ArexLovesPie wrote:
Eske Esquire wrote:
You know that commercial for Jared Jewelers where a dude is showing Santa the jewelry that he bought for his wife? He shows Santa the jewelry, and Santa goes "She'll love it.
Trust me, I know." and gives this big laugh.
I said to my fiance, "You know, every time I watch this commercial, I hear it as Santa implying that he had sex with the guy's wife. Is that weird?"
She called me a pervert.
Edited, Dec 22nd 2011 4:36pm by Eske IM NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO THOUGHT THIS TOO!
That's CLEARLY the way it sounds.
Jophiel wrote:
Quote:
The third option...
...was never going to happen. I bet there was a hypothetical option involving ninjas and dinosaurs too but I didn't waste time talking about it.
I don't really care about it and I don't give a sh
it if someone says "Happy Purely Commercial Secular Holiday!". I'm saying that the fate of the winter solstice celebration was in the Church's hands and they preserved it via linking it to Jesus. Hence, no matter how many knickers get twisted over it, Jesus technically
is the reason for the season (although not especially as the church goers would have you believe). For that matter, I don't know how willing your typical southern state fundamentalist would be to credit Holy Rome with making Jesus the reason
Edited, Dec 22nd 2011 7:07pm by Jophiel The church didn't integrate them because it was that or wipe out the pagans, they integrated them because it was that or fail to gain followers.
The church isn't the reason that people celebrate the holidays. The people are the reason that the church does.
If the church hadn't integrated them, there's a very real reason to believe that we would still be celebrating them, as we do with plenty others. For instance, take All Saints Day. The church didn't really recognize the holiday until the 8th-10th century--but the festivals (once grounded in pagan theology, though that was no longer true) were still celebrated.
Integrating them gave the church more control. But the chances that they could actually eradicate these traditions was seriously slim. It was their own survival at stake.
If Christianity hadn't absorbed Yuletime traditions, they would still likely be celebrated. They just wouldn't be at all religious.
I had a history professor who was working on midsummer traditions. He believes that fireworks on our Independence Day directly derives from Midsummer celebrations. Originally, Independence Day was celebrated with massive bonfires, which was a hallmark of the Summer Solstice.
Though traditional midsummer celebrations are often still held in areas where there are heavily ethnic populations.
Edited, Dec 23rd 2011 5:16pm by idiggory 
