Christmas’ pagan origins

Few people realize that the origins of a form of Christmas was pagan & celebrated in Europe long before anyone there had heard of Jesus Christ.

No one knows what day Jesus Christ was born on. From the biblical description, most historians believe that his birth probably occurred in September, approximately six months after Passover. One thing they agree on is that it is very unlikely that Jesus was born in December, since the bible records shepherds tending their sheep in the fields on that night. This is quite unlikely to have happened during a cold Judean winter. So why do we celebrate Christ’s birthday as Christmas, on December the 25th?
The answer lies in the pagan origins of Christmas. In ancient Babylon, the feast of the Son of Isis (Goddess of Nature) was celebrated on December 25. Raucous partying, gluttonous eating and drinking, and gift-giving were traditions of this feast.
In Rome, the Winter Solstice was celebrated many years before the birth of Christ. The Romans called their winter holiday Saturnalia, honoring Saturn, the God of Agriculture. In January, they observed the Kalends of January, which represented the triumph of life over death. This whole season was called Dies Natalis Invicti Solis, the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun. The festival season was marked by much merrymaking. It is in ancient Rome that the tradition of the Mummers was born. The Mummers were groups of costumed singers and dancers who traveled from house to house entertaining their neighbors. From this, the Christmas tradition of caroling was born.

In northern Europe, many other traditions that we now consider part of Christian worship were begun long before the participants had ever heard of Christ. The pagans of northern Europe celebrated the their own winter solstice, known as Yule. Yule was symbolic of the pagan Sun God, Mithras, being born, and was observed on the shortest day of the year. As the Sun God grew and matured, the days became longer and warmer. It was customary to light a candle to encourage Mithras, and the sun, to reappear next year.

Huge Yule logs were burned in honor of the sun. The word Yule itself means “wheel,” the wheel being a pagan symbol for the sun. Mistletoe was considered a sacred plant, and the custom of kissing under the mistletoe began as a fertility ritual. Hollyberries were thought to be a food of the gods.

The tree is the one symbol that unites almost all the northern European winter solstices. Live evergreen trees were often brought into homes during the harsh winters as a reminder to inhabitants that soon their crops would grow again. Evergreen boughs were sometimes carried as totems of good luck and were often present at weddings, representing fertility. The Druids used the tree as a religious symbol, holding their sacred ceremonies while surrounding and worshipping huge trees.

In 350, Pope Julius I declared that Christ’s birth would be celebrated on December 25. There is little doubt that he was trying to make it as painless as possible for pagan Romans (who remained a majority at that time) to convert to Christianity

. The new religion went down a bit easier, knowing that their feasts would not be taken away from them.

Christmas (Christ-Mass) as we know it today, most historians agree, began in Germany, though Catholics and Lutherans still disagree about which church celebrated it first. The earliest record of an evergreen being decorated in a Christian celebration was in 1521 in the Alsace region of Germany. A prominent Lutheran minister of the day cried blasphemy: “Better that they should look to the true tree of life, Christ.”

The controversy continues even today in some fundamentalist sects.


