Christmas, founded by the Roman Catholic Church.

This custom, which is peculiar to the Western Church, was established in the VIIth century when the Pope celebrated the Christmas office in a number of churches around Rome. During Charlemagne’s reign, this custom spread throughout his empire but it was only in the XIXth century that it became usual to celebrate the three masses consecutively.

Lithograph taken from the "Monde Illustré" of January 1st, 1884.

The celebration of mass at midnight at Santa Maria
Maggiore is based on the ancient belief that Jesus
was born precisely on the stroke of twelve.

We owe this to the XIIIth century Hungarian Saint Elizabeth. A IVth century Latin hymn, Quando noctis medium, already reflected the belief that the Messiah was born on the stroke of midnight.

Solemn and impressive with the happy sound of pealing
bells, with light sparkling everywhere and with hymns of joy, Midnight Mass reached its high point with the procession of the Christ Child. Some Quebec churches have preserved this custom today, sometimes even conferring on a young couple and their baby the privilege of representing the Holy Family.

2.) Dawn Mass.

The second mass of the Nativity,
the Dawn Mass, took place
immediately after the Midnight
Mass. Most of the faithful, moreover,
made a point of attending it.

On Christmas morning in Saint Peter’s basilica in Rome. The public and official celebration of the festival of the Nativity took place on Christmas morning in Saint Peter’s basilica in Rome. An enormous crowd gathered in the church to attend this mass, celebrated by the Pope, to receive communion as well as the papal blessing.

Today, many Christian faithful and pilgrims still trek to Saint Peter’s to attend this great ceremony.

In the Catholic Church, Christmas is still the only religious festival to be celebrated with three masses.

Kissing Under the Mistletoe.

The Druids considered the mistletoe to
be a sacred plant and believed it had miraculous properties which cure

Witchology, n., the study of Witches & Witchcraft Quote

"Could you describe a typical Yule/Winter Solstice ceremony?"

"Yule celebrations in Wicca date back to the late 1950s.
Gerald Gardner, the founder of Wicca, did not include the
solar celebrations of Solstice and Equinox in his original
four-fold Sabbat structure of the late 1940s. However,
since its introduction, along with Summer Solstice and
the two Equinoxes, it has become an essential component
of the eight Sabbats observed almost universally amongst modern Pagans.

Not everyone nowadays follows the procedure laid down
by Gardner, but elements of it are commonly found in most Pagan celebrations. Most Yule rituals will involve the casting of a circle, a ritual symbolising the rebirth of the solar deity, dancing round the circle and the feasting ceremony of ‘cakes and wine’. Other Wiccan covens might base their ritual on the passing of power from the Holly King to the Oak King – a concept derived from British folklore."

"What links/similarities are there between modern Christmas traditions (tree, Santa Claus, eating enough to feed a Third World family for a week and so on) and Yule/Winter Solstice celebrations? And, just to clarify, do you prefer the festival to be called Yule or Winter Solstice?"

The festival itself is entirely Pagan in origin. It might be more appropriate to ask what links are there between Christian Christmas traditions and our modern Christmas. But the answer would not detain us very long. The use of a ‘Christmas tree’ in the UK and Ireland is a recent addition, but might be seen as connected to older Yule log traditions and decorating the house with other evergreen plants like holly and ivy. Riga in Latvia claims to have been the site of the first recorded tree in the sixteenth century, but some have seen links with the Norse world-tree. Echoes of old Druidic fertility rites survive in ‘kissing under the mistletoe’. Santa Claus has been Christianized as Saint Nicholas, but the tradition of a gift-bearing man arriving at mid-winter can be traced back to Wotan (Odin) in Germanic folklore.

Feasting is a large part of all Pagan traditions and at
Christmas this is still a principle element. The focus of
the meal around a specific animal is certainly a residue
of animal sacrifice, although the popularity for turkey is a modern development. We should not be squeamish about
animal sacrifice, it simply meant butchering an animal for
the benefit of the community with a small and usually inedible portion being ‘given’ to the gods. Modern sensibilities are usually too cosseted to even contemplate killing a chicken, so we should not condemn the past on our own rather feeble standards.

Of the two terms Yule and Winter Solstice, Yule is the older
and indeed Pagan term for the astronomical event of the
Winter Solstice, but both might be used, as might other terms like Saturnalia, the ancient Roman festival. Within Northern Europe Yule is the more ‘archaicly correct’ term and the fact that it still survives in our language makes it a natural choice.

