What would you do if you found out everything you learned in your life was a lie?
We learn very early in life that there is no tooth fairy. But we still get money for each tooth we loose and maybe money for getting in your wisdom teeth. But as we get wiser (Must be those wisdom teeth 😉) we learn all the lies our parents and society told us. They use to be called “white lies”.
Next we learn that there is no Easter Bunny. Yeah the thought of a large bunny hopping up to you with a basket of dyed eggs and candy should scare you, but it does not!
Next comes good old Saint Nick… AKA Santa Clause. As a kid my dad (God rest his soul) used to tease and say “If you do not believe, then you do not get gifts!”.
My mom decorated the house for every occasion. So January was New Years Eve, February Saint Valentine’s Day, then Easter, then Halloween and Christmas. What I want you to see and open your eyes is this… every one of them has an attachment to Roman Empire, Christianity and Catholicism. How? Well New Year’s Eve start of a new year. (Pope Gregory) “Gregorian Calandar”. I have several older posts on how when Rome changed our calendar from “Julian calandar” named after the Greek ruler “Julius Cesar”.
Saint Valentine’s day also started due to Roman Catholic church. Making a person a “Saint” means Rome claimed after the persons death miracles happened in the name of that person.
Easter with its symbols of fertility, hence bunnies and chicks. Yes what the Roman Empire did was allow each group of peoples bring along their favorite rites and apply them to the Roman Catholic Religion.
Halloween is actually “The Day of the Dead” celebrating the life of those who passed away. So skeletons, ghouls and goblins roam the streets looking for food. Knocking on doors, opening their bags “begging” for candy!
Christmas has tons of symbols and all belonged to groups of people that Rome took over. So symbols of pine trees, holly leaves with berries, mistletoe, color red and many others I cannot think of at this time. So today it is a conglomeration of old world. Some would call it pagan religions brought each of their favorites. These are now the “Normal” for all of these holidays.
After I finally realized the word “pagan” is a term the church uses when it claims some item or belief that does not represent Jesus Christ’s church. What an irony!!! Do they not know that every symbol they use is what they call pagan!
So picture this… your town is captured by the Roman Empire. They tell you to convert to Catholicism or die. You say, “Can we bring our celebrations with us?” Rome said “yes!” In order to being these new lands as part of Rome.
Martin Luther posted his grievances with Roman Catholic Church on the door of the church he “nailed it”. This became Christianity. There are many sects of Christianity, all are off shoots of Lutheran church.
So why do we continue all these lies? Why do we want them as part of the Catholic and Christian religions? Why have these symbols?
2020 years plus/minus (+/-) of lies? Not only religions celebrate them, but also secular groups and peoples.
Yearly my mom’s family gets together for Thanksgiving and Christmas. They do not get together for Easter. Even Thanksgiving is a Christian holiday. It celebrates religious freedom to practice their values, the “Puritains” was a group of people seeking ability to practice their faith without persecution.
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Where the Jewish people have the modim set forth by the scriptures. Passover is the beginning of spring. It was given to us as our religious calendar from Hashem. Our exiting slavery from Egypt to what is called “The Exodus”. We became free to celebrate. In reality it is also about “Fruits and vegtables”. The start of the growing season.
Then comes Shavout, this is 40 days after passover. It is “the first fruits” of the season.
Tisha b’ Av we fast from foods and no water because on this day “We will cry for all generations”. This is the “Day of tears”. When the 12 spies went out to check the land of Canna that was the “promised land”. Ten heads of the tribes came back with a bad report. But two heads of tribes came back with a good report by Joshua and Celeb only.
Then comes Rosh hashanna (Head of the civil calandar). Translated to the “start” of the civil calendar. This is a fiest of harvested foods from autumn’s bounty. After that we have Yom Kippur, again a fast day no foods or water. We culminate the “growing season” with Succot where we take the lulav and it consists of an etrog (Citrus liken to a lemon), myrtle branches, willow branches and date palm branch. Each is symbolic. The next one is Shemini Aretz and Simcha Torah. Translated as (Dancing with the torah). We literally pick up the torah scrolls (and are they heavy!). We now begin again the yearly reading cycle of the Torah (5 Books of Moses) starting at the beginning of the book. Chanukkah is a celebration of the Levits who faught to re-gain the Holy Temple against the Greeks, in Jerusalem and the symbolicness is lighting a channukeah (menora). When they were purifing the Holy Temple they needed oil for the large menorah to lite the wicks. They found only one bottle (Cruse) of oil with the High Priests seal on it that had not been compromised. The next one is Tu b’ Shavat where we celebrate fruit bearing trees. Sort of like the tree’s birthday. Planting of seeds for the next growing season. The final one is Purim. Where we wear “masks” and it is showing “hiddeness” of Hashem. We know Hashem is always present, but sometimes it is like Hashem is “Hidden or hiding”. This is the full religious calander.
Did you notice that ours is all about food? Growing it, eating it and even fasting from it. We do not have make believe characters of bunnies, tooth fairies or santas!
So my hope and prayer is that all the world learn the “Season of growing fruits and vegatables!”. Talk about needing your ” Daily dose!”
Shabbot Shalom!
miryamdevorah 