This is a gospel-oriented Torah study. Our goal is to connect the good news of Yeshua the Messiah (the gospel message) to its Hebraic, pro-Torah roots or foundations. The information given here is more than head knowledge. Understanding and wisdom (the right application of knowledge that is based on truth) is taught thus making biblical truth practical, relevant and applicable to your daily life. The truths of the Bible not only have the power to transform your life here and now for the better, but eventually to take you past the veil of death and into eternity.
This Torah study is subdivided in sections by topic in a magazine format thus making it easy to watch at several sittings. May you be blessed as you watch this video.
This is a gospel-oriented Torah study guide. Our goal is to connect the good news of Yeshua the Messiah (the gospel message) to its Hebraic, pro-Torah roots or foundations. The information given here is more than head knowledge. Understanding and wisdom (the right application of knowledge that is based on truth) is taught thus making biblical truth practical, relevant and applicable to your daily life. The truths of the Bible not only have the power to transform your life here and now for the better, but eventually to take you past the veil of death and into eternity.
This Torah study is subdivided in sections by topic in a magazine format thus making it easy to watch at several sittings. May you be blessed as you watch this video.
To the casual observer, Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday that occurs around Christmas-time and has something to do with lighting a menorah-like candelabra, and somehow relates to some important event that occurred a long time ago in Jewish history. Some Bible teachers even claim that Hanukkah is pagan-based holiday that in some way honors the demonic sun god of antiquity. But as we shall see below, there is a hidden truth behind the Hanukkah holiday that the devil doesn’t want people to know about. In fact, by the end of this study, you will hopefully see that Hanukkah celebrates the truth of the Messiah’s incarnation better than Christmas ever did and minus all the pagan trappings. You’ve probably never heard this before and wonder how this could be, so read on.
Anyone who has barely scratched the surface of the historical origins of Christmas’ realizes that they are profane and unbiblical. Christmas is the Christianization of some vile pagan traditions based on celebrating the winter solstice in honor of the demonic sun god through lewd and drunken, orgiastic and satanic rituals. Though the tradition of the Christmas tree came later, it is rooted in pre-Christian sex worship rituals that come straight out of demonic sun god worship, and is something that the Bible in many places condemns and forbids the saints from practicing.
Hanukkah, on the other hand, doesn’t share Christmas’ pagan origins. Rather, this holiday links back directly to one of YHVH’s seven commanded biblical festivals. Though Hanukkah isn’t a commanded biblical holiday, and is of man’s creation, it still has prophetic implications that are worth noting. What’s more, it doesn’t carry the pagan baggage the Christian holidays like Christmas, Easter, Lent, All Saints Day (i.e. Halloween) and the others all do.
In our study of the origins of Hanukkah, let’s first demonstrate that a correlative link exists between the biblical fall festival of Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev 23:33–43) and Hanukkah. How is this? Interestingly, both Hanukkah and Sukkot along with the Eighth Day last for eight days. According to the intertestamental book of Maccabees, Hanukkah was a second, belated Feast of Tabernacles (Heb. Sukkot and the Eighth Day (Heb. Shemini Atzeret; see 1 Macc 4:44–59; 2 Macc 1:7–9; 10:1–8). After the Jews defeated the Greeks’ attempt to destroy Judaism and the Jewish people, the Jews had to cleanse and reconsecrate their temple from pagan defilement before again worshipping YHVH there. The temple wasn’t ready to be rededicated at the biblically prescribed time of Sukkot in the seventh month of the biblical calendar (in September/October), which is when Solomon dedicated the first temple (2 Chr 5:3; 7:8–9). Instead, the Jews rededicated the cleansed temple roughly two months later in the ninth month (in December), and they celebrated a belated or second Sukkot roughly two months later after the temple was finally cleansed.
Moreover, the extra biblical tradition of lighting of giant menorahs was a major aspect of Sukkot’s joyous celebration for the second temple Jews (The Temple, p. 224ff, by Alfred Edersheim). Yeshua seems to make reference to this celebration of light involving menorahs when he entered the temple on the last great day or seventh day of Sukkot (called Hoshana Rabbah). At this very time, Yeshua refers to himself as the (true) light of the world (John 8:12 cp. John 7:12).The lighting of an eight-branched candelabra at Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, seems to reflects this Jewish tradition of lighting menorahs during Sukkot. It also speaks of the miracle of the light of YHVH’s Torah-truth being preserved in Israel despite the heathen’s attempt to stamp it out.
