So today, Saturday, December 21st, is the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. Today is when the sun/son HANGS at the lowest point in the sky. It remains at this point in the sky, which is called the southern cross (which refers to the cross formed by stars in the night sky) for three days before it moves 1 degree northward, which occurs around the 24/25th. Hence the sun/son is BORN AGAIN. Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. If you go out and look up at the sky on the night of December 24th, Christmas Eve (or on the morning of the 25th, Christmas Day, before dawn), you will see that Sirius aligns with the three stars which make up the belt in the constellation of Orion. These three stars were, in ancient times, referred to as THE THREE KINGS. These three stars, along with Sirius, point to the exact spot in which the sun will rise on December 25th. The larger constellation in which this all occurs was known to the ancients as the MANGER or CRADLE. So the three kings "follow" the star in the East to the manger, the birthplace of God's sun/son at the Winter Solstice. The recurrent virgin theme in Christianity and so many other religions refers to the constellation Virgo, which is Latin for virgin. The ancient glyph for Virgo looks like the letter M, which explains the M names of “virgin mothers” like Jesus’ mother Mary, Adonis’ mother Myrra, Buddha’s mother Maya, and Horus’ mother Isis-Meri. Virgo is sometimes called the House of Bread, and in the zodiacal symbol for Virgo you see a woman holding a chaff of wheat. Bethlehem, where Jesus was supposedly born, means HOUSE OF BREAD. However, it does not refer to a place on earth, but refers to the constellation Virgo. So Jesus died on a cross and was born of a virgin? I suppose the former is possible, but the latter makes no sense at all. Well, it makes a lot more sense once you realize that this is all astro-theological allegory which predates Christianity by a very long time.
It makes more sense to us but I don't see how these possible associations with astronomy (edit: or astrology ) make one story of christmass more 'true' as the other? It's one thing to acknoweldge there are influences in christmass (and other parts of christianity) that are proto-christian and once were considered pagan but another to conclude out of that acknowledgement that this makes all other stories less true by definition. I'd like to ask why you think this astro-theological version is the most correct/true. Is it because it is older? Is it because it involves ancient astronomic observations and stars that are actually there? Why are you sure the asto-theological connection is true and not speculation?
What I am trying to say is the Christmas (like Christianity itself) is rooted is astrotheology. Christianity simply weaved a story around a religion that is based on solar worship and goes back to the ancient sun religions of Babylon and Sumer. There was no Jesus born to a virgin in a manger. It's all allegory pertaining to celestial bodies in the sky. People take it at face value, though, and they actually believe a person named Jesus was born on December 25th, when "Jesus" is simply the sun rising one degree in the northern hemisphere, hence being born again. It makes so much more sense than what Christians typically believe, which is simply nonsense. Nothing against Christians, and I am not an Atheist, but it's funny what so many people take at face value when it comes to religion. Everything you hear about in Christianity (and every other major religion) can be explained from an astrotheological perspective, and it makes a lot more sense when explained in those terms.
Besides that the birth date is likely not exactly sure indeed it could also be there was both a Jesus around the beginning of our calender AND a predating astro-theological focussed religion. What I'm mainly asking is what made you convince the latter religion about Jesus is not merely influenced by but even holds it's roots there. As I perceive it the roots of christianity lie in judaism and the prophet Jesus (wether we believe he has anything divine in his being or not) and was influenced by pagan beliefs.
Well considering Jesus would actually have been born sometime around April, I would imagine there are alot of holes in the whole "Christmas" story.
OR the Bible and Christianity is "THE TRUTH" and all similarities are simply the result of different cultures/times trying to represent that "truth" in the best manner possible within their specific cultural framework and era.
It's easy to lack the exact birthdate of someone that was born 2000 years ago. It doesn't necessarily have to indicate anything about other parts.
Another similar theory to the OP is that Christmas evolved from pagan holidays celebrating the winter solstice, and the date gradually slipped due to imprecise calculations involving leap year. Originally, January 1 was supposed to be the solstice, but this also slipped as calendar errors accumulated from having exactly one leap year day every four years. Modern calendar rules have eliminated this problem. Yuletide, for example, was an ancient pagan holiday in what is now the UK in which they burned the biggest log they could find on the shortest day of the year, and drank until it burned out. Early popes wanted to civilize such celebrations by attaching a religious meaning to them. They were surely aware of all the astrological symbolism posted earlier.
That's closer to how I seem to perceive it as well. Christianity is not rooted in those traditions but more so adapted and changed them in the process of when they christianized pagan areas and peoples.
I think you raise some valid philosophical points that question what people are trying to do with their religion. Some look at a religious painting and see a Holy Father, Mother Mary, and Baby Jesus. Others see parents and their new child they care for, something that has been going on for millions of years since animal life has been on earth and which has a permanence compared with religions which have changed through the centuries. The elements of the natural world seem deeply rooted in religion. Even religions which try to make a clear distinction between the natural and spiritual world still have the elements of nature and astronomy embedded in them. The relation of the winter solstice to Christmas and the starting of new life is an example. The relation of Easter to the spring equinox and the full moon is another example. Maybe elements of the natural world, such as the bringing of new life into the world, are what people really embrace and religion is an idealized projection of what people value.
Those around King Herods time used previous mythology embed in everyone psyche to create a new creationist myth. Just on the Virgo thing, the concept that children are more iinnocent, virginity = purity, predates even man in a way. New borns are cute, give us warm fuzzy feelings, is why we should protect them and not eat them.....is one of natures main survival guides, mammals were doing this long before man existed. I'd put that down as the foundation for any Virgin myth rather than a star consellation. As a side note, its also interesting how often the serpent pops up in mythology, Australian Aborigines, uninfuenced by the rest of man for so long for most of them their creation myth is a serpent created everything back when life was but a dream Almost every culture there is a serpent in the mythology somewhere, usually the villian or the creator, but never the virgin. No matter what comes before, certain themes are always going to work. Genesis and The Garden of Eden story, The Tree of life is a tree, cos they just stand there, implies being reflective and wise, the snake is the villian cos they are often deadly, no limbs so have to slither everywhere, implies sneaky, Eve the poor young virgin gets tempted by whatever the forbidden fruit is, and adam as usual is just the dumb ass male that goes along with whatever the chic tells him to do Whether it was Moses or whoever wrote Genesis or Lucas and Star Wars a couple thousand years later, shit wouldnt have worked as well if was an animal senn as dumb like a donkey instead of the tree of life, or if you tried to make a sneaky slithery animal like the serpent play the innocent virgin Eve that gets tempted......or If Darth Vader had a hello kitty helmet rather than what does look like a snakes head or if Princess Leia wasnt covered up head to toe in white and started off in fishnets with a tramp stamp
