During these short, dark days let’s remember this ancient Christmas knowledge that illumination always follows darkness & that with love and compassion we will re-light our nations & lives...
In colonial Puritan Masschusetts it was a crime to celebrate Christmas. In my old office every year we held a "holiday party" which I documented in my novel, Miami '90 as the scenes of murders. The biggest clebrations were Chango's birthday, Bablu's birthday, Kwansa etc.
The Saturnalia was Dec 17th to Dec 23rd, Dec 15th was the Bacchanalia, Dionysia in Greece.
Dionysos literally translates to son of god, adopted by the Romans as Bacchus, both were god of wine, and the big trick was changing water into wine (sound familiar)
Herod invented a devise that when filled with water, would pour out wine, thus making he priests of Dionysos look like demigods.
Thank you, Mr. Hartmann. I love your tales of yore-- spinning the story of our planet's renewal as it leans to its source of light in each rotation, as it does in each person's psyche, and in our collective consciousness. May light dawn on Marblehead of our populace, as they wake to a New Year as love and compassion finds their way into each home.
This week Musk rolled Trump into protecting his Chinese investments. Musk supports groups and parties in other countries, like UK and Deustchland who want to turn guys like me into crispy critters Yesterday, Trump expressed desires to extend filibustering to several other countries. https://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/the-filibuster-movement/ He hasn't been inaugurated but he needs to be investigated to determine whether he's too nutsy koo koo to serve as president. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVwU81Mpa1o
14th Amendment Section 3
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Here's some of the stuff I posted previously: In 2023, U.S. Citizens and Russian Intelligence Officers Charged with Conspiring to Use U.S. Citizens as Illegal Agents of the Russian Government. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/us-citizens-and-russian-intelligence-officers-charged-conspiring-use-us-citizens-illegal “Today’s announcement paints a harrowing picture of Russian government actions and the lengths to which the FSB will go to interfere with our elections, sow discord in our nation and ultimately recruit U.S citizens to their efforts,” said Acting Assistant Director Kurt Ronnow of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division. “All Americans should be deeply concerned by the tactics employed by the FSB and remain vigilant to any attempt to undermine our democracy. The FBI remains committed to confronting this egregious behavior and ultimately disrupting our adversaries and those who act on their behalf.”
On Sept. 4, 60 days before the election, An indictment charging Russian nationals Kostiantyn Kalashnikov, 31, also known as Kostya, and Elena Afanasyeva, 27, also known as Lena, with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and conspiracy to commit money laundering was unsealed today in the Southern District of New York. Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva are at large. “The Justice Department has charged two employees of RT, a Russian state-controlled media outlet, in a $10 million scheme to create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “The Justice Department will not tolerate attempts by an authoritarian regime to exploit our country’s free exchange of ideas in order to covertly further its own propaganda efforts, and our investigation into this matter remains ongoing.” Threats to election workers, propaganda about violence, burning of ballots. Bomb threats.
Russians admit they did it, and brag about it and demand quid pro quo from Trump.
As far as I'm concerned the admission is dispositive and is actionalble and constitutes an emergency.
Daniel, I know that you have no answer, but for me. When I consider the awful experience of Jews under fascism I find myself gob smacked by the massive support that rich and powerful Jews have for fascism.
I am talking of the Addelsons, the Wynns, the Mercers, and that organization of power jews called the Algemeiner who feted Putin and Murdoch among 2016 100 Power Jews If I read that right, Murdoch and Putin are Jews.
All the more incredible as the history of fascism and Jews is that of cripsy critters and ashes.
This year’s “Jewish 100” includes the billionaire media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, British Secretary of State for Justice Michael Gove, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ivanka Trump (who is married to the publisher of the Observer). These five, along with the 95 others, were honored and celebrated at the gala because they were deemed by The Algemeiner to have a “positive influence on Jewish life.”
Your sources are antisemites. Mercers,Putin, Murdoch, et al aren't. What a joke. Reminds me how the Nazis said Roosevelt was a Jew.
Addlesons and Wynn were in the gambling buzz...so was Trump. In essence Addelsons probably thought they were Israeli patriots...that they bought favor.
Others are developers who think he is making the world safe for them.....
