ClassicVW@xxxxxxx moved upon the face of the 'Net and spake thusly:
> In a message dated 1/5/99 6:21:19 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> chris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
>
> << "Officially" the Christian nativity was 25 Dec, 1 BC. The next year
> was numbered 1 AD. No zero in between (Zero wasn't inveted yet!).
> >>
>
> There was no nativity on 25 Dec 1 B.C. Christ's birth was designated Dec 25th
> in the 8 th century by a Roman ruler because there were several religions
> vying to be dominant, and he gave the nod to Christianity. Dec 25th was a
> large pagan holiday at the time.
Didn't I say just that later on (that those who calculated the date
got it wrong)?
Midwinter has probably been a celebration in Europe for thousands of
years. At the time of the first celebrations of Christmas, Dec 25
was the big sun-worship festival of the Mithracite religion.
Letting potential converts keep their familiar holiday dates has been
a tactic of up-and-coming religions long before and since Christinity.
Chris.
p.s. This is getting WAY off topic. We should stop here.
p.p.s. I think a fitting Millenium photo project is to show all the
things we hoped to acheive this century but did not---we've still got
wars, still got famines, no non-pathetic space capability, no clean
energy, unsafe streets, unemployment, endemic diseases, incurable
cancer. Still, a man's reach *should* exceed his grasp---else what's
an OM-4Ti for? :-)
cjb.
--
| Christopher J. Biggs -|- R & D Software Engineer, Stallion Technologies |
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