"Do many witches celebrate Christmas (in a secular present-giving way) as well?"

I should think that almost all of them do. Calls to ban Christmas and not celebrate it have always come from within sections of the Christian community (e.g., the Jehovah’s Witnesses) who, quite rightly, see Christmas as a Pagan festival.

Another Pagan Site speaks on the subject.

Quote

"winter solstice happens near December 21, which is the
longest darkest night of the year. The dark of Winter is
safe like my bedcovers at night. Dark whispers of a Mother's love caress me. In the darkness of the Mother's womb, the void I am safe, sustained, at peace. and can move inward, into my own dark self, looking, learning, purifying. I can cleanse myself of all that blocks me from being born new with the rising new solstice sun when the sun king is born, with promises for the Spring ahead.

Our Christian friends are often quite surprised at how enthusiastically we Pagans celebrate the 'Christmas'
season. Even though we prefer to use the word 'Yule',
and our celebrations may peak a few days BEFORE the
25th, we nonetheless follow many of the traditional
customs of the season: decorated trees, carolling,
presents, Yule logs, and mistletoe. We might even
go so far as putting up a 'Nativity set', though for us
the three central characters are likely to be interpreted
as Mother Nature,Father Time, and the Baby Sun-God.
None of this will come as a surprise to anyone who knows
the true history of the holiday, of course.

In fact, if truth be known, the holiday of Christmas has
always been more Pagan than Christian, with it's
associations of Nordic divination, Celtic fertility rites,
and Roman Mithraism. That is why both Martin Luther
and John Calvin abhorred it, why the Puritans refused to acknowledge it, much less celebrate it (to them, no day
of the year could be more holy than the Sabbath), and
why it was even made ILLEGAL in Boston! The holiday
was already too closely associated with the birth of older
Pagan gods and heroes. And many

of them (like Oedipus, Theseus, Hercules, Perseus,
Jason, Dionysus, Apollo, Mithra, Horus and even
Arthur) possessed a narrative of birth, death, and
resurrection that was uncomfortably close to that
of Jesus. And to make matters worse, many of them
pre-dated the Christian Savior.

Ultimately, of course, the holiday is rooted deeply in
the cycle of the year. It is the Winter Solstice that is
being celebrated, seed-time of the year, the longest
night and shortest day. It is the birthday of the new
Sun King, the Son of God -- by whatever name you
choose to call him. On this darkest of nights, the
Goddess becomes the Great Mother and once again
gives birth. And it makes perfect poetic sense that
on the longest night of the winter, 'the dark night of
our souls', there springs the new spark of hope, the
Sacred Fire,the Light of the World, the Coel Coeth.

That is why Pagans have as much right to claim
this holiday as Christians. Perhaps even more so,
as the Christians were rather late in laying claim
to it, and tried more than once to reject it. There
had been a tradition in the West that Mary bore
the child Jesus on the twenty-fifth day, but no
one could seem to decide on the month. Finally,
in 320 C.E., the Catholic Fathers in Rome decided
to make it December, in an effort to co-opt the
Mithraic celebration of the Romans and the Yule
celebrations of the Celts and Saxons.

There was never much pretense that the date they
finally chose was historically accurate. Shepherds
just don't 'tend their flocks by night' in the high
pastures in the dead of winter! But if one wishes
to use the New Testament as historical evidence,
this reference may

point to sometime in the spring as the time of Jesus's
birth. This is because the lambing season occurs in
the spring and that is the only time when shepherds
are likely to 'watch their flocks by night' -- to make
sure the lambing goes well. Knowing this, the Eastern
half of the Church continued to reject December 25,
preferring a 'movable date' fixed by their astrologers
according to the moon.

Thus, despite its shaky start (for over three centuries,
no one knew when Jesus was supposed to have been
born!), December 25 finally began to catch on. By 529,
it was a civic holiday, and all work or public business
(except that of cooks, bakers, or any that contributed
to the delight of the holiday) was prohibited by the
Emperor Justinian. In 563, the Council of Braga forbade
fasting on Christmas Day, and four years later the Council
of Tours proclaimed the twelve days from December 25 to Epiphany as a sacred, festive season.

This last point is perhaps the hardest to impress upon the modern reader, who is lucky to get a single day off work. Christmas, in the Middle Ages, was not a SINGLE day, but rather a period of TWELVE days, from December 25 to
January 6. The Twelve Days of Christmas, in fact. It is
certainly lamentable that the modern world has abandoned this approach, along with the popular Twelfth Night celebrations.

