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December 25th, 2007
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NEWS
New Oh My Gods! Character...
REAKING NEWS: new & upcoming Oh My Gods! character…
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Oh My Gods! just got it’s own Get Satisfaction site! Huzzah! Now simply go to getsatisfaction.com/ohmygods to leave comments, feedback, suggestions, and whatever else you’d like! There is also a tab on the left called “Feedback” you can use, as well as a link in the menu on the right. So go for it! I’ll be checking it, so feel free to use it to help Oh My Gods! grow!
Deepest apologies for the vacation
Welcome back everyone! I see many faces I remember and tons more new to me! Welcome back veterans and glad to have you newbies!
My deepest apologies for the strip’s long vacation. To not get into much detail, thankfully my feet are back underneath me again and I’m hopefully in a place where I can create the strip on a regular basis again. Currently there is a (huge) void in the strip (from August 4th to November 3rd) – I will try to refill this with content, but I do not want to promise what I am unsure I can deliver. If I do, you’ll be the first to know!
Haha...
So true.... My dad asked recently if I celebrate christmas and I told him - "Why not? Commercial christmas is completely pagan anyway..." He seemed a little confused by that answer ;).
25th of december
I hope you all have a great (stolen) holiday!
Live long and Prosper
aww
That's so sweet...Happy day of comercialism everybody
Blessed be,
Willow
=D
I wrote that in my yule card to our school fundie lol.
Happy day that jesus wasn't actually born on!
xXxBlessed BexXx
Mwhahaha
Yeah but so so true... Just another part of the celtic - christian intergration...
.:'In the place of a Dark Lord you would have a Queen. Not Dark but beautiful and as terrible as the Dawn. Trecherous as the sea, stronger than the foundations of the Earth. All shall love me and despair!:.
Not Celtic
The timing of Christmas was based on the Roman feast of Sol Invictus. The Celts didn't do solstice/equinox rites as far as we can determine.
i thought
Yule was of anglo-saxon and norse origins. this was a celebration of the fact that the days were groing longer meaning the final winter hadnt come yet. this was good because after the 3 year winter ragnarok comes and the wole thing about odinn being eaten and then being avenged by his son , thor and the world serpent killing each other. heimdaill and loki slaying each other, tyr being slayed by garm while the gaant sutur slays frey. baldur returns from hel as she whos name is shared with that dreary place rides in her ship across the worlds with her minions. the dragon at the base finally gnaws though the roots causing the world tree to topple and sutur burns the world... crap i carried on quite a bit opps
Rider of the North,
Josh
re: origins of Christmas
The timing of Christmas is, as was said above, based on the feast of Sol Invictus [the Sun Unconquered] in the Roman Empire.
The alternate name "yule" does come from Germanic tradition, but wasn't applied to Christmas until long after the date of Christmas was set. As for the claim that Yule "was a celebration of the fact that the days were growing longer meaning the final winter hadn't come yet," I'd really like to see some documentation of that before I buy it. Especially since "in practice, it is difficult to specify the yule-tide period more accurately than at some point between about mid-November and the beginning of January." [Orchard, Andy (1997). Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend.] Yule then became conflated with Christmas. It appears that it was only as modern paganism developed in the mid-twentieth century that Yule came to be associated with the winter solstice.
And the pagan Celts had nothing whatsoever to do with either Christmas or Yule. :)
Hehe.
And yet no one realizes this.
Jesus was born in late spring time (according to most historian people).
So yes, stolen holiday.
Gotta love it.
June last I heard
June last I heard
Ah, I was rightish.
Ah, I was rightish.
spring
Nope. Spring. The only dating information we have is "In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night." That is usually interpreted to mean that it was lambing season, which is spring.
All I want for Christmas...
All I want for Christma-Hannu-Kwanz-ukah-Yule-stice-mas
is a pair of warm fuzzy slippers, and to demolish the
frickin Vatican into a pile of rubble and rebuild the old
pagan oracle that stood there. Not much.
