Friday, November 21, 2008

HO, Ho, oh....F**K IT!!!

Thousands of years before the birth of Christ people around the world celebrated the winter solstice. This is usually around December 22nd and is the day of the year with the least amount of sun light. From the summer solstice to to the winter solstice the day time gets shorter then after that the amount of day light in a day increases. It was celebrated because the worst of winter was behind them. They would generally slaughter their cows to keep from having to feed them from decreasing food stores and most of the wine and beer made in the summer was finally fermenting. Hence the winter solstice became a wild Marti Gras like party with drinking and feasting!

In Rome, where the winters were not as harsh it became a time of social turn around. Slaves and peasants would rule, going to the homes of the rich and demanding their finest food and drink and if they were refused,... well then there was serious mischief to follow! This piece of Christmas actually lasted until late in the 1800's until the rich began to grow tired of it. Christmas in America wasn't celebrated from 1659-1681 and was actually outlawed in Boston. In fact Christmas wasn't even declared a federal holiday until 1870.

Christmas is about the birth of Christ right...
I suppose it can be if you believe in that sort of thing. Fact is that the new and emerging Christian religion wanted to celebrate the birth of Christ but unfortunately the bible did not provide a date. In order to capitalize on the success of other pagan holidays surrounding the winter solstice, namely the Roman holiday Saturnalia (celebration of Saturn, the god of agriculture), Pope Julius I choose December 25th as the official birthday of Jesus.


The Christmas as we know it didn't really start to come into focus until the 19th century and was heavily influenced by books like Washington Irving's "The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, gent" and Charles Dickens, "A Christmas Carol". It was works like these that transformed Christmas in America into a family holiday when families could go crazy giving gifts to their children without looking like they were spoiling them.

Once it was decided that gift giving would be part of the holidays then it didn't take long for corporate American to capitalize on the idea. Billions of dollars in advertising and marketing campaigns are spent each year during this time to ensure that you buy the best, most popular, whatever for little Timmy. Of course you can't forget that Tiffany diamond necklace for the wife and .... sorry, I digress!

Anyway, hope you enjoy your holiday season and that you learned something new but remember...if you see the Planckster in the mall growing agitated at the crowds, long lines and whiny kids...steer clear...I hate Christmas and I'm probably packing heat!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Merry Christmas, Shitters Full!
*burp*

PlancksPost said...

That's the best thing about xmas...they play that movie a lot on TV! Greatness!

GumbyTheCat said...

I hate Christmas with a passion.

'Nuff said.

Turkish said...

Yeah, it's a real shame that there's a holiday where family and friends get together and exchange gifts. All you stick-in-the-mud, I don't like to have a good time, I can't believe I have to spend money on someone besides myself selfish bastards will just have to drink until you enjoy yourself or at least pass out. Merry Christmas!