Happy Winter Solstice, Everyone!

It is that time of year - when we all celebrate the biggest holiday of the year: Winter Solstice! Now, I know, many have bought into the relatively recent hijacking of this holiday by the Christian-folk, talking about the "true meaning" of the holiday as involving their mythical mithraist-clone savior.[1] But I want to bring us back to the root of what the celebration is really about! Today, we celebrate just how much winter sucks! No fresh food until spring! No fields to tend until then either, so we are all stuck inside, trying to keep warm, living on stored food, miserable in the dark. Let's party and get our minds off of it! Something to look forward to in the scuzzy time of year!

What I find most amusing about the hijack of this holiday by Christians is that 1) almost none of them know that it was hijacked and 2) the reason it was hijacked was that Christians tried to ban celebration of this holiday (since it was the most popular and vastly overshadowed real Christian holidays) and simply could not, so they co-opted it instead. So let's all celebrate the true meaning of the season! And no, it has nothing to do with a mythical baby, either!

Happy Winter Solstice Everyone! Spend time with your families, exchange gifts, and party! And let's all try and forget for a little while just how much winter sucks!

[1] - Yes, yes, Mithra was also said to have been born out of a rock - but it is also the case that being "born of a virgin" was a rather common claim for god figures at the time. Even more funny is the fact that there is really nothing about the Jewish savior being a virgin-birth - that is a mistranslation of the word for "young woman" as virgin - a translation that apparently is used no where else except in the bible. In any case, arguing about which version of mythology is "true" is about as useful as arguing who would in in a fight: Superman or Mighty Mouse.