From: ralph@eddlewood.demon.co.uk   
      
   In message <1165768713.690088.104380@80g2000cwy.googlegroups.com>,   
   Francis  writes   
      
   >Strictly speaking, Christmas is not a day but a season of twelve days.   
   >It does not begin until December 25th.  Until then, we are in the   
   >season of Advent which is supposed to be a time of quiet reflection,   
   >not of celebration.  The solstice holiday known as "Christmas day" is   
   >actually the Feast of the Nativity.  Virgin birth of a special person   
   >destined to be king is an old idea current long before the Christian   
   >era; see for instance Vergil's Fourth Eclogue. Christmas celebrations   
   >were not part of primitive Christianity and the Puritans were correct   
   >in recognizing that fact when they banned it.   
      
   Thanks for that, Francis. Maybe more important to the difference between   
   U.S. and British practice, I have discovered today, is that the modern   
   British style did not originate until the mid-XIXth century, when the   
   U.S. was already reasonably well established.   
      
   --   
   ralph   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)