Greetings!

Well, it’s that time of year. That time of year to talk about time, something I’ve always had difficulty keeping up with (please excuse my grammar!). The winter solstice has passed for us northerners and the number of daylight minutes is increasing. Those of us who follow the tradition of sending Christmas cards have sent them all out and…uh-oh, I never got around to writing any again this year! And have received many less in return! Just can’t keep pace with time, I guess.

I have been reading op-ed pieces about the commercialization of Christmas, news articles on neighbors who received notes telling them that the hanging of lights and decorating of trees are pagan rituals and should not occur at Christmas, and other writings (often in Christmas cards) bemoaning that Christ has been removed from Christmas. I’ve got some opinions on this matter which I have to qualify by saying they’re all based on second-, third-, fourth-, etc. hand information because I wasn’t around at the time when humans began celebrating the winter solstice, or when Jesus was born, or when it was decided at what time of year to celebrate the birth of Jesus. It’s my understanding that many scholars of history and religion believe that most of our Christmas pastimes (lights, trees, feasting, etc.) are of pagan origin, that Jesus was not born on December 25, and that the date of Christmas was chosen to coincide with some of the biggest pagan festivals of the year in order to promote Christianity.

So, what are my opinions? First of all, I’d like to state that no one needs to be tortured or murdered over this matter, especially me. I know many of us people are egocentric, some of us feel that if our neighbors celebrate in a manner that is different from the way we celebrate then they must be celebrating the season incorrectly. If we all celebrate the season in the way we want, what does it matter if others are celebrating differently? Why should it matter if others want to spend more money on gifts or celebrate the way the season was celebrated before the birth of Jesus (with decorated trees and lights)? I don’t think many pagans are upset with Christians placing nativity scenes on their front lawns. And if Christians really want to celebrate the birth of Jesus without the festivities and commercialization that surrounds the winter solstice, then perhaps they should decide on a more accurate birth date and celebrate at that time. Of course, there will be people, many of whom who will be Christian, who will commercialize that date, too. But as I said before, if we choose not to take Christ out of Christmas within our own home and family, why does it matter if others do?

A number of history and religious scholars have also pointed out that when the calendar was reset to begin with the birth of Jesus, errors were made. Jesus was probably born within seven years of the year one, which throws off the projected millennium years. It’s my understanding that Jesus planned to return to Earth during the lifetime of his followers, and has been granted yearly extensions ever since. But if one is counting on his return during the “millennium,” then it would help to know when the beginning date is. I’ve never understood why his expected return in (most recently) 2,000 years was based on his date of birth. I would think he’d plan on returning in 2,000 years from the date of his death (whichever death one chooses to recognize), which means we can expect the apocalypse to (once again) occur in about 20 years. Of course, if the world doesn’t end first with the resetting of the Mayan calendar in December of 2012. And writing of calendars, we need to keep in mind that the calendar we generally use is not the only one. The Islamic New Year of 1433 began on our November 26, 2011. The Official Hindu Calendar uses a starting point of year 78 of our calendar, which would make this year 1934. The starting point for the Buddhist calendar is the year of Buddha’s death, generally believed to be in the year 544 BCE, making it year 2,556. On January 23, 2012, China and other East-Asian countries will welcome the year of the dragon, 4710. And when Rosh HaShana was celebrated on September 29-30, 2011, the Jewish New Year of 5772 was ushered in. So, does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care? (Thank you, CTA!)

With that in mind, I’ll take Jim’s faith and reason that we will have a New Year in which we can find something, as Viola has written, to REJOICE!

Happy New Year (whichever one you choose to follow)!

Dave