Isn't the Christman Tree a religious symbol?

[whell]

If it is a religious symbol, then why is the government promoting it an taxing it? If the government is recognizing and promoting the Christmas tree, then why isn't a display of a Christmas tree always appropriate by the government? How will the government promote the Christmas tree while avoiding mention of its significance as a religious symbol?

I thought generally speaking that Christmas trees were already pretty well thought of. Do we really need "promotions, according to the USDA, will present "a favorable image of Christmas trees to the general public," with the intent of improving the public "perception" of Christmas trees and, hence, their sales."

Now I know why its so hard to be a liberal. I'm so confused...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...,2983619.story

[JJIII]

You're not alone!

[bhunter]

Originally Posted by whell

If it is a religious symbol, then why is the government promoting it an taxing it? If the government is recognizing and promoting the Christmas tree, then why isn't a display of a Christmas tree always appropriate by the government? How will the government promote the Christmas tree while avoiding mention of its significance as a religious symbol?

I thought generally speaking that Christmas trees were already pretty well thought of. Do we really need "promotions, according to the USDA, will present "a favorable image of Christmas trees to the general public," with the intent of improving the public "perception" of Christmas trees and, hence, their sales."

Now I know why its so hard to be a liberal. I'm so confused...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...,2983619.story

Whell, you beat me to it. Just another area where the feds do not belong. Meanwhile Obama is on TV explaining how he is going to save billions by reducing government waste without that pesky Congress. I'm great and those folks over there are bad. I do not think he does a thing without taking a "cheap shot" at republicans, Congress, or both. What a nice show he had as he signed this executive order.

[merrylander]

The Christmas (or Yule) tree has pagan origins, like many othrt customs it was co-opted by the Christians.

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by merrylander

The Christmas (or Yule) tree has pagan origins, like many othrt customs it was co-opted by the Christians.

Yep, and our (pick one or more - Commie, Socialist, Muslim, foreign-born) President illuminates the national Christmas tree every year down on the Ellipse in DC.

That said, this program bothers me less than all the other Agricultural subsidies payed by the taxpayer. At least this one is self-funded by the industry.

This seems to be yet another example of Whell grasping at straws. Looking for snippets of irony to sling at the Dem's and the President while the whole GOP is awash in irony. Yawn.

[piece-itpete]

He's all 4 finn

Heck Christmas itself is Christian. Along with Easter, Thanksgiving...

Christmas trees border idolatry imo, singing hymns to a tree.

Pete

[Twodogs]

I like Christmas.

[whell]

Originally Posted by finnbow

Yep, and our (pick one or more - Commie, Socialist, Muslim, foreign-born) President illuminates the national Christmas tree every year down on the Ellipse in DC.

That said, this program bothers me less than all the other Agricultural subsidies payed by the taxpayer. At least this one is self-funded by the industry.

This seems to be yet another example of Whell grasping at straws. Looking for snippets of irony to sling at the Dem's and the President while the whole GOP is awash in irony. Yawn.

Yes, our faithful public servants dance on the head of a pin suggesting that the Christmas tree is merely a cultural symbol. A cultural symbol for whom, I wonder? Let's see. Muslims don't have Christmas trees. Hindus sure don't. Atheists? Note quite so likely. Who then is it a "cultural symbol" for, I wonder?

Funded by the industry? Really? So the industry is going to pick up the cost of the additional tax on each tree?

Your sense of irony, Finn, is one dimensional, me thinks.

[wgrr]

It looks to me like the tree growers decided the best way to get a national ad campaign going was to use the USDA to promote the benefits of live trees. The $.15 tax on each tree can easily be passed on to consumers and the growers get nationwide advertising at a very low cost to them. Looks like a smart move to me.

The Christmas tree is about as much of a Christian symbol as an Oak tree is. It is more of a pagan fertility symbol. Get it "evergreen". The date of December 25 does not appear anywhere in the bible as being the day Jesus was born. More than likely he was born in July.

December 25 was the day Scandanavian pagans noticed the sun god was reborn and the days had started getting longer. The story of Christmas is bizzare to say the least.

The Sami shaman were considered to be almost god like and were the spirital leaders of the Sami people. The Sami were the inhabitants of Sampi which is now Norway, Denmark, part of Northern Sweden and the Kola peninsula of Russia.

The real origins of our modern Santa, the flying reindeer, the gifts, the elves, etc.. can be traced to a mushroom that grows in the Arctic. It is either red with white spots or white with red spots and contain an hallucinogen. Now eating these mushrooms would kill you but the shaman figured out a way to do it. The Sami were big reindeer herders. Reindeer love them some red top amanita mushrooms, who wouldn't. They did not get stoned when they ate them, instead their livers filtered out the poison in the mushrooms and their urine contained the psychedelic drug sans the poison.

The shaman, who dressed in red and white clothing, to honor their favorite mushroom ate some yellow reindeer snow and got stoned. I don't even want to know how they figured that one out. Eventually they built up a tolerance to the poison in the mushrooms, because there was some left even after the reindeer processed it, and could eat the mushrooms without eating yellow snow. Now, new shaman had to be trained so the older shaman would just let the younger shaman drink their pee. The affects were the same.

OK, here is the fun part. The shaman, went around the countryside, wearing their red and white clothing, helping the Sami people buy doing whatever spiritual leaders do like healing the sick, helping the poor get a leg up, etc... In essence they handed out gifts.

Now the Chemical in the mushrooms had some very strange affects on the mind. One was that everything appeared to be flying, you know like reindeer. The other one was people appeared to be very small.

OK, we have guys dressed in red and white clothing, handing out "gifts", while believing there are flying little people and reindeer.

I just can't place it. I know I have heard this story before.

Then in the 8th century AD the Catholics had to go and F*ck everything up by converting almost everyone, in Sampi to Christianity by 1150 AD . Do you really think folks in the Arctic gave a damn about a religion established in the Mid-East?

As mentioned before Christians appropriated a pagan celebration of a sun god. That just would not work and it was too big to squash. Damn, they thought in Rome, we will just call it Christmas, the day Jesus was born. Nobody will know.

All I can say is, watch out where those reindeer go, do eat the yellow snow.

Look it up. the story is really complex, but I know one thing, Christmas is made up out of whole cloth. So is Easter. Really a bunny hides eggs to celebrate the resurrection of the "son of God" Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ was a great man, but I am afraid I am more of a believer in the Jeffersonian bible than the King James version of the Bible.


Gotta go now. House Hunters is on.

[bhunter]

Originally Posted by wgrr

It looks to me like the tree growers decided the best way to get a national ad campaign going was to use the USDA to promote the benefits of live trees. The $.15 tax on each tree can easily be passed on to consumers and the growers get nationwide advertising at a very low cost to them. Looks like a smart move to me.

That was a nice summation and follows along with what I learned a few years back when I was studying the history of holidays. That said, I still enjoy Christmas and its traditions as practiced here.