PaganBear
Author of the Stumbling Block
Killing Creation for the Love of Creator?
http://www.thes...
Oh yeah?
Oh yeah, compleatly do-able! :)
.:'In the place of a Dark Lord you would have a Queen. Not Dark but beautiful and as terrible as the Dawn. Trecherous as the sea, stronger than the foundations of the Earth. All shall love me and despair!:.
Huzzah
Happy Chrisyulekwanzanakah everybody. =D That comic made me warm and fuzzy inside. I've heard them say in a church that Jesus was born in spring time too actually, it confused me.
---------------
.::You know your awesome when your willing to listen to your friend rant for two hours about how much he wishes there was another guy in his arms right now::.
I mean come on! Jesus was
I mean come on! Jesus was NOT a Capricorn... he whipped religious nutcases, led people into his own new cult, had himself killed just to make a big fuss over his *sigh* rejection, and couldn't even stay dead... no, had to come back and bitch some more.
Obviously he's a Leo. I mean... puh-leez!
PaganBear
Author of the Stumbling Block
Killing Creation for the Love of Creator?
http://www.thes...
Bwahahahah
Yeah...obviously...Leo!!! LoL
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
I never thought of it that way! It's so true! My dad's a classic Leo, and that describes him perfectly! I should have seen it before...
Hah, your right
I never thought of it that way either. I'm not a classic Capricorn at all. xp To clingy and lacking in drive and responsibility. Your right though, total leo for Jesus.
-----------------
.::You know your awesome when your willing to listen to your friend rant for two hours about how much he wishes there was another guy in his arms right now::.
Wait I'm a Leo
Does that mean I can be a savior too? ha ha just kidding I don't want that much attention. I'm a strange Leo who reads books all day and does her best to avoid attention....well for the most part lol :)
Ha ha
To be precise it was during the Feast of Tabernacles...hmmm funny how most Christians keep every holiday except the ones actually in their bible lol
Happy Holidays everyone.
why?
Why do you say that Jesus' birth was during Succoth? I've never heard that one before.
Merry Xmas..a little late
I really dont care when the Christians celebrate thier holiday. If they wanna steal Yule I dont see any harm in it. I celebrate Yule by myself cuz im solitary, and I celebrate Christmas with my family cuz it's fun.
burn baby burn!
Well, I was very tempted to burn the decorations my highly christian mother put up in our apartment, but, hey, the mini christmas tree is close enough to a Yule log to work. But, I still intend to burn it later. It is definately not going in the trash. :). And PaganBear, omfgs, I want to almost hug you for that dude!
-ambush
Does Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo count as a Yule log?
Awww shucks... t'weren't
Awww shucks... t'weren't nuttin
PaganBear
Author of the Stumbling Block
Killing Creation for the Love of Creator?
http://www.thes...
Yule tree log
I love the idea of burning the Christmas tree when you're done with it, but living in Australia, there's usually fire restrictions :(
xmas
or as my wife likes to say happy "kill a tree for Jesus" day!
...your wife says what?
OH? Honeybuns, I think that YOU were the first person I ever heard say "Kill a tree for Jesus"...
Your wife is fun :D
I gotta remember that one lol. Happy Giftmas everybody!
~~Behind every successful man is a woman rolling her eyes~~
Season
Driving down the road seeing signs that say "Jesus is the reason for the season" makes me want to put up a sign that says "Pagans are the reason that Jesus is in the season"
A few vices are sufficient to darken many virtues.
—Plutarch
What a second...
Either it's a common lame attempt at religious propaganda or you live in a tiny city in Texas too. >.> *shifty eyes*
>Sigh<
It is far too common a saying. Even in large seemingly liberal cities.
A few vices are sufficient to darken many virtues.
—Plutarch
Stupid signs
We even had people knocking on our doors asking if they could put one in our lawn where I live.
let's think about this...
Which would we rather have people putting energy toward?
1. Crass commercialism and conspicuous consumerism.
2. The divine entering into the material world.
I would hope that most pagans would prefer option 2. Picking option 1 seems like an indicator of either gross egocentrism or blatant religious prejudice.