Interestingly, the timing of Hanukkah also relates to Yeshua who is the light of the world (John 8:12). There is strong biblical evidence to suggest that Yeshua was born at the biblical festival of Sukkot in the early fall. If this is the case, Yeshua would have been conceived in the virgin Mary’s womb by the Spirit of Elohim nine months earlier in our month of December at the time of Hanukkah. The Bible teaches that human life begins at conception (Exod 21:22; Ps 139:13–16; Jer 1:5; Luke 1:15, 41, 44), not at birth as we in the West typically view it. Therefore, Yeshua’s life really started when he was conceived in Mary’s womb, not when he was born. Therefore, in Hebraic thought, Christmas isn’t really celebrating the beginning of Yeshua’s life or incarnation. Hanukkah does!
Despite the fact that Christmas misses the mark in celebrating the beginning of Yeshua’s life, Hanukkah and Christmas share something in common. They both celebrate the coming of Yeshua, the Word of Elohim from heaven to this earth to be the light of the world to show man the way to the Father in heaven. Sadly, Christmas is the Christianization of some horrific pagan holidays to arrive at this truth. Hanukkah, however, carries none of this ungodly baggage, as we have attempted to demonstrate so far in this short study.
Why did the Jews choose the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month on which to rededicate the temple? Did this timing have something to do with the winter solstice as the December 25 timing of Christmas does and as some Bible teachers suggest? Absolutely not. There is actually a connection between the timing of Hanukkah (which by the way usually starts well before the winter solstice) and an important historical event that occurred in Israel’s history. It also relates to a Messianic prophecy having to do with the coming of the promised Messiah into the world. This we see in the biblical book of Haggai. This tiny book records that on the day just before what would later become known as Hanukkah or the Feast of Dedication (i.e. the twenty-fourth day of the biblical ninth month, which is called Chislev or Kislev), the cornerstone to the second temple was laid (Hag 2:19). This is the same temple that the idolatrous Greeks would desecrate some 350 years later. Therefore the Maccabeean Jews had solid biblical precedence for choosing the date of Kislev 25 to start celebrating the eight day holiday of Hanukkah or the Feast of Dedication, for this was the day after the prophetic decree went out to lay the cornerstone for that very temple 350 years earlier. Therefore, it appears that the Maccabeean Jews merged the timing of the commencement of the second temple’s construction with the idea that the Solomon’s temple was dedicated on Sukkot. But since temple has been defiled by the Greeks and was not in a purified state to be able to celebrate Sukkot in the fall, they first purified it, then they celebrated a belated Sukkot-type celebration in the ninth month starting on Kislev 25, which became known as the Feast of Dedication or Hanukkah.
Furthermore, when Haggai the prophet records the laying of the cornerstone for the second temple, he also speaks about the Desire of All Nations—another name for Yeshua the Messiah—coming to that very temple and filling it with his glory (Hag 2:7). This is the greater reason why this temple had to be built! The Messiah needed a temple to come to, so that many biblical prophecies about him could be fulfilled. Moreover, in verse nine, Haggai prophesies that the glory of the second temple would be greater than that of Solomon’s temple. How is this? From a physical perspective this is hard to understand, since Solomon’s temple contained billions of dollars worth of gold alone. The second temple could hardly compare to the glorious and extravagant riches of the first temple. Yet considering that this would be the temple to which the Messiah, the Son of Elohim, would come, YHVH through the prophet could indeed predict that “the glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former” (Hag 2:9), since Yeshua the Messiah and Creator of all things is infinitely greater than any temple made by men.
Finally, John, the Gospel writer, in a sense, confirms Haggai’s prophecy when he records a curious double entendre statement that Yeshua made. While at the second temple, Yeshua predicted the temple’s destruction and its raising up again in three days. Those around him thought he was referring to the destruction and rebuilding of the actual physical second temple. John, however, informs us that Yeshua’s prophecy was instead referring to the temple of his body, which would be destroyed at his crucifixion and then raised up or resurrected after three days in the grave (John 2:19–22). As the cornerstone for the second temple (the very temple to which Yeshua came on the Feast of Dedication in John 10:22) was laid at Hanukkah time, so Yeshua who is the Rock of our salvation (Deut 32:15; Pss 62:2; 89:26) and our Chief Cornerstone (Eph 2:20; 1 Pet 2:6) was miraculously conceived at this very time by Elohim in the womb of the virgin Mary. He was then born nine months later at Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles. It was at Sukkot, nine months after Hanukkah, that Yeshua the Messiah or Immanuel (or El [God] with man) was born in human likeness and came to dwell or tabernacle with men in a human body (1 John 1:1, 14).
