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Is Christmas......

exchemist

Veteran Member
No ****, Sherlock!

I was just riffing on the "merged, intersected, and borrowed" comment from @Debater Slayer :)
That's all good then.

There's a lot of riffing going on in forums at the moment. There was a bloke the other day riffing on the different temperature scales, on one of the other forums I subscribe to. So I gave him a counter-riff on temperature, Boltzmann's Constant and the kinetic energy of monatomic and diatomic gases. :D Not a peep out of him since.
 

Rival

Diex Aie
Staff member
Premium Member
That's all good then.

There's a lot of riffing going on in forums at the moment. There was a bloke the other day riffing on the different temperature scales, on one of the other forums I subscribe to. So I gave him a counter-riff on temperature, Boltzmann's Constant and the kinetic energy of monatomic and diatomic gases. :D Not a peep out of him since.
Reminds me of those Catholics who are die-hard TLM and I feel like saying, But what about Sarum, Bangor, Hereford, York, Gallican Rites and.... and I imagine the eyes might glaze upon realising there were Latin masses before Trent :D
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
Reminds me of those Catholics who are die-hard TLM and I feel like saying, But what about Sarum, Bangor, Hereford, York, Gallican Rites and.... and I imagine the eyes might glaze upon realising there were Latin masses before Trent :D
Well, fair enough, as a Theology undergrad, you can now riff on all that sort of stuff.

How's it going, by the way? Are you home for Christmas yet? Mt sne doesn't get back from St. Andrews for another week and a half, but that' because he wants to go camping and hill climbing in the Cairngorms first, the nutcase.:confused:
 

Rival

Diex Aie
Staff member
Premium Member
Well, fair enough, as a Theology undergrad, you can now riff on all that sort of stuff.

How's it going, by the way? Are you home for Christmas yet? Mt sne doesn't get back from St. Andrews for another week and a half, but that' because he wants to go camping and hill climbing in the Cairngorms first, the nutcase.:confused:
Good for him :D

We break up on the 15th. I'm going to see my grandparents then hopefully with my bf in Scotland with his fam for Hogmanay. The course is going great. Turned in 3 essays and have an exam in Janaury.
 

metis

aged ecumenical anthropologist
What holiday do you think it was?
It was Saturnalia, although that celebration ended two days earlier. Sol Invictus was celebrated on the 25th starting in 274 c.e. However, Hyppolytus of Rome said there was a tradition that Jesus was born on the 25th of December, so that appears* to have been maybe the main reason why the 25th was chosen.

*note that I said "appears", as "facts" back that far aren't always easily ascertainable.
 

Jayhawker Soule

-- untitled --
Premium Member
It was Saturnalia, although that celebration ended two days earlier. Sol Invictus was celebrated on the 25th starting in 274 c.e. However, Hyppolytus of Rome said there was a tradition that Jesus was born on the 25th of December, so that appears* to have been maybe the main reason why the 25th was chosen.

*note that I said "appears", as "facts" back that far aren't always easily ascertainable.
Speaking of which, see Wikipedia: Sextus Julius Africanus, particularly ...

Africanus wrote Chronographiai, a history of the world in five volumes. The work covers the period from Creation to the year AD 221. He calculated the period between Creation and Jesus as 5500 years, placing the Incarnation on the first day of AM 5501 (our modern March 25 1 BC). (Note that this dating implies that the birth of Jesus was in December, nine months later.)
Note also that no allowance is made for the tendency of the first-born child to come a couple of weeks late. :)
 
It was Saturnalia, although that celebration ended two days earlier. Sol Invictus was celebrated on the 25th starting in 274 c.e. However, Hyppolytus of Rome said there was a tradition that Jesus was born on the 25th of December, so that appears* to have been maybe the main reason why the 25th was chosen.

*note that I said "appears", as "facts" back that far aren't always easily ascertainable.

There earliest evidence of Sol Invictus being celebrated on the 25th also notes Christmas as being on the 25th.

Sol Invictus probably didn't even exist, it was just standard Sol.

There are numerous dates noted as festivities for Sol, and there was no longstanding tradition of 25 Dec.

If you are interested:

Steven Hijmans, "Sol Invictus, the Winter Solstice, and the Origins of Christmas"
 

metis

aged ecumenical anthropologist
Speaking of which, see Wikipedia: Sextus Julius Africanus, particularly ...

Africanus wrote Chronographiai, a history of the world in five volumes. The work covers the period from Creation to the year AD 221. He calculated the period between Creation and Jesus as 5500 years, placing the Incarnation on the first day of AM 5501 (our modern March 25 1 BC). (Note that this dating implies that the birth of Jesus was in December, nine months later.)
Note also that no allowance is made for the tendency of the first-born child to come a couple of weeks late. :)
Ya, and a sorta weak parallel is my wife, who was borne on December 10th in Sicilia, but her official birthday is December 12th because that's when her father officially registered her. I tell her that they couldn't decide whether to keep her, and then she hits me! Oh, the oppression I have to put up with! :(
 

metis

aged ecumenical anthropologist

Jayhawker Soule

-- untitled --
Premium Member
Ya, and a sorta weak parallel is my wife, who was borne on December 10th in Sicilia, but her official birthday is December 12th because that's when her father officially registered her. I tell her that they couldn't decide whether to keep her, and then she hits me! Oh, the oppression I have to put up with! :(
I think I like her more than Sextus.
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
Good for him :D

We break up on the 15th. I'm going to see my grandparents then hopefully with my bf in Scotland with his fam for Hogmanay. The course is going great. Turned in 3 essays and have an exam in Janaury.
I’m delighted. So your boyfriend is a Scot, then. I was born there, though I’m not Scottish, and find my love for Scotland has been rekindled by re-exploring it with my son. Just need to watch the Scots when they’ve had few drrrinks. I once went out with a Scottish nurse, you see.........;)

By the way, I got a round robin email yesterday from one of my old tutors, who now lives in Canterbury. He’s a theoretical chemist and used to teach me maths for chemists and quantum mechanics.
 

Rival

Diex Aie
Staff member
Premium Member
I’m delighted. So your boyfriend is a Scot, then. I was born there, though I’m not Scottish, and find my love for Scotland has been rekindled by re-exploring it with my son. Just need to watch the Scots when they’ve had few drrrinks. I once went out with a Scottish nurse, you see.........;)

By the way, I got a round robin email yesterday from one of my old tutors, who now lives in Canterbury. He’s a theoretical chemist and used to teach me maths for chemists and quantum mechanics.
Canterbury is wonderful. Except the wifi. Everyone says the same thing: you're in the middle of town and wifi just doesn't work, and if you're in any shop/church/cafe forget it. They're apparently installing 5G but in the meantime you can barely get 4G.

Poor Canterbury phone signal leaves street traders abandoning card payments (kentonline.co.uk)
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
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