elb@hou5e.UUCP (Ellen Bart) (11/19/84)
(I'm trying this via postnews so if someone not at an ATT site could let me know if they see it, I'd appreciate it) I got several responses about Thanksgiving basically positive but all asking the same thing --Why did I put New Years in the same religious category as Christmas and Halloween? First of all it is **not** because Jews were traditionally persecuted on that day nor it is just because we have our own New Year. As I said before, the criteria is whether the day in question involves or involved the religious observance of another religion. New Year (Jan 1) is a Holy Day of Obligation in the Christian (Catholic?) Church. I believe the origins are that it is 8 days after Christmas (Jesus' birth) which makes it circumcision day. (I think it is also another case where the day had significance in the pagan calendar and the Christians adopted that day as they adopted Christmas) Any more detailed questions I can check out for you it you want. Ellen Bart hou5e!elb
robison@eosp1.UUCP (Tobias D. Robison) (11/20/84)
Of all the "secular" holidays on the calendar, I personally think that New Years is the dangerous one. The problem with it is that it is particularly pagan. I think all people of major religious faiths should want to steer clear of it. Insidious emphases of the holiday include: - The encouragement to licentiousness, which is probably related to a sense of renewal of the world (and fear of the end of the world), standard features of paganism. All major faiths have ways of relating the continuous existence of the world to contracts between people and G-d, and ethical behaviour among people, with which this pagan ritual conflicts. - The sudden emphasis on making (and not really keeping) resolutions. This is a type of repentance which is trivial in comparison to the rituals of repentance that Judaism and Christianity (for example) offer. It's wrong to give it the emphasis that new years customs encourage. To me, the religious dangers of new years are far greater than those of heavily secularized days like Thanksgiving and Halloween. - Toby Robison (not Robinson!) allegra!eosp1!robison or: decvax!ittvax!eosp1!robison or (emergency): princeton!eosp1!robison
miller@nlm-mcs.ARPA (Nancy Miller) (11/27/84)
> (I'm trying this via postnews so if someone not at an ATT site could > let me know if they see it, I'd appreciate it) > involved the religious observance of another religion. New Year (Jan 1) > is a Holy Day of Obligation in the Christian (Catholic?) Church. I > believe the origins are that it is 8 days after Christmas (Jesus' birth) > which makes it circumcision day. > > > Ellen Bart > hou5e!elb It is 7 days after Christmas. -- ________________________________________________________________________________ __ __ <> <> | `-' Nancy Miller (miller@nlm-mcs.arpa)
teitz@aecom.UUCP (Eliyahu Teitz) (11/29/84)
> > (I'm trying this via postnews so if someone not at an ATT site could > > let me know if they see it, I'd appreciate it) > > involved the religious observance of another religion. New Year (Jan 1) > > is a Holy Day of Obligation in the Christian (Catholic?) Church. I > > believe the origins are that it is 8 days after Christmas (Jesus' birth) > > which makes it circumcision day. > > > > > > Ellen Bart > > hou5e!elb > > It is 7 days after Christmas. > -- > ________________________________________________________________________________ > > __ __ > <> <> > | > `-' > > Nancy Miller > (miller@nlm-mcs.arpa) it is the eight day of christmas, which as i recall lasts 12 days. eliyahu teitz.
larry@anasazi.UUCP (Larry Rodis) (11/29/84)
> > (I'm trying this via postnews so if someone not at an ATT site could > > let me know if they see it, I'd appreciate it) > > involved the religious observance of another religion. New Year (Jan 1) > > is a Holy Day of Obligation in the Christian (Catholic?) Church. I > > believe the origins are that it is 8 days after Christmas (Jesus' birth) > > which makes it circumcision day. > > > > > > Ellen Bart > > hou5e!elb > > It is 7 days after Christmas. > -- > ________________________________________________________________________________ > > __ __ > <> <> > | > `-' > > Nancy Miller > (miller@nlm-mcs.arpa) However it is the eigth day of his existence. And therefore it is the day of circumsision. Larry Rodis ...decvax!noao!terak!anasazi!larry UUCP ...ucbvax!asuvax!anasazi!larry mail International Anasazi Inc. 2019 E. University Dr. Phoenix AZ. 85034
sammy@psivax.UUCP (Sammy Katz) (11/29/84)
In article <6810@nlm-mcs.ARPA> miller@nlm-mcs.ARPA (Nancy Miller) writes: >> (I'm trying this via postnews so if someone not at an ATT site could >> let me know if they see it, I'd appreciate it) >> involved the religious observance of another religion. New Year (Jan 1) >> is a Holy Day of Obligation in the Christian (Catholic?) Church. I >> believe the origins are that it is 8 days after Christmas (Jesus' birth) >> which makes it circumcision day. >> >> >> Ellen Bart >> hou5e!elb > >It is 7 days after Christmas. >-- >________________________________________________________________________________ > > __ __ > <> <> > | > `-' > >Nancy Miller >(miller@nlm-mcs.arpa) The Jewish practice of circumcision occurs on the eighth day of a boy's life, therefore, if Jesus was born on Christmas his 'bris' would be on New Years day (seven days after Christmas). Quoting from the American Heritage Dictionary under "circumcision": "A church festival celebrated on January 1 commemorating the circumcision of Jesus.Usually used with 'the'." Sam Katz {ihnp4|cbosgd|trwrb|hplabs}!sdcrdcf!psivax!sammy
de@moscom.UUCP (Dave Esan) (11/30/84)
> > involved the religious observance of another religion. New Year (Jan 1) > > is a Holy Day of Obligation in the Christian (Catholic?) Church. I > > believe the origins are that it is 8 days after Christmas (Jesus' birth) > > which makes it circumcision day. > > > > > > Ellen Bart > > hou5e!elb > > It is 7 days after Christmas. > -- > Nancy Miller Circumcisions take place on the eighth day of the baby's life ( at a minimum). Thus 12/25 is day one not day zero, and 1/1 is day eight, and the time for circumcision. I guess that's what programmers get for counting from 0 rather than 1 like normal people -).
elb@hou5e.UUCP (Ellen Bart) (12/03/84)
The counting for circumcision for a Jewish male is eight days i.e. Thursday to Thursday, Monday to Monday. New Years's is then the "eighth day" after Christmas. Ellen Bart