Re: What's with this religeous "christmas" thing?
It has been argued that our ancestors would not have noticed the lengthening of the daylight until some time after the Winter Solstice. Given the unreliability of sunshine on the day for Stonehenge etc - then devising some form of dead reckoning would have been useful.
Humans, like many animals, are intrinsically inclined to form cooperative hierarchical authoritative groups. They also have inbuilt wishful thinking about life's challenges. Organised religion is the result - and is exploited by many for social control of others under the guise of providing "protection" as long as you profess the shibboleths.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
