"The Charbor Chronicles": December 2025

Friday, December 26, 2025

The Scars From This Chapter in American History Will Remain Visible For a Long Time to Come

While I am pessimistic about Trumpism and the dominant influence of the mindless MAGA cult coming to an end in the very near future, there are some things which I am optimistic about.

One of them is that once this nightmare is over, a lot of people who are very enthusiastic supporters of Trump today will deny that they were ever taken by him or enthusiastic supporters.

Another thing that I am confident about is that Trump will not simply be forgotten. A lot of people, especially his supporters, seem to think that he is just another president. That all of this is just another "normal" president, and that people are whining and crying like little snowflakes and exaggerating how bad he is. But that convenient dismissal will be refuted by history, which will indeed remember Trump and the mindless MAGA cult for a long, long time to come. Unfortunately, I suspect that Trump will be remembered, and the United States by it's association with him, for many decades to come.

No, this will not be forgotten. Nor will it be forgiven.

Many people - although unfortunately not nearly enough to end it right now already - see this reality for what it is. But in the future, when people are no longer hypnotized and/or blinded by his cult of personality, he will be remembered in a very dark and sinister light. This era of American history will likely be remembered in a similar way to the way apartheid is remembered in South Africa, unless things grow much, much worse here before all of this is done. And even in the best case scenario, this era will be remembered for when the worst elements of our modern American society had their champion, who brought out the worst in them, and in the nation more generally.

Brian Boyle‬ ‪@brianboy12.bsky.social‬ · 6h

https://bsky.app/profile/brianboy12.bsky.social

Boxing Day

My family took a nice holiday trip to Montreal way back in 1988, for the week between Christmas and New Year's Day. It was a trip that allowed my family, which has French roots, to really fall in love with Canada, and particularly with Quebec province.

But there was one thing that I remember seemed a mystery to me. The day after Christmas, there was this strange holiday that I had never really heard of. It was called "Boxing Day".

It sounded so strange, so....foreign, to me. It felt like there was a measure of exoticism in the holiday.

What was this "Boxing Day", anyway? Did it really have something to do with the sport of boxing, which was the first image that came to my mind? Did it perhaps have more historical roots, perhaps some sort of association with the Boxing Rebellion in China?

I really did not know. And, truth be told, it seems like it is a mystery to many others around the world, including many Americans.

So, for this Boxing Day, I thought it would be appropriate to do some research on it, and explore it further, in order to slake my own thirst of knowledge on the subject. This is some research that I have been meaning to do for some time, and actually did a long while ago. But, with the renewed activism on "The Charbor Chronicles", it also seemed an appropriate subject for this day in particular.

Boxing Day is a holiday traditionally celebrated in Great Britain and the British Commonwealth nations, including Canada and Australia. The idea behind it is that those who are more fortunate and better off generally are to give gifts to those who are less well off. It seems more or less like an extension of the most idealistic notions of gift giving during the Christmas season, along the lines of Charles Dickens in his famous "A Christmas Story".

Boxing Day is not a national holiday in the United States, although it is recognized in some measure in northern parts of the nation, particularly areas neighboring or near Canada.

So, why is it called "Boxing Day"? That much remains unclear. There are theories, of course. The one that seems to make the most sense is the close association to "Christmas boxes" as presents, and this term would then be an extension of that.

Now, Boxing Day is known as a shopping day, not unlike "Black Friday" in the United States. It may seem odd to you, as it kind of does to me, that this shopping holiday falls on literally the day after Christmas, when most people's Christmas shopping is done, and many people are thinking of saving up. But, there you have it. It almost makes me wonder why Boxing Day has not become an American holiday yet, because any holiday associated with shopping seems capable of taking off in the most consumer obsessed culture on the planet.

Also, not unlike Thanksgiving in the United States, Boxing Day is apparently a huge day for sports in participating countries, sure to get an unusually large audience because of the holiday.

You know, as an American, I kind of wish that we did celebrate Boxing Day. We could use more days where we focus on the needs of others, particularly those less fortunate. It's not a bad idea. Also, it feels to me to truly be symbolic of the spirit of the season.

For now, however, Boxing Day remains relegated to Commonwealth nations.