Although the ultraorthodox are visible, they only make uo a small percentage -- single digits outside Brooklyn. In Israel some of them even deny the existence of Israel, even though they live there, and do not perform military or government service. The technical term is "Meshuginah." Nutsy koo koo.
70-80% of American Jews are Democrats. Some of the Republicans are "liberals," belong to "reform" or "reconstructionist" Judiasim.
No sources Daniel, and I am not an antisemite, Joke or not, Addelsons, Wynn, Mercer are Jewish, and The Observer is owned by Jared Kushner, and the Algemeiner association is Jewish, very pro Israel.
As regards the Orthodox, there is no such thing as one orthodox, they vary from AntiZionist to rabid Zionist. The Haredi claim religious exemption from service in the IDF
The fact is that Jews come in all flavors and ideologies, from avid Zionists to anti Zionists, from Capitalist to Communist.
So do Christians.
But what boggles the mind are Jews that support fascism, like Stephen Miller.
I know that about Stephen Miller, his grand parents fled pogroms to America and he is a disgrace to his family and to all Jews, but he isn't nuts, a psychopath yes, a sociopath yes, but not nuts.
You know I am not an antisemite, nor a homophobe, nor a misogynist,nor a racist, but I don't shy away from tough issues either and am immune to social terrorism
So here goes:
I guess Jews are beyond reproach and criticism less one be an antisemite
Blacks are beyond reproach and criticism less one be a racist
Muslims are beyond reproach and cticism less one be an Islamophobe
LGBT are beyond reproach and criticism less one be a homophobe and a bigot.
Peter Thiel, and Log Cabin Repulibans are Trump humping fascists, but it is impolitic to call them out.
Caitlin Jenner, and others of her ilk, are Trump humpers, thus fascists, but it is impolitic to call her out.
Mark Robinson, self declared black NAZI, Kanye West, Clarence Thomas, Tim Scott, Hershel Walker, Silk and Diamonds, Candace Owens and thousands other are Trump humping fascists,but it is impolitic to call them out.
The numbers of female Trump humping fascists are legion, but impolitic to call them out.
I guess the only safe identity to call out are white, Christian males and atheists.
I am an atheist and we come in all genders, races and ethnicitys. As well as political persuasion from libertarian, to communist to capitalist.
I protest anti atheism, as it without a doubt leads, in a white Christian nationalist theocracy to persecution if not extermination., as it does in Islam.
The world is full of contradictions,self serving people who are,for want of a better word, Quislings.
"I can accept mystical stuff . . . I just hope Biden and the senate will step up." My interpretation of your comment is that it is contradictory. Expecting Biden to step up is profoundly mystical.
Happy Christmas, Thom. A great explainer. Andmany thanks also for the daily missals we depend on. Have a safe, healthy new year and may we all stay together as we face the unknown to come.
My great-great-grandmother is a Saami who married a Norwegian dairy farmer in Norway. They came to Wisconsin and were dairy farmers, as were my great-grandparents and grandparents. I love to read about their way of living. My grandparents told me what they could remember when I was a young woman. I remember how my grandfather farmed sustainably with twenty cows, pigs, and chickens. He grew his own corn and moved the cows around the pastures in good weather, then baled hay to feed them through the winter. They wasted nothing, and he spread the vast hill of manure he shoveled from the troughs behind the cows in the winter and spread it on the fields in the spring. Grandma had a considerable garden and canned vegetables and fruit from the trees for the winter.
Sadly, my children didn't have those memories because Big Ag was putting small dairy farms out of business, so my father became a turret lathe operator to support us.
I just watched a video about Peter Thiel, how he became a billionaire, and a way of thinking called the "Dark Enlightenment," which is the opposite of how the Enlightenment philosophers thought about freedom and democracy. Scare stuff.
My maternal grandparents were not "Swedish" but were Swedish dual citizens, spoke Swedish and my mother learned enough to converse in Svenska. She was born in Pennsylltucky in 1914, but I had two uncles who were born in Sweden.
On my paternal side, my gradma spoke Enflish, Yiddish, and other languages with a Welsh accent. My dad could speak Welsh.
