Comments on: Happy Jesus Circumsion Day aka. New Year! http://womanremodeled.com/wordpress/archives/43 Remodeling yourself is like remodeling an old house, it is never as easy as it seems Fri, 05 Dec 2008 12:39:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.2 By: Lauren http://womanremodeled.com/wordpress/archives/43#comment-38 Lauren Wed, 02 Jan 2008 16:00:59 +0000 http://womanremodeled.com/wordpress/archives/43#comment-38 I wouldnt be quick to shout it either. I did know some of the other history, which I just learned, but not as extensively as you presented. thanks for sharing, that is very interesting. I was not aware of the highly antisemitic connotations of new years. It is interesting how what is seemingly an innocuous holiday can have such a deep history, rife with bigotry and disenfranchisement. I do know that the conversion of Constantine from paganism to Christianity has been a highly controversial event. Some believe that it was entirely a power play and that he remained pagan till death. Regardless he is highly responsible for the christian appropriation of many pagan holidays. Another history of New Years is the Scottish tradition of Hogmany. "It may not be widely known but Christmas was not celebrated as a festival and virtually banned in Scotland for around 400 years, from the end of the 17th century to the 1950s. The reason for this has its roots in the Protestant Reformation when the Kirk portrayed Christmas as a Popish or Catholic feast and therefore had to be banned. Many Scots had to work over Christmas and their winter solstice holiday was therefore at New Year when family and friends gathered for a party and exchange presents, especially for the children, which came to be called hogmanay." One of Hogmany's root words possibly comes from the Scandanavian word for Yule, which is the celebration of the winter solstice. Thanks so much for writing such a wonderfully historic comment! Excellent! I hope you comment more in the future! I wouldnt be quick to shout it either. I did know some of the other history, which I just learned, but not as extensively as you presented. thanks for sharing, that is very interesting. I was not aware of the highly antisemitic connotations of new years. It is interesting how what is seemingly an innocuous holiday can have such a deep history, rife with bigotry and disenfranchisement. I do know that the conversion of Constantine from paganism to Christianity has been a highly controversial event. Some believe that it was entirely a power play and that he remained pagan till death. Regardless he is highly responsible for the christian appropriation of many pagan holidays.

Another history of New Years is the Scottish tradition of Hogmany.
“It may not be widely known but Christmas was not celebrated as a festival and virtually banned in Scotland for around 400 years, from the end of the 17th century to the 1950s. The reason for this has its roots in the Protestant Reformation when the Kirk portrayed Christmas as a Popish or Catholic feast and therefore had to be banned. Many Scots had to work over Christmas and their winter solstice holiday was therefore at New Year when family and friends gathered for a party and exchange presents, especially for the children, which came to be called hogmanay.” One of Hogmany’s root words possibly comes from the Scandanavian word for Yule, which is the celebration of the winter solstice.

Thanks so much for writing such a wonderfully historic comment! Excellent! I hope you comment more in the future!