Of course, the Christian version of the holiday spread to
many countries no faster than Christianity itself, which
means that 'Christmas' wasn't celebrated in Ireland until
the late fifth century; in England, Switzerland, and Austria
until the seventh; in Germany until the eighth; and in the
Slavic lands until the ninth and tenth. Not that these
countries lacked their own mid-winter celebrations of
Yuletide. Long before the world had heard of Jesus,
Pagans had been observing the season by bringing in the
Yule log, wishing on it, and lighting it from the remains of
last year's log. Riddles were posed and answered, magic
and rituals were practiced, wild boars were sacrificed and consumed along with large quantities of liquor, corn dollies
were carried from house to house while carolling, fertility
rites were practiced (girls standing under a sprig of mistletoe were subject to a bit more than a kiss), and divinations were cast for the coming Spring. Many of these Pagan customs, in an appropriately watered-down form, have entered the mainstream of Christian celebration, though most celebrants do not realize (or do not mention it, if they do) their origins.

For modern Witches, Yule (from the Anglo-Saxon 'Yula', meaning 'wheel' of the year) is usually celebrated on the
actual Winter Solstice, which may vary by a few days,
though it usually occurs on or around December 21st. It
is a Lesser Sabbat or Lower Holiday in the modern Pagan calendar, one of the four quarter-days of the year, but a
very important one. This year (1997) it occurs on December 21st 12:08 PM PST. Pagan customs are still enthusiastically followed. Once, the Yule log had been the center of the celebration. It was lighted on the eve of the solstice (it should light on the first try) and must be kept burning for twelve hours, for good luck. It should be made of ash. Later, the Yule log was replaced by the Yule tree but, instead of burning it, burning candles were placed on it. In Christianity, Protestants might claim that Martin Luther invented the custom, and Catholics might grant St. Boniface the honor, but the custom can demonstrably be traced back through the Roman Saturnalia all the way to ancient Egypt. Needless to say, such a tree should be cut down rather than purchased, and should be disposed of by burning, the proper way to dispatch any sacred object.

Along with the evergreen, the holly and the ivy and the
mistletoe were important plants of the season, all symbolizing fertility and everlasting life. Mistletoe was especially venerated by the Celtic Druids, who cut it with a golden sickle on the sixth night of the moon, and believed it to be an aphrodisiac. (Magically -- not medicinally! It's highly toxic!) But aphrodisiacs must have been the smallest part of the Yuletide menu in ancient times, as contemporary reports indicate that the tables fairly creaked under the strain of every type of good food. And drink! The most popular of which was the 'wassail cup' deriving its name from the Anglo-Saxon term 'waes hael' (be whole or hale).

Medieval Christmas folklore seems endless: that animals will all kneel down as the Holy Night arrives, that bees hum the '100th psalm' on Christmas Eve, that a windy Christmas will bring good luck, that a person born on Christmas Day can see the Little People, that a cricket on the hearth brings good luck, that if one opens all the doors of the house at midnight all the evil spirits will depart, that you will have one lucky month for each Christmas pudding you sample, that the tree must be taken down by Twelfth Night or bad luck is sure to follow, that 'if Christmas on a Sunday be, a windy winter we shall see', that 'hours of sun on Christmas Day, so many frosts in the month of May', that one can use the Twelve Days of Christmas to predict the weather for each of the twelve months of the coming year, and so on.

Remembering that most Christmas customs are ultimately based upon older Pagan customs, it only remains for modern Pagans to reclaim their lost traditions. In doing so, we can share many common customs with our Christian friends, albeit with a slightly different interpretation. And thus we all share in the beauty of this most magical of seasons, when the Mother Goddess once again gives birth to the baby Sun-God and sets the wheel in motion again. To conclude with a long-overdue paraphrase, 'Goddess bless us, every one!' "

Eldritchs Crypt.

Winter Solstice is commonly called referred to as the celebration of Yule. The word Yule is said to have come
from the Norse word "Jul" or "Yul", meaning wheel.
Solstice celebrations have been around a long, long time.

From the time mankind observed the days lengthened after midwinter there was an understanding something significant had just occurred. Without thelengthening of the days winter would last forever and humankind would die.Following that line of reasoning, it makes sense evergreens would be considered sacred reminders of everlasting life. During the depths of the worst winters evergreens, in the form of holly, mistletoe, andvarious forms of conifer were a beacon of hope to a cold weary world. Life springs eternal!One of the earliest stories in this regard dates back to ancient Sumer.

