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Carpal Tunnel
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So Merry Christmas to you.And a Happy Boxing Day to you. The Mexicans (and other Latin Americans) do their gift-giving on January 6th, Epiphany, el Día de los Tres Reyes, or the Twelfth Day of Christmas ( link). The relics of the Magi are in a lovely golden reliquary in the cathedral of Cologne ( link). The relics were presented to the Archbishop of Cologne by Friedrich Barbarossa in the 12th century and have been a tourist attraction since. And that's why the city escutcheon has three crowns on it. For Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. If you ever find yourself in Kölle om Ring, standing in front of the Dom, be sure two visit two nearby musts: the Römisch-Germanisches Museum (built over the site of a Roman villa with a wonderful mosaic of Dionysus, link) and the Cölner Hofbräu Früh for a Kölsch and a halver Hahn ( link).
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Bran
you mention Holland being a predominantly Protestant country.
True enough. But prior to Martin Luther only 500 years ago +/-
was it not Catholic Christian, like the rest of Europe? And
the St. Nicholas story goes back to St. Nicholas, Bishop of
Myra in the early centuries with the legends he performed with
gifts in shoes, etc.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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Carpal Tunnel
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Happy Boxing day to our neighbors to the North in Canada, as
well. The Magi in Cologne, their relics, that is, is truly
resplendant.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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a predominantly Protestant countryAccording to the CIA World Factbook (2006, link), the religious breakdown for the Netherlands is: Roman Catholic 30% Dutch Reformed 11% Calvinist 6% other Protestant 3% Muslim 5.8% other 2.2% none 42% So, it looks like the atheists have the majority, followed by Roman Catholics, and then Protestants.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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And would it not be interesting to see how many of the
persons quoted in your statistics participate in the
celebration Bran tells us about?
----please, draw me a sheep----
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old hand
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old hand
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And in Asian nations where the Saint Nicholas is not even part
of their culture,it is rightly called
American Cultural Imperialism: the almight Dollar controls
everything. (actually the dollar is the central act of Christmas,
in my opinion.)
That, and the grand tradition of the Family Argument. Some familes travel hundreds of miles at Christmas to get together for a good one of those!
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old hand
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old hand
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a predominantly Protestant countryAccording to the CIA World Factbook (2006, link), the religious breakdown for the Netherlands is: Roman Catholic 30% Dutch Reformed 11% Calvinist 6% other Protestant 3% Muslim 5.8% other 2.2% none 42% So, it looks like the atheists have the majority, followed by Roman Catholics, and then Protestants. Putting "no religion" on a census form isn't a declaration of Atheism. It represents a diverse bunch of people, including: - true Atheists - Agnostics - members of sects and cults, and even some mainstream Christians who don't like the word 'religion' to describe their views - people who believe in God (or something) but don't go to church, synagogue, mosque, etc or consider themselves 'religious' - people who left the question blank The number of true atheists in the world is probably less than ten percent of the population, even in the most secular countries of Europe.
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old hand
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Why it is that in a predominantly Protestant country a Catholic Martyr has become the Saint of the season's gifts party no one really knows for sure. Nicolas of Myra (going from memory here, as usual can't be bothered looking it up) was not just a Catholic saint, since he was around before the Catholics and Orthodx split. He was a 4th century Eastern bishop in what we now call Turkey around whom several myths and legends have grown up. On top of the early Eastern legends, Europeans later added random bits of Nordic and Germanic elements to his story, so that he now lives at the north pole, etc. Originally his robes and hat were those of a bishop, and until the late 19th and early 20th century he was depicted as a thin gaunt man with a long beard in rather dull coloured flowing robes. Somewhere along the line Europeans were kind enough to give him a fur collar and cuffs and fur lined hat or hood for the harsh European winter. And finally the Coca Cola company for an advertising campaign in the 1930s gave him the red and white (guess why???) pyjamas we are now used to seeing him wear.
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Putting "no religion" on a census form isn't a declaration of Atheism.
Too true. Many of them could be Pastafarians. Followers of the True Religion. Or maybe even Sub-Genius types.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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And finally the Coca Cola company for an advertising campaign in the 1930s gave him the red and white (guess why???) pyjamas we are now used to seeing him wear. The whack-a-doodlest idea I've heard is that it's the color of amanita muscaria mushrooms that the Lapp shamans consumed (second hand by drinking the urine of the reindeer they fed the mushrooms to) to go on their shamanistic flights. They left and returned by flying through the smoke holes of their tents, hence Santa's entry through the chimney.
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