The Southern Faux Festival.

There are several theories as to why 25^th December was chosen by the Romans to be Christmas Day, but most of them relate in one way or another to its close proximity with the winter solstice (the whole of Christendom being at that time in the northern hemisphere.) I think it reasonable to suggest, therefore, that in a cultural sense, Christmas is simply the current incarnation of the Midwinter Festival which has been practiced since time immemorial. And it is a routinely recognised fact that many well established Christmas traditions are pagan in origin.

So what about those people living in the southern hemisphere who celebrate Christmas alongside the summer solstice? Midsummer and midwinter are completely different in character and have different attributes associated with them. Australians and the like should surely be celebrating Christmas in June, otherwise the celebration has lost its connection with its historical root – which is most important in my opinion.

This is yet another mess we Christian Europeans created by insisting on ruling the world for our own benefit. (And it’s interesting to note that the Chinese never made that mistake, despite their having been the world’s premier civilisation at several points in history.)