Ishtar and Nimrod produced a son named Tammuz. While still a child, Tammuz was attacked by a wild beast and died. The grieving Ishtar cut down a tree at the base, ordering a new one to grow from the stump, in commemoration of her lost son. After the new tree grew a bit she cut it off and repeated the process. In this manner the first evergreen was formed. This legend was adopted by the followers of Mithras and subsequently by the followers of Christ.O Tannenbaum is one of the oldest songs in existence today. Tannenbaum is a word compounded from two Germanic words - Tinne, which means holly and glast-tin, which means evergreen tree. It is likelyTannenbaum refers to a species of evergreen oak sacred to a Sun God.

The word tannin has a common origin and tannin is an acid found in the leaves and bark of oak that has long been used in the tanning process.The ancient Druids believed mistletoe to be an indicator of great sacredness. When it was found growing upon an oak tree, an uncommon occurrence, it was considered a sign of the great sanctity of the tree. Legend has it mistletoe was cut only at summer and winter solstice by way of a Druid elder climbing the tree. He cut the mistletoe with a golden sickle.

It fell into a cloth held below the tree by other members of his order, as it would have profaned the mistletoe to fall upon the ground.

There is also legend mistletoe was cut only on the 6th night of the moon.Druids reportedly believed the berries of the mistletoe represented the sperm of the Gods. When pressed, a semen like substance issues from the white berries. Mistletoe was considered a magickal aphrodisiac. Girls standing under a sprig of mistletoe were asking for a bit more than a kiss, it seems.While highly toxic when ingested, it was believed by the Druids and many in the subsequent culture in the British Isles that mistletoe was a curative for everything from infertility to epilepsy. Sir James Frazer, in his epic work, "The Golden Bough" relates tales of actual ingestion of this plant. Cattle were given branches of mistletoe for being the first of the year to bear a calf.
Women ingested it to cureinfertility.

The folk name for mistletoe "heal all" and has been for a thousand years. In that form it is taken in a very dilute tea.The Roman Saturnalia was a solstice celebration of note. Ten days and nights long, friends and family gathered for great feasts and an exchange of presents. We continue these customs today relatively unchanged - the exception being the reversal of status of slaves and masters as one hopes today's neopagans have no slaves.Most ancient cultures celebrated Yule for longer than a day. In fact, the solstice is two to three days long in terms of astronomical length of day, something the ancients undoubtedly noted in their astronomical observations.

The Swedish people celebrated Midvinterblot, which means, "mid-winter-blood" before the advent of Christianity. Winters were long and harsh and their Viking ancestors made blood sacrifice to theGods, asking them to allow winter to pass. To this day the word used for this season is Jul, and the Jul gnome is an important part of Christmas - moreso than Christmas father or the Christchild.The Norse celebrated Yule for twelve or thirteen nights.

During that time the Gods and Goddesses were considered closest to Midgard. The deities were referred to as "Yule-beings," a title that survived amongthe Lapps until at least 1674. Yule was the season the dead returned to Earth, sharing feasts with the living. Elves, trolls and other magickal beings roamed freely, coming into homes in friendship andpeace when invited.

The antiquity of 24 hour fires or burning of actual logs on the night of the solstice stretches back to the time of the Roman Saturnalia and legend has it Egyptians burned logs in a similar fashion around thesolstice. As a form of sympathetic magick it would make sense to encourage the Sun God to burn brightly, returning to the world, by burning a log all night.In the British Isles and in Gaulic Europe Solstice usually included a Yule log. This was anything from a large tree to a log that would fit into the hearth. The log was anointed with wine, salt, holly andother evergreens, then set alight - sometimes by young girls who had saved bits of last year's log, sometimes by their mothers. Some logs were burned outside while the people reveled. In some climates the celebrations moved indoors, where it became more familial in nature. Some traditions required the log be put to one side of thehearth so that it would burn only a tiny bit each day and last the entire year. Other traditions required burning the log to ashes over a 24-hour period. In all cases the ashes were considered sacred -some believed them to be a protection against lightning, others against evil.Various traditions used different types of wood for Yule logs - birch, oak, and willow are named as well as holly.Later this practice devolved into the Yule candle, a large candle that burned a full 24 hours.

