Aurelian established December 25 as the birthday of the INVINCIBLE SUN in the 3d century as part of the Roman Winter Solstice celebrations.
In 273 the Christian church selected this day to represent the birthday of Jesus, and by 336 this Roman solar feast day was Christianized.
Ancient men feared the darkness for it was personified death to them. In the absence of light from the Sun man was vulnerable to bad things.
We get the term "the devil" from this concept as the Ancients connected the ideas of "evil" and "darkness" together. Dark + evil = devil.
Sun, the provider of light, security, safety, heat, and photosynthesis and the abundance of food stuffs was the Savior of the Ancients.
So for primitive man Dec. 22 was the start of winter and marked the beginning of the worst stage of his yearly struggle for survival.
Primitive men believed the Sun had died as they could detect no movement of the Sun in the sky for 3 days. Solstice means 'a turning point'.
The early pre-Christians established rituals concerning this period: the sun lays in a grave for 3 days, but then shall be resurrected.
When the pre-Christians wrote of the resurrection of the Sun, they meant exactly that. It did not refer to a person, but to the Solar Sun.
Later Gentile ancestors had changed the Sun to Son. The priesthood told the pagans the SON (Christ) was born on Dec 25, just like their SUN.
So most of the customs, symbols & rituals associated with Christmas actually are linked to Winter Solstice celebrations of ancient Pagans.
"The sun will rise again, bigger and brighter, emblazoned in gold...like a beacon whose physical existence was provisionally "extinguished"...but never forgotten. Those "flames" are the heart of the passionate inferno of resurgence that awaits....
... Just as the Earth is sure to rotate on its axis, the resurrection of a true King will indeed proclaim Hi(s)Story...and the truth shall be heard in ALL corners of the Earth. Momentarily, the world will quake, for there will be a cosmic shift in "dogma"."
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