Please take a look at my published article on the Guardian Liberty Voice that explore the history of Boxing Day in greater detail:

Boxing Day History and Traditions

http://guardianlv.com/2014/12/boxing-day-history-and-traditions/

Here is the video attached with my GLV article, which you can view here as well:

Here are some websites that helped me in writing this particular blog entry:

Wikiepedia page on Boxing Day:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing_Day

"What is Boxing Day?" on About.com under British & Irish Food:

http://britishfood.about.com/od/christmas/p/boxingday.htm

Here is a fascinating piece on the history of Boxing Day by Time magazine: "A Brief History Of Boxing Day" by Claire Suddath of Time magazine, Friday, Dec. 25, 2009:

http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1868711,00.html

"All you need to know about Boxing day matches – History and memories" bySakshi of Sportskeeda – Tue 24 Dec, 2013:

December 26th: This Day in History

Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

On this day in 1606, William Shakespeare's "King Lear" was performed at the court of King James I of England. In 1776 on this day during the American Revolutionary War, General George Washington won his first major U.S. victory by defeating the Hessians at the Battle of Trenton. Possible war between the U.S. and Britain was averted on this day in 1861, as Confederate diplomatic envoys James Mason and John Slidell were freed by President Abraham Lincoln's administration, heading off a possible war between the United States and Great Britain. On this day in 1899 during the Siege of Mafeking (now called Mahikeng) of the Second Boer War (in modern day South Africa), the Robert Baden Powell failed assault up Fort Game Tree failed, with 24 killed. In 1941 on this day, Winston Churchill became the first British Prime Minister to address a joint session of Congress, as he warned that the Axis powers would "stop at nothing," urging the Americans to step up in the war effort. On this day in 1966, the first Kwanzaa was celebrated. On this day in 1966, Jimi Hendrix wrote arguably his biggest hit, "Purple Haze," backstage at the Upper Cut Club. In 1967 on this day, the BBC broadcast "Magical Mystery Tour" by the Beatles. On this day in 1971, U.S. jets attacked North Vietnam. On this day in 2004, a massive tsunami wreaked havoc along the coast of Southeast Asia.

Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:

• 268 - Pope St Dionysius dies

• 418 - Pope St Zosimus dies

795 - St Leo III begins his reign as Catholic Pope

1198 - French bishop Odo van Sully condemns Zottenfeest

1481 - Battle at Westbroek: Dutch army beats Utrecht

1492 - 1st Spanish settlement La Navidad (modern Môle-Saint-Nicolas) in New World founded, by Columbus

1568 - Uprising of Morisco's against suppression in Granada

1620 - Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth, MA

1620 - Elizabeth Báthory's crimes are uncovered.

1620 - The Pilgrim Fathers landed at New Plymouth, MA, to found Plymouth Colony, with John Carver as Governor.

1659 - Long Parliament reforms in Westminster

1748 - France & Austria signs treaty about Southern Netherlands

1773 - Expulsion of tea ships from Philadelphia

The Princeton Battle Monument depicting George Washington

• In 1776 on this day during the American Revolutionary War, General George Washington won his first major U.S. victory by defeating the Hessians at the Battle of Trenton. At about eight in the morning on December 26, 1776, after famously crossing the Delaware, General George Washington's Continental Army reached the outskirts of Trenton, New Jersey, and descends upon the unsuspecting Hessian force guarding the city. Trenton's 1,400 Hessian defenders had still been groggy from the previous evening's Christmas festivities and had underestimated the Patriot threat after months of decisive British victories throughout New York. The troops of the Continental Army quickly overwhelmed the German defenses, and by 9:30 in the morning, Trenton was completely surrounded.

1776 - The British suffered a major defeat in the Battle of Trenton during the American Revolutionary War.

Picture of a statue of Louis XVI taken at the Basilique cathédrale Saint-Denis, near Paris

Louis XVI

• 1792 - The final trial of Louis XVI of France begins in Paris.

• 1793 - Battle of Geisberg: French defeat Austrians.

• 1799 - George Washington is eulogized by Col Henry Lee as "1st in war, 1st in peace & 1st in hearts of his countrymen"

• 1805 - France & Austria signs Peace of Pressburg

1805 - Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts established, Philadelphia

1809 - English invasionary troop leaves Vlissingen

First US President George WashingtonFirst US President George Washington 1811 - A theater fire in Richmond, Virginia kills the Governor of Virginia George William Smith and the president of the First National Bank of Virginia Abraham B. Venable.

