[CS-FSLUG] Just thinking...

[Ed Hurst]

On Monday 08 November 2004 07:37, Don Parris wrote:
> I have sought for seven years to eliminate some of the pagan elements
> of Christmas, but have yet to convince my wife to share in my
> adventure in this way.  I don't mind the lights, but I seek to
> replace the Christmas tree with the manger scene.

I have the luxury of wife who agrees. While my kids are adults, they 
tend to agree as well. The use of tree comes to our modern Western 
culture from one major pagan source, the pan-Germanic Yule Log. Some 
say it may be connected to the Canaanite Asherah worship, which 
included decorating trees, etc.

The first is at least 1000 years in the past, and our modern use of the 
Christmas tree is hard to connect to those roots. Still, I am more 
comfortable without it. Lights and manger scenes are another matter, as 
they stem directly from the Christmas Story. I tend to be a little 
confrontational about cultural issues, but that's my calling.

-- 
Ed Hurst
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