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Captain Sweden said:
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Matter-eater Man said:
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Captain Sweden said:
This website questions whether X-Mas really is a Christian holiday:

http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/sbs777/vital/xmas.html

Though I'm happy with celebrating X-Mas as a continuation of Saint Nikolaus:

http://www.serve.com/shea/germusa/nikolaus.htm



So we have the fire god Baal to thank for Christmas trees. I knew that many aspects of Christmas originated from Pagans but it's shocking just how much of it truly has little to do with Christianity.

They do a big Saturnalia celebration every year just outside my door & it's almost indistinguishable from a Christmas celebration except for open hearths on all the street corners.



In Sweden, we eat "Christmas ham", which of course comes from the Vikings tradition of eating ham during Yuletide, and the myth about the pig that never died at Valhalla. Christmas is called "Jul" here as well.

My mum, who is originally from Slovakia and is Catholic (more or less I suppose), half-jokes about how her mother would turn in her tomb if she knew that her daughter ate ham during Christmas Eve.



Wait a tic. How exactly does a bunch of trees used only for decoration, with absolutely no symbolism ascerataing to the true intent of the holiday, mean that the practice itself "isn't Christian"?

I'm sure you think (for reasons I can't fathom) Christmas trees symbolize Baal to us Christians--But to us, they're just trees. Going to Church and worshipping God in special recognition of Christ's birth is infinitely more important to us on Christmas than pines. That and giving/sharing.