This strikes me as really, super funny. "Christmas" was placed on 12/25 because the "pagan" peoples of Europe already celebrated the solstice around that time. Of course, the solstice was a HUGE deal for people because they were so much at the whim of weather.

As I'm sure everyone on this BBS knows, we have "Christmas lights" and "Christmas trees" because the lighting of things is a celebration of the light returning (days getting longer post-solstice), and the beginning of the end of the freezing, starvation and darkness -- at least for a year.

What strikes me as absurdly funny about this is that on the other side of the world, the days are getting shorter, but its still being "celebrated" and being celebrated with lights! That's just too funny to me.

Talk about people forgetting about a symbol's referent! (not that anyone in the Northern Hempisphere ever thinks about it either)

Jim