1813 - Zamose, Modlin, Torgau surrenders to allied armies

• 1825 - Erie Canal opens

1830 - Gaetano Donizetti's opera "Anna Bolena," premieres in Milan

1831 - Vincenzo Bellini's opera "Norma," premieres in Milan

1848 - 1st gold seekers arrive in Panama en route to SF

• 1848 - William & Ellen Craft escape from slavery in Georgia

1848 - The Phi Delta Theta fraternity is founded at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

1854 - Wood-pulp paper 1st exhibited, Buffalo

1860 - Maiden voyage of 1st steamship owned by 1 man (C Vanderbilt)

1860 - Major Robert Anderson, under cover of darkness, concentrated his small force at Ft Sumter

1860 - The first ever inter-club football match takes place between Hallam F.C. and Sheffield F.C. at the Sandygate Road ground in Sheffield, England.

1862 - -Dec 28th) Battle of Dumfries, VA

1862 - 1st US navy hospital ship enters service

1862 - 38 Santee Sioux Indians hanged in Mankato Minnesota, due to their uprising

1865 - James H Mason (Mass) patents 1st US coffee percolator

• 1870 - The 12.8-km long Fréjus Rail Tunnel through the Alps is completed.

1871 - Gilbert and Sullivan collaborate for the first time, on their lost opera, Thespis. It does modestly well, but the two would not collaborate again for four years.

1872 - 4th largest snowfall in NYC history (18")

1877 - Socialist Labor Party of North America holds 1st natl convention

1878 - 1st US store to install electric lights, Philadelphia

1879 - John Brahms' "Tragic Ouverture," premieres

1883 - The Harbour Grace Affray between Irish Catholics and Protestant Orangemen causes five deaths in Newfoundland.

• 1890 - King Mwanga of Uganda signs contract with East Africa Company

1892 - Opera "Cristoforo Colombo" is produced (La Scala)

This was a picture (which I have since cropped) of the new South Africa flag of the post-apartheid era. I actually took this one at the apartheid museum, as this was the final display, if you will, of the museum, the symbol of the emergence of a "new South Africa."

The Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria, South Africa.

• On this day in 1899 during the Seige of Mafeking (now called Mahikeng) of the Second Boer War (in modern day South Africa), the Robert Baden Powell failed assault up Fort Game Tree failed, with 24 killed.

1902 - Most knock downs in a fight, Oscar Nelson (5) & Christy Williams (42)

1908 - Jack Johnson TKOs Tommy Burns in 14 for heavyweight boxing title, becomes 1st black heavyweight champion

• 1916 - Joseph Joffre becomes marshal of France

• 1917 - Fed government took over operation of American RR for duration of WW I

1918 - 1st day of 1st-class cricket in Aust after WW I (Vic v NSW)

Baseball Great Babe RuthBaseball Great Babe Ruth 1919 - Yanks & Red Sox reach agreement on transfer of Babe Ruth

1924 - Judy Garland, 2½, billed as Baby Frances, makes her show business debut

1925 - 1st East West football game at Ewing Park before 25,000 fans

1925 - NHL record 141 shots as NY Americans (73) beat Pitt Pirates (68) 3-1

• 1925 - Turkey adopts Gregorian calendar

1925 - NY's Jake Forbes makes 67 saves, Pitt's Ray Waters makes 70

1925 - The Communist Party of India is founded.

• 1926 - Prince-regent Hirohito becomes emperor of Japan

1928 - Johnny Weissmuller announces his retirement from amateur swimming

1928 - World record 10th wicket stand 307 (Kippax / Hooker) NSW v Vic

1931 - George/Ira Gershwin's "Of Thee I Sing," premieres in NYC

1931 - Pulitzer Prize-winning musical play "Of Thee I Sing" opens on Bdwy

1933 - Bradman scores 187* NSW v Victoria, 294 mins, 13 fours

• 1933 - US forswears armed intervention in Western Hemisphere

1933 - FM radio is patented.

