Santarnalia

Two more days until Christmas! What will you be doing? Most of us will be spending time with family. Immediate, extended and the requisite holiday visits to and from relatives of some questionable consanguinity.

Almost all of us will be going to Christmas, or "Holiday" or Saturnalia or Festivus or whatever parties. Some we look forward to and some we look forward to being over and done with for another year. Usually those are the company Christmas parties where you get together with bosses, co-workers and even owners of a company that reaps at least 80% of the benefits of your labour and then turns the whole affair into a celebration of their generosity. "Let's all take a moment to consider the gift of employment we have been given by (insert company name) this year, and how they give us the privelege of scraping by while they get filthy rich. But hey, at least we're not starving to death, right?"

Funnily enough, that's pretty much the origin of the celebration, isn't it? We try to make the best of the company party by laughing at the office romantics trying to act like they are not together, taking bets on who will get the drunkest, who has the tackiest holiday sweater, and maybe even enjoying the food, drink, music and festivity just a little bit. Cuz we're like that, humans. We're pretty awesome when you think of it. We will find ways to have fun at even the crappiest holiday party. The company Christmas party is just one example of the awesomeness of mankind but those are usually over by mid November so not really in the actual celebration season. I think I heard a few people saying they were having their "Year End" company party in OCTOBER this year! Could that be? Even before Halloween? Craziness!

But when you look at all the partying, celebrating, bonding, hugging, kissing, forgiving, gift giving, spending and over-spending, contacting old friends, making up, re-establishing lost relationships, tying up loose ends, giving to charity, feeding the poor, settling debts, just being the good person most of us aspire to be somewhere deep down, it almost looks like this season is more about death than a holy birth. It's ironic that a lot of the signs of suicide are included in our behaviour at Christmas, isn't it? I think if I knew I was going to die I'd do a lot of the kind-hearted things I wanted to do but was too busy clawing out a living in this pit fight of an existence. I'd empty the bank account and blow it all on my friends and family. And after we'd finished THAT case of beer... But seriously, a lot of us celebrate this season as if we are trying to do as much life maintenance as we can before imminent death. And traditionally all over the world, that's what the season was originally about wasn't it? Before it was even highjacked by the church and called Christmas it was actually like the band on the Titanic playing as the ship went down. Might as well, eh?

In many cold countries, back in the old days, (like hundreds of years ago, (that is hilarious when you consider the length of time people have been here. The "olden" days aren't all THAT olden!)), winter meant no crops, no rain, not much sunshine or fishing or hunting. You pretty much stayed in whatever shelter you had, ate all the EXTRA food you could store for the winter, and spent time socializing with whoever you wouldn't freeze to go visit. And by the end of winter you were likely out of food and good cheer and you were waiting for either sunshine or death. And I think the greatest thing about the people back then is that they KNEW somebody was going to die. It was a given. They'd treat Granny extra nice around Christmas just in case this was her last. They'd look at the infants and just hope they made it through the harsh winter. Sick, weak, disadvantaged, you might never see the heartiest fellow in town again let alone THESE people! So what did they do? Did they get all weepy and funerally? Nope they busted out the wine, and the presents, cranked up the tunes and partied! Well, it didn't hurt to slaughter the fatted calf or livestock of any kind knowing that it'll be easier than feeding them all winter long. So they did that too. You gotta give it to our relatives: when Death knocked on the door they invited him in and had a house shaker of a party.

To be fair, I may have been harsh on Christians saying they "highjacked" the holiday. What I meant was that there was a sort of "Christmas" probably a couple thousand years before Christianity. Every year you hear people reminding us not to forget "the reason for the season,"

but the birth of Jesus was actually not that reason until it was added pretty recently. In fact the birth of Jesus could not have occurred anywhere near December 25th according to the Bible itself. No the reason was the Sun. As mentioned earlier by the end of a long winter, back in the days when people were simple farmers who had no reason NOT to pray for the sun to shine a bit harder and hasten the end of the season of death, that's exactly what they did. But prayer and worship was a bit different back then. If someone tells you to remember the reason for the season, it's most likely someone who would not appreciate it if you did just that.

