Christmas confusion; whats your trip?

Christmas is a trippy tradition. I'm definately doing it unconventionally this year. But I feel obliged to give some background first before explaining:
It originated in ancient mesopotamia as the 12 day Zagmuk festival. Santa originated from the babylonian god of fertility Marduk, (thought to be where the beard and hat may have originated) later evolving into the roman saturn, the norse odin, and eventually he was rebirthed again as an invention of coca-cola (with some other stuff in between of course). Marduk was worshipped during the winter solstice to ensure his victory in the battle against degradation and chaos, so that the sun would return and the world would not die. The core of the ritual was human sacrifice. The actual kings were sacrificed, until they realized that was wastful and they started sacrificing fake kings. The evolution of this celebration in ancient rome was Saturnalia. Saturn being the god of death, memories and the past, you can see how this plays out in in the Screwge story 'A Christmas Carol.'
Saturn devoured babies from birth, and Saturnalia was also known as the 'Festival of children' during which children were sacrficed for him and for the crops, as it was commonly believed at the time that childrens blood was the most fertile for crops. The tradition of 'wassailing' or "chistmas caroling" comes from the norse (whose winter tradition melded with the romans). Originally wassailing was running around town drunk while drinking a bowl of human blood. wassail meant "well health".
The Roman catholic church couldnt really have the population running around sacrificing children, So they outlawed the celebration, which did nothing to curtail the festivities. They did not manage to halt the practices until a hundred or so years later, when they figured out it would be more effective to absorb the holiday, hence making the 25th christs birthday.
The Tradition of gift giving to children (and traced back, Santa's sack) was put in place by the church as a reversal of child sacrifice, the sack of gifts having once been the sack of human remains.

The state of christmas now is kind of hilarious, with the commercialism and materialsm and overconsumption. In old europe, as winter was a time of darkness and scarcity, the hanging of wreaves became a feature of the celebration, the wreaves bearing fake painted fruit- to make people feel like it was summer again. I personally draw a parallel here to the empty and obligatory gift giving of useless crap.
WHen looking at christmas currently I see a society driven made by its own emptiness and disconnection, and when I look back at the oldest traditions I see cultures driven mad with fear of the worlds natural cycles and therefore engaging in psychotic behaviors to try and control their enviornment.

This christmas is differnt for me. I have a craving for cleansing, releasing, disowning, as a rebellion against emptyness and materialsm and trying to fill the emptiness with"fake fruit". The natural cycle of winter tells me this is a time for rest, abstention, and clearing, basically, detoxifying from all the negative **** in preperation for the new year. I;ll be making many trips to the dump and the goodwill getting rid of stuff. Im beginning a 40 day fast the day after christmas. Yes, im feeling very christ-y.
ALso there are some strong similarities between Christ and Marduk, which i just discovered after I had already made my resolutions:
As the Mesopotamians saw it, in the struggle of the New Year man faced a three-fold problem: to purify himself of the evils which his sins of the past year had brought upon him; to renew the strength which the year had drained away; and, if possible, to find a substitute who could take the consequences of the sins which he had committed. Hence the annual sacrifice of the "mock king". Christ however did the reverse in that he took responsibility for the sins of everyone. It is my belief that this "system" is the most basic powerful and effective way of magick. It is very similar to the ancient Hawaiian practice of Hooponopopo.

I ignore christmas, it is of no import to me. Though I do wish stores would be open.

I always thought "santa" originated in his form from the German guilds, but it is good to get a further background of the image, and symbol.

where will it stop in the extreme of one day.

Could we not put this effort in avenues of difference as apposed to those we care for(supposedly), and that said do we care less for others? What about the other days of the year as well?

Where Did Santa Claus Come From?

Go out and google and you will get 1000 different answers and never the twain shall meet.


Origin of Christmas | The Real Story of Christmas | How it Began

The Ayahuasca Association sent this to me, I thought it was interesting.