Today many pagans use Yule candles in lieu of Yule logs as most homes and apartments do not come equipped with hearths .Most often, today's Yule log is found most often in the form of a pastry, a rolled cake dusted with chocolate shavings and garlanded with green frosting to appear like the original.Santa Claus aka "That jolly old elf" is a multicultural synthesis of god figures transmitted through time and amalgamated into the Christmas card character of today. Santa embodies the characteristicsof many gods. Aspects of Santa can be found in:

* Saturn, whose name was used in the word Saturnalia and was a Roman agricultural God.

* Cronos, a Greek God known as Father Time, who was associated with theturning of the solar year - these days depicted arriving as Baby New Year to relive the careworn Old Year.

* The Holly King, a Celtic God of the dying year who in turn gave way to the OakKing during atremendous battle that determined if the year would, indeed, progress to spring.

* Odin is known in Norse by the title "Jolnir" which means, "Jul-One."

* Tomte, a Norse Land Spirit, bestowed presents on children.Even the reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh can be
viewed as a pagan manifestation - that of the god Herne,
the Celtic Horned God.

Certainly the use of horned animals is reflected in the legend of Thor, the Norse God, who rode a chariot pulled by goats through the heavens.From the mists of unrecorded history has come to us the legend of the Great Mother Goddess giving birth to the Sun/SonGod. This legend has been retold countless times, the most recent being the birth of JesusChrist. Earlier tellings of the birth of the Sun God include the birth of the God Horus by the Goddess Isis, and the God Mithras - either by his mother or by a stone - take your choice. The Norse referred tothe first night of Yule was referred to as "Mothernights." Female ancestral spirits were honored and Frigga was worshipped.

Holly was incorporated into Solstice festivities early. As an evergreen plant it signified everlasting life, the triumph of life over killing winter. It is used during Yule celebrations as boughs over doorways and in wreaths. The divinities associated with it include the Holly King, Old Nick, Saturn, Bacchus, Wood Spirits and the Holly Boys. It is associated with Roman, Celtic, and English Solstice traditions and has been adopted by Christians as a part of their celebrations.Holly's bright red berries have long been associated with drops of blood and were related to the blood of Mithras long before legend related them to the blood of Christ shed when crowned by thorns.A decoction of holly was considered a cure for worms in old England. But usually Holly was considered a luck bringer. It was hung in the stable or cow barn as a way to favor the animals. A holly tree planted next to a house protected against lightning and evil spells irected against the owner.

In Wales it was considered unlucky to bring holly into the house before December 24. To do so could cause quarrels and domestic upheavals. Anyone who burned green holly or squashed the berries wasinviting disaster.

The Origins of the Christmas Tree Idol of Tammuz.

Tammuz in the Bible.

Adonis seems clearly linked with Tammuz, the Assyro-Babylonion god who dies and rises again. Adonis is the Greek version of the Phoenician term Adon, which means "Lord."

ERESHKIGAL Goddess of the underworld, consort of Nergal. Some consider her a dark side or apect of Ishtar.

When Ishtar descended into the underworld to save Tammuz, Ereshkigal tricked her into leaving some part of her clothing or insignias at each of the underworld's seven gates as she passed throug them.

Standing naked at the seventh gate, Ishtar threw herself on Ereshkigal; but like Samson shorn of his hair she was powerless. Ereshkigal confined Ishtar in the underworld until the wily Ea contrived her release with a trick.

TAMMUZ Also DUMUZI God of the harvest.
The god who dies and rises again. The love of Ishtar killed him, and Ishtar fought Ereshkigal in the underworld to bring him back.

(Caption by Miguel Hayworth)

(If you studied on Pagan History and Culture Tammuz perents were Molech and Istar or another name for istar is ERESHKIGAL Goddess of the underworld Below is the from the dictornary of Pagan gods and goddesses.)

To prove that Istar is Ashteroth you can look that up on the link below and that Tammuz was her son.

To find out about Eric Holmberg please goto
http://www.amport.com/store/holmberg.html

Eric Holmberg States in his Aticle Massacre of Innocence.

