Eddas and sagas
medieval myths of mermen and Ys
Shakespeare
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Jules Verne
HG Wells
Olaf Stapledon
Arthur Conan Doyle
Robert Heinlein
The Bible
frequent quotations
"The Problem of Pain"
"The Season of Forgiveness"
Djana's vision of a Merseian Christ
Fr. Axor's quest
The Earth Book Of Stormgate as the history of a people and an exodus.
still more, the Sky Book which we do not read
Christmas is two Gospel narratives grafted onto the Solstice festival but that is plenty. A good holiday season and some good fiction.
6 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
IIRC, the Julian calendar had the winter solstice falling on December, but as centuries passed errors made by the scholars who corrected the Roman calendar accumulated and caused the seasons to fall more and more out of sync. Thus, when the scientists of Pope Gregory XIII reformed the calendar, the winter solstice fell on December 21. But everybody was so used to celebrating Christmas on December 25 that the feast was kept on that date.
Ad astra! Sean
Drat, I should have said the scholars of Julius Caesar had the winter solstice falling on December 25.
Sean
And if shepherds were watching their flocks by night, it sure as shoot wasn't in December.
That's the season when the flocks in that part of the world are brought down to the lowlands, and will be put in stone-walled pens overnight.
In the summertime they're driven up to the heights (where there's more dry-season fodder) and shepherds do camp out with them.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
We don't know the exact date of the Messiah's birth, which meant the Church had to pick a date on which to celebrate His birth. December 25 was as good a choice as any other date.
Your comments on how sheep herding was managed in Christ's time reminded me of this bit from His discourse in John 10.1-4: "Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over it elsewhere is a thief and robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as he calls out his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice."
Ad astra! Sean
Yeah, villages usually clubbed together on sheep-pens because nobody owned enough sheep to need one all for themselves.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
That interests me, the implication most sheep owners only had five or six sheep. And that would make it economical for several small flocks to share a single sheep pen.
Your comments also illuminates several of the parables of Christ in the Synoptic gospels, wherein He mentioned how a shepherd would leave his flock to search for a lost sheep. That would be most practicable for small flocks in which the shepherd personally knew every one of his sheep.
Ad astra! Sean
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