Virtually everyone I knew as a kid were "picklers." My dad's family were in the produce business. Everyone had cellars filled with produce they had canned.
I love reading your knowledge and love of history Thom. Thank you again and especially at this time of year. I stopped celebrating it the traditional way after my kids realized there was no Santa. I greatly disliked the materialism and costly effects it caused and explained that to them and then showed it to them by taking them to food pantry’s and food kitchens. It’s a time to appreciate what we have, family and friends, and to aid those who are not as blessed.
Great post. I have always been fascinated by amanita muscaria. I also read that a shaman would eat the mushrooms and then others would drink his urine. But I wonder how the toxins affected him?
However you celebrate or don't, may this day be the beginning of light for all. I have high hopes.
Mr. Brodin, When I was still teaching, I had a student from the USSR who told me the same thing took place in Russia. I had my doubts about its veracity. But.......
The celebration of Dec 25th is perhaps the oldest ritual in the Northern Hemisphere.
After the summer solstice on Jun 21st, the longest day of the year, the sun, from the ancients point of view, slowly begins its descent into the underworld, and on Dec 21st the son stops its descent and lays three days in the grave, and then eleliuia, praise ye Yah) on Dec 25th it arises from it's grave and restarts it's ascent, and so long as the son also rises there will be everlasting life.
The Greeks celebrated the day as Dionysia,the Romans as Bacchanalia, it followed the Saturnlia of Dec 17th to Dec 23rd.
The Babylonians celebrated the birth of Tammuz, the son of the queen of heaven, Semiramis, and the Babylonian sun god. Tammuz was thought to have died during the winter solstice, and his "rebirth" was celebrated by replacing a log in the fireplace with a trimmed tree the next morning.
Thom's article points out that it was no accident that the Vatican chose Dec 25 as the date Christ was born in Bethlehem as it too was supposedly the start of not just a new year, but a new era. It also nicely coincided with a lot of diverse pagan lore which surely did not hurt recruiting efforts to encourage religious conversion.
It is curious that Christianity did not migrate south or East. However, that might attest to the influence of the Roman Empire at the time. Merging Christian morality with Roman rule likely helped to sustain order throughout the empire. The historical influence of the Vatican on legitimizing monarchs is testament to that as is the re-embrace of Christianity as Putin worked to rebuild the atheistic collapsed Soviet empire.
The reindeer lore was both educational and amusing - and I thought modern hippies discovered hallucinogens. It also explains why the stockings were hung by the chimney with care in the hope that St. Nicholas soon would be there. Let's all get high on New Years Day! LOL
Understanding and appreciating traditions and customs and their origins are essential and worthwhile as long as they do not keep us tethered to the past and to superstition, mythology, and harmful sentiment. If this kind of information helps us to move in a forward direction and provides hope of seeing that sunlight it should be indulged. However, a lot of the trappings are more for children and those expecting miracles and magic instead of strength to endure through the dark night and cold. I am not sure we can afford a single day off from the rigorous struggle against the darkness and the political fire that has been set under us. I am happy to see children looking forward to the excitement and joy. But I worry when adults haven't gotten past that stage and "woken" up to the reality which life entails. At my age I do not get into the holiday spirit anymore. However, this year I do not even miss it. I just want to get past whatever misery is inevitable under present circumstances. Miracles are highly unlikely at this point.
What an amazing history lesson on this Christmas Eve. Thanks for this, Tom. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays to you & your family.
In colonial Puritan Masschusetts it was a crime to celebrate Christmas. In my old office every year we held a "holiday party" which I documented in my novel, Miami '90 as the scenes of murders. The biggest clebrations were Chango's birthday, Bablu's birthday, Kwansa etc.
"Christmas" was originally Saturnalia, the Roman Pagan holiday co-opted at the time of Nicea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturnalia
Also the same with Mithra. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithra Zoroastrian
The Saturnalia was Dec 17th to Dec 23rd, Dec 15th was the Bacchanalia, Dionysia in Greece.
Dionysos literally translates to son of god, adopted by the Romans as Bacchus, both were god of wine, and the big trick was changing water into wine (sound familiar)
Herod invented a devise that when filled with water, would pour out wine, thus making he priests of Dionysos look like demigods.