*flicking tail*
You know... just a side thought... I'm a happily pagan person.
And my family are happily christian people...
And for all of the christians I've heard bashing pagans and any other religion, I've heard at least 100Xs as many pagans bashing christians. I have to confess though, i do live just a couple hours north of vatican city and there are only 300 churches in this town of 50,000 Maybe there aren't enough christians here, but I can still count on my fingers and toes how many times I've heard a negative comments about non-christian religions from christians...
What am I getting at?
well... I think we're sounding a little nazi-ish for being "peace-loving" "Open-Minded" pagans, especially from wiccans (spelled any way the practitioner prefers)...
This probibly comes more from my dad being a good christian who loves and trusts me enough to let me find god on my own, who is American enough to believe in Freedom of religion, and who is my father enough to be proud of me no matter what I do, with out me needing to explain or hide anything that i don't offer to explain first.
But i would like to stand up and offer one for my mom dad and sisters:
I believed in "Santa Clause" untill my teens, because though we were getting foreclosure warnings from the bank and the police were threatening to arrest my father, for christmas I always got some pretty cloths and a trinket. My family lives next to canada and couldn't afford heating in most of the winters that i lived with them. The maranatha assembly of god provided us enough food for the stolen holiday to last the month and be able to pay the heat. So we could melt the snow for water.
I'm not exaggerating, my mother commuted to work and for the holidays there wasn't enough over-time to pay the bills.
Now that my sisters and I are old enough to work, and that I've moved out they can make ends meet much easier. The moral of the story is this: Christians aren't perfect. No Religion is. Not Mine, not my fathers. BUT. My fathers has organization and coordination and they can help their community. While the large majority of us (Though our numbers are much smaller) Stand on the side lines commenting on the arrogant deluded fundamentalist religion stealing-supressing christian pricks.
It would be like hating all Americans if You hate bush. or hating all Muslims if you hate osama. It's not right. It's close minded, and historically it's a deadly mistake.
Their jesus is their god of light. When is the god of light in any historical religion born but in the end of december when the sun comes back to us? Wiccans, you, whose religion was made in the 60's, where did you take your holidays but out of the ancient religions from which the christians took theirs?
Christianity is Nature-based Paganism Focused on mankind alone. And N.B.paganism is Christianity focused on the Impact of man and individuals on nature.
I guess everyone likes to play the victem but this holiday taken from ancient ones or no is sacred to millions but more importantly is sacred to My family my grandmother and her family before her. You want them to share national kill a tree day, fine, but do so directly, no dirty fighting, no threats of burning what they hold sacred.
Don't get me worng Shivian, you're my hero and I love the puns, but this one hit me home. Stolen as it is they treat the giving spirit of this holiday better than most Pagans I've ever met. Excuse the rant but think about it.
see what happens?
When you set off a Leo?- they don't even remember their "Spell check"
I agree that not all
I agree that not all Christians are bad and should be bashed. You are right when you say there are some that can and do accept people of other faiths. I really applaud them and wish there were more like your father that could accept. But for every one that I've met that could accept me as I am and choose to practice, I've met at least 10 that think I'm just very confussed and in desperate need of saving, and that if they just qoute more Bible verses and pray at me harder, I'll wake up and see their light. Even worse than those people, are the other 2 that feel I'm the evil spawn of Satan himself and that I'm trying to spread filth and sinnfulness and need to be destroyed immediately before I infect their kids.
So while I agree with you that not all Christians are bad, I don't belive that they are the more accepting group, just from my own experiences. I know many pagans, of many different faith's, none of whom have tried to convience me that believing in their set of Gods is the one and only true way. Nearly every single Christian I know has invited me to attend their church and offered to pray for me to see their light.
speaking of acceptance...
Maybe you never were christian, but it's part of their dogma to invite you to church.
Okay. Lets try to frame it like this. You See a Glock and so does your best friend. They insist it's a harmless water pistol and you insist it's real and not to be played with. They want to pull the trigger with the glock pointed against their head or someone else's head to demonstrate it's harmless.