Although most people see Christmas as a Christian holiday, most of the symbols and icons we associate with Christmas celebrations are actually derived from the shamanistic traditions of the tribal peoples of pre-Christian Northern Europe.
The sacred mushroom of these people was the red and white amanita muscaria mushroom, also known as "fly agaric." These mushrooms are now commonly seen in books of fairy tales, and are usually associated with magic and fairies. This is because they contain potent hallucinogenic compounds, and were used by ancient peoples for insight and transcendental experiences.
Most of the major elements of the modern Christmas celebration, such as Santa Claus, Christmas trees, magical reindeer and the giving of gifts, are originally based upon the traditions surrounding the harvest and consumption of these most sacred mushrooms.
The world tree
These ancient peoples, including the Lapps of modern-day Finland, and the Koyak tribes of the central Russian steppes, believed in the idea of a World Tree. The World Tree was seen as a kind of cosmic axis, onto which the planes of the universe are fixed. The roots of the World Tree stretch down into the underworld, its trunk is the "middle earth" of everyday existence, and its branches reach upwards into the heavenly realm.
The amanita muscaria mushrooms grow only under certain types of trees, mostly firs and evergreens. The mushroom caps are the fruit of the larger mycelium beneath the soil which exists in a symbiotic relationship with the roots of the tree. To ancient people, these mushrooms were literally "the fruit of the tree."

The North Star was also considered sacred, since all other stars in the sky revolved around its fixed point. They associated this "Pole Star" with the World Tree and the central axis of the universe. The top of the World Tree touched the North Star, and the spirit of the shaman would climb the metaphorical tree, thereby passing into the realm of the gods. This is the true meaning of the star on top of the modern Christmas tree, and also the reason that the super-shaman Santa makes his home at the North Pole.
Ancient peoples were amazed at how these magical mushrooms sprang from the earth without any visible seed. They considered this "virgin birth" to have been the result of the morning dew, which was seen as the semen of the deity. The silver tinsel we drape onto our modern Christmas tree represents this divine fluid.
Reindeer games
The active ingredients of the amanita mushrooms are not metabolized by the body, and so they remain active in the urine. In fact, it is safer to drink the urine of one who has consumed the mushrooms than to eat the mushrooms directly, as many of the toxic compounds are processed and eliminated on the first pass through the body.
It was common practice among ancient people to recycle the potent effects of the mushroom by drinking each other's urine. The amanita's ingredients can remain potent even after six passes through the human body. Some scholars argue that this is the origin of the phrase "to get pissed," as this urine-drinking activity preceded alcohol by thousands of years.
Reindeer were the sacred animals of these semi-nomadic people, as the reindeer provided food, shelter, clothing and other necessities. Reindeer are also fond of eating the amanita mushrooms; they will seek them out, then prance about while under their influence. Often the urine of tripped-out reindeer would be consumed for its psychedelic effects.
This effect goes the other way too, as reindeer also enjoy the urine of a human, especially one who has consumed the mushrooms. In fact, reindeer will seek out human urine to drink, and some tribesmen carry sealskin containers of their own collected piss, which they use to attract stray reindeer back into the herd.
The effects of the amanita mushroom usually include sensations of size distortion and flying. The feeling of flying could account for the legends of flying reindeer, and legends of shamanic journeys included stories of winged reindeer, transporting their riders up to the highest branches of the World Tree.

Santa Claus, super shaman
Although the modern image of Santa Claus was created at least in part by the advertising department of Coca-Cola, in truth his appearance, clothing, mannerisms and companions all mark him as the reincarnation of these ancient mushroom-gathering shamans.
One of the side effects of eating amanita mushrooms is that the skin and facial features take on a flushed, ruddy glow. This is why Santa is always shown with glowing red cheeks and nose. Even Santa's jolly "Ho, ho, ho!" is the euphoric laugh of one who has indulged in the magic fungus.
Santa also dresses like a mushroom gatherer. When it was time to go out and harvest the magical mushrooms, the ancient shamans would dress much like Santa, wearing red and white fur-trimmed coats and long black boots.
These peoples lived in dwellings made of birch and reindeer hide, called "yurts." Somewhat similar to a teepee, the yurt's central smokehole is often also used as an entrance. After gathering the mushrooms from under the sacred trees where they appeared, the shamans would fill their sacks and return home. Climbing down the chimney-entrances, they would share out the mushroom's gifts with those within.
The amanita mushroom needs to be dried before being consumed; the drying process reduces the mushroom's toxicity while increasing its potency. The shaman would guide the group in stringing the mushrooms and hanging them around the hearth-fire to dry. This tradition is echoed in the modern stringing of popcorn and other items.
The psychedelic journeys taken under the influence of the amanita were also symbolized by a stick reaching up through the smokehole in the top of the yurt. The smokehole was the portal where the spirit of the shaman exited the physical plane.
Santa's famous magical journey, where his sleigh takes him around the whole planet in a single night, is developed from the "heavenly chariot," used by the gods from whom Santa and other shamanic figures are descended. The chariot of Odin, Thor and even the Egyptian god Osiris is now known as the Big Dipper, which circles around the North Star in a 24-hour period.
In different versions of the ancient story, the chariot was pulled by reindeer or horses. As the animals grow exhausted, their mingled spit and blood falls to the ground, forming the amanita mushrooms.