Thank you, Mr. Hartmann. I love your tales of yore-- spinning the story of our planet's renewal as it leans to its source of light in each rotation, as it does in each person's psyche, and in our collective consciousness. May light dawn on Marblehead of our populace, as they wake to a New Year as love and compassion finds their way into each home.
I can't accept mystical stuff....I just hope Biden and the senate will step up.
Trump was installed via Russian interverntion. I have laid this out several times. Lots of evidence and many crimes. https://www.justice.gov/archives/jm/criminal-resource-manual-2057-synopses-key-national-defense-and-national-security-provisions#:~:text=Espionage%20%2D%2D%2018%20U.S.C.&text=Section%20793%20applies%20to%20activities,conspiracies%20to%20commit%20such%20offenses.
This week Musk rolled Trump into protecting his Chinese investments. Musk supports groups and parties in other countries, like UK and Deustchland who want to turn guys like me into crispy critters Yesterday, Trump expressed desires to extend filibustering to several other countries. https://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/the-filibuster-movement/ He hasn't been inaugurated but he needs to be investigated to determine whether he's too nutsy koo koo to serve as president. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVwU81Mpa1o
14th Amendment Section 3
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
In the UK it is the British National Party, in Germany the Alternative for Deutschland (AfD)
in Hungary it is MI HAZÁNKm also theFidez
Here is a country by country guide to European fascism
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36130006
Here's some of the stuff I posted previously: In 2023, U.S. Citizens and Russian Intelligence Officers Charged with Conspiring to Use U.S. Citizens as Illegal Agents of the Russian Government. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/us-citizens-and-russian-intelligence-officers-charged-conspiring-use-us-citizens-illegal “Today’s announcement paints a harrowing picture of Russian government actions and the lengths to which the FSB will go to interfere with our elections, sow discord in our nation and ultimately recruit U.S citizens to their efforts,” said Acting Assistant Director Kurt Ronnow of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division. “All Americans should be deeply concerned by the tactics employed by the FSB and remain vigilant to any attempt to undermine our democracy. The FBI remains committed to confronting this egregious behavior and ultimately disrupting our adversaries and those who act on their behalf.”
On Sept. 4, 60 days before the election, An indictment charging Russian nationals Kostiantyn Kalashnikov, 31, also known as Kostya, and Elena Afanasyeva, 27, also known as Lena, with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and conspiracy to commit money laundering was unsealed today in the Southern District of New York. Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva are at large. “The Justice Department has charged two employees of RT, a Russian state-controlled media outlet, in a $10 million scheme to create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “The Justice Department will not tolerate attempts by an authoritarian regime to exploit our country’s free exchange of ideas in order to covertly further its own propaganda efforts, and our investigation into this matter remains ongoing.” Threats to election workers, propaganda about violence, burning of ballots. Bomb threats.
Russians admit they did it, and brag about it and demand quid pro quo from Trump.
As far as I'm concerned the admission is dispositive and is actionalble and constitutes an emergency.
Daniel, I know that you have no answer, but for me. When I consider the awful experience of Jews under fascism I find myself gob smacked by the massive support that rich and powerful Jews have for fascism.
I am talking of the Addelsons, the Wynns, the Mercers, and that organization of power jews called the Algemeiner who feted Putin and Murdoch among 2016 100 Power Jews If I read that right, Murdoch and Putin are Jews.
All the more incredible as the history of fascism and Jews is that of cripsy critters and ashes.
https://observer.com/2016/03/algemeiner-celebrates-power-jews-at-packed-manhattan-gala/ (The Observer is owned Jared Kushner)
This year’s “Jewish 100” includes the billionaire media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, British Secretary of State for Justice Michael Gove, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ivanka Trump (who is married to the publisher of the Observer). These five, along with the 95 others, were honored and celebrated at the gala because they were deemed by The Algemeiner to have a “positive influence on Jewish life.”
Your sources are antisemites. Mercers,Putin, Murdoch, et al aren't. What a joke. Reminds me how the Nazis said Roosevelt was a Jew.
Addlesons and Wynn were in the gambling buzz...so was Trump. In essence Addelsons probably thought they were Israeli patriots...that they bought favor.