To be more accurate the reason was Saturn and the Sun. Saturnalia was a Roman festival from Dec. 17th to 23rd. Then the birthday of the Sun was December 25th. During this time of year EVERYBODY went bat shit crazy feasting, drinking, eating, gambling, debauching and celebrating. Quite comprehensively doing most of the things the Church of today frowns upon. But the basis of Saturnalia and the customs attached to it make it clear how it transitioned into modern day Christmas. The wealthy made gifts to the poor in honour of the golden age of liberty when Saturn ruled the world. Saturn was the Roman god of wealth, crops and liberation among other things. During the festivities slaves were allowed to change places and clothes with their masters. They even elected a slave king. There was a great deal more freedom of speech and behaviour during the festival. Slaves could complain about, even badmouth their masters. Gambling was allowed even for slaves. Women were more free to mingle with men. Female entertainers performed at many banquets. Rampant overeating and overdrinking, as well as the debauchery they tended to lead to, were the norm. Quite a far cry from Christmas today!

But children were given toys as gifts. Candles, pottery, books, clothes, knives, just about anything could be exchanged between adults. Even the good old gag gift was pretty common during Saturnalia. Bosses helped poor clients and workers to buy thier gifts much like the quickly disappearing Christmas bonus of today. Verses written on paper cards usually accompanied the gifts, just like Christmas cards. It is beleived that the Great Yule Feast of the Norsemen is where the Yule log, Christmas tree and decorations come from but many of our Christmas traditions were taken directly from Saturnalia. Everybody loved it!

The Catholic church wanted it. Despite God's direct warning NOT to adopt pagan worship customs, (Deut. 12: 29-32), the Christians chose Dec. 25th, the birthday of the Sun, in order to transfer the devotion of the heathen from the Sun to the Son. I'm not making that up.

Early in Christianity, (A.D. 155-230), when Catholic writer Tertullian put pen to paper he wrote of Christians flocking to the Roman pagan winter festivals with disapproval. Pagans would never be seen with Christians for fear of being associated with them and thought to be one. Why, he wondered, did the opposite happen? He wrote, "...gifts are carried to and fro, new year's day presents are made with din, and sports and banquets are celebrated with uproar."

It wasn't until the 4th century that December 25 was just decreed by the Catholic Church as the birthday of Jesus. And not till another 500 years had passed, (9th century), was Christmas called Christmas instead of the Midwinter Feast. At one time in the 17th century, in places like Scotland and the U.S., Christmas was not a feast but a time of fasting for Protestants and Puritans who criticized the undisguized pagan elements of Christmas. Even Christmas carols were forbidden. Strict abstinance from fun was what they reckoned God wanted and they even recruited the army to enforce it by pulling down pagan decorations all around town. No wonder Scrooge was Scottish! Believe it or not it wasn't until 1836 that Christmas became a legal holiday in the U.S.

Christmas has come a long way! Nowadays we have our annual worship of Greed and Mammon in which children are trained to like receiving more than giving

and in the spirit of love and harmony, adults fight over the last Playstation 4 or Iphone 5 on the shelves because they want to show everyone how impressive their spirit of giving is. But along with all of the bad things, there is a spirit of peace, love, forgiveness, charity, giving and partying in the air every year. So almost everybody still loves Christmas. I sure do!

There's still controversy about the word Christmas though. And I AM noticing more atheist posts on facebook this holiday season. I still call it Christmas. It's habit. I don't know any atheists who SAY they are offended by people going to church or singing Christmas carols or worshipping the Lord at this time of year, they just don't want to be part of it. Yet we have this controversy. The word "Christmas" has Christ in it so we can't use it in case it offends. Well I suppose it's other religious people then who are offended. So now we have to say "Happy Holidays" and all that. I think I have a solution to this problem. I have heard countless Christians saying how we should celebrate like it's Christmas every day. So do that. Don't celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25th, it's the wrong day anyway. And since most of us no longer worship Saturn, we'll call the former Christmas season Santarnalia and celebrate it like the old days, in the spirit of giving, liberty and equality. But we'll do it as a completely non-religious party that EVERYONE can celebrate without the pressure of religious behavioural rules.

I'm gonna be Santa at the Shangri La Hotel on Christmas Day afternoon. After that I'm hoping to do some Santarnalian Christmas partying, baby! Because you just never know if we will survive the winter! Who's with me?