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[quote]When nights are darkest and days most dark; when the sun seems farthest from the planet and cheers it with lowest heat; when the fields lie shorn between harvest-time and seed-time and man turns wistful eyes back and forth between the mystery of his origin and the mystery of his end,--then comes the great pageant of the winter solstice, then comes Christmas.

So what is Christmas? And what for centuries has it been to differing but always identical mortals?[/quote]
from [b][i]The Bride of the Mistletoe[/i][/b], by James Lane Allen
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=9179


[quote][float=left][img3="[size=110][b][i]JAMES LANE ALLEN ON “THE FUTURE CHRISTMAS”:[/i][/b][/size]
Author of [b][i]“The Bride of the Mistletoe”[/i][/b] Traces Festival to Remote
Pagan Past and Pictures Its Development Through the Ages.
[url=http://www.sundaymagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/19101225-3-james.pdf][b][i]The New York Times Sunday Magazine (1910 Dec 25)[/i][/b][/url]"]http://www.sundaymagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/19101225-3-james.gif[/img3][/float]
[url=http://sundaymagazine.org/][img]http://www.sundaymagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/headername.png[/img][/url]
[url=http://sundaymagazine.org/2010/12/james-lane-allen-on-the-future-christmas/][size=120][b][i]James Lane Allen On “The Future Christmas” (2010 Dec 24)[/i][/b][/size][/url]

Although the headline suggests the article is all about the future, in fact novelist James Lane Allen gives a detailed history of Christmas. He focuses on the symbols we associate with the holiday — the tree, Santa, etc — and explains their Pagan origins. He then speculates that in the future, Christmas will again be celebrated as a ritual worshiping nature. He doesn’t say exactly when this will happen, so there’s still time for his prediction to come true.

James Lane Allen wrote a story that uses on the Pagan roots of Christmas as a theme. It’s called [b][i]The Bride of the Mistletoe[/i][/b] and can be read [url=http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=9179]free here at Project Gutenberg[/url] [/quote]

[img2]http://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Opportunity-Sol-2454a_Ken-Kremer.jpg[/img2]

Thanks, Miguel, and Merry Christmas to you and yours!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmgf60CI_ks[/youtube]

Miguel, thank you, and a [url=http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=22347]merry Christmas[/url] to you and yours!

I wish you all of you...Members group, Astrophotographers, Owlice, Asterisk and APOD Editors Team, a Great Christmas in the company of those who loves, and in the company of this particular Lord ;)

[img]http://www.astrosurf.com/astroarte/CristoReiFullMoon-Portrait-net.jpg[/img]

Thank you for all,
Happy New 2011 Year

Best Regards

Miguel Claro
http://miguelclaro.com/