This then is the greater and glorious story behind the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah that has been hidden for millennia!
In December, many people think of the birth of Jesus (Yeshua). Most people who are knowledgable know that he wasn’t born in December, but in the early fall. But nine months before the actual time of his birth puts us at the end of December when Yeshua was conceived—when the life of our Savior began in Mary’s womb. It was at this time that the heaven-sent Yeshua, miraculously pierced the spiritual darkness of the this world at the darkest time of the year. This divine spark of life in the womb of a woman would become the spiritual light of this world to lead men out of the darkness of sin and evil and to the supernal light of his Father, Elohim, and to eternal life.
Whether you celebrate the birth of the babe in the manger in December or in the fall, some other time or not at all, Yeshua’s arrival is still heaven’s ultimate love gift to humanity as John 3:16 says. “For Elohim so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Please stop for a moment and quiet your heart and mind to reflect on the significance of this momentous event that occurred in the tiny town of Bethlehem some 2000 years ago.
For years since I was a child, my mind fully believed what the Bible tells us about the birth of Yeshua. But it wasn’t until much later, as an adult, that, while I was alone one night and quietly seeking Elohim, that the revelation of the priceless nature of Elohim’s love gift to me literally pierced my heart like a lightening bolt from heaven. As a result of this supernatural revelation and an overwhelming sense of Elohim’s love that accompanied it flowing through me like warm oil, I fell to my knees in worshipful and reverential awe as my heart came alive to just how much Elohim loved me personally—a sinner who deserved death. That night changed my life forever. They say that the eighteen inches between the head and the heart is the greatest distance in existence. My head and heart know this is to be true. Now they were united!
The thought of the baby Yeshua in the manger ignites my heart in ways too deep to explain. I know that I know that Elohim sent him to the world to redeem me from my sins and to show me the path to an eternity in the presence of my Father in heaven. They say that if you have nothing worth dying for, then you have nothing worth living for. I believe that I would give up anything on this earth including my life on account of my love for and devotion to Yeshua, so help me God!
But my love for Yeshua is predicated on more than just emotions. On that night years ago alone in my living room, my heart and mind united indivisibly in love and worship for Yeshua the Messiah, and they have remained the same to this day. Why do I continue to love Yeshua? Let me tell you.
If there were no other reason, this one alone would be sufficient: I love him because he’s the Supreme Creator and Law-Giver in the universe. As his creation, I owe him my total love, allegiance, and obedience. I owe him my life. Therefore, he is worthy of my total worship, adoration and obedience.
I also love Yeshua for his beauty and loveliness. When I look at the ugliness of the world around me, I love him all the more.
I love him for the liberating Truth that he is and that he has shared and continues to share with me. This is in stark contrast to the bondage of the damning lies masquerading as the truth that fill and permeate the world around me.
I love him because he and his word is (this is not a typo, since he and his word are indivisible, for he is the Word of Elohim incarnate) the light of Truth that illuminates my path through the darkness of this world.
I love him because he paid the price for my sins and cleansed me of sin’s stain, guilt and condemnation, and he delivered me from the empty darkness and despair of the walking damned.
I love him because he is the strength, joy, peace and hope of my life.
I love him because he is the light and hope of eternal life at the end of this dark tunnel called “the wilderness of life.”
I love him because he is the way to my Father in heaven, and because he made me in his image because he wants me to be part of his eternal spiritual family forever.
I love him because he comforts me when I’m down, heals me when I’m sick, feeds me when I’m hungry, clothes me when I’m naked, speaks to me when I need to hear from him, and teaches me his ways through his Holy Word, the Bible, and through his Holy or Set-Apart Spirit who lives in me.
Elohim gave the gift of his Son to me because he loves me. Because of my love for him, how can I show him (and others) that love? What can I possibly give as an expression of my love and devotion to the one who already possesses everything in the universe? There is nothing that I have that he needs or wants that he doesn’t already have. He already possesses everything—except my heart and my obedience. This I gave him long ago, and will continue to do, by his grace, until I die.
