ZEITGEIST: THE MOVIE

The winter-solstice date of the Greek sun and wine god Dionysus was originally recognized in
early January but was eventually placed on December 25 th , as related by Macrobius. Regardless,
the effect is the same: The winter sun god is born around this time, when the [shortest day of the
year] begins to become longer…. 160
Murdock also says:
The birthday of Dionysus can be listed on both the 5 th and 6 th of January, while the god Aion who
is born on January 6 th is called by Joseph Campbell a ―syncretistic personification of Osiris.‖
Dionysus was likewise identified with both Aion and Osiris in ancient times. In antiquity too, Jesus
Christ‘s nativity was also placed on the 6 th or 7 th of January, when it remains celebrated in some
factions of the Orthodox Church, such as Armenia, as well as the Coptic Church. Concerning
these dates, Christian theologian Dr. Hugo Rahner remarks:
As to the dates, Norden has shown that the change from January 6 to December 25 can
be explained as the result of the reform introduced by the more accurate Julian calendar
into the ancient Egyptian calculation which had fixed January 6 as the date of the winter
solstice.
It thus appears that in ancient times these dates of January 5, 6 and 7 represented the winter
solstice, which is fitting for sun gods. Indeed, Macrobius later places Dionysus‘s birth on
December 25 th , again appropriate for a sun god. 161
Jesuit theologian Dr. Rahner further states:
...in the Hellenistic East, and with Alexandria evidently taking the lead, a mystery was enacted
that concerned the birth of Aion by a virgin and that this mystery took place on the night leading to
January 6. It is quite immaterial whether the object of the cult in question was really Dionysus
Aion or some other deity. Epiphanius, quoting other ancient writers, tells us elsewhere that the
birthday of Dionysus was celebrated on January 5 and 6, though in the present instance it may
well have been that of Osiris or Harpocrates-Horus. It matters very little, since the tendency in
these late Hellenistic days was for the identities of gods, all of whom were beginning to take on
the character of a solar deity, to become merged with one another. We know that Aion was at this
time beginning to be regarded as identical with Helios and Helios with Dionysus… 162
The pertinent passage in the writings of Church father Epiphanius mentioned by Rahner relates:
On this day, i.e. on the eighth day before the Calends of January, the Greeks...celebrate a feast
that the Romans call Saturnalia, the Egyptians Cronia and the Alexandrines Cicellia. The reason
is that the eighth day before the Calends of January forms a dividing-line, for on it occurs the
solstice; the day begins to lengthen again and the sun shines longer and with increasing strength
until the eighth day before the Ides of January, viz., until the day of Christ‘s nativity...
The principal of [the] feasts is that which takes place in the so-called Koreion in Alexandria, this
Koreion being a mighty temple in the district sacred to Kore. Throughout the whole night the
people keep themselves awake here by singing certain hymns and by means of the flute-playing
which accompanies the songs they sing to the image of their god. When they have ended these
nocturnal celebrations, then at morning cock-crow they descend, carrying torches, into a sort of
chapel which is below ground and thence they carry up a wooden image of one lying naked upon
a bier. This image has upon its forehead a golden cross and two more such seals in the form of
crosses one on each hand... If anyone asks them what manner of mysteries these might be, they
reply, saying: ―Today at this hour Kore, that is the virgin, has given birth to Aion.‖
Such things also occur in Petra... The hymns they sing are in the Arabic tongue and are in praise
of a virgin whom they call ―Chaamu” which is the same as Kore or Parthenos, and in praise of her
160 Murdock, The 2010 Astrotheology Calendar, 44.
161 Murdock, 2AC, 36.
162 Rahner, 139.