Paganism in Christian worship Lorenzo Natural
In our society, despite the slow decline in the number of practicing Christians, Christmas Day is seen as a recurrence of which most of us can not do without, December 25 is celebrated in almost every home, ranging from dinner of Christmas Eve, exchanging gifts, the ritual of lunch with phone calls to family wishes to relatives and friends far and near. Not many, however, those who celebrate Christmas according to the dictates of the Christian religion, whether Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox or qulunque other faiths, and many, in fact, although it did not consider practicing Christians or even atheists, they see the day Christmas and the period related to it as an opportunity for a moment of closeness with loved ones, a pleasant time of year aimed at strengthening family ties too often forgotten. For others, Christmas is not just a holiday tax them, but even they should not concern themselves to participate in the hunt for the great gift that has been raging a week previous December 25. In short, one might say that this particular day has become so ingrained in us and in our society, to be become an integral part.
The outcry from the Church against the consumer-or at least distorted vision-Christmas arrives on time every year we are reminded that 25 December is the Lord's Day, the birth of Christ, the coming of God who becomes man-on-Earth to save humanity from evil. Negatively criticize those who try to defend the true-for him-meaning of Christmas, but also those who see this as a holiday any time, is not the purpose that puts this story: every single person will have on a different view.
However, when we speak of "reference to the Christian tradition" with respect to December 25, one can not but consider what this day really is, and what has meaning for all men who have lived on this planet 5000 years ago up to the great expansion and conversion cristina has invested much of the land from Europe and elsewhere, from the first century (of course draw a well defined map of this conversion is difficult implementation, as it is difficult to say what proportion of the component survives the so-called "pagan", faithful to the ancient cults of the gods natural).
Christianity, but it comes with other numeorsi cults, claim authorship of the December 25 date as a key to his doctrine on that day, 2010 years ago, Jesus Christ was born, announced by a star Eastern and born of the Virgin Mary, and after disclosing the message of God with his twelve disciples, was crucified, then resurrected three days later. But as we said, many other cults go back to this date the birth of various gods, attributing to them characteristics and activities similar to those attributed to the figure of Jesus, Dionysus, god of Thracian and Greek mythology, born December 25 by Zeus and a virgin, crucified and resurrected after three days, Horus, Egyptian god born of the virgin Isis-Meri on 25 dicmbre, followed by twelve disciples-and betrayed by one of them-who died crucified and resurrected three days later, Attis, the Phrygian goddess, also born on December 25 after being crucified and risen, Mithras, Persian, born 25 December of a virgin, died and rose again three days later. In addition to these cults, there are scores that reflect much of the outline of the life of Jesus Christ and the deities: from Zoroaster to Odin, from Baal to Quirino, by Krishna in Bali, to name the best known.
But why? What made peoples so far apart and so different to focus the worship of their gods a second well-defined grid? How is it that Christianity has so many similarities with ancient cults, which have been always been defined by the Church and theology, as mythological beliefs and nothing more? Is it possible that behind this there is only one orgine?
The answer is 'yes': all these cults are based on without a doubt one of the oldest religions, namely that of the Sun, which dates back to the dawn of time mankind, and has always represented the culmination of idolatry revolt natural elements.
talking among the various features that characterize the figure of Christ and of all other deities but simply for convenience to refer to the Christian Messiah in order to compare the similarities, you realize what all these features draw on the tradition of the cult of the Sun astronomical
First, the choice of December 25th. As we all know, December 22 marks the Winter Solstice, the Sun in the northern hemisphere, touching the lowest point of the year, making it the longest night of all of those 365 days. Between 22 and 24 December, the Sun moves almost imperceptibly to the south, so that "seems to stand still" (as he was dead!). Curious appears then this slight movement does not occur in the direction of the constellation by any name, but rather of the Southern Cross cosiddtta Once this phase of apparent deadlock, December 25, the closest star to Earth moves about one degree, but not more in a southerly direction, but in a northerly direction, a prelude to longer days and a light that slowly comes back stronger and more powerful to reappearance in our hemisphere.