Actress Judy GarlandActress Judy Garland 1934 - Yomiuri Giants, Japan's 1st professional baseball team forms

• 1935 - Stalin views Dmitri Sjostakovitsj' opera "Lady Macbeth"

1936 - Israel Philarmonic Orch forms

1938 - Bradman scores 225 South Aust v Qld before Christ gets him out

1938 - Tom Goddard takes a cricket hat-trick for England v South Africa

1939 - Earthquake in East Anatolia Turkey

1939 - Mine strikes in Borinage Brussels

1940 - 1st-class debut of Arthur Morris, who scores 148

1940 - JA Fields/J Chodorov's "My Sister Eileen," premieres in NYC

Statue of soldier, author and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Parliament Square, London

• 1941 - Winston Churchill becomes 1st British PM to address a joint meeting of Congress, warning that Axis would "stop at nothing"

• 1943 - British sink German battle cruiser Scharnhorst

1943 - Chicago Bears win NFL championship

1943 - Earl Claus von Stauffenberg vain with bomb to Hitlers headquarter

• 1944 - Battle of Bastogne-US Gen Patton's 4th Pantzers repulse Germans

• 1944 - Budapest surrounded by soviet army

Playwright Tennessee WilliamsPlaywright Tennessee Williams 1944 - Tennessee Williams' play "Glass Menagerie," premieres in Chicago

1945 - CFP franc and CFA franc are created.

1946 - "Beggar's Holiday" opens at Broadway Theater NYC for 111 performances

1946 - "Toplitzky of Notre Dame" opens at Century Theater NYC for 60 perfs

1946 - 35th Davis Cup: USA beats Australia in Melbourne (5-0)

1946 - Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas opens (start of an era)

1947 - "Cradle Will Ruck" opens at Mansfield Theater NYC for 34 performances

1947 - British transfer Heard & McDonald Is (Indian Ocean) to Australia

1947 - Heavy snow blankets Northeast, buries NYC under 25.8" of snow in 16 hrs That same day, LA set a record high of 84°F

• 1948 - Hungarian cardinal Mindszenty arrested

1955 - RKO is 1st to announce sale of its film library to TV

US General George S. PattonUS General George S. Patton 1957 - Roger Sessions' 3rd Symphony premieres in London

1960 - "Do Re Mi" opens at St James Theater NYC for 400 performances

1960 - Musical "Do re mi" with Phil Silvers premieres in NYC

1960 - Philadelphia Eagles beat Green Bay Packers 17-13 in NFL championship game

1963 - "Double Dublin" opens at Little Theater NYC for 4 performances

• 1963 - Beatles release "I Want To Hold Your Hand"/"I Saw Her Standing There"

1963 - US furnishes cereal to USSR

1964 - Beatles' "I Feel Fine," single goes #1& amp; stays #1 for 3 weeks

1964 - Buffalo Bills beat San Diego Chargers 20-7 in AFL championship game

1964 - Moors Murderers claim last victim

• On this day in 1966, the first Kwanzaa was celebrated. The first day of the first Kwanzaa (first fruits of harvest) was celebrated in Los Angeles under the direction of Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University at Long Beach. The seven-day holiday, which has strong African roots, was designed by Dr. Karenga as a celebration of African American family, community, and culture.

• 1965 - Paul McCartney is interviewed on pirate radio station Radio Caroline

1966 - Maulana Karenga establishes Kwanzaa (1st fruits of harvest) holiday

• On this day in 1966, Jimi Hendrix wrote arguably his biggest hit, "Purple Haze," backstage at the Upper Cut Club.

Dec 26, 1966: Jimi Hendrix writes "Purple Haze" After a stint in the U.S. Army and a creatively unfulfilling stretch as a session musician and sideman to acts like Little Richard and The Isley Brothers, 21-year-old Jimi Hendrix moved to New York City in 1964 to set about building a solo career. "Discovered" two years later by the British manager/producer Chas Chandler, a former member of the The Animals, Hendrix moved to England in 1966 and teamed up with bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell to form The Jimi Hendrix Experience. The group scored an almost immediate UK hit with "Hey Joe," which was released in mid-December. It was 10 days later, however, on December 26, 1966, that Hendrix wrote "Purple Haze"—the song that would not only give him his breakthrough hit in the United States, but also go on to define an entire musical era.

In 1967 on this day, the BBC broadcast "Magical Mystery Tour" by the Beatles.