Add comment December 22, 2009

Ex-NRA member now proud tree-hugger

Ex-NRA member now proud tree-hugger

Editor, This is in regards to Ron Baker’s letter on Sept. 5.
  At one time, I was a proud member of the NRA. It was a first-class organization.
  Then the unexpected occurred. It was taken over by a bunch of right-wing looney tunes. I, and several other members in this area, along with thousands of members nationwide, bid farewell to the NRA, formed our own gun clubs, or joined others. The NRA today is nothing more than a mouthpiece for the crazies.
  I received letters from them, “Bill Clinton will take your guns – send money” “Ted Kennedy will take your guns,” send money, “the United Nations will take your guns,” send money, etc. It never stops.
  The people running the NRA with these kinds of tactics, reminds me of Joseph Goebbels, Adolph Hitler’s minister of propaganda, who used to say “report a lie often enough and soon people will start believing it.” Well my son, not I.
  Ron, you speak of Americans and the almighty dollar. I tell you now, today’s NRA is nothing more than an organization of professional con artists.
  I wrote a letter to LA Wayne Pierre stating that while Bill Clinton was president for eight years, I did not have one gun taken away, and in fact during his presidency I even bought a few, and I went on to ask him how many of his guns were taken away. That letter was sent a long time ago.
  I’m still waiting for an answer.
  And I always said that if our founding fathers considered the Second Amendment so important, they would have put it at the top of the list and made it the First Amendment instead.
  And, I might add, I’m a tree hugger, I like to think I’m the world’s best. My trees not only take in our carbon dioxide that we exhale, but they in turn emit life saving oxygen. My oak trees drop acorns which feed deer, bear, turkeys, grouse, squirrels, etc.
  They not only nourish, but give protection to the fauna. If you’re a hunter you probably pursue them. My hemlock trees overhang my streams and help keep the water cool, so cold water fish like trout can survive.
  My trees provide cover for our avian bretheren to build nests and raise their young.
  The roots of my trees aerate the soil, and most importantly store water and prevent erosion.
  My home is surrounded by trees, they keep me cool during the hot days of summer and protect me from the cold wind of winter. But nothing lives forever, my diseased and dying trees provide fuel to heat my home with my wood furnace, while millions of other people are sending their money to the foreign despots, for heating oil.
  Yes Ron, I am a tree hugger extraordinaire, and proud of it, and I have 25 acres of them to snuggle up to. I am also a hunter. And of course, we must remember maple syrup, aspirin, which is made from the bark of weeping willows. (I have one in my backyard) and lumber for homes and furniture, charcoal for your barbecue and hundreds of other uses. What kind of world would we have without trees.
 Robert A. Foose, Nuremberg

Add comment December 20, 2009

Why some Catholics are leaving the church.

Some bishops turning church into sect of Pharisees

By JAMES F. DRANE

At this year’s National Conference, the Catholic bishops should have been more supportive of Bishop Trautman’s campaign to reform liturgical language, and in the same conference they should have addressed the scandal caused by some of their own.

The word scandal means discredit brought upon religion by the unseemly conduct of religious persons.

The unseemly conduct of some bishops takes place in public and centers on the issue of abortion. The discredit caused by the bishops contributes to a continuing stream of Catholics leaving the church. According to one estimate, fallen-away Catholics nowmake up the second largest “religious denomination” in the U.S.

Raymond Burke, formerly the archbishop of St.

Louis is a person with a reputation for causing scandal.

Back in 2004, he was the first bishop to advocate denial of Communion to Sen. John Kerry because he disagreed with Burke’s insistence upon criminalization of abortion as the only way to handle the issue. Then he expanded the scandal by extending denial of Communion to all politicians who approve legalization of abortion, even under very limited conditions (e.g., rape, incest, threat to a woman’s life). Finally he issued a warning that any Catholic who votes for a politician who would allow abortion should not receive Communion.

Archbishop Burke’s scandalous conduct extends even toward fellowbishops.

He criticized all bishops who did not join the protests against Notre Dame’s faculty and students for inviting President Obama to speak. He charged that the majority of American bishops were responsible for Obama’s election because they approved consideration by voters of other issues besides abortion.

Suddenly the pope moved Archbishop Burke out of the U.S., assigning him to a job inside the Vatican. This removed him from the American political scene but did not stop his scandalous conduct. In late September the now-Vatican bureaucrat charged that Sean O’Malley, cardinal archbishop of Boston, was under the influence of Satan, the father of lies, for participating in the funeral Mass for Sen. Edward Kennedy (who disagreed with Burke about abortion legislation).

Burke wants those who disagree with him on abortion to be denied Communion, Catholic funeral services, and to be publicly ejected from the church. If this archbishop had his way, he would turn the Catholic Church into a small sect of abortion legislation extremists. In effect, he would turn the church into a sect of Pharisees, similar to the Jewish sect that was in constant conflict with Jesus during his lifetime.

The Pharisees were a sect focused exclusively on laws and strict observance of laws. The word pharisee in Hebrew and Aramaic means the separated ones.

They were separated from other believers because of their obsession with legal purity. Focus on laws, extreme legal positions, immersion in minute legal details; this was the mindset that Jesus confronted during His ministry. He rejected this viewpoint and tried to free people from its burdens.

Jesus would be shocked to see this inhumane form of religion reemerging, of all places, in his own community.

Pharisees in Jesus’ time objected to paying even the smallest tax required by Roman law.

Jesus responded with His example of a coin with Caesar’s image, and the statement, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s….” Then they pressured Him to specify the greatest law. He responded, “Love the Lord with all your strength and your neighbor as yourself.”

These teachings of Jesus seem lost to the group of bishops obsessed with minutiae of any proposed abortion legislation and nothing else.

