Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Vainpaix t1_j9l5k9g wrote

Reply to comment by BigEd369 in TIL about Saint Josaphat (aka Būdhasaf), a legendary Christian saint whose life is based on Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism. His life story tells of how Josaphat, a son of an Indian kind that persecuted the Christian Church in his kingdom, converted to Christianity. by kweenllama

> The birth of Jesus occurs in winter against the actual text of the Bible but perfectly in line with various pagan winter festivals, with a huge amount of how we celebrate Christmas cribbed from Teutonic and Norse traditions.

Pls do tell what Christmas traditions are "cribbed from Teutonic and Norse traditions", because as a "Norse", all our Christmas traditions are post-Chrsitianisation, even post 17th-century.

2

BigEd369 t1_j9laxb0 wrote

Quick check, are you referring to modern Norse paganism and revivals? Im referencing to the northern Germanic/Norse winter celebratory festivals recorded by the Romans in the 1st-5th century CE. Such as: bringing evergreens into dwelling and community centers, putting bright things onto said evergreens as well as in their homes including the extensive use of small candle-type things, as well as the stories of Germanic/proto-Norse male deities/spirits who would travel amongst their peoples during the winter equinox to bring gifts and punishments to those who were deserving of one or the other. This was during the period when Rome was Christianizing (Christianity was the dominant religion in the Roman Empire by 350 CE, give or take a few year) but the Romans, by their own words at the time, weren’t bringing these traditions to the Germanic provinces, they were bringing them back to Rome as bits of non-Roman/non-Christian customs.

3