1966 - Jimi Hendrix writes "Purple Haze" backstage at the Upper Cut Club

• 1967 - BBC broadcasts "Magical Mystery Tour"

1967 - Dave Brubeck Quartet formally disbands

• 1968 - Arab terrorists in Athens fire on El Al plane, kills 1

1968 - Jay Allens "Forty Carats," premieres in NYC

1968 - Led Zeppelin's concert debut in Denver as opener for Vanilla Fudge

1968 - Bruin Ted Green sets NHL penalty record of 3 minors, 2 majors & 2 game misconducts in a game against NY Rangers in NY's Madison Square Garden

• On this day in 1971, U.S. jets attacked North Vietnam In the sharpest escalation of the war since Operation Rolling Thunder ended in November 1968, U.S. fighter-bombers begin striking at North Vietnamese airfields, missile sites, antiaircraft emplacements, and supply facilities.

1973 - "Exorcist," starring Linda Blair & rated X, premieres

1973 - 2 Skylab 3 astronauts walk in space for a record 7 hours

Rock Guitarist Jimi HendrixRock Guitarist Jimi Hendrix 1973 - Soyuz 13 returns to Earth

1974 - Washington Capitals 1st NHL sellout

1975 - 1st supersonic transport service (USSR-Tupolev-144)

1975 - A crowd of 85661 attends the 1st day of the Aust-WI MCG Test Cricket

1976 - "Music Is" closes at St James Theater NYC after 8 performances

1976 - The Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist) is founded.

1977 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR

1978 - India's former PM, Indira Gandhi, released from jail

• 1979 - Soviet Special forces take over presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan.

1980 - Aeroflot puts the Ilyushin Il-86 into service.

1981 - One of the great day's Test Cricket at the MCG Aust v WI

1982 - TIME's Man of the Year is a computer

1982 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR

1983 - Test Cricket debut of Gregory Richard John Matthews, v Pakistan MCG

1983 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR

1985 - Test Cricket debut of Steve Waugh, v India at the MCG

1986 - Captured Iraqi Airways Boeing-737 in Saudi Arabia, about 60 killed

1986 - Doug Jarvis, 31, sets NHL record of 916 consecutive games

1986 - TV soap "Search for Tomorrow" ends 35 year run

1987 - "Les Miserables" opens at National Theatre of Iceland, Reykjavik

1988 - "Legs Diamond" opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 64 performances

1988 - Anti African student rebellion in China PR

1989 - ODI debut for Mark Taylor & Sanath Jayasuriya at cricket MCG

1990 - Garry Kasparov beats Antatoly Karpov to retain chess championship

1990 - Reggie Williams becomes 1st GM of WLAF's NY-NJ Knights

1990 - Senior Professional Baseball Association folds

• 1990 - Garry Kasparov beat Anatoly Karpov to retain the chess championship.

The flag of the USSR (Soviet Union)

• 1991 - The Soviet Union's parliament formally voted the country out of existence.

1991 - Chuck Knolls retires as NFL coach after 23 years

Night club operator Jack RubyNight club operator Jack Ruby 1991 - Jack Ruby's gun sells for $220,000 in auction

1991 - Militant Sikhs kill 55 & wound 70 in India

1993 - Antonov-26 crashes at Gyumri, Armenia, 36 killed

1993 - Floyd, Nicklaus & Rodriguez wins Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge Golf Tourn

• 1994 - French commando's terminate Air France hijacking in Marseille

1995 - Muttiah Muralitharan no-balled for throwing (SL v Aust, MCG)

1995 - Paul Adams becomes S Afr's youngest Test Cricket player, 18 yrs 340 ds

1996 - Start of the largest strike in South Korean history.

• 1996 - The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification goes into force.

• 1996 - Six-year-old beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey is found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family's home in Boulder, Colorado.

1997 - The Soufriere Hills volcano on the island of Montserrat explodes, creating a small tsunami offshore.

1998 - Iraq announces its intention to fire upon U.S. and British warplanes that patrol the northern and southern no-fly zones.

1998 - Severe gales over Ireland, northern England, and southern Scotland cause widespread disruption and widespread power outages in Northern Ireland and southern Scotland.