We’re all familiar with the words of our Father in heaven that like a priceless diamond express his quintessential love for humanity, “For Elohim so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son, that whoever believes on him should not perish but have eternal life.” As an expression of my love for him, like a mirror, I would reflect back to Elohim his adoring words as recorded in John 3:16 in the following way,
For I so love Elohim that I have given him the only thing that I could that was not already his—the affection of my heart, and because he believes in my love for him, our spiritual relationship will not perish, and we shall live together forever in his everlasting kingdom.
Have you ever heard someone say, “I’ll believe it when I see it”? Is seeing really believing? Many people saw Yeshua when he was on this earth, but most didn’t believe him.
It has been 2000 years since Yeshua walked this earth, and since we’ve never seen him, nor even talked to those who saw him, what is the basis of our faith? Is faith in Yeshua blind? Or are there logical reasons to believe in him?
For those of us who have had a faith in Yeshua for a while, for us there are a myriad reasons that have come together to form the basis of our faith. However, for those who are new in their faith walk and don’t have a lifetime of “spiritual experiences” that corroborate that faith, initially finding a basis for that faith can be difficult.
Some people come to Yeshua because that’s their last hope. They’ve hit rock bottom in their lives and there’s no where else to go. They hear and believe the gospel message of hope and end up experiencing the power of the Yeshua and his Holy Spirit in their lives.
Others take a more reasoned approach to establishing a faith in Yeshua. Perhaps their lives haven’t hit rock bottom, but they know they’re missing something — there’s still a void in their life. They sense that there must be more to life — a higher purpose — than simply existing and then dying.
Others come to faith in Yeshua because they look around and see intelligent design behind everything in existence, which speaks of a Creator, which leads them to want to know more about him.
Some people come to Yeshua as a way of dealing with their on mortality. In their quest to answer the question of whether there’s life after death, they come to faith in Yeshua.
Perhaps some come to faith in Yeshua due to the pang of a guilty conscience because of their sin and the need for redemption.
Some people have studied the world’s religions and find that only the gospel message as presented in the Bible addresses the deeper issues of life.
These are all valid and logical reasons for coming to faith in Yeshua.
Whatever the reason for believing what the Bible says about Yeshua, there are good reasons to believe in him based on both the claims of the Bible and logic.
Yeshua — A Historical Figure
Whatever we think about Yeshua pro or con, he was a historical figure. More has been written about him than anyone else, and he has impacted the world more than anyone. There must be something to all this, and thus we have to deal with this reality. Twenty-seven different first-century New Testament documents attest to the reality of his existence and to his impact on humanity. Additionally, numerous Christian, Jewish and Roman historians from the first and second centuries attest to his existence and his positive impact on the lives of thousands, if not millions of people.
An Important Question
There are other reasons to believe in Yeshua. If God became a man, as the Bible claims of Yeshua, and if the man Yeshua was God as he and the Bible claim, then what would we expect of such an individual?
He would have had an unusual entrance into this life (e.g., a virgin birth).
He would have been without human weaknesses, foibles and failings (i.e., be sinless or perfect).
He would manifest supernatural abilities (i.e., signs, wonders, miracles, unusual supernatural powers, possess supernatural knowledge).
He would have an intellect superior to that of the brightest minds of his day.
He would have a perspective on life different than ordinary humans.
He would speak the greatest words ever spoken.
He would have a lasting and universal influence on humanity.
He would be able to answer men’s deepest questions and fulfill men’s deepest longings and desires.
He would exercise power over death.
Yeshua was the only human who has ever met all of these qualifications.
Dealing With the Resurrection of Yeshua
For two millennia, the resurrection of Yeshua has been viewed as one the greatest proofs that he was he who said he was. Let’s face it, either the resurrection of Yeshua is the greatest and most vicious hoax ever foisted on humanity, or it was the most fantastic fact of history. Each person must answer this question for himself or herself, deal with the ramifications and adjust his or life and belief systems accordingly.
The resurrection of Yeshua is a well documented fact — both from the numerous references in the Scriptures and from extra-biblical sources written by people who knew those who had witnessed the resurrection. Can we trust the accounts of those witnesses to that event?
Did you ever wonder how the non-biblical holiday called “Christmas” came into the mainstream Christians church? What follows is the backstory to Christmas—the rest of the story.
Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church. Irenaeus and Tertullian omit it from their lists of feasts; Origen glancing perhaps at the discreditable imperial Natalitia, asserts (in Lev. Hom. viii in Migne, P.G., XII, 495) that in the Scriptures sinners alone, not saints, celebrate their birthday; Amodbius (VII, 32 in P.L., V, 1264) can still ridicule the “birthdays” of the gods. (The Catholic Encyclopedia, “Christmas”)
Saturnalia was an ancient Roman festival in honour of the god Saturn, held on 17 December of the Julian calendar and later expanded with festivities through to 23 December. The holiday was celebrated with a sacrifice at the Temple of Saturn, in the Roman Forum, and a public banquet, followed by private gift-giving, continual partying, and a carnival atmosphere that overturned Roman social norms: gambling was permitted, and masters provided table service for their slaves. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturnalia)
Saturnalia may have influenced some of the customs associated with later celebrations in western Europe occurring in midwinter, particularly traditions associated with Christmas, the Feast of the Holy Innocents, and Epiphany. (ibid.)
The popularity of Saturnalia continued into the 3rd and 4th centuries AD, and as the Roman Empire came under Christian rule, many of its customs were recast into or at least influenced the seasonal celebrations surrounding Christmas and the New Year. (ibid.)
According to The Catholic Encyclopedia, Christmas is not included in Irenaeus’s nor Tertullian’s list of Christian feasts, the earliest known lists of Christian feasts. The earliest evidence of celebration is from Alexandria, in about 200, when Clement of says that certain Egyptian theologians “over curiously” assign not just the year but also the actual day of Christ’s birth as 25 Pachon (May 20) in the twenty-eighth year of Augustus. By the time of the Council of Nicea in 325, the Alexandrian church had fixed a dies Nativitatis et Epiphaniae. The December feast reached Egypt in the fith century. In Jerusalem, the fourth century pilgrim Egeria from Bordeaux witnessed the Feast of the Presentation, forty days after January 6, which must have been the date of the Nativity there. At Antioch, probably in 386, St. John Chrysostom urged the community to unite in celebrating Christ’s birth on December 25, a part of the community having already kept it on that day for at least ten years.
Some scholars maintain that December 25 was only adopted in the fourth century as a Christian holiday after Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity to encourage a common religious festival for both Christians and pagan. Perusal of historical records indicates that the first mention of such a feast in Constantinople was not until 379, under Gregory. In Rome, it can only be confirmed as being mentioned in a document from approximately 350 but without any mention of sanction by Emperor Constantine. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas)
Evidently, Christmas was birthed out of the infant baptism heresy that was gripping the church theologically in the fourth century. The precursor to Christmas was a reaction or counter-revolt against Marcionite the heretic who denied the birth of Yeshua claiming that the Messiah was not a person, but rather a phantom. By emphasizing the nativity of the literal birth of Yeshua this heresy was countered, and by placing Yeshua’s birth on December 25, Saturnalia, it was a way to woo the sun worshipping heathens into Christianity. Here is what the historians have to say on this subject:
The grounds on which the Church introduced so late as [AD] 350-440 a Christmas feast till then unknown, or, if known, precariously linked with the baptism, seem in the main to have been the following. (I) The transition from adult to infant baptism was proceeding rapidly in the East, and in the West was well-nigh completed. Its natural complement was a festal recognition of the fact that the divine element was present in Christ from the first, and was no new stage of spiritual promotion coeval only with the descent of the Spirit upon him at baptism. The general adoption of child baptism helped to extinguish the old view that the divine life in Jesus dated from his baptism, a view which led the Epiphany feast to be regarded as that of Jesus spiritual rebirth. This aspect of the feast was therefore forgotten, and its importance in every way diminished by the new and rival feast of Christmas, (2) The 4th century witnessed a rapid diffusion of Marcionite, or, as it was now called, Manichaean propaganda, the chief tenet of which was that Jesus either was not born at all, was a mere phantasm, or anyhow did not take flesh of the Virgin Mary. Against this view the new Christmas was a protest, since it was peculiarly the feast of his birth in the flesh, or as a man, and is constantly spoken of as such by the fathers who witnessed its institution. (The Encyclopedia Britannica, eleventh edit., “Christmas”)