St Nicholas and Old Nick
Saint Nicholas is a legendary figure who supposedly lived during the fourth Century. His cult spread quickly and Nicholas became the patron saint of many varied groups, including judges, pawnbrokers, criminals, merchants, sailors, bakers, travelers, the poor, and children.
Most religious historians agree that St Nicholas did not actually exist as a real person, and was instead a Christianized version of earlier Pagan gods. Nicholas' legends were mainly created out of stories about the Teutonic god called Hold Nickar, known as Poseidon to the Greeks. This powerful sea god was known to gallop through the sky during the winter solstice, granting boons to his worshippers below.
When the Catholic Church created the character of St Nicholas, they took his name from "Nickar" and gave him Poseidon's title of "the Sailor." There are thousands of churches named in St Nicholas' honor, most of which were converted from temples to Poseidon and Hold Nickar. (As the ancient pagan deities were demonized by the Christian church, Hold Nickar's name also became associated with Satan, known as "Old Nick!")
Local traditions were incorporated into the new Christian holidays to make them more acceptable to the new converts. To these early Christians, Saint Nicholas became a sort of "super-shaman" who was overlaid upon their own shamanic cultural practices. Many images of Saint Nicholas from these early times show him wearing red and white, or standing in front of a red background with white spots, the design of the amanita mushroom.
St Nicholas also adopted some of the qualities of the legendary "Grandmother Befana" from Italy, who filled children's stockings with gifts. Her shrine at Bari, Italy, became a shrine to St Nicholas.
Modern world, ancient traditions
Some psychologists have discussed the "cognitive dissonance" which occurs when children are encouraged to believe in the literal existence of Santa Claus, only to have their parents' lie revealed when they are older. By so deceiving our children we rob them of a richer heritage, for the actual origin of these ancient rituals is rooted deep in our history and our collective unconscious. By better understanding the truths within these popular celebrations, we can better understand the modern world, and our place in it.
Many people in the modern world have rejected Christmas as being too commercial, claiming that this ritual of giving is actually a celebration of materialism and greed. Yet the true spirit of this winter festival lies not in the exchange of plastic toys, but in celebrating a gift from the earth: the fruiting top of a magical mushroom, and the revelatory experiences it can provide.
Instead of perpetuating outdated and confusing holiday myths, it might be more fulfilling to return to the original source of these seasonal celebrations. How about getting back to basics and enjoying some magical mushrooms with your loved ones this solstice? What better gift can a family share than a little piece of love and enlightenment?

Ya, theres an overwhelming amount of history and influences there, to much to list in a single post. The Siberian shaman aspect of santa's origin with the mushrooms and the flying reindeer and everything is absoutely beautiful, dreamy.

It is, isn't it?

Christmas is my favourite festival and would always celebrate it with full joy, and this year we will be going on vacation to Florida. Then we will be going to Orlando as it was my favourite because there is Disney Worlds where we will be having lot of joy.

Christmas is a very enjoyable festival and the celebration in the Theme parks of Orlando is the world best.Orlando gets dazzling in December: the theme parks twinkle and stage special shows, and other venues turn on the bright lights too.All can enjoy Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom, Epcot features Candlelight Processional from November 27th through December 30th,

Methinks the spam and bot filter needs revision.