• 1999 - Severe weather in France kills over 100 people and causes extensive damage to property, trees and the French national power grid (see Lothar).

• 2003 - A magnitude 6.6 earthquake devastates southeast Iranian city of Bam, killing tens of thousands and destroying the citadel of Arg-é Bam.

On this day in 2004, a devastating tsunami wreaks havoc on Southeast Asia. A massive underwater 9.3 magnitude earthquake just off the coast of Indonesia just before 8 a.m. local time created a tsunami causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and many other areas around the rim of the Indian Ocean, killing 230,000 people. The quake was the most powerful of the last 40 years and the second largest earthquake in recorded history.

2005 - Boxing Day shooting on a busy shopping street in Toronto.

2006 - The 2006 Hengchun earthquake with 7.1 magnitude hit Taiwan.

• 2012 - China opens the world’s longest high speed rail route from Beijing to Guangzhou

1865 - The coffee percolator was patented by James H. Mason. 1871 - The "Gods Grown Old" was performed for the first time. It ran for 64 shows. 1898 - Marie and Pierre Curie discovered radium. 1908 - Texan boxer "Galveston Jack" Johnson knocked out Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia, to become the first black boxer to win the world heavyweight title. 1917 - During World War I, the U.S. government took over operation of the nation's railroads. 1921 - The Catholic Irish Free State became a self-governing dominion of Great Britain. 1927 - The East-West Shrine football game featured numbers on both the front and back of players’ jerseys. 1941 - Winston Churchill became the first British prime minister to address a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress. 1943 - The German battlecruiser Scharnhorst was sunk in the North Sea, during the Battle of North Cape. 1944 - Tennessee Williams' play "The Glass Menagerie" was first performed publicly, at the Civic Theatre in Chicago, IL. 1947 - Heavy snow blanketed the Northeast United States, burying New York City under 25.8 inches of snow in 16 hours. The severe weather was blamed for about 80 deaths. 1953 - "Big Sister" was heard for the last time on CBS Radio. The show ran for 17 years. 1954 - "The Shadow" aired on radio for the last time. 1956 - Fidel Castro attempted a secret landing in Cuba to overthrow the Batista regime. All but 11 of his supporters were killed. 1959 - The first charity walk took place, along Icknield Way, in aid of the World Refugee Fund. 1974 - Comedian Jack Benny died at age 80. 1982 - The Man of the Year in "TIME" magazine was a computer. It was the first time a non-human received the honors. 1986 - Doug Jarvis, age 31, set a National Hockey League (NHL) record as he skated in his 916th consecutive game. Jarvis eventually set the individual record for most consecutive games played with 964. 1986 - "Search for Tomorrow" was seen for the last time on CBS-TV. The show had been on the air for 35-years. 1990 - Garry Kasparov beat Anatoly Karpov to retain the chess championship. 1991 - The Soviet Union's parliament formally voted the country out of existence. 1995 - Israel turned dozens of West Bank villages over to the Palestinian Authority. 1996 - Six-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey was found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family's home in Boulder, CO. 1998 - Iraq announced that it would fire on U.S. and British warplanes that patrol the skies over northern and southern Iraq. 1999 - Alfonso Portillo, a populist lawyer, won Guatemala's first peacetime presidential elections in 40 years. 2000 - Michael McDermott, age 42, opened fire at his place of employment killing seven people. McDermott had no criminal history. 2002 - The first cloned human baby was born. The announcement was made the December 27 by Clonaid. 2004 - Under the Indian Ocean, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake sent 500-mph waves across the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal. The tsunami killed at least 283,000 people in a dozen countries, including Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Sumatra, Thailand and India.

1776 George Washington defeated the Hessians at Trenton. 1865 James H. Nason received a patent for a coffee percolator. 1966 The first Kwanzaa is celebrated. 1972 The 33rd president of the United States, Harry S. Truman, died in Kansas City, Mo. 1985 Zoologist Dian Fossey was found murdered in Rwanda. 1996 JonBenet Ramsey was found murdered in her Boulder, Colo., home. 2004 In the Indian Ocean, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, the largest in 40 years, triggered a tsunami that ultimately killed more than 280,000.