We find [Christmas] first in Rome, in the time of the bishop Liberius, who on the twenty-fifth of December, [AD] 360, consecrated Marcella, the sister of St. Ambrose, a nun or bride of Christ, and addressed her with the words: ‘Thou seest what multitudes are come to the birth-festival of they bridegroom.’ This passage implies that the festival was already existing and familiar. Christmas was introduced in Antioch a bout the year 380; in Alexandria, where the feast of Epiphany was celebrated as the nativity of Christ, not until about 430. Chrysostom, who delivered the Christmas homily in Antioch on the 25th of December, 386, already calls it, notwithstanding its recent introduction (some ten years before), the fundamental feast, or the root, from which all other Christian festivals grow forth. (Schaff, History of the Christian Church, vol. 3, p. 395)
The Christmas festival was probably the Christian transformation or regeneration of a series of kindred heathen festivals—the Saturnalia, Sigillaria, Juvenalia, and Brumalia—which were kept in Rome in the month of December, in commemorating of the golden age of universal freedom and equality, and in honor of the unconquered sun, and which were great holidays, especially for slaves and children. This custom accounts for many customs of the Christmas season, like the giving of presents to children and to the poor, the lighting of wax t appears, perhaps also the erection of Christmas trees, and gives them a Christian import… Had the Christmas festival arisen in the period of persecution, its derivation from these pagan festivals would be refuted by the then reigning abhorrence of everything heathen; but in the Nicene age this rigidness of opposition between the church and the world was in great measure softened by the general conversion of the heathen. Besides, there lurked in those pagan festivals themselves, in spite of all their sensual abuses, a deep meaning and an adaptation to a real want; they might be called unconscious prophecies of the Christmas feast. Finally, the church father themselves confirm the symbolical references of the feast of the birth of Christ, the Sun of righteousness, the Light of the world, to the birth-festival of the unconquered sun, which on the twenty-fifth of December, after the winter solstice, break the growing power of darkness, and begins anew his heroic career. (ibid., pp. 394–397)
Of the Christmas festival there is no clear trace before the fourth century; partly because the feast of Epiphany in a measure held he place of it; partly because the birth of Christ, the date of which, at any rate, was uncertain, was less prominent in the Christian mind than his death and resurrection. It was of Western (Roman) origin, and found its way to the East after the middle of the fourth century.” (ibid., vol. 2, p. 222)
The Pagan Origins of Christmas
The Catholic Encyclopedia has this say about the origins of Christmas:
The well-known solar feast, however, of Natalis Invicti, celebrated on 25 December, has a strong claim on the responsibility for our December date. For the history of the solar cult, its position in the Roman Empire, and syncretism with Mithraism, see Cumont’s epoch-making “Textes et Monuments” etc., I, ii, 4, 6, p. 355. Mommsen (Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, 12, p. 338) has collected the evidence for the feast, which reached its climax of popularity under Aurelian in 274. Filippo del Torre in 1700 first saw its importance; it is marked, as has been said, without addition in Philocalus’ Calendar. It would be impossible here even to outline the history of solar symbolism and language as applied to God, the Messiah, and Christ in Jewish or Christian canonical, patristic, or devotional works. Hymns and Christmas offices abound in instances; the texts are well arranged by Cumont (op. cit., addit. Note C, p. 355). The present writer is inclined to think that, be the origin of the feast in East or West, and though the abundance of analogous midwinter festivals may indefinitely have helped the choice of the December date, the same instinct which set Natalis Invicti at the winter solstice will have sufficed, apart from deliberate adaptation or curious calculation, to set the Christian feast there too. (Catholic Encyclopedia, “Christmas”)
The same article in The Catholic Encyclopedia then goes on to say:
The origin of Christmas should not be sought in the Saturnalia (1-23 December) nor even in the midnight holy birth at Eleusis (see J.E. Harrison, Prolegom., p. 549) with its probable connection through Phrygia with the Naasene heretics, or even with the Alexandrian ceremony quoted above; nor yet in rites analogous to the midwinter cult at Delphi of the cradled Dionysus, with his revocation from the sea to a new birth (Harrison, op. cit., 402 sqq.). (Catholic Encyclopedia, “Christmas”)
On what basis are we to accept the above statement? Just because the author says so, when the circumstantial evidence to the origins of Christmas disagree with this author? Hopefully not.
A Christmas-Type Celebration Predated Christianity
