Here is a list of some of the of Pagan gods that had “birthdays” or are associated with December 25th: Apollo Attis Bacchus Dionysus the son of Zeus Helios Hercules Horus Jupiter Mithras Nimrod (who eventually came to be worshipped as Baal) – According to ancient Babylonian tradition, Semiramis (later known as the goddess Astarte/Asherah/Ashtoreth/Isis/Ishtar/Easter in other pagan religions) claimed that after the untimely death of her son/husband Nimrod, a full grown evergreen tree sprang up overnight from a dead tree stump. Semiramis claimed that Nimrod would visit that evergreen tree and leave gifts each year on the anniversary of his birth, which just happened to be on December 25th. This is the true origin of the Christmas tree. Perseus Sol Invictus (The “Unconquered Sun”) Tammuz ”By the time the Roman Empire legalized Christianity in the 4th century, most of the other religions in the empire were celebrating the birth of their gods on December 25th. Leading up to December 25th in ancient Rome, a festival known as Saturnalia was one of the biggest celebrations of the year. Saturnalia was a festival during which the Romans commemorated the dedication of the temple of their god Saturn. This holiday began on the 17th of December and it would last for an entire week until the 23rd of December. Saturnalia was typically characterized by gift-giving, feasting, singing and lots and lots of debauchery. The priests of Saturn would carry wreaths of evergreen boughs in procession throughout the pagan Roman temples. Later on, the Romans also started holding a festival on December 25th called Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, which means ‘the birthday of the unconquered sun.’ Basically it was a way for the empire to consolidate all of the December 25th ‘sun god’ birthdays throughout the empire into one holiday .
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 14:08:11 +0000
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