
Christmas is coming! And as the air turn cold and the familiar music starts to play incessantly, everybody is preparing to worship the birth of Jesus. Aren’t they? In fact if you’re at all literate, and especially if you’re a good Christian, you probably know that December 25th is NOT the day that Jesus was born. But you may not know how we got from Jesus to Christmas, why we bring in Christmas trees, light candles and give gifts, or where the history of Christ-mass really comes from.
When was Jesus’ real birthday?
I’m glad you asked. Many Christian apologists strictly refuse to practice Christmas at all – it is clearly a Pagan ritual with nothing to do with Christianity (so they say) and instead claim that Jesus was born sometime in the summer, using evidence like This One. But, in doing so they’re trying to establish an earthly, human Jesus that has nothing in common with the Pagan Sun-Worship worshiped on Dec. 25th.
Sun worship, you say? That’s right. December 25th is three days after the Winter Solstice, when the sun stops getting further away, hesitates for three days, and then begins to return. So ancient cultures on 12/24 would wait for a star (Sirius, watch had been below the horizon line for 70 days) to appear and shout “The sun is born!”; knowing that summer was going to come back again.
Damningly, everything about Jesus’ birth story, the 3 wise men, the manger with animals, the bright star, the massacre of innocents by a ruler and flight into safety, the “Savior” of the world – all come from the Pagan Sun Cult of Sol Invictus, and not from any Jewish Messiah. So it doesn’t matter when you celebrate Jesus’ birthday, if you celebrate it at all, you’re referring to astrological events!
I don’t want to get into all that now, if you need to know the full story, click here: Jesus and the Lion King or Here: The Jesus Zodiac and Christian Astrology.
Why do we use Christmas Trees?
I would like to delve into the practice of Tree Worship which is why we use Christmas trees. Because it’s freaking cool. Basically, every winter ancient cultures would cut down a tree that represented their God. They would mourn him, and tell the story of his tragic, painful death and suffering. He was a beautiful youth cut down in his prime. Then they would wrap the tree in burial clothes and bury it, sometimes taking it into the temple of the Goddess (his lover). But later, they would celebrate the trees resurrection. The mysteries would hold up a pine cone as a symbol of the divine “seed” that impregnated the Goddess after the god’s death.
This custom was especially true for the cult of Tammuz, but similar rites were practiced widely; and they are very old. The ritual of using an evergreen in cult practice is recorded throughout the Old Testament. (See Deuteronomy 12:2, 1 Kings 14:23, 2 Kings 16:4, 2 Kings 17:10, 2 Chronicles 28:4, Isaiah 57:5, Jeremiah 2:20, Jeremiah 3:6, Jeremiah 3:6, Jeremiah 3:13, Jeremiah 17:2, Ezekiel 6:13, Ezekiel 17:24, Ezekiel 20:47, Hosea 14:8).
In the Ishtar and Tammuz myth, Tammuz dies young and his birth is honoured on his birthday which coincided with the Winter Solstice. This was celebrated around December 21st. Part of the religious ritual involved cutting down a young evergreen tree as a way of commemorating the premature death of Tammuz. Along with this the Babylonians would also burn a Yala (Yule) log, called “the log of the son.” It was burned in the fire to symbolise the death of Tammuz. The next day the evergreen tree would be decorated with silver and gold. The log that was burned was now alive again as the Tammuz tree. The Old Testament book of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 10:3-4) also describes how the Birth of Tammuz was celebrated in ancient Babylon , “..for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax; They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.”
Ishtar is at times also depicted with symbols of fertility, such as the date palm.
The best example of what an evergreen palm tree of life depicting Tammuz is taken from the throne room of Ashurnasirpal II which shows the “Tree of Life” affixed and appearing to be decorated in much the same way that Jeremiah (Jeremiah 10:3-4) described.In other words the King was showing himself as the resurrected divine son of the gods bringing fertility to the land. Now if we consider the Ishtar and Tammuz myth and the sacred marriage between Ishtar and Tammuz that was re-enacted by the king/high priest and high priestess during the Assyrian-Babylonian New Year festival, can it be assumed that the symbol in Assyrian palace iconography known as the Tree of Life is none other than the god of fertility himself, Tammuz?
The Assyrian King would therefore be acting as the son of the gods on earth and is literally the god of fertility Tammuz. This is made apparent in another panel from the bed chamber in palace of Ashurnasirpal II in which a winged King is shown holding a raised stalk of wheat in his right hand and a kid (baby goat) in his left hand. This symbol could depict the King as the born-again Tammuz, who besides being a youthful shepherd, was also the god of crops and fertility.
If it turns out to be the case then the very same Tree of Life depicted on the bas relief in the palace of Ashurnasirpal II not only symbolises Tammuz, but is also used by the Western world today to celebrate Christmas! (Source Here)
According to Jacobsen, “The cult rituals for Dumuzi began with laments sung as a sacred cedar tree was cut down in the compound of the temple Eanna in Uruk. The rite closed with a triumphant procession that followed the god downstream. According to Jacobson, Dumuzi could 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” (Jacobsen 72).
In Egyptian Cult and Christmas: Resurrection of Osiris/Horus
In the Egyptian version, Seth traps Osiris in a coffin and sends him floating down the river (like Tammuz); the coffin gets stuck on a bank and from it grows a tree. The tree gets cut down and take to be used as a temple pillar, but Isis finds it, and revives Osiris enough to get pregnant.
The Egyptians also used a Nativity scene to represent the divine Sun being born anew (Horus) surrounded by animals = the Zodiac.
So when you celebrate Christmas this year with your tree, lights, candles, etc. keep in mind – not that you are practicing a Pagan mystery cult – but that Christianity is itself a Pagan Mystery!
This website is a brilliant reference: http://www.freewebs.com/christmaslie/thereason.htm
Interestingly, Christians who hate Christmas do it because the Old Testament Judaism is adamantly against all forms of Paganism, sun worship, worship of mystery cults, etc. The assumption that Jesus was totally Jesus and has nothing in common with Pagan rituals, however, is rubbish.
Did Judaism naturally adapt and accept Jesus as Messiah? Is Jesus a small schism from the branch of Judaism? NO! It was passionately refused by Jews. Christians came to the Jews talking about how Jesus was the Jewish Messiah and got laughed at: for Jews he was obviously a pagan sun cult, a suffering and rising figure like other pagan religions. The attempt to combine this figure with the messiah was the height of blasphemy. THAT’S why all the early Christian preachers were stoned to death or crucified – by the Jews!
Pretending that Jesus was Jewish and follows the rules and laws of the Old Testament is a project doomed to failure.
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