Now, the similarities that exist between the birth of Christ, but especially after his resurrection took place three days after he was crucified, and the actual "birth and rebirth of the sun in the sky to the north of ' equator, appear surprising.
Still on other items related to the birth of Jesus, it seems indisputable as a Christian tradition that has taken up pagan.
The Bible and the gospel show as the birthplace of the Messiah, the city of Bethlehem, Beit Lehem Italian translation Hebrew, meaning "house of bread", and her mother, Maria, however, it is identified as a virgin . It seems surprising that the constellation Virgo is also referred to as "house of bread": in fact, the constellation consists of a stylized virgin holding a sheaf of wheat, a symbol that is associated with the harvesting and threshing. In addition, the symbol that is to make good use of astrology to indicate this zodiac sign reflecting the ancient Egyptian hieroglyph, that seems like an "M" is no accident that many of the virgin mother of the deities listed hano first names beginning with that letter (think of Mary, Maya, Mira ...).
And again according to Christian tradition, Christ's birth was announced to the three wise men and people from a "Star of the East": December 24 if we analyze an astronomical context, we realize that Sirius, the brightest star the sky, is aligned to the three main stars in Orion's belt-called "three kings" and was loved-evident to the Magi, and then be perfectly aligned with the first day following or 25.
astronomical in nature turns out to be the choice of the number '12 'as a sacred number. Considering the figure of Jesus as a metaphor for the sun god, the twelve disciples immediately recall the twelve months of the year through which the sun moves throughout the year (but even if we make up for twelve zodiac signs in astrology rather than astronomy taking into account that the two disciplines are often approached regarding the study of pagan worship). As a reminder of the importance of this issue, just think that in the Bible it occurs in muerosi episodes: there are twelve tribes, the kings and judges of Israel, the great patriarchs, Joseph's brothers, not forgetting that its at twelve Jesus entered the temple for the first time.
As evidence of this, support this argument, the pagan symbol of the Celtic cross (a cross inscribed in a circle), which erroneously to popular belief, it was first used by Augustine to witness the Christian-pagan syncretism Celtic countries, but its roots, in fact, worship the sun. The cross-which is formed by two axes that their Vetica indicate the two equinoxes, solstices and the two-divided, in fact, in four sections-the four seasons, the zodiac: the center, the Sun is represented by a circle.
Note that, as they had already identified the Egyptians, each animal 2150, at dawn spring equinox, the Sun rises at a different astrological sign, according to the weather phenomenon called "precession of the equinoxes." To make a full turn through the twelve constellations, the Sun needs of 25,765 years, ie 2150 for each "moving" sign. According to the Egyptians, now and for the next 140 years, we are in the Age of Pisces, which was then left to enter into that of Aquarius, the sign below. It seems curious that in a verse from the Gospel of Luke, Jesus calls people to follow "a man carrying a pitcher of water" to celebrate Easter, once he is no longer present: it is Jesus' invitation -traditionally known as a fisherman, and in fact often symbolized by a stylized fish-entering the Age of Aquarius, Pisces when you have finished.
tracing the origins of a religion not only allows us to go to settaccio a number of historical errors and misconceptions that have been handed down as true: to try to understand the origin of a cult, its intrinsic essence helps us to understand the entire history of humanity, and relationships-nilly-have always been made between men and what is known as divine.
Reaching dimostare no margin of error of communication between a religion established such as Christianity and cults that are considered by most as mere superstitions from the past, safety is very difficult. However, experience as the main figure of a religion, that Jesus Christ, but not forgetting all the others, has points of contact so obvious with a pagan cult linked to astrological phenomena and natural must make us reflect. Worshipping the Sun, Air, Fire, or any other natural element might look something atavistic and far from our thoughts, but realize that our lives depend largely on these elements and these phenomena represent a big step forward to try to grasp the meaning of respect for nature that, underneath it all, religions lead with them.