There's only one way to prove whose right and only one chance to be right. If YOU'RE right, your friend dies, if your FRIEND is right, you are embarassed (at the least).
Bible beliving christians see the glock, we see the water pistol, and it takes litterly a life time to see "who's right"
A bible believing christian will do anything to keep us from pulling the trigger on ourselfs or their loved ones.
Where most pagans will let you walk with the glock, talk with the glock and find out yourself if on the other end of the barrel is a sprut of water or some grams of steel.
Seeing as we are all human, I don't think any "group" is more accepting they're probibly comprised of as many "fundies" as any other, the point I wanted to hit home, is over The CHRISTIAN holiday of CHRISTmas, they are more giving than the pagans over YULE (which occurs some days earlier as we all know)
They pray to their god for us because at best: they care, in the middle: They see it as their religious duty, or at worse: They are afraid.
I don't have a problem with people caring, or performing their duty. I do have a problem with people taunting the scared.
yea you have to tollerate them like annoying children some times. But some things are sacred, So they moved their holiday to try to over lap ours this can piss us off but frankly until the pagans stop celebrating the 25th, (which is their holiday) and start paying attention to the sun and the moon for our holidays as pagan religions generally dictate, how else can I put it but to say that one of our "groups" is in the wrong. The christians are celebrating their holiday in they way they've chosen to on the day they've chosen to. And us? Frankly I'm the only pagan I know who celebrated the solstice on the 22nd. Follow?
Celebration dates
Every pagan I know celebrates the solstice on December 22 (or whatever's astronomically correct that year or the closest we can manage) Maybe it's because we're in the Southern Hemisphere, and celebrating the Summer solstice with Wintery Decorations just feels wrong
I know I'm late, but....
I just got around to signing up....so.... I just wanted to say.... I/we celebrated on the 22nd and even recieved the appropriate blessings and wishes from a Christan minister friend, timed to arive on the correct date to coincide with my beliefs...he is the most accepting person I know, umm, I also should note that he is also the only Christian I have ever met who has not been judgemental......love the comic
Long time reader
Late register hehe
I've never been a fan of this holiday.
With how commercialized it's become everyone goes stupid, frantic and broke trying to create the perfect "Christmas" (I only celebrate it because of my family as well)
In the insanity of it all.. not many remember, until late in the evening on this day... that it's my birthday as well..
Oh well :)
Love the comic, keep up the great work!
It's not the bullet with my name on it that scares me, it's the shrapnel addressed to "occupant".
the strip
well, all the strip meant was the truth... The early Christians stole a Roman holiday. ((Io Saturnalia!)) They did that with lots of Pagan holidays so they could draw the Pagans into their religion. It's understandable that some of us are bitter.
We shouldn't take it out on the current Christians, though. We can, perhaps, be a little upset when they refuse to recognize the truth, though.
As for Christian acceptance of us versus our acceptance of them... Your experience, dear Grifo, differs due to where you live. Many of the angry Pagans on here are upset because they have to deal with the bible-thumping Evangelist masses in middle America -- which are far worse than the Christians of Europe and the areas near Canada. It's just more or less anger based on differing personal experiences.
I do not feel either side should be mean or cruel to the other, though.
--
Pax vobiscum, mea familia
Numerology is like bingo - amusing and largely pointless.
Oh My Gods for the wynn. ^_^
Wow
I guess I was really raised diffrently, We do Both Christmas and Yule On diffrent days and I still do Santa and stockings every year. Peace starts within Ourselves not the other way around. Take what the Lord and Lady give You and don't turn it into hate. Considering I was called Devilgirl(among other names) for many years growing up I didn't hate the ones that said it I felt sorry for them and still do. I ran into one of the people that used to call me names and they were sorry for the hard time they gave me. Try not to Dis people for what they wish to believe and maybe it will come back to you 3 fold. Heck my kid is still asking for presents just because she is spoiled and loved and people try to get along more often.
Bright Blessings