Isn’t it odd that the winter solstice occurrs so near to Christmas? But perhaps not, since most agree, Christmas was postioned at this time to follow the pagan calendar. Then, three months later, along comes Easter; which happens to be the spring equinox. In Mesopotania there is a godess Ishtar and later the godess Astarte or Astoreth of the Ancient Greeks who both represent abundance and fertility – right for spring, yes?

Significant astrological days of the year determine the christian calendar closely. But it goes deeper than that. Many years ago I was in the British Museum and joined a guided tour in the Ancient Egyptian galleries. The guide was explaining how the god Horus was born of a virgin under a star in the east, performed miracles, was crucified and resurrected after three days. This was five thousand years ago, long before Jesus the Christ.

But it gets weirder. Mithras was born on the 25^th December as well, and his life story contained everything Horus is known for – as was Dionysius. Krishna on the other hand was not born on 25^th December but was the son of a carpenter and was resurrected and shared similar life stories to those above. If history repeats itself, then religion definitely does.

We can probably all accept that these ‘derivations’ of the christian calendar and story of ‘the Christ’, are a natural progression and echoing each other through time. It does though infer that the bible stories need poetic licence rather than to be taken literally. They are not, and were never meant to be, original.

If we go back to basics, most people would agree that winter is about the end of the cycle of nature which is death and spring is concerned with birth and a new cycle. The year is, after all just one giant wheel that turns and brings us the changing seasons. So here is my question. Why does Christmas – which is all about birth – happen at the time of death in the natural cycle? You have to consider the story of the crucifixion in more detail to see that it fits neatly into the Winter Solstice story. In the christian story the Son dies, and in the pagan story, the Sun dies. Where I used to live in England in a town called Lewes, they traditionally throw a flaming barrel of tar into the river to represent this end of a solar cycle. Then in the christian story, the Son goes into a cave for three days. So does the Sun because for, astronomically, it rises and sets from a fixed point for three days. You may see where this is going because in both stories what comes next is the miraculous resurrection. To my mind this clearly shows that christmas and the solstice celebrate the resurrection of the Son / Sun.

Nice theory, but how does Easter fit in? I said a few moments ago that spring is concerned with birth. The spring equinox is the time of year when nature kick starts, it is Aries the ram, kicking and bucking everything into life. From the Pagan religions, we still use the symbols of the egg and the rabbit, representing birth and fertility. Wouldn’t it be more understandable then if we celebrated the birth of Jesus the Christ in the spring – the time when lambs are born?  Lambs, shepherds…does that make you think of the story of the birth of Jesus the Christ? It gets better. I referred to Astarte at the begining as the godesses of fertility. She is represented by a star, more correctly the planet Venus. Shining above the path of the Wise Men from the east is of course, Venus the brightest star (Astarte) in the heavens which is especially good for navigation as it is seen in the evening and morning. Venus, the godess of love, befits the birth of the prophet of love. To hedge my bets, there was another planet hanging over Bethlehem, Jupiter. The year of the birth of Jesus the Christ was 6 BC, (due to later arithmetical errors) and in that year Jupiter was visible in the east over Bethlehem at the zenith of it’s cycle on 17th April, the most likely birth date of Jesus.

This possibility is corroborated by two things in the Bible. The first is that there is no birth date for Jesus in the Bible. The second is that Herod sent out word to kill all infants under the age of two – immediately after the supposed winter birth of Jesus. He knew that in December 6BC, Jesus was at least eight months old! He added another year to be sure he kept his throne.

I am not saying I am right and the rest of the world is wrong. It’s just that in my view, the facts don’t fit the stories. I am sure the ancient philosophers and astrologers knew this. The reason these myths are the reversed is related to why Mithras, Horus, Dionysius, and Jesus have to be born on 25^th December. And that, as they say, is another story.