"The wife of Baal is Asherah and the wife of Molech is Ashteroth. Asherah and Ashteroth represent the same fertility goddess. This demon was known to the Greeks as Aphrodite; to the Egyptians as Isis; and to the Phoenicians as Tanet."

http://www.revisionisthistory.org/massacre.html

(Tammuz was decent from Istar.) Wikipeida States Based on the texts first found, it was assumed that shtar/Inana's descent into Kur occurred after the death of Tammuz/Dumuzid rather than before and that her purpose was to rescue Tammuz /Dumuzid. This is the familiar form of the myth as it appeared in M. Jastrow's "Descent of the Goddess Ishtar into the Lower World", 1915, widely available on the Internet. Though new texts uncovered in 1963 filled in the story in quite another fashion, the old interpretation still lingers on. Aside from the extended epic "The Descent of Inanna," a previously unknown "Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi," was first translated into English and annotated by Sumerian scholar Noah Kramer and folklorist Diane Wolkstein working in tandem, and published in 1983 (Kramer and Wolkstein 1983). Inanna's lover, the shepherd-king Dumuzi, brought a wedding gift of milk in pails, yoked across his shoulders.

The myth of Inanna and Dumuzi formed the subject of a Lindisfarne Symposium, published as The Story of Inanna and Dumuzi: From Folk-Tale to Civilized Literature:
A Lindisfarne Symposium, (William Irwin Thompson, editor, 1995).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammuz 

LORD OF LOVE AND FERTILITY, THE DIVINE BRIDEGROOM.

A cult ritual "began with laments sung as a sacred cedar tree growing in the compound of the temple Eanna in Uruk. This sacred cedar not only marked the god's birthplace but was itself considered his mother, and probably the bend in the river where the god was met was nearby.

The rite seems to have closed with a triumphant procession that followed the god downstream. the god appears to represent the sap lying dormant in the rushes and trees during the dry season but reviving, to the profound relief and joy of the orchardman, with the river's rise."

- Thorkild Jacobsen, The Treasures of Darkness.

A tree is felled and decked with ribbons, near which the straw figure is placed. The tree is named "Marena" meaning winter or death. A bonfire is lit and spirits placed on a table beside it. All the young men and women will jump the bonfire carrying the figure with them and a celebration is had by all.

The next day the figure is thrown into the stream. This custom as well as similar ones in Austria and Germany are known as "Carrying out Death." The death of the spirit of vegetation is celebrated at Midsummer because of the solstice and the decline of summer.

Although the origin of the Christmas tree is generally ascribed to Martin Luther, its beginnings actually go back to pre-Christian times. Christmas trees are thought to have evolved from the rite of symbolically selecting and harvesting a "sacred tree," a practice found in many ancient cultures. Evergreens and firs were sacred to early peoples, including the ancient Greeks, Celts, and Germans.

The first Yule trees were born when pagans went into the forests during the winter solstice to give offerings to evergreens. Pines and firs remained green while other vegetation lost their leaves and appeared lifeless during the bitter winter cold.

Their mysterious survival and vigor seemed to signify a life force within which carried with it the hope of renewed life.

The Yule tree decorations also represented the souls of the departed who we remember at the end of the year. And then there is the modern day gift giving which originated from hanging sacred presents on the Yule tree as offerings to deities such as Attis and Dionysus. And to think all of this sprung from the pine groves equated with the Great Mother Goddess.

The Yule tree lights and ornaments originally symbolized the sun, moon and stars as they looked on the Tree of Life. The Yule tree decorations also represented the souls of the departed who we remember at the end of the year. And then there is the modern day gift giving which originated from hanging sacred presents on the Yule tree as offerings to deities such as Attis and Dionysus. And to think all of this sprung from the pine groves equated with the Great Mother Goddess. Sources of information include (1)"Power of the Witch" By Laurie Cabot and (2)"To Ride A Silver Broomstick" By Silver RavenWolf

There was no set number of ornaments; whatever an individual had to offer, or the number of blessings one perceived, were how many ornaments were put on the tree.

The Christmas tree did not become a mass custom until Prince Albert, married to Queen Victoria, revived the Germanic custom and established it in England in the late 1800's.

We use our Christmas trees today to remember our blessings, and to multiplythose blessings as we confer those good wishes to others. It is not the tree nor the ornaments that make Yule sacred, but the love that is shared, recognized and bestowed upon the ones we love.

Decorating a tree with ornaments and colored lights is a totally appropriate way to celebrate Yule. You can also bring fresh pine branches into your home as decoration. Drape them over doorways, on your fireplace mantel (away from sparks!), wind them through the stairway railings.

