturn the god was very prominent in the heart of the Roman empire. During Saturnalia, they lit the statue and removed the chains that bound it the earth and humanity.
What's commonly referred to as the "Christmas Spirit", "spirit of the season", or "holiday spirit" was carried over directly from the Feast of Saturnalia. During the week of Saturnalia, Roman slave (not slaves in the Western Empire just the Mainland Empire) were exempt from punishment. Those celebrating the holiday also practiced a role reversal in which the slaves became master of the house for the week and were served by their masters. This is where the popular concept known by bible buffs as "Serve the Servants" came from. When Jesus entertained his followers and washed their feet, this is not an example of something outlandish, it was a standard of the season for the Roman Empire.
There are various other similarities of Saturnalia's clear influence on the Christian holiday of Christmas, but you know what... nobody is going to believe me so why bother. I think, at times, people get so caught up in having the "correct" religion that they tend to forget the point. History has no bearing on what you believe. If you think it's correct then celebrate it. Just don't deny that other people have beliefs that they believe to be correct as well, and though the core beliefs may be miles apart, their is unity and clear humanity in the way we celebrate and want to share our joy with others.
Posted by Decemberice at December 26, 2007 11:09 AM
Comments
That's acctually quite interesting J. I knew that the way we celebrated the holidays had something to do with everything being rooted in pagan rituals.
Hey by the way, hope you had a good birhday.
Posted by: Austin at January 4, 2008 09:59 AM