Description
WHOSE CHILD IS THIS?
This is a transcript of a Christmas lecture given to Philosophical Research Society by Christopher Nyerges. Nyerges explores the roots of each of the many traditional symbols of Christmas, and explains what they mean, both exoterically and esoterically.
This exploration began in the 1970s when Nyerges was asked to find out “the Real Meaning of Christmas” for a presentation in a private school, Rainbow School. For research, he used the encyclopedia, Manly Hall’s “Secret Teaching of the Ages,” Harold Percival’s “Thinking and Destiny,” “The Golden Bough,” and others.
There are also connections to Hannukah, and to the practical meanings of these symbols. A real eye-opener, especially if you never considered the origin of the diverse symbols we now associate with Christmas.
Booklet format, easy to read. A mere $8.
Backstory: WHY I WROTE THIS BOOK
It was 1976 and I was active in WTI’s Rainbow School. The headmaster, RE White, asked me to do a presentation for the upcoming Christmas event/fundraiser on “The Real Meaning of Christmas.” What? How would I know what the “real” meaning is? But I said yes, with great personal doubts.
I then set about researching all the details of modern Christmas. I had already been studying the Plain Truth magazine from the World Wide Church of God in Pasadena, and their take was that Christmas was just a pagan holdover that should not be observed. OK, I understood that one perspective. But I began to delve deeper. Why did virtually every ancient culture on the face of the earth have such a strong fixation on knowing the moment of the Equinoxes and Solstices? After all, wasn’t Christmas a commemoration of the Winter Solstice? (There are at least two reasons why it is 3 to 4 days from the actual Winter Solstice).
And everyone knew Jesus was not born on Christmas Day, so I began to compile all these facts.
Giving gifts, trees, fires, special foods– each of these aspects of Christmas have become interwoven into this now almost secular holiday we call Christmas. I shared my research in each case.
And then there was Santa Claus,who I learned to my delight was not some fictional pagan character from the distant past, but a very real Catholic bishop who lived in what is now Turkey. Saint Nicholas morphed into the modern Santa Claus, and it’s a very interesting story.
Of course, there is more. Based on the writings of Harold Percival, I added how the winter solstice time is an ideal time for spiritual evolution.
The book also adds some commentary on the themes of Hannukah, a very different event, but with some similar symbolism.