The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:

http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php

http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/dec26.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory

Thursday, December 25, 2025

Some Pagan Practices Helped Influence Modern Christmas Traditions

One last post about the history of Christmas here, before the holiday officially ends here on the eastern seaboard of North America. it has already ended in other parts of the world, such as Europe. And it has been the day after, or Boxing Day, in many other parts of the world, such as the Far East and Australia and New Zealand.

However, I ran into this post, and thought it would be worth sharing. I know that there have already been two posts about the history of Christmas, including a book review, recently. Here is one last one, to usher Christmas 2025 out the door.

Enjoy.

All That's Interesting Page · News & media website Your curiosity knows no bounds. Neither do we. allthatsinteresting.com 1.4M followers, December 25, 2025:

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1281952090634632&set=a.617780217051826

Christmas History Predates Christianity

So, I wrote a blog years ago, where I explored a little bit about the origins of the Christmas holiday, just out of curiosity (reprinted below).

However, I was not feeling fully satisfied with it, and so this year, with the pressure of having editors checking my work, as well as certain criteria that need to be met, I decided to do a more extensive article on the history of Christmas, including the pre-Christian origins of the holiday.

It was pretty fascinating, and I can honestly say that I learned quite a bit while doing the research. It is a more informative piece than my Christmas article from last year. If you are interested, I urge you to go ahead and click on the link below so that you can read the article, which also has a video attached. There is some fascinating material there.

Some of the things I did not know, and even though I tried to make the history of Christmas complete, there are some things that I had to leave out, because the article was already growing too long for that site. I needed to rein it in a bit, and so it did not include all of the information that I encountered.

That said, I will now try to add some of the information that was missing, which I did not include in the article, since this is my own blog page.

"The tendency to claim God as an ally for our partisan value and ends is the source of all religious fanaticism."

~Reinhold Niebuhr

If you are reading this blog page, I have to imagine that you are an adult. And since we are all adults, I wanted to discuss something that has been on my mind lately - specifically because it is Christmas time.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love Christmas. It really can bring out the best in all of us, the best in humanity, because of the emphasis on giving. If human beings are not at their best then, then when are we at our best, anyway?

The Significance of December 25

The oldest is Horus (circa 3000BC). He was also born on December 25th, and born from a virgin, with a star in the east. There were three kings present for his birth. He was teaching people at 12 years old, and leading a ministry at 30, with exactly 12 disciples to spread his word. He walked on water and healed the sick, was crucified, and came back to life three days later.

There was Attis (circa 1200BC), who was also born of a virgin on December 25th. He was crucified, and raised from the dead after three days.

We also have the Persian God Mithra (circa 1200BC), who was honored by a popular cult known as the Mystery Cult, which honored the virgin birth of Mithras on December 25th. Placed on a manger as a baby and attended by shepperds. he had 12 disciples and performed miracles. His message was to personally sacrifice for the greater good of the world, and ascended to Heaven. He was known as the way, the truth, and the light. He also was crucified and resurrected after three days.

There was Krishna (circa 900 BC), who was also born of a virgin when there was a star in the eastern sky. Like Jesus, Krishna also performed miracles and was known as the "son of God." He also happened to be the son of a carpenter, and was resurrected after his death.

Finally, we have the Greek god Dionysius, the god of wine (circa 500BC). he also was born of a human mother impregnated by Zeus on December 25th (he was later reborn by Zeus, who used a piece of his own leg), and performed miracles, including turning water into wine. Dionysius taught and traveled widely in his day. He was known as the "Holy Child" and was also resurrected after his death.

So, we can see that all of these mythical figures had their birthday on December 25th, which was picked (yes, picked, because there is no actual concrete proof) as the day to recognize and honor the birthday of Jesus. It was both a way to blend the long established traditions of worship on a sacred day for pagan faiths, while simultaneously replacing it, which is to say accelerating the process for many in forgetting it.

December 25th is also significant for another reason, as well. The ancient Romans honored this day as the Winter Solstice to honor the "Unconquered Sun". Indeed, it is right around the time when days begin to get longer, even though the winter season has essentially just begun. So, Pagans recognized this as a time to worship the sun, understandably, even with months of often harsh winter yet to come. One can see the positive and hopeful motives behind this. Generally, it is roughly three or so days after the winter solstice, and this was indeed recognized by many so-called pagans before Christianity, so the date was already significant. It would be easy enough, and very convenient, for Christianity to pick up on this significance for one of the most important dates in the Christian calendar.

