Talk:History of some Christmas traditions

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[edit] Renaming the 'Why do people celebrate Jesus' birth on December 25?' header

I dont like the name of the 'Why do people celebrate Jesus' birth on December 25?' header. This header should be renamed to something else that is stright to the point and short.
Remember, if the header is changed, the first paragraph has to be changed aslo, "The answer to this question lays in the pagan (the ancient polytheistic religion) origins of Christmas."
-- Joel M. 19:45, Jan 5, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Kissing & mistletoe

The origin of kissing under the mistletoe probably has more to do with the ancient Celts than it does with Norse Mythology.

I have seen this story about the baldur myth on many web pages over the chrismas seasons but there is never a reference. In fact the wording on web pages that refer to it, also without reference, is often so similar to lead one to believe that they are just repeating each other. The central point of the death of Baldur in the eddas was the FAILURE of the gods to ressurect him. His death lead to ragnorok. I would guess that someone just did a bowlderized version of the story and that has been picked up by shoddy researchers. I would appreciate it if someone with more knowledge than myself would clariry this matter.

[edit] Isis & Mithras

Isis is an Egyptian Goddess, not a Babylonian one. I don't think she was even worshipped in Babylon. Also, shouldn't there be some mention of Mithras here? His birthday was 25th December too.

Isis was the ancient Egyptian version of Ishtar, but like Greek/Roman pantheons, the babylonian and ancient Egyptian gods were roughly analogous to one another.