Oh Christmas Tree!

Did they have those trees in Israel?

Also, Santa Claus definitely isn't in the bible. He is actually based on the pre-biblical figure odin (also called Wodan, and corresponding to the greek god jupiter) and was part of a tradition passed on since the 300s in Holland, while it was stamped out by the church in other parts of europe. A saint Nicholas in Turkey in the 300s who was known for giving away gold coins to the poor was attached to the popular chief god of pre-christian times who people were familiar with. Odin was a gray old man with one regular eye and one 'all seeing' eye with which he could judge good men from bad, and he rode an 8-legged horse between here and a separate spiritual world (north pole?) and had an assistant with a stick who would dispense punishment if necessary. He was called Black Peter in Holland. Children aren't really celebrating christian christmas in the U.S..

that darn tree is leaning to the right.

When Autry spoke before lighting the tree on Friday night, he made reference to the (mythical) "War on Christmas." He asserted to the crowd (of roughly 1,000) that "there were those who feel this tree or event should not be here" and "while separation of Church and State is great, God should never be separated from State."

The music chosen for the lighting was interesting. Instead of Christmas carols, contemporary Christian music was performed by the Peoples Church choir and dancers.

This was simply another "in your face" political Christian event by Bubba.

O-Christmas tree does sound a bit like tree worship, if you analyze the lyrics. Placing offerings at the base of it like a pagan altar with children dancing around it in a circle.

Contemporary christian music aesthetic can be the worst. This factor has to be responsible for causing many youths to leave the church for years until their musical taste has dulled in their early 40s.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree
How lovely are your branches.
In summer sun and winter snow,
A dress of green you always show.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
How lovely are your branches.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
With happiness we greet you
When decked with candles once a year,
You fill our hearts with yuletide cheer.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
With happiness we greet you
O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum, wie treu sind deine Blätter.
O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum, wie treu sind deine Blätter.
Du grünst nicht nur zur Sommerzeit, nein auch im Winter, wenn es schneit.
O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum, wie treu sind deine Blätter.

Dear Mayor Autry,
The changing the name of the former Holiday Parade to Christmas Parade seems very provocative to those of us who are not exclusively Christian. 'Culture' and 'Religion' are two different things. The City of Fresno is "'hosting its 77th Annual Christmas Parade" according to the City of Fresno Website. I have dutifully followed the links to Fresno United Neighborhoods to find that a 501c3 has been set up by the Fresno Parks and Recreation Department, as a way of covering your liability for favoring a religion. Will the City of Fresno also 'host' an Eid or Hanukkah or Donali or Kwanzaa Parade and tree lighting, etc. ?

I find it insulting to those of us taxpaying citizens that the city would promote the change from a Holiday event, including us all, no matter our religious affiliation or not, to a Christmas Parade, with city support, use of website, promotion, etc.

I am forwarding this to both the Interfaith Alliance national organization, in addition to the Interfaith Alliance of Central California, the ACLU, and the Fresno Bee, and others. This is a regression and possibly a misuse of public funds and personnel. I want to know who and how it is being paid for and who is staffing it. If the funding for the support of the city is channeled through a city created non profit, I want to see the decisionmaking process and funding stream, and WHO is funding this effort. The selective funding by those who can afford to pay for 'their' parks, or 'their' events appears to be a sidestepping of local government being for the common good, and subverts public good decisionmaking, in the open, and accessible to all taxpayers and the rest of the public.

Thank you for your attention.

Edie Jessup
3857 N. Angus
Fresno, Ca 93726
225-1438

What the "H" is going on in Fresno ??????

I couldn't believe it when I saw this. Is this how fresno taxpayers want their money spent?

What a joke changing the name from Holiday Parade to Christmas parade. Geezz.. is it Fresno or some backward town in the South.. Where are the real people of Fresno ? The ones I went to High school with.. How long is Bubba going to be Mayor ? and did the City Council ok this? Well I know Jerry Duncan probably did.. Just think what 100,000 could have paid for the kids and seniors who participate in Parks and Recreation.

Mayor Autry seems to have forgotten what Christmas is really all about

Maybe all the those who aren't fundamental/evangelical Christians shouldn't have to pay taxes.. since Autry and the City Council are using tax dollars to pay for evangelical "Christian" events.

Fresno was founded and built by Buddist, Atheists, Jewish, and Muslims.. and most of all
* "Those who support our Founding fathers who believed and built in Separation of Church and State" and by the way Mr. Mayor.. Many Religions believe in "God"... but not Christ !!! and our Country let alone our City was not founded by "Christ".

You Mr. Mayor must be on '"Crack"..

Jerry Duncan (and the City Council for that matter) had nothing to do with this.

The use of decorated evergreen trees to celebrate Christmas dates back to early Roman Empire's conquest of northern European pagan people, in effort to mass convert the nature worshipping heathens to the official religion of the Holy Roman Empire under Constantine. This happened over several centuries of time as pagans were either assimilated or genocided by the recently Christianized Roman empire. Ironically pre-Christian pagan traditions of the early Romans also celebrated their polytheistic gods' birthdays around the winter solstice. By including the brightly lit and decorated Christmas tree around the birthday of Jesus only four days after the Winter Solstice, pagan peoples were not so adverse to slowly joining the Christian religion while maintaining their celebration of winter solstice..

However, cutting and thereby killing the "X-mas" tree contradicts the original pagan custom of honoring and dancing around the decorated evergreen tree while the tree remained alive. This is important as the invading Roman imperialists frequently clearcut the pagan's sacred forests and tree groves during their invasions, road building, etc..

