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Christmas is the Christian celebration of the birth of their saviour, Jesus Christ. The festival we now call Christmas was adopted from earlier pagan winter solstice celebrations celebrating the sun, including the Roman festival of Saturnalia celebrated from December the 17th to the 24th; Celtic Yuletide which was a twelve-day long festival of feasting around November/December; the Roman New Year celebrated on January the first when lights and greenery were used to decorate houses in celebration of the birth of the undying sun, and presents were given to children and the poor. Other elements of modern Christmas celebrations are also adopted from earlier pagan celebrations: the Christmas tree as a fir tree originates with the Oak tree that was sacred to Odin in Norse and Germanic tradition, and which was replaced by the fir tree declared to be sacred to Jesus by St Boniface in Germany in the 8th century. Mistletoe and holly were sacred to the Druids who used them as decorations in their winter solstice celebrations to the sun around mid-December.
Christmas was first celebrated around the 2nd century on two dates depending upon church; the Roman catholic church adopting December the 25th and some other churches adopting January the 6th which around the 5th century became Epiphany. Christmas day was officially transferred to the 25th of December by Julius I, who died in 352. The Puritans suppressed Christmas celebrations in Britain and America on the justifiable grounds of their pagan origins, however since the 18th century when the first Christmas cards were produced by the company of Goodall of London in 1862, peoples of many cultures, including Jews have celebrated Christmas in a variety of religious, pagan and other ways, with today the Jehova's Witnesses being the only major Christian objectors to the celebration of Christmas - on the perfectly correct grounds that it is a pagan festival, and the irrefutable evidence suggests that Jesus was not born on December the 25th or even in the month of December.
Complaints about the commercialisation of Christmas are not new. In the 19th century Charles Dickens character 'Ebeneazer Scrooge' in the novel 'A Christmas Carol' complains that Christmas is a 'humbug' or in other words a con or a rip off, a sentiment widely echoed by shoppers in Britain at the end of the 20th century.
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Joseph Jefferson was an American comedian. He was born in 1829 at Philadelphia and died in 1905. He achieved a triumph at New York as Asa Trenchard in 'Our American Cousin' in 1858 which however, was surpassed by his role as Rip Van Winkle, first produced in Washington in 1859.
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Washington Irving was an American author. He was born in 1783 at New York and died in 1859.
He spent a large part of his life abroad. In 1807, in partnership with his brother, he established the Salmagundi. In 1808 he published his 'Knickerbocker History of New York'. In 1819 appeared the 'Sketch Book', which proved a great success. This was followed by 'Tales of a Traveler', 'Life of Columbus', which is considered his best historical work, 'The Conquest of Granada',and 'The Alhambra'. From 1829 to 1832 he was Secretary of Legation in London. He served as Minister to Spain from 1842 to 1846. His greatest work is a 'Life of Washington' in five volumes published in 1855, but he also developed the 'short-story' wrote 'Rip Van Winkle'.
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James Brown was an American actor. He was born in 1920 at Desdemona, Texas and died in 1992. A professional tennis player, he entered films in 1941. He was best known for his role as 'Lieutenant Ripley 'Rip' Masters' in the 1950's television series 'The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin'.
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Rip Torn is an American actor. He was born in 1931 at Temple, Texas.
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Sissy Spacek is an American actress and singer. She was born in 1949 at Quitman, Texas. Moving to New York at the age of eventeen she stayed with her cousin, Rip Torn, and his wife and they arranged a bit-part for her in Andy Warhol's 1970 film 'Trash', later appaering in the television series 'The Waltons' and 'The Rookies'.
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The unicorn is a mythical horse with a straight horn projecting from the forehead. According to the 13th century 'Le Bestiaire Divin de Guillaume' by Clerc de Normandie;
"The unicorn has but one horn in the middle of its forehead. It is the only animal that ventures to attack the elephant; and so sharp is the nail of the foot, that with one blow it can rip the belly of the beast. Hunters can catch the unicorn only by placing a young virgin in its haunts. No sooner does he see the damsel than he runs towards her, and lies down at her feet, and so, suffers himself to be captured by the hunters. The unicorn represents Jesus Christ who took on Him our nature in the virgin's womb, was betrayed to the Jews, and delivered into the hands of Pontius Pilate. It's one horn signifies the Gospel of truth."
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The stimuli was a Roman anti-personnel boobytrap weapon, similar to a modern anti-personnel mine. The stimuli comprised a heavy, tapered wooden stake about 20 cm in length and about 8 cm in diameter at the top into which was fixed a long, thin, barbed iron spike about 20 cm in length. This was then secured into the ground with the intention that a running enemy soldier, upon standing upon it would drive the barbed metal spike through his foot, the barb preventing easy extraction, thereby disabling the soldier who at best would have to rip his foot clear leaving a very serious wound.
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City Heat is a comedy thriller starring Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds, Jane Alexander, Madeline Kahn and Rip Torn in a story about a private detective trying to solve the mystery of his partner's death. City Heat was directed by Richard Benjamin in 1984.
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Coma is a thriller starring Genevieve Bujold, Michael Douglas, Elizabeth Ashley, Rip Torn and Richard Widmark in a story about a doctor who finds her life and sanity in danger after the mysterious death of a friend. Coma was directed by Michael Crichton in 1977.
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The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
©1993 - 2009 The Probert Encyclopaedia
Southampton, United Kingdom
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