Thanks for the contribution, Tony. Probably it's simply as you say, even if
it seems that, before Aurelianus, and precisely under the emperor Licinio
(308 - 324) the solstice was celebrated the 19 december (Saturnalia at 17).
This because before Caesar every calendar was lunar. So, the reformation
introduced by Caesar as Pontifex Maximus in the 46 B.C. looks a way for
equalizing the civil and the solar year and for removing the lunar month,
but dragging an error of 12' per year.
The year zero has been chosen also considering the famous "star" of the
three Magi: the conjunction of the planets Mars, Jupiter, Saturn; but since
these conjunctions are not very visible, the Halley comet of the 12 B.C.
looks more suitable; it came from the stellar cluster Praesepe (the Crib !)
alias M 44. What a coincidence.......
As for the (presumed) relation between Jesus and the sun/solstice, see the
chapter 'Gesł non č il tipo di un Dio' in 'Imperialismo Pagano' (1928),
where Jesus is definited "a demagogue, an half-initiate, a rivolutionary who
ended crucified". Note that this chapter disappeared in the German version
of 5 years after (Heidnischer Imperialismus) and Evola said that the only
book he would not have write again was just the first 'Imperialismo Pagano'.
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----- Original Message -----
From: Tony Ciapo
Well, Julius Caesar must have had the same lapse, when he established
December 25 as the date of the winter solstice in 46 BCE.
Unfortunately, the date would have gradually drifted due to the inaccuracy
in the Julian Calendar. When Pope Gregory reformed the calendar, he did not
start at 46 BCE, but a few hundred years later. Thus the 4 day difference
now between Christmas and the winter solstice .
From: evola_as_he_is@yahoogroups.com [mailto:evola_as_he_is@yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of vandermok
Sent: Saturday, December 25, 2010 7:48 AM
To: evola as he is
Subject: [evola_as_he_is] Xmas, a (not too much) solsticial feast
Even Evola, in 'Roma e il natale solare nella tradizione nordico-aria' (La
Difesa della razza, 1940) made a little "lapsus calami" when he wrote that
the 25 December is the day of the winter solstice, while it just symbolizes
it.
Xmas, is celebrated now about 4 days after the true astronomical solstice
(solar ingress into Capricorn). In Rome, after the beginning of the
Saturnalia, the day of the solstice was dedicated to the goddess An gerona,
the one who overcomes the "angustiae", the fears of the longest night of the
year. The emperor Aurelianus initiated the Natalis Solis Invicti related to
the solar god Mithras, the favourite of the legionaries, just the 25
December, to which Christianity merely superimposed its Nativity.
Now, why Aurelianus chose the day 25 for celebrating the feast-day of the
Sun, instead of simply remove Angerona from the calendar at the solstice?
It's not clear.
By the way, an oddity of the Christian Xmas is that St. Luke talks of
"shepherds keeping watch over their flock by night", but in Palestine the
sheep-rearing stopped in winter. For not talking of the uncertainty about
the year, because no document, apart from the Gospel, confirms the famous
"census" that obliged the Holy Family to move to Bethlehem.
We are on a mythical stage.