]]> By: amy http://womanremodeled.com/wordpress/archives/43#comment-37 amy Wed, 02 Jan 2008 01:42:42 +0000 http://womanremodeled.com/wordpress/archives/43#comment-37 I learned this a few days ago as well and found your blog while looking for more information. I don't reccomend that you start saying this unless you want to deeply offend some Jewish people. I'm also Catholic and have learned quite a bit. January 1 is generally believed to have been established by Julius Caesar as the new year when he established his claendar. That was about 50 years before Christ's birth. The date floated back and forth between Jan 1 and March dates untill 1066 when William the Bastard became King of England. He moved it back to Jan 1 so that his coronation would coincide with Christmas and the new year with Jesus'circumcision. That date was later abandoned for March again until the mid 1500's when Pope Gregory XIII established the Gregorian calendar. At the same time Gregory decreed taht Roman Jews would be required to "listen attentively" to the compulsary Catholic conversion sermon given in all Synagogues after friday services on pain of death. Jews were forced to pay a tax to fund a Catholic conversion center. New Years day was to be considered the day of the "birth of Christianity and the death of Judeism." On New Years day in the 1580's Gregory ordered the destruction of all Jewish sacred texts (Torah) and hundreds of Jews were killed. Thereafter, for the next hundred years or so, new years day was a traditional day for harrassment of Jews, burning of their texts,murder and torture. As if that weren't quite enough, December 31 is St. Sylvester day. Sylvester was a Roman Pope just before the Council of Nicaea. He convinced Constantine to enact vicious anti-semetic laws. So the day is doubly offensive. I don't know you, and am not trying to lecture. I didn't know this until last week either, but, given the actual history, I wouldn't be too quick to shout "happy Jesus' bris day. Amy I learned this a few days ago as well and found your blog while looking for more information. I don’t reccomend that you start saying this unless you want to deeply offend some Jewish people. I’m also Catholic and have learned quite a bit. January 1 is generally believed to have been established by Julius Caesar as the new year when he established his claendar. That was about 50 years before Christ’s birth. The date floated back and forth between Jan 1 and March dates untill 1066 when William the Bastard became King of England. He moved it back to Jan 1 so that his coronation would coincide with Christmas and the new year with Jesus’circumcision. That date was later abandoned for March again until the mid 1500’s when Pope Gregory XIII established the Gregorian calendar. At the same time Gregory decreed taht Roman Jews would be required to “listen attentively” to the compulsary Catholic conversion sermon given in all Synagogues after friday services on pain of death. Jews were forced to pay a tax to fund a Catholic conversion center. New Years day was to be considered the day of the “birth of Christianity and the death of Judeism.” On New Years day in the 1580’s Gregory ordered the destruction of all Jewish sacred texts (Torah) and hundreds of Jews were killed. Thereafter, for the next hundred years or so, new years day was a traditional day for harrassment of Jews, burning of their texts,murder and torture.

As if that weren’t quite enough, December 31 is St. Sylvester day. Sylvester was a Roman Pope just before the Council of Nicaea. He convinced Constantine to enact vicious anti-semetic laws. So the day is doubly offensive.

I don’t know you, and am not trying to lecture. I didn’t know this until last week either, but, given the actual history, I wouldn’t be too quick to shout “happy Jesus’ bris day.

Amy

]]> By: Lauren http://womanremodeled.com/wordpress/archives/43#comment-36 Lauren Mon, 31 Dec 2007 21:19:19 +0000 http://womanremodeled.com/wordpress/archives/43#comment-36 Oh Yippee! Yay fire festivals! Oh Yippee! Yay fire festivals!

]]> By: Rocas http://womanremodeled.com/wordpress/archives/43#comment-35 Rocas Mon, 31 Dec 2007 20:19:38 +0000 http://womanremodeled.com/wordpress/archives/43#comment-35 Happy Hogmanay! Happy Hogmanay!

]]> By: Lauren http://womanremodeled.com/wordpress/archives/43#comment-32 Lauren Mon, 31 Dec 2007 17:32:18 +0000 http://womanremodeled.com/wordpress/archives/43#comment-32 Hey, its not my fault you have a vivid information. You know what the PSA's say... The more you know! =) Hey, its not my fault you have a vivid information. You know what the PSA’s say… The more you know!

=)

]]> By: Velvet Verbosity http://womanremodeled.com/wordpress/archives/43#comment-30 Velvet Verbosity Mon, 31 Dec 2007 07:27:52 +0000 http://womanremodeled.com/wordpress/archives/43#comment-30 Oh geez, will you stop teaching me these things? There are just some things I don't want to know, honestly. Now when I smooch someone (most likely a complete stranger due to the said copious amounts of alcohol) I just know I'm going to get an unwelcome flash of the big guy's circumcision. That's uncalled for cruelty in my opinion. Is that really what you came here to do? Oh geez, will you stop teaching me these things? There are just some things I don’t want to know, honestly. Now when I smooch someone (most likely a complete stranger due to the said copious amounts of alcohol) I just know I’m going to get an unwelcome flash of the big guy’s circumcision.

That’s uncalled for cruelty in my opinion. Is that really what you came here to do?

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