The Roman holiday Saturnalia in honor of Saturn and one big bash lasting from Dec 17 to Dec 25. https://rcg.org/books/ttooc.html Nearly all aspects of Christmas observance have their roots in Roman custom and religion. Consider the following admission from a large American newspaper (The Buffalo News, Nov. 22, 1984): “The earliest reference to Christmas being marked on Dec. 25 comes from the second century after Jesus’ birth. It is considered likely the first Christmas celebrations were in reaction to the Roman Saturnalia, a harvest festival that marked the winter solstice—the return of the sun—and honored Saturn, the god of sowing. Saturnalia was a rowdy time, much opposed by the more austere leaders among the still-minority Christian sect. Christmas developed, one scholar says, as a means of replacing worship of the sun with worship of the Son. By 529 A.D., after Christianity had become the official state religion of the Roman Empire, Emperor Justinian made Christmas a civic holiday. The celebration of Christmas reached its peak—some would say its worst moments—in the medieval period when it became a time for conspicuous consumption and unequaled revelry.”
Pagan As soon as someone writes the word Christmas, your Agnostic radar alarms you to write something that will poo-poo it. And you wonder why libetalism is on the way out faster than parachute pants?
What is this "libetalism" of which you speak? Perhaps it has already gone because I can find no other reference for it even on Google ... all hail Google.
I don't know if you think "Pagan" is an insult or not (hint it isn't), but I am not a Pagan just as I am not a Christian.