One of the similarly inclined bishops in the U.S.

is Thomas Tobin, Bishop of Providence. He is a close copy of Bishop Burke in his obsession with abortion legislation. Following Burke’s judgmental style and that of the Pharisees, Tobin recently accused Representative Patrick Kennedy, Edward Kennedy’s nephew, of falsely identifying himself as a Catholic. He demanded that Representative Kennedy be denied Communion. Why? Because he supported health care legislation for the poor and needy, even though it provided minimal coverage for limited abortions. Following the example of the earlier Pharisees, Tobin insists on total and complete legislative purity in a law’s most minute details.

Bishop Tobin, like Archbishop Burke, redefines what it means to be Catholic. Tobin and Burke and other bishops in their camp redefine Catholic belief.

Almost 2,000 years of debate and reflection, councils and codes, theologies and creedal statements have all been set aside. “Catholic” for them means voting only for legislation that bans any public money for all abortion. All that Jesus taught about love, care for the poor, and social justice, no longer matters. True followers of Jesus noware advocates for strict legal purity on one moral issue.

Today’s church scandal, caused by Catholic bishops, is alienating large segments of the Church population.

If the scandal continues, Catholic laypersons, who are more prudent and understand howprudence applies to the construction of legislation, are going to have to oversee church leadership. The extreme rightwing bishops have abandoned both the core of Jesus’ morality and the first of the cardinal virtues, prudence.

The present Vatican strategy to control the scandal seems to be removal of the radical right-wing bishops from their dioceses.

They did this with Archbishop Burke and with the former bishop of Scranton. It will take some time to see howoften this strategy is used and howwell it works.

Drane is the Russell B.

Roth Professor of Bioethics at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.

Add comment November 24, 2009

Great free educational site

I love this site and it’s free . The man will be remembered in history for hie donation to the education of people. It’s a completely selfless act. Kudos to him.
khanacademy.org

Add comment November 16, 2009

The Surprising Benefits of Honey

The Surprising Benefits of Honey


Throughout history honey has been considered a food with unparalleled nutritional and physical benefits. Really, honey is a miracle food. For over 10,000 years (and maybe more) honey has been used as a staple food and as a medicine. Honey is one of the few foods that can actually sustain human life by itself. If you’re not storing honey, this ought to convince you to start.
Storage

Honey lasts forever; if stored properly you will never need to worry about your honey going bad, forget about FIFO with honey. There was actually edible honey discovered in the pharaoh’s tomb in Egypt. It is also a healthy substitute for sugar that contains no fats or cholesterol.


My honey is hard and crystallized!

Not to worry, if your honey has become crystallized all you need to do is heat it to return it back to normal. Or if you like, turn it into mead!

Health
Skin

Honey is great for overall skin health and can even help to reduce wrinkles and nourish the skin.


Antibacterial

Honey has been used as an antibacterial for years, it was even one of the most popular treatments for wounds in the First World War. Recent science has explained to us why honey is such an effective antibacterial agent.

“One New Zealand researcher says a particular type of honey may be useful in treating MRSA infections. Antibacterial properties of honey are the result of the low water activity causing osmosis, hydrogen peroxide effect, and high acidity.


Wounds

Honey has also been shown to reduce odor, swelling and scarring when used to treat wounds, aside from its antibacterial effects.

Stomach Ache

Got a stomach ache? No problem, mix one teaspoon of honey with a hot glass of water, squeeze in about half a lemon and your stomach ache should go away.


Pink Eye

While it has only been proven in rats, honey was considered an effective treatment for conjunctivitis.


Allergies

Folk medicine suggests that taking local honey will help your allergies because you gain a tolerance to local pollens. Recent studies suggest that while it doesn’t help by eliminating allergies it helps reduce allergies.

“a recent study has shown pollen collected by bees to exert an anti allergenic effect, mediated by an inhibition of IgE immunoglobulin binding to mast cells. This inhibited mast cell degranulation and thus reduced allergic reaction.”


Coughs

Honey coats the throat, making it great for a sore throat. To cure your sore throat simply take about 1 teaspoon of honey and let it slowly trickle down your throat.


Burns

Honey is also great for burns since it removes the pain and helps aid in the healing process.


Colitis

Honey is shown to reduce the damage done to the colon in Colitis.


Insomnia

Some studies suggest that honey can also help with various nervous disorders such as insomnia. If you can’t sleep, mix 1 teaspoon of honey into a warm glass of water and enjoy a good night’s sleep.


