Tannenbaum

Lets get Christ out of Christmas and just go back to celebrating it as a pagan heathen holiday.

Is There Too Much Christian Influence in Christmas?

Ever since a bunch of evangelical right wingers and their Fox media syncophants decided to put Christ back into Christmas everyone is attacking poor Christmas Trees.

Judge's Christmas tree ban triggers protest

Rabbi wants menorah in airport, Christmas trees removed instead

Heck they aren't even a Christian symbol, never have been. Even some Christians recognize that, those of the Calvinist persuasion as well as the World Wide Church of God.

There was a strong Calvinist element in Lochdubh which frowned on Christmas. Christmas had nothing to do with the birth of Christ, they said, but was really the old Roman Saturnalia which the early Christians had taken over. And as for Santa Claus -- forget it.

The Christmas tree represents the eternal life, the ever-green tree. Which was absorbed into Christian mythology as they adapted pagan traditions into their syncratic Catholicism. The Holy Roman Empire strode Borg like across Europe. The later Reformist revolts continued to subdue the pagan peasants and absorb their radical theologies, pagan as well as protest-ant.

In the German-speaking countries the Christmas tree is part of the pre-Christian tradition of the "12 Rauhnächte" (12 harsh or wild nights), which later became the "Twelve Nights of Christmas." The tree is put up on December 24 and taken down after New Years or on January 6, known as "Twelfth Night." A part of the tradition of taking down the tree is the "Plündern," raiding the tree of cookies and sugar plums, an event, anxiously awaited by the children. January 6 is also known as "Three Kings." On that evening carolers, three of them dressed as the three kings or Magi, stroll from house to house. In some areas the old trees will be brought to a public place and burnt in a big bon-fire. January 7 ushers in the pre-Lenten Fasching or Carnival season.O TANNENBAUM - O CHRISTMAS TREE

Deutsch Tannenbaum TEXT: Ernst Anschütz, 1824 MELODIE: Volksweise (traditional) O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum, wie treu sind deine Blätter! Du grünst nicht nur zur Sommerzeit, Nein auch im Winter, wenn es schneit. O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum, wie treu sind deine Blätter! O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum! Du kannst mir sehr gefallen! Wie oft hat nicht zur Weihnachtszeit Ein Baum von dir mich hoch erfreut! O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum! Du kannst mir sehr gefallen! O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum! Dein Kleid will mich was lehren: Die Hoffnung und Beständigkeit Gibt Trost und Kraft zu jeder Zeit. O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum! Das soll dein Kleid mich lehren.

English O Christmas Tree Literal English translation - HF Traditional melody O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree How loyal are your leaves/needles! You're green not only in the summertime, No, also in winter when it snows. O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree How loyal are your leaves/needles! O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree You can please me very much! How often has not at Christmastime A tree like you given me such joy! O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree, You can please me very much! O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree Your dress wants to teach me something: Your hope and durability Provide comfort and strength at any time. O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree, That's what your dress should teach me.

And for those of you who celebrate it as the orgy of capitalist consumption it really is well $ea$on$ Greeting$, to you too.

Which is what this is really all about, the commercialization and materialist consumer nature of secular Christmas season. Capitalist Christmas if you like. Christmas in North America today is a secular holiday.

Disagreement focuses on whether decorations are religious or seecular

It's a season not a day, it is the season of the dying and returning Sun, transformed by Christians into the birth of their dying and reborn Son. It is Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year. It is the season of light in the darkness hence Hanukkah, by the by Happy Hanukkah.

All three are celebrated in Hawaii.

Trees, Menorahs Light Up Hawaii Airports

And even as a secular holiday it celebrates the season of fraternity, sorority and solidarity, that of giving from thems thats got to thems with not. Which is why the Alaister Sim version of Scrooge resonates with us as does the Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

Moral tales for an era of unbridled Capitalism, past and present. For like its pagan origins the Solstice season of giving comes from an earler tradition that of the gift economy.

Happy Yuletide,

Merry Christmas,

Happy Hannukkah,

Blessed Be,

One and all,

this Solstice Day,

from a Pagan and a Heathen ,

friend of the Rebel Jesus.

Original recording from the chieftain’s album the bells of dublin All the streets are filled with laughter and light And the music of the season And the merchants’ windows are all bright With the faces of the children And the families hurrying to their homes As the sky darkens and freezes They’ll be gathering around the hearths and tales Giving thanks for all god’s graces And the birth of the rebel jesus Well they call him by the prince of peace And they call him by the savior And they pray to him upon the seas And in every bold endeavor As they fill his churches with their pride and gold And their faith in him increases But they’ve turned the nature that I worshipped in From a temple to a robber’s den In the words of the rebel jesus We guard our world with locks and guns And we guard our fine possessions And once a year when christmas comes We give to our relations And perhaps we give a little to the poor If the generosity should seize us But if any one of us should interfere In the business of why they are poor They get the same as the rebel jesus But please forgive me if I seem To take the tone of judgement For I’ve no wish to come between This day and your enjoyment In this life of hardship and of earthly toil We have need for anything that frees us So I bid you pleasure And I bid you cheer From a heathen and a pagan On the side of the rebel jesus.

See

Christmas

Xmas

Solstice




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