Came across this and thought it interesting...

Taken from Forum Europae
http://www.blazing.ws/forumeuropae/viewtop...id=ef92bece2112231ec152778d78aa103a

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The Pagan Roots of Christmas

Mithra and Bull If one researches the roots of the festivals still held as custom by the people of the Western world, it is not difficult to recognize the obvious Pagan roots of virtually all holidays held to be "Christian" today. It is still relatively easy to uncover the Heathen truth, hidden not far, underneath the Judeo-Christian veil of lies and historical distortion. All elements of which could not be tortured, killed, or otherwise extirpated from the Pagan populations of medieval Europe, and which did not dissolve of their own inadequacy, were assimilated by the Church. This process lives on in modern practices.

"Christmas" is actually the Yule celebration of Pre-Christian Europe, its "Twelve Days" denoting the period from the Winter Solstice to the New Year. This fact is conveniently overlooked by almost all Christians who sing the Pagan songs, decorate the Pagan tree, and tell their children about the Pagan Kris Kringle—while ostensibly celebrating the "birth of Jesus". The Church even attempted to steal the Pagan gift-giver Kris Kringle by changing him into "Saint Nicholas", but the assimilation never came about. Kris Kringle is still recognized in Holland, where he is said to come from Spain (thus the Spanish nomenclature of the Christian attempted theft: Santa Claus ) to the Netherlands on the 5th of December to deliver presents to good children.

The decorated evergreen tree is a symbol of Life Eternal, even amidst the dead of mid-winter, and was called by ancient Germanic tribes the World Tree or Tree of Life, Yggsdrasil, with its roots in the underworld and its branches amongst the stars—hence the star atop most Yule trees, sometimes replaced by an "angel". No stretch of the imagination can link the "Son of God" born in a manger in the middle-east with this ancient symbol.

The mistletoe is a fertility symbol, sacred to the Druids, because it grows green on the sacred oak in winter. The juice of its berries bears a resemblance to human semen, and Pagan Europe symbolically attributed to it regenerative powers—thus the kiss under the mistletoe.

Between Halloween and the New Year, ancient traditions taught that the barrier between the world and the underworld are thinnest. It is for this reason that the colors of Yule are red and green: red has always been the color attributed to the God of War (Apollo, Mars, Thor, Aries, Osiris ), and green has always been attributed to the Chthonic God (Dionysos, Iormigundr, Pan, Apophis), and together this symbolism is the primordial root of the ancient concepts of "Blood and Soil".

December 25th is not the birthdate of Jesus of Nazareth1; Jesus' birthdate is unknown, and nearly all scholars East and West agree it was likely in the spring, or possibly the Fall. December 25th is the birthday ofMithras,the Pagan Solar God of Persian origination, born on the day celebrated by the ancients as the Winter Solstice. The Cult of Mithras was so powerful within theRoman Legions at the time the Church was solidifying its power over Rome that the Church destroyed the Mithrasian temples, raised Churches on their very foundations, and then assimilated all the symbology in order to bring about a gradual conversion.

Mithras Sol It was in Mithrasian temples that the Priest was first called "Father". It was there that theritual called the "Last Supper" was first performed, including the taking of bread and wine as the body and blood of Mithras. It was in the Mithrasian temples that a God was celebrated on Sun-day, in tribute to a Solar God, as opposed to the Christian practice of celebrating the Sabbath Day—the Seventh Day of Genesis, when Yahweh rested. How or why the "seventh" day celebration for Christians came to be held on the first day of the week— the "day of the Conquering Sun"----- remains a "mystery" to modern Christians.

To genuine scholars, however, ("Christian scholar" is an oxymoron ) it is no mystery—the Church arrogated the day of the "rebirth" of Mithras as the "birthdate of Jesus" in 375 CE at the Council of Antioch.Thereafter, all hymns about the birth of the Sun were changed to hymns about the birth of the "Son". The Jews know this, which is why they still celebrate the Sabbath on the correct day, as do Muslims, who believe in Jesus but only as a prophet2 and not one born on the Winter Solstice.

All Hail The Return of Sol Invictus!

Notes:

1. Jesus was born in Nazareth, but early Christians made up the story about Joseph and the pregnant Mary making the journey to Bethlehem in order to fulfill Old Testament "messiah" prophecies. The reason given for this trip by scripture—a tax census ordered by Augustus Caesar—has been proven false by extensive Roman documentation.

2. Even the cross symbolism of Christianity was stolen from the pre-Christian symbolism of Mystery Cults, which used an equal-armed cross as a mystical symbol of Man. Thus did Jesus say: "And he that taketh not his cross... is not worthy... " (Matthew 10:38)

source: http://www.galacticapublishing.com/archive/2002/yuletide/this_season.php