As usual, the traditions of decorated trees around the Winter Solstice celebration is more complex than "Christmas bad, secular good" as many leftist atheists state or "Christmas good, secular bad." as many rightwing Christians state. Modern day pagan heathens like myself are frustrated by the ignorance of historical events surrounding these polarized debates and symbols claimed by modern day Christians despite these symbols being used as tactics to be more inclusive to encourage pagan heathens to assimilate to Christianity. If anything, the people oppessed to decorating evergreen "X-mas" trees around the winter solstice are more similar in their thinking to early Puritans than enlightened land inclusive leftists..


"CHRISTIANITY: Any record of the date of birth of Yeshua of Nazareth (later known as Jesus Christ) has been lost. There is sufficient evidence in the Gospels to indicate that Yeshua was born in the fall, but this seems to have been unknown to early Christians. By the beginning of the 4th century CE, there was intense interest in choosing a day to celebrate Yeshua's birthday. The western church leaders selected DEC-25 because this was already the date recognized throughout the Roman Empire as the birthday of various Pagan gods. 1,2 Since there was no central Christian authority at the time, it took centuries before the tradition was universally accepted:

Eastern churches began to celebrate Christmas after 375 CE.
The church in Jerusalem started in the 7th century.
Ireland started in the 5th century
Austria, England and Switzerland in the 8th
Slavic lands in the 9th and 10th centuries. 3

Many symbols and practices associated with Christmas are of Pagan origin: holly, ivy, mistletoe, yule log, the giving of gifts, decorated evergreen tree, magical reindeer, etc. Polydor Virgil, an early British Christian, said "Dancing, masques, mummeries, stageplays, and other such Christmas disorders now in use with Christians, were derived from these Roman Saturnalian and Bacchanalian festivals; which should cause all pious Christians eternally to abominate them." In Massachusetts, Puritans unsuccessfully tried to ban Christmas entirely during the 17th century, because of its heathenism. The English Parliament abolished Christmas in 1647. Some contemporary Christian faith groups do not celebrate Christmas. Included among these was the Worldwide Church of God (before its recent conversion to Evangelical Christianity) and the Jehovah's Witnesses."

read on @;
http://www.religioustolerance.org/winter_solstice.htm

This process of assimilation including pagan heathen symbols is also witnessed in Voudou and Santeria, where African ancestral gods were mirrored by Catholic saints..

"Vodou as we know it in Haiti and the Haitian diaspora today is the result of the pressures of many different cultures and ethnicities of people being uprooted from Africa and imported to Hispaniola during the transatlantic African slave trade. (1) Under slavery, African culture and religion was suppressed, lineages were fragmented, and people pooled their religious knowledge and out of this fragmentation became culturally unified. In addition to combining the spirits of many different African and Indian nations, pieces of Roman Catholic liturgy are incorporated to replace lost prayers or elements; in addition images of Catholic saints are used to represent various spirits or "misteh" ["mysteries"], and many saints themselves are honored in Haitian Vodou in their own right. This syncretism allows Haitian Vodou to encompass the African, the Indian, and the European ancestors in a whole and complete way. It is truly a "Kreyol" or Creole religion."

read on @;
http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=ustx&c=trads&id=6325

Even Islam is not free from pagan heathen influence, despite the extremist behavior of Sunni Wahhabists, the dominant religion of Saudi Arabia's powerful Bin Laden family. The grain goddess Al-Uzza is a female diety worshipped by early Arab peoples and outlawed following the patriachal religion of Muhammed's Islam. However, Al-Uzza and other pagan deities compromise the diversity of Arab tribal faiths prior to monotheism of Islam..

"The Goddesses Al-Uzza, Al-Lat and Menat formed a triad in pre-Islamic Arabia. They were widely worshipped: from Nabatean Petra in the North to the legendary Kingdoms of Arabia Felix in the South, including Saba, the Biblical Sheba; as far east as Iran and Palmyra; and the three of them were very popular Goddesses in Mecca at the time of Mohammed. From left they are: Al-Uzza, whose name means "The Mighty One", the Goddess of the Morning Star; Al-Lat, the Mother, whose name means simply "The Goddess", as Al-Lah simply means "The God"; and Manat, Crone-goddess of Fate or Time. Sometimes the three of them are referred to as the daughters of Al-Lah; sometimes Manat and Al-Lat are considered daughters of Al-Uzza.

Al-Uzza, "the Strong One", was one of the most venerated Arab Deities, and the Goddess of the morning and evening star, Venus. She had a temple at Petra (though which one that was has not been determined), and may well have been the patron Goddess of that city. Isaac of Antioch (a writer of the 5th century CE) calls Her Beltis ("Lady", a title shared by many other Semitic Goddesses), and Kaukabta, "the Star". He also says that women would invoke Al-Uzza from the rooftops, a form of worship appropriate to a Star Goddess. St. Epiphanius of the 4th century CE calls Her the mother of Dusares, the local mountain God, calling Her by the title Chaamu or Chalmous, meaning "young girl or virgin". She has connections with the acacia tree, and Her sanctuary at Nakhlah had three acacias in which She was believed to descend. She has much in common with Ishtar and Astarte as Morning and Evening Star Goddesses—they all have aspects of both Love and War Goddess, and big cats were sacred to Them. She is shown here armed as a bellatrix, standing before an acacia tree, with a caracal, or desert lynx. She was associated by the Greeks with their Aphrodite Urania, "Heavenly Aphrodite"."
"

read on @;
http://www.thaliatook.com/arabtriple.html

Ironically the Sunni Wahhabists (Bin Laden royalty) of Saudi Arabia and the right wing Christian Zionist Puritans (Pat Robertson, John Hagee, etc..) of the US may have more in common by promoting a patriarchal extremist version of both Islam and Christianity that outlaws the display of feminine pagan heathen symbolism. Promoting a war between "Islam and Christianity" may serve their common agenda of a fascist theocracy patriarchy..