**Because of the spores contained in honey, infants under the age of 1 year cannot consume it. While it’s fine for older children and adults, infants under 1 year can contract botulism from honey

Add comment November 16, 2009

Amazing sounds

Add comment November 16, 2009

Balance

Balance is an important thing
to have in my life.

I need to have a balance between work (any difficult
task) and play. I need to know when it’s time to stop working and enjoy myself,
or when it’s time to stop having fun and get down to business.

As I learn balance, I may want
to make a schedule for myself to see how I spend my time. Helpful tools like
this will guide me toward achieving balance in my life.

Add comment December 3, 2008

Ex-NRA member now proud tree-hugger

Editor, This is in regards to Ron Baker’s letter on Sept. 5.
  At one time, I was a proud member of the NRA. It was a first-class organization.
  Then the unexpected occurred. It was taken over by a bunch of right-wing looney tunes. I, and several other members in this area, along with thousands of members nationwide, bid farewell to the NRA, formed our own gun clubs, or joined others. The NRA today is nothing more than a mouthpiece for the crazies.
  I received letters from them, “Bill Clinton will take your guns – send money” “Ted Kennedy will take your guns,” send money, “the United Nations will take your guns,” send money, etc. It never stops.
  The people running the NRA with these kinds of tactics, reminds me of Joseph Goebbels, Adolph Hitler’s minister of propaganda, who used to say “report a lie often enough and soon people will start believing it.” Well my son, not I.
  Ron, you speak of Americans and the almighty dollar. I tell you now, today’s NRA is nothing more than an organization of professional con artists.
  I wrote a letter to LA Wayne Pierre stating that while Bill Clinton was president for eight years, I did not have one gun taken away, and in fact during his presidency I even bought a few, and I went on to ask him how many of his guns were taken away. That letter was sent a long time ago.
  I’m still waiting for an answer.
  And I always said that if our founding fathers considered the Second Amendment so important, they would have put it at the top of the list and made it the First Amendment instead.
  And, I might add, I’m a tree hugger, I like to think I’m the world’s best. My trees not only take in our carbon dioxide that we exhale, but they in turn emit life saving oxygen. My oak trees drop acorns which feed deer, bear, turkeys, grouse, squirrels, etc.
  They not only nourish, but give protection to the fauna. If you’re a hunter you probably pursue them. My hemlock trees overhang my streams and help keep the water cool, so cold water fish like trout can survive.
  My trees provide cover for our avian bretheren to build nests and raise their young.
  The roots of my trees aerate the soil, and most importantly store water and prevent erosion.
  My home is surrounded by trees, they keep me cool during the hot days of summer and protect me from the cold wind of winter. But nothing lives forever, my diseased and dying trees provide fuel to heat my home with my wood furnace, while millions of other people are sending their money to the foreign despots, for heating oil.
  Yes Ron, I am a tree hugger extraordinaire, and proud of it, and I have 25 acres of them to snuggle up to. I am also a hunter. And of course, we must remember maple syrup, aspirin, which is made from the bark of weeping willows. (I have one in my backyard) and lumber for homes and furniture, charcoal for your barbecue and hundreds of other uses. What kind of world would we have without trees.
 Robert A. Foose, Nuremberg

Add comment September 22, 2008

Better Gas mileage

Weatherly man’s collection may hold key to future


Willard
Turnerhasaguide published in 1980 that claims to have the secret to creating a
200-mpgcarburetor.


ByJOSEPHKRINGER

Staff
Writer

Some may consider Willard Turn­er a pack
rat.
ScatteredthroughouthisWeather­ly home are all sorts of antiques he has
collected throughout his 78 years.
But somewhere in his clutter of old car
headlights, letters and speeches written by former United States presidents,
lies a key to the future.
A manual written by Allan Wallce and published in
1980 tells of a car­buretor that— he claims— would allow a car to travel 200
miles on a gallon of gas. Turner said the manu­al was created with the help of
the Ford Motor Co. in the 1970s.

