Totally shocked and baffled that Xtianity (which is basically iron-age Pokemon for gods) could have "borrowed" the nativity scene tradition from the cult of Cybele
@cstross I was researching Zoroastrianism for a novel and read about the birth and life of Zarathustra.
He was born in a barn, angels announced his birth to shepherds, animals bowed to him, he was a farmer until he started preaching at 30 and by 33 he'd caught the ear of a king and converted him.
Keep in mind, Zoroastrianism might have been more than a thousand years old at the time Jesus was born, and the story was well known in the Levant.
@medievalist@panton41@cstross Yes, id forgotten the name, but I was thinking of this. I've read that the cross is also a symbol that had been kicking around. A very devout former friend* once stopped using the crucifix for that reason. It's not actually a surprise once you think of it in pop-culture terms that when the Jesus story picked up steam, bits of your religious stories attached to it, just like any story that goes around and around.
@medievalist@panton41@cstross I think we're surprised bc we're trained to think of it as the One True religion, unique, etc. Even if you're not a believer, as I am not, it's a shock to hear it developed culturally, just like anything else. I think we're attached to the idea that it must have been special in some way, and it is because it "took," it came to be the dominate religion of our part of the world, but that's not bc everything about it is unique. Quite the opposite.
@medievalist@panton41@cstross All religions are syncretic. Christianity had all the bits of other religions sticking to it, Judaism the biggest share, of course.
*Former friend because he embraced the worst and abandoned the best of his values. Really sad. I have never looked to see what kind of person he turned into in today's political environment. I'm afraid of what I'll find.
@orionkidder@medievalist@panton41 Christianity really doesn't look very Jewish from where I'm standing. (Hint: I was born and raised Jewish, am atheist by choice.)
@mathew@orionkidder@medievalist@panton41 So if Christianity is Zoroastrianism fanfic, I am now wondering when the Christianity hentai fanfic with knotting update is gonna drop
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