There is no mention of the birth date in much of early Christian writing. Celebrating the birth of Jesus was hardly a unanimous, undisputed thing when it was first instituted, and Origen of Alexandria (circa 165-264) even mocked the practice of recognizing this particular date, and considered them remnants of "pagan" traditions.

Overall, celebrations during this time of the year in recognition of the winter solstice are actually quite widespread. Many of them I get into in the article for the Guardian Liberty Voice, and again, I do hope you will take a look at it. But in the interest of space and time (I had to make sure it was actually published by Christmas day itself), not everything was mentioned. One thing that I left out, for example, was a tradition recognizing the sun god for the winter solstice, although the Spanish banned this tradition when they tried to convert the Incas to Catholicism. Yet, in the 1950's, a small group of Quecia Indians from Cusco, Peru, resurrected the tradition, and it has grown into a major festival in the present day.

There are the St. Thomas' Day celebrations honoring St. Thomas the Apostle. That falls on December 21,the shortest day of the year. Mayan Indians in Mexico and Central America honored the sun god in what was known as polo voladore, or “flying pole dance”.

For the Kalasha or Kalash Kafir people of northwestern Pakistan, there is something called Chaomos, which lasts no less than seven days, and always includes the winter solstice. There are baths that represent cleansing, as well as a torchlight procession, singing, dancing, and feasts complete with bonfires.

There are plenty of others, as well. The yule was a Scandinavian god of fertility, and the tradition of Yuletide carols and greetings seems to have stemmed from that. Decorating with wreaths was a Wiccan tradition, adopted by practitioners of Christianity for Christmas. Druids began the tradition of putting up a mistletoe with hopes of getting a kiss as reward. The tradition of putting in a decorative tree into your home seems to have stemmed from the older tradition of putting a Saturnalia tree to honor Saturn. The fairy tale of some jolly stranger entering your home and giving gifts for the holidays existed in other traditions, with Thor, Odin, and St. Nicholas all establishing that before the more recent myth of Santa Claus. Sleipnir, Odin's eight-legged horse, who predated the eight reindeer that brought Santa across the globe to slide down chimneys and give those wonderful gifts to the children of families. Mithras celebrated the sun's rebirth on December 25th. Finally, let us remember that the name Christmas came from the original celebration, which honored Jesus and was known as Christ's Mass.

There may be other celebrations involving the winter solstice that I have not yet gotten around to. However, I suspect that this list this year is far better than the one I did last year, if you include the Guardian Liberty Voice article.

In any case, this was a topic that interested me quite a bit, and which I always wanted to learn more about. Below are some of the links that helped me to understand this history a little better, and greatly assisted me in writing this particular blog entry. Of course, you are free to do your own research, and come to your own conclusions. But these websites seemed a good starting point to getting the debate going:

Horus was born of the reanimated and reassembled body of his father Osiris. Mithra was just born. No mother. Krishna had a mom and dad and has no real parallels with Jesus. Dionysus was son of Zeus and Hera got pissed off because as usual he was out banging mortals.

Okay, before the links and video, I just thought that it would be fitting to share the following quote by comedian Chris Rock, which I think illustrates the paradoxes between what Jesus taught and represented, and what the holiday officially celebrating him and his birthday has come to represent and be in reality:

"Christmas is Jesus' birthday. Now, I don't know Jesus, but from what I've read, Jesus is the least materialistic person to ever roam the Earth. No bling on Jesus! Jesus kept a low profile, and we turned his birthday into one of the most materialistic day of the year.

"Matter of fact we have the Jesus Birthday Season... 'We had a horrible Jesus' birthday this year, hopefully business will pick up by his crucifixion.'"

Chris Rock pushes close to the edge with Jesus and 9/11 jokes on SNL by Christian Today staff writer, November 3, 2014:

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/chris.rock.pushes.close.to.the.edge.with.jesus.and.9.11.jokes.on.snl/42523.htm

Here is the article of mine that was published on Guardian Liberty Voice. Please take a look:

Christmas Celebrations Predate Christianity [Video]

http://guardianlv.com/2014/12/christmas-celebrations-predate-christianity-video/