Tweaking the
part

At age 25, Turner in 1955 was hired on
the spot by the Ford Motor Co. at its plant in Mahwah, N.J. He started out in
the commercial department where he “handled everything.”Theplantemployed
thousands of people who worked 12­hour days, six days a week. They assembled
large-scale pick-up trucks and mass dump trucks.
“We made everything there
right fromscratch,” Turnersaid.“The assembly line would put out between 45 and
50 vehicles per hour. ” Turner worked the assembly line from one end to the
other during his 15 years with Ford. After becoming closefriendswithplantManager
Ernie Poley, Turner began helping out in the shop and would go on the road for
the company to play the “mediator.” A few years later he found himself stepping
up yet another rung on the company ladder. With no college
education, but much experience, Turner soon found himself working
right alongside the engineers at Ford.
“Imodifiedcarburetors,”he
explained.
Constantly experimenting with the different parts of the
machine, Turner says he discovered a secret togettingbettergasmileage.
“By
cutting the weight off of the ball jack, it increased the mileage.
The more
you shaved off, the more gas mileage you would get.”
The research continued
over the years, as did several alterations in order to create a more
fuel-efficient carburetor. When it was near com­pletion, Turner said, Ford had
its revolutionary pro ject patented.
But why, 30 years after its cre­ation,
are there still hardly no vehi­cles on the market that can get 50 miles per
gallon, let alone 200?
According to Turner, not long after the carburetor
was patented, the five maj or oil companies at the time got together and
purchased all the patent rights to the carburetor and similar pro jects.

“These carburetors aren’ t in cars today for the simple reason that the gas
companies bought the patents andkeptitfrombeingpubliciz ed,” he said.

Numerous phone calls by the Standard-Speaker to ExxonMobil, Tex aco and Shell
seeking comment were not returned.

A few miles
farther

In the early 1970s, the Ford plant
closed its doors because of a tax dis­pute with the town of Mahwah.

“Thousands of people lost their jobs,somewerewillingtorelocate,” Turner
said.
With a son to take care of, he decided to stay in the area and found
work in other places.
No matter what kind of other work he took part in,
Turner always continued to tamper with car parts,
tryingtogetbettergasmileage.
“I’ve always been
involved in this typeof thing,” hesaid.“Them things are like a challenge to me.
” To this day, Turner does any­thing he can to push his vehicle a few miles
farther. With a 1996 GMC Jimmy, which originally got 18 miles to the gallon,
Turner bought a $180 part and made some adj ust­ments. Testing the modification
was the nex t step, so he drove it to Florida, blasting the air condition­ing
alltheway.Hesaidheaveraged 26 miles per gallon for the trip.
Similar
modifications can bring big savings today, Turner said.
“The gas prices
today impact everybody. I’ve done everything I could on my cars to get better
gas mileage,”hesaid.“Itsoneof those things that really makes me mad
withthegascompanies.”
A big reason Turner gets so frus­trated with the oil
situation is because he says there are many solutions that could fix the
prob­lem.
“There are things that could be taken off these cars to get
better fuel efficiency that would also meet pol­lution standards,”hesaid.

Alternative energy sources are another option, he said. One, which is not
usually associated with cars, is solar energy. According to Turner, it is
possible for a car to run entirely off of solar power.
“I don’ t know why
they don’ t go to solar, heat could even be generated atnightfromthemoon,”
hesaid.
Politics also play a role in what kind of changes are made within
the industry.
“To make a change, it’ s got to go through Congress.
Politicians have to act and push to have these things released,” Turnersaid.If
thepublic wants to try to get these things out, they should write or put in
calls to congressmen and state senators to apply pressure to begin resolving
some of these issues, Turner sug­gested.




ELLEN
O’CONNELL/
Staff
Photographer

James Willard
Turner,
an employee for Ford Motor Co. in Mahwah,
N.J., from 1955 to 1970, holds a magazine copy written by Allan Wallace in 1980
showingblueprintsfora200-mpgcarburetor.

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else if(parent.parent.contents && parent.parent.contents.urchinTracker) parent.parent.contents.urchinTracker(‘/eEdition/20080811/2/A05/1′);

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Add comment August 11, 2008

Gypy Moth Program

Attention Weston Villagers

Luzerne County’s Gypsy Moth Task Force will accept information from county residents for possible inclusion in next year’s gypsy moth suppression program starting Aug. 1.
Eligibility in the spraying program is based on egg mass count, oak tress population and number of dwellings on the proposed site.
Residents who believe they are experiencing a gypsy moth problem are asked to call the Environmental Special Projects Office at 331-7052, 331-7053 or 331-7054 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Residences wishing to have their properties considered for the 2009 Gypsy Moth Suppression Program call between weekdays starting Aug. 1, through Aug. 18.. This program is being conducted for gypsy moths only. Pests such as elm span worm, fall webwormor tent catepillars are not included.

Add comment August 4, 2008

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