Io, Saturnalia!

Merry Christmas. You might consider it hypocritical for a non-believing Humanist like me to be celebrating Christmas. Well, I could talk about the pagan origins of many of our Christmas traditions such as the Roman feast of Saturnalia, held at this time of the year, which involved the giving of presents, eating, drinking and merriment. 25th December is the Winter Solstice in the Julian calendar and the 4th century Christians chose it as Christ's birthday because the pagans already celebrated that day as a holiday (a wise decision that modern Humanists should emulate). The holiday evolved from Saturnalia to the feast of Sol Invictus which was celebrated on 25th December - Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, "the birthday of the unconquered sun." Constantine, the first Christian Roman emperor declared dies Solis – the day of the Sun (Sunday) to be the official Roman day of rest. The picture is Christus helios, the 4th centruy mosaic of Sol in Mausoleum M, under Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, which is interpreted as Christ-Sol (Christ as the Sun).
I could also talk about the cult of Mithras who was also supposed to be born on 25th December and was widely worshipped in the British Isles, but the point is not that Christmas is nothing to do with Christianity. There has been an evolving tradition going back millennia, a large part Christian, which has retained some traditional elements and at the same time mutated in to new forms appropriate for whatever beliefs are current. I am a cultural Christian even though I don't have any literal belief in the nativity story. I am just as aware of the influence that Christianity has had on our society as many people calling themselves believing Christians. If future generations decide to leave behind the explicitly Christian elements of Christmas, that is a matter for them. I am quite happy to look at art inspired by religious themes and to enjoy listening to Christmas carols, see http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7797000/7797077.stm

Below is a photograph of a statue of Mithras that I took in the Vatican museum this year.