Others are developers who think he is making the world safe for them.....
Although the ultraorthodox are visible, they only make uo a small percentage -- single digits outside Brooklyn. In Israel some of them even deny the existence of Israel, even though they live there, and do not perform military or government service. The technical term is "Meshuginah." Nutsy koo koo.
70-80% of American Jews are Democrats. Some of the Republicans are "liberals," belong to "reform" or "reconstructionist" Judiasim.
No sources Daniel, and I am not an antisemite, Joke or not, Addelsons, Wynn, Mercer are Jewish, and The Observer is owned by Jared Kushner, and the Algemeiner association is Jewish, very pro Israel.
As regards the Orthodox, there is no such thing as one orthodox, they vary from AntiZionist to rabid Zionist. The Haredi claim religious exemption from service in the IDF
The fact is that Jews come in all flavors and ideologies, from avid Zionists to anti Zionists, from Capitalist to Communist.
So do Christians.
But what boggles the mind are Jews that support fascism, like Stephen Miller.
Mercers' property in Jensen Beach was next to my mother -- what a laugh. Stephen Miller, according to his uncle who is a psychiatrist, is nuts.
I know that about Stephen Miller, his grand parents fled pogroms to America and he is a disgrace to his family and to all Jews, but he isn't nuts, a psychopath yes, a sociopath yes, but not nuts.
You know I am not an antisemite, nor a homophobe, nor a misogynist,nor a racist, but I don't shy away from tough issues either and am immune to social terrorism
So here goes:
I guess Jews are beyond reproach and criticism less one be an antisemite
Blacks are beyond reproach and criticism less one be a racist
Muslims are beyond reproach and cticism less one be an Islamophobe
LGBT are beyond reproach and criticism less one be a homophobe and a bigot.
Peter Thiel, and Log Cabin Repulibans are Trump humping fascists, but it is impolitic to call them out.
Caitlin Jenner, and others of her ilk, are Trump humpers, thus fascists, but it is impolitic to call her out.
Mark Robinson, self declared black NAZI, Kanye West, Clarence Thomas, Tim Scott, Hershel Walker, Silk and Diamonds, Candace Owens and thousands other are Trump humping fascists,but it is impolitic to call them out.
The numbers of female Trump humping fascists are legion, but impolitic to call them out.
I guess the only safe identity to call out are white, Christian males and atheists.
I am an atheist and we come in all genders, races and ethnicitys. As well as political persuasion from libertarian, to communist to capitalist.
I protest anti atheism, as it without a doubt leads, in a white Christian nationalist theocracy to persecution if not extermination., as it does in Islam.
The world is full of contradictions,self serving people who are,for want of a better word, Quislings.
In abattoirs they call them Judas goats.
"I can accept mystical stuff . . . I just hope Biden and the senate will step up." My interpretation of your comment is that it is contradictory. Expecting Biden to step up is profoundly mystical.
Happy Christmas, Thom. A great explainer. Andmany thanks also for the daily missals we depend on. Have a safe, healthy new year and may we all stay together as we face the unknown to come.
My great-great-grandmother is a Saami who married a Norwegian dairy farmer in Norway. They came to Wisconsin and were dairy farmers, as were my great-grandparents and grandparents. I love to read about their way of living. My grandparents told me what they could remember when I was a young woman. I remember how my grandfather farmed sustainably with twenty cows, pigs, and chickens. He grew his own corn and moved the cows around the pastures in good weather, then baled hay to feed them through the winter. They wasted nothing, and he spread the vast hill of manure he shoveled from the troughs behind the cows in the winter and spread it on the fields in the spring. Grandma had a considerable garden and canned vegetables and fruit from the trees for the winter.
Sadly, my children didn't have those memories because Big Ag was putting small dairy farms out of business, so my father became a turret lathe operator to support us.
I just watched a video about Peter Thiel, how he became a billionaire, and a way of thinking called the "Dark Enlightenment," which is the opposite of how the Enlightenment philosophers thought about freedom and democracy. Scare stuff.
Take care and happy holidays.