Pagan celebrations of the winter solstice have deep roots in these ancient customs. On Solstice Night, the Goddess reverts to her aspect as the Great Mother and gives birth to the Oak King, the Sun God, the Giver of Life who will once again warm her frozen flesh so that in the spring she may bear the fruit of her womb. From this day until midsummer, each day will grow longer and warmer, and life will once again return to the Earth. Unless you practice a Celtic tradition, this is your New Year.

Dan 11:31 And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily [sacrifice], and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.

The feast of Bacchus was also known as (Dionysus).

Solstice Symbols Illuminate Season of Rebirth.

Santa Claus: Long before the creation of "Saint Nicholas," there were the potent male figures of Pan, Cerunnos, Wodin/Odin, Zeus and Nik. With the advent of Christianity, these powerfully creative figures were diminished or demonized. Pan and Cerunnos, with their hoofs and curling horns became demonized as the Christian devil known as "Old Nik." Their power would not be forgotten though, and "Old Nik" evolved into a jolly old elf named Santa Claus. Their potency can also be glimpsed in the not-often seen spirit of the Greenman. Interestingly, the churches of the Christian Saint Nicholas are often built upon the ruined sites of temples to these earlier gods.

Visit from Santa Claus: The Norse god Odin (or Wodin) rode upon his eight-legged steed Sleipnir to test the civility of his people. He punished the undeserving and rewarded with gifts those who maintained the laws of civility. Much the same, the Greek god Zeus traveled the skies on his magical flying horse, again visiting and enforcing the laws of hospitality. The visits of Saint Nicholas are thought to have their origins in these early myths as well as Nordic and Germanic traditions. St. Nicholas in his flying sleigh, drawn by eight flying reindeer, doles out gifts to the deserving and alas, but a lump of coal to those who are not. Our tradition of gift-giving is also influenced by that practice during the Roman festival of Saturnalia. Much later, the Christianity attributed this characteristic of the December festival to the Three Wise Men of the Christian nativity myth.

Info from the Male Witch Store.

The ever younger God of wine and feasting. Bacchus is also known as Dionysus to the Romans. He frolics with satyrs and nymphs of the forest, has dominion over the growing of the vine, and is known for his sexual prowess. Often associated with the Horned God.

We cannot post this link for obvous reasons.

THE ORIGIN OF SANTA CLAUS

Certainly, no one claims that the jolly fat man with a long white beard, known as Santa Claus, is taken from the Bible. Where then did he come from?

Francis Weiser says:

"After the Reformation, the feast and veneration of Saint Nicholas, the patron of little children, were abolished in many countries. Soon people in those countries forgot the saint who had once been so dear to them. Only here and there a trace of him would linger on; as, for example, in the pageant of the 'Boy Bishop' in England, and in the name Pelznickel (Fur Nicholas), which many people in western Germany gave to their Christmas Man (Pelsnichol - now among the Pennsylvania Dutch).

The idea for using electric Christmas lights came from America, the new lights proved safer than the traditional candles.

candles by Sarita Mehra.

Through the centuries, candles have been offered as gifts and used to ward off darkness. The first use of candles at Christmas was during the Roman festival of Saturnalia. Tall tapers of wax were given as gifts to guests and offered to Saturn as a symbol of his light.

The Pagans also used candles during Yule festivities. Candlelight and bonfires were used as symbols of the sun, and a farewell to the past seasons as well as a welcome to the beginning of a new cycle of seasons.

Candles and Lights.

Saturnalia (honoring the God Saturn) was established by the Romans before they invaded Britain. Celebrated from December 12th -17th it was a time when masters waited on servants at mealtime and gifts of light were given, particularly candles, and it is felt that this may have been in honor of a solar deity for the upcoming Solstice.

Pagans also light candles at the stroke of midnight on the Solstice to symbolize the rebirth of the God: the mystery of light being reborn in the midst of darkness.

Christmas candles, large candles of red or some other bright color decorated with holly or other evergreens, were a popular custom throughout Great Britain, Ireland and Scandinavia. One person, the eldest or the head of the household, was designated as the light bringer. They light the candle for the first time on Christmas Eve before the festive supper and during each of the remaining evenings of the Twelve Days of Christmas. To extinguish the candle, they would snuff it with tongs rather than blowing it out, since that would blow luck away. The candle shed a blessing on the household and so it was protected from accidental quenching. In Sweden, Yuletide celebrations today still include the procession of the Lussibruden (Lucy Bride) led by a young girl wearing a crown of candles.

By Arwynn MacFeylynnd.