Christian Holidays Rooted in Ancient Traditions

dondelion reminded me yesterday - on St. Nicholas' Day - of some ancient Egyptian traditions - long long before there was Christ in Christmas. When I was a kid we celebrated St. Nicholas' Day as much as Christmas - it was always a big thing to go to bed the night before and see if we could stay up to catch St. Nick hanging a candy-filled stocking on our bedsteads. There were only four of us girls in those days (early 1950's) and we all slept in one large bedroom - two of us in a full-size bed, two of us in bunkbeds. Needless to say, none of us ever managed to stay away to catch St. Nick in the act; but, lo and behold, no matter how early the next morning we awoke, the stuffed stockings were always there! I don't think St. Nicholas' Day is related to the ancient Egyptian traditions but - hmmm, come to think of it, heck, it might be, as so much in our western society seems to come from there! Anyway, here are the special Egyptian days that dondelion pointed out:

• December 6: "Bast guards the Two Lands; Day of offerings to the Shemsu (followers) of Ra"
• December 23: The Egyptian Festival of the Great Heat; Feast Day of Het-Hert (Hathor)
• December 25: Birth of Heru (Horus) the child of Aset (Isis); the Going forth of Wadjet singing in Heliopolis; the Day of Elevating the Great Netjert (Goddess) in all Her names & manifestations

Now if those don't sound like celebrations of the Virgin Mary, the birth of Christ and the singing of carols some 2600 years beforehand, I don't know what does!

Here are some Roman Catholic holy days and days of remembrance from around this time of year:

• December 6: Feast of St. Nicholas (St. Nick's Eve is when the candy-stuffed stockings magically appeared on our bedsteads, much to our amazed eyes and hungry mouths the morning of December 6). According to Wikipedia, in 1809, the New-York Historical Society convened and retroactively named Sancte Claus (a/k/a St. Nicholas) the patron saint of Nieuw Amsterdam, the Dutch name for New York City
• December 8: Feast of the Immaculate Conception (Virgin Mary is conceived miraculously by her mother, St. Elizabeth, thereby avoiding the taint of "original sin")
• December 12: Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (a dark-skinned reincarnation of the Egyptian Goddess Het-hert [Hathor] as the Virgin Mary, standing on a "crescent Moon," not only denoting the ancientness of this lunar goddess, but also representing Hathor's ancient Horns of Power and Authority over mankind)
• December 25: Christmas (celebration of the birth of the Christ)
• December 25 - January 5: The Twelve Days of Christmas - ancient traditional end-of-year celebration from pre-Christian days -- lots of feasting, always-burning fires and lights were critical during this time, especially in the northern countries where the shortest days of the year were around the Winter Solstice
• January 1: Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, The Mother of God (supposed to be a day of reflection and contemplation at the start of the New Year)
• January 6: Feast of the Three Wise Men (the ancient Magi from Persia arrived in Bethelem some months after the birth of Christ, heralded by a "miraculous star" that appeared in the Eastern sky as a sign of this momentous birth; they brought expensive gifts with them and gave them to the parents of Jesus, who were subsequently forced to flee to Egypt - according to one tradition - when King Herod was hunting for the Christ child to kill him. Since Joseph and Mary were poor people, it was probably these gifts of gold, frankincense and myhrr that sustained the small family during their years in Egypt)