Didim Today

Altinkum Didim Today might be heading off on our New Year and Christmas holidays, but there's plenty of great local, natioanl content for you to read during the break. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of our Altinkum Didim Today readers from everyone at didim Today in Altinkum Turkey. See you in 2012 and have fun, relax, hang out with friends or family, or kick back with a good book. Enjoy the holidays, however you celebrate them and where ever you are.

Christmas Day! A time of joy for children as they open the sparkling presents under the tree. A day of revence as people the world over celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. For some 1600 years Christians have celebrated December 25 as the day that Jesus was born. Bishop Liberius so designated it back in 354 A.D. Yet Bishop Liberius had his reasons. December 25 was already a familiar feast day of the pagans to celebrate the yearly `rebirth` of the sun, and worshippers in Rome and throught Europe celebrated this triump of light over darkness.

The Romans paid homage to their god of agriculture, Saturn during this period. Schools, businesses and courts were closed as merrymakers exchanged gifts, drank wine, and enjoyed music. It was because of the importance os such celebrations that the roman goverment, throught Emperor Constantine at Council of Nicea eager to convert the pegans to Christianity, found it expedient to adapt some of the pegan rites into worship of Christ. Thus the feast day became the medieval Christ Masse with December celebrations to the sun being changed to honor Christ.

Christmas: The word Christmas means Mass of Christ or as it came to shortened. Christ Mass it came to non-Christians from the Church, and were did they get it? Not from the Bible? It was intermingled into Roman church from paganism by the emperors during the fourth century. Christmas 25: Did you know that Jesus was not even born in the winter season! When Jesus was born there was in the same country shepards abiding in the field, keep watch over their flock by night. This coould never have occured in Judea in the month of December.

the shepherds brought their flocks from mountainsides and fields and corralled them by the end of October, to protect them from the cold, rainy season that followed. The Bible itself proves in Song of Solomon 2.11 that winter was rainy season. How then, did the church decide on December 25 as a Christmas Day? Long before the fourth century and long before the Christian era itself, a festival was celebrated among the heathen at that precise time of the year, December 25 in honor of the birth of the son of the Babylonian quenn of heavon. The same festival was adopted by the church, only giving it name of the Christ. this was the tendecy on the part of Christians to meet paganism half way.

Santa Claus: The name Santa Claus is a corruption of the name St.Nicholas a bishop of the fifth century. St Nicholas was honored by the Greeks and Latins on December 6th. A legend of his surreptitious bestowal of dowries on the three daughtors of an impoversihed citizen is said to have originated the old custom of giving presents in secret on the Eve of St.Nicholas (Dec 6) and subsequntly transferred to Christmas Day. Hence the association of Christmas with Santa. Thousands of tourists from all over the world flock to Demre (formerly Myra) searching for the roots of Saint Nicholas. They come as pilgrims, especially from Russia—up to sixty bus loads a day during the peak season—where Saint Nicholas is revered as patron and a father of Orthodox faith. The beautiful beaches and warm weather along the Mediterranean coast also draw visitors from both Eastern and Western Europe. They may come to Demre as pilgrims, or, out of curiosity, wondering about the origin of Santa Claus, who is called Noel Baba or Father Christmas in Turkey.

Christmas Tree: the Christmas Tree, now so common among us, was used in Pagan Rome and Pagan Egypt. In Egypt that three was the palm tree, in Rome it was fir; the palm tree denoting the pagan messiah as Baal-Tamar the fir referring to him as Baal-Berith. For the customs of the people are vain; for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. they are upright as the palm tree, but speak not; they must needs be borne because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good. Foras much as there is none like unto thee O Lord. Thou art greay, and they name is great in might. Jerimiah 10:1-6

Christmas Candles; the candles were lighted by the pegans in the eve of the festival of the Babylonian god, to do honor to him, for it was on of the distinguishing peculiarities of hhis worship to light wax candles on his altars.

After all this many will continue to celebrate these pegans holidays, and expect God to be in their schools, book centers, and even churches, where they will set up Christmas decorations, trees and candles around the World. However we need to know all the festivals are nice and worth to celebrate because many others believes and religions all over the World.

Wishing you all the best over the Christmas Holidays and a Happy New Year. Thank you for all your continued support over the years. It's been a pleasure keeping you all updated with the latest in Altinkum Didim and Akbuk News in Turkey with many other categories. 2011 was an amazing year for Didim Today in Altinkum and let's hope the same for 2012.