My maternal grandparents were not "Swedish" but were Swedish dual citizens, spoke Swedish and my mother learned enough to converse in Svenska. She was born in Pennsylltucky in 1914, but I had two uncles who were born in Sweden.
On my paternal side, my gradma spoke Enflish, Yiddish, and other languages with a Welsh accent. My dad could speak Welsh.
Virtually everyone I knew as a kid were "picklers." My dad's family were in the produce business. Everyone had cellars filled with produce they had canned.
You are a blessing in yourself, Thom. Please keep up your excellent work. Cheers and happy holidays to you and Louise.
And don't eat too much yellow snow this week! 😁
Probably the best, most informative "Hartmann Report" I have read...
This should be a "letter to the editor" in the New York Times!
I am happy and proud to be a subscriber helping to keep this source of pertinent information available...
Thanks. I knew my choice of a shamanic path was credible. Just need to find a pissing reindeer in Texas to follow around now.
I love reading your knowledge and love of history Thom. Thank you again and especially at this time of year. I stopped celebrating it the traditional way after my kids realized there was no Santa. I greatly disliked the materialism and costly effects it caused and explained that to them and then showed it to them by taking them to food pantry’s and food kitchens. It’s a time to appreciate what we have, family and friends, and to aid those who are not as blessed.
Great post. I have always been fascinated by amanita muscaria. I also read that a shaman would eat the mushrooms and then others would drink his urine. But I wonder how the toxins affected him?
However you celebrate or don't, may this day be the beginning of light for all. I have high hopes.
Mr. Brodin, When I was still teaching, I had a student from the USSR who told me the same thing took place in Russia. I had my doubts about its veracity. But.......
Fascinating post! I learned a lot.
The celebration of Dec 25th is perhaps the oldest ritual in the Northern Hemisphere.
After the summer solstice on Jun 21st, the longest day of the year, the sun, from the ancients point of view, slowly begins its descent into the underworld, and on Dec 21st the son stops its descent and lays three days in the grave, and then eleliuia, praise ye Yah) on Dec 25th it arises from it's grave and restarts it's ascent, and so long as the son also rises there will be everlasting life.
The Greeks celebrated the day as Dionysia,the Romans as Bacchanalia, it followed the Saturnlia of Dec 17th to Dec 23rd.
The Babylonians celebrated the birth of Tammuz, the son of the queen of heaven, Semiramis, and the Babylonian sun god. Tammuz was thought to have died during the winter solstice, and his "rebirth" was celebrated by replacing a log in the fireplace with a trimmed tree the next morning.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays all.
Thanks for this detailed history of the Feast of Sun Return!
Thom's article points out that it was no accident that the Vatican chose Dec 25 as the date Christ was born in Bethlehem as it too was supposedly the start of not just a new year, but a new era. It also nicely coincided with a lot of diverse pagan lore which surely did not hurt recruiting efforts to encourage religious conversion.
It is curious that Christianity did not migrate south or East. However, that might attest to the influence of the Roman Empire at the time. Merging Christian morality with Roman rule likely helped to sustain order throughout the empire. The historical influence of the Vatican on legitimizing monarchs is testament to that as is the re-embrace of Christianity as Putin worked to rebuild the atheistic collapsed Soviet empire.
The reindeer lore was both educational and amusing - and I thought modern hippies discovered hallucinogens. It also explains why the stockings were hung by the chimney with care in the hope that St. Nicholas soon would be there. Let's all get high on New Years Day! LOL
Understanding and appreciating traditions and customs and their origins are essential and worthwhile as long as they do not keep us tethered to the past and to superstition, mythology, and harmful sentiment. If this kind of information helps us to move in a forward direction and provides hope of seeing that sunlight it should be indulged. However, a lot of the trappings are more for children and those expecting miracles and magic instead of strength to endure through the dark night and cold. I am not sure we can afford a single day off from the rigorous struggle against the darkness and the political fire that has been set under us. I am happy to see children looking forward to the excitement and joy. But I worry when adults haven't gotten past that stage and "woken" up to the reality which life entails. At my age I do not get into the holiday spirit anymore. However, this year I do not even miss it. I just want to get past whatever misery is inevitable under present circumstances. Miracles are highly unlikely at this point.