Pagan-Roots-Of Christmas-Bob Davis Podcast 887

Christmas Is Indeed A Pagan Holiday

I know there are religious people who don’t want to hear this but Christmas is a pagan holiday. These days we’re disconnected from history and our ancestors. I’ll explain in Pagan-Roots-Of Christmas-Bob Davis Podcast 887.

Winter Solstice

The winter solstice is especially relevant here. The shortest day in the northern hemisphere. December 21st. The next day the sun starts its journey back toward us and the days will start getting longer.

A Time To Rest, Repair And Recharge

Second people have taken this time to hunker down, rest and prepare for the coming brighter and warmer months. This goes back millennia.

The Shortest Darkest Days

In contrast to those in warmer and brighter places those of us who live in the far northern reaches of North America and Northern Europe know only too well how dark it gets. Even more how long those dark and cold nights can be.

Jesus Was Not Born On December 25th

We are told Jesus Christ the bringer of light, was born in December. Truth is the bible doesn’t say when the savior was born.

The Bringer Of Light Was A Summer Baby

Moreover astronomers believe Christ was probably born in the summer, or fall somewhere between 6 or 7 BC, and 3 or 2 BC.

Rome and Saturnalia

Finally it was the Roman Catholic Church that set Christ’s birth on December 25th. Oddly enough, the new celebration would coincide with the celebration of the Roman God Saturn.

Santa IS A Pagan Symbol

Even more, Santa’s origins are rooted both in a Greek Saint in about 300 AD, and the Norse god Odin. Above all once Artist Norman Rockwell and the advertising industry shaped and advanced the idea of Saint Nick as a rosy cheeked white bearded grandfatherly symbol. Our modern Santa. For more on Odin, click here.

Holiday Season

This year I spent a little time and thought about our Winter Holiday Season, which starts with the celebration of the harvest on Thanksgiving, includes a parade of totems in New York City, and ends with New Year’s.

Natural Rhythms

Are we immune to natural human rhythms? Were our ancestors dumb? How has commerce and communication in the modern age obscured the pagan roots of Christmas, and New Year’s? Does this change the nature of Christmas for the faithful? I don’t think so.

Happy Holidays

And of course, Merry Christmas

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Pagan-Roots-Of Christmas-Bob Davis Podcast 887

Travel Stories-Regional Differences Across America-2018 Primer-Podcast 703

These days the we see the US from a bird’s eye view. Americans eat the same kind of food. Listen to the same kind of music. Dress the same. Look the same. Right? Not really. Find out why in Travel Stories-Regional Differences Across America-2018 Primer-Podcast 703.

Media Says We’re One People

One people, one culture. That’s what they say on TV. Furthermore, news ratings depend on selling the myth that we’re all the same. We’re supposed to be nine or eleven ‘nations’ of North America. Or as ‘The Fourth Turning’ says, behavior can be predicted by our generation, or where we are from.

Except that isn’t true. Never has been.

Travel Teaches How Real Differences Work

I’ve been up and down both coasts. Crisscrossed the midwest. Toured the west from the Mile High City to Las Cruces. I’ve been up and down Skyline Drive and the birthplace of country music in Bristol. I can tell you from experience there are some real differences in Americans. It’s what makes this country great. In Travel Stories-Regional Differences Across America-2018 Primer-Podcast 703.

Big Assed States

First of all, these fifty states are geographically imposing. Even the so called ‘little’ states in New England are big. Each of them have regional differences that can play out politically in some significant ways.

Different Places Different People

Moreover the personality of these states depends on the settlers. When did they come? Who were they? Why did they come? Where did they come from. What ideas and culture did they bring with them?

Regional Differences

One of the things I hear a lot these days is, “Why can’t they get it done?”. Or, why is a state so ‘liberal’ or ‘conservative’. Look closer and you might be surprised. Whatever ‘IT’ is. Part of the reason are the regional differences that might surprise you. Find out about them in Travel Stories-Regional Differences Across America-2018 Primer-Podcast 703.

Northern Minnesota Democrats who support 2nd Amendment rights. Conservative residents of Mountain West states like Colorado that supported legalizing marijuana. West Virginia republicans who want trade protection and aid for coal mines.

These differences are especially relevant when it comes to congressional districts.

All Politics Really Is Local

In conclusion, 2018 is an election year. All of congress. One third of the senate. State Legislatures and Governors. Judges and special elections. The pundits, the media, and the parties will try to make it about national issues. More often though, when it comes to so called off-year cycles, all politics is local.

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Travel Stories-Regional Differences Across America-2018 Primer-Podcast 703

Podcast 516

Summer Starts The Year. Most of this year has been like living on an ice floe, or behind glass, or encased in cotton. Now that summer has started, it feels like things are speeding up. It feels like the year is just starting. If that assessment resonates with you, there are three stories to watch in the next few weeks that may bear fruit as major game changers. Or not. First, Britain votes on June 23rd on whether to exit the European Union. If you read the analysts it’s all gloom and doom. Such an exit will trigger an economic collapse, or worse, plunge Europe into a collection of disagreeable states that triggered two world wars in the 20th century. Yet, if you think about it, there are many states that aren’t in the EU, both in Europe and in the rest of the world and we all seem to get along just fine. The world isn’t going to stop trading with Britain whether it stays in the EU, or not. Second, Movements such as the British Exit movement are characterized by the worldwide media as “Populist” or “Nationalist”, or worse “Xenophobic”. Explanations are offered to suggest this is the effect worldwide of the Trump candidacy. What if that isn’t it at all? What if people are struggling to come to grips politically with overbearing and increasingly incompetent governments, and central banks who seem to be doing more harm than good. The west seems to have a disturbing faith in government as a solution to all that ails. What if governments, politicians, technocrats and elitist ‘leaders’ are the problem? Is it possible we have lost the language to be able to define the problem, since almost every story about the economy leaves one with the impression that there’s only one way to address economic stagnation in the US and the rest of the world and that is to stimulate demand. What if stimulating demand isn’t the issue at all. Since we’re all so steeped in one way of thinking regardless of what ‘side’ of the political divide we’re on, we seem to be struggling with the issue of how to describe the tyranny of government. Our political system doesn’t seem to have the capacity to address it, mainly because we don’t seem to have the language to name the problem. Thus, people get described as ‘populist’, or ‘xenophobic’, and non governmental solutions get described the same way. If we talked about government in terms of Monarchy, perhaps Americans would better understand the increasingly unlimited power of government over our lives, and the unlimited ability of government to fail. Maybe that’s what the British in favor of an exit are saying. Third, republican candidate for the nomination for president Donald Trump may suffer death by a thousand cuts, politically speaking in the next few weeks as more and more issues come to the forefront concerning his campaign effort. Vulnerable Republican Senators are so concerned about losing the Senate they managed to get Marco Rubio to announce he is running for Senate in Florida after all. Moreover, Romney supporters are getting appointed to powerful posts on the rules committee, a ‘conscience clause’ rule change is in the offing, former Bush Administration officials are endorsing Hillary Clinton and it was revealed this week Trump’s campaign only has 1.3 million dollars on hand for a national campaign, and isn’t fully staffed. Get ready, a major challenge to Trump is in the works, with all the usual suspects working behind the scenes. Did someone say Jeb Bush? Romney? Ryan? Rubio? Time will tell. Sponsored by Karow Contracting and Brush Studio in the West End, Saint Louis Park.