Brewster Rockit by Tim Rickard for November 28, 2009

Bah, humbug indeed!

As if the origins of all those holidays weren’t syncretic enough already.

@Johann Rakkav don’t tell the Christians. They still haven’t figured out where the Dec. 25 came from…

Hey, lambs are born in winter too, even with deep deep snow.

Don’t forget New Thanksweenmas Eve….Maybe this holiday should start on Labor Day Weekend? Fourth of July? OK, Memorial Day it is!

Festivus!

@RobinaFox. But even sheep aren’t stupid enough to stay out in the pastures all night in the middle of winter.

jukeofurl, sure we do! We just don’t care. It’s a convenient time, everyone needs a mid-winter celebration (at least up north where it’s dreary in winter), and it’s fun. If we add remembering the birth of Jesus into the mix, not a problem on my part.

RobinaFox is most likely correct. But let’s not let that stop us from having fun!

My holidaze continues…

@jukeofurl: Despite my Hebrew pen name, I’m a Christian of Anglo-Saxon-Celtic descent, and I know where December 25 comes from. That’s one reason why I don’t observe Jesus Christ’s birth then.

For the record, Jesus Christ was born in the autumn (not in the spring) of 4 BC, most likely about the Feast of Trumpets (which was also the weekly Sabbath that year). No other date fits all the relevant historical facts, of which there are a surprising number. There was no need for the original Jewish Christians and Gentile converts to adapt a Gentile celebration when the biblical celebration of Trumpets already was considered a “shadow of the things to come” by them. (For one thing, Trumpets was the beginning of the New Year for Kings among the Jews.)

And now I will stop, before Doctor Toon pours an urn of Nuclear Coffee over my head for discussing religion among our fellow Tribe members…:)

I’ve heard Dec. 25 was the date of a Babylonian god’s birth. Can anyone verify that?

Semiramis’s son Tammuz was born around Dec 25. She was the Goddess-queen of the Babylonians. Although they were human, they set themselves up as Gods. This is part of the unholy worship that occured at the Tower obf Babel, which the one and only tru God eventually destroyed. There were correlations made between her son’s birth and the Dvine Birth of Jesus, AFTER Jesus had been resurrected. I could go on, but just read Genesis. it’s very enlightening!

Many of our holiday traditions come from Pagan practices, including Christmas trees, yule logs, Santa Claus, and Easter eggs. This was a concious effort by the early Catholic church to incorporate these practices into Christianity, in order to “win souls”. It didn’t matter to the Catholics that it wasn’t scripturally correct, or that they were compromising and altering God’s Holy Word. That is why you won’t find any reference to them in the Holy Bible, and why I, as a Baptist, refuse to practice them.

i actually like the idea but shouldn’t it be called Weenthanksmas? just so the name matches up with the chronological sequence of the holidaze?

Allhowlsgivingchrist

I’m just wondering how the Easter Bunny fits into all this

The whole point of this story arc is the over commercialism of the holidays. I don’t participate either, except to promote Buy Nothing Day and Buy Nothing Christmas.

One of my favorite strips along this line was an old Peanuts strip, in which Charlie Brown is complaining to Lucy that the store was out of Halloween costumes. When Lucy asked if the store was going to get any more in, Charlie brown replies “Are you kidding? They were busy putting up Christmas decorations!”

Somebody pinch Pam quick - she isn’t wearing green!

@jokeofurl, Many Christian thinkers regard pagan beliefs as “pre-Christian”, and the major Holy days match pretty well the pagan prefigurings. When Jesus says, “except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it is alone, but if it die, it brings forth much fruit”, he is quoting a common pagan belief concerning winter solstice and spring equinox (e.g. the Corn King).

On another note,a humbug is what they used to call June bugs. Unlike some other buzzing insects, they are not harmful, so one shouldn’t worry about them. Therefor the statement became “It’s nothing but a humbug!” That got stretched to mean anything inconsequential or meaningless.

how about hanaramakwansmas?

Actually, Cliff, the proper phrase is “Trick or Humbug, amen.”

There is always someone who won’t go with the flow.