Merry Christmas
Today, December 25, is Christmas Day , celebrated by many, often with family and friends. (Well, some, like me, actually follow the tradition of celebrating on the 24th, not the 25th.) The English word Christmas invokes a Christian tradition, but other languages, like my native Czech, are much less precise in attributing the ownership of the tradition. Christmas is really a holiday that historically spans cultures and religions. It is a continuation of a very old custom to celebrate the time around the winter solstice. Ancient Egyptians celebrated Horus and the resurrection of Osiris , Nordic countries celebrated the time of Yule , Germanic ones, the god Odin . Persians had their Yalda (where " Yule " probably comes from), Romans had their Saturnalia and it was only when Pope Julius I declared the 25th to be the official birthday of Jesus (partly to counter the hedonism of Saturnalia ) that the...