The origin of Christmas

Your mantra for the week:
“The Christ within me (not Jesus, but the Father) is my ever constant guide.”
Christmas is in the air, and people have been asking for more information about the Christ title. Where did it originate, and how long ago?

My research shows that the Christ title began in Egypt in 350 BC. The Gregorian calendar did not exist at that time, but it was precisely at the moment Virgo was rising on the east horizon and the sun was in 4° of Capricorn that Egypt celebrated the consecration of the pregnancy of a virgin and the birth of her son Serapis Christus, who was presented in a cradle for the adoration of the people.

In today’s calendar, that would be Dec. 25.

The Egyptian God Serapis means the Father of Fire, and Christus represents the presence of God in man. His bishops were known and recognized as the Bishops of Christ.

As I had mentioned in a previous column, Christ means the spiritual Higher-Self of every individual—the Perfect Man idea existing eternally in the Divine Mind.

Further research led to Robert Taylor’s—not the Hollywood actor but the British author of “Diegesis”—exhaustive examination that in antiquity, the birth of the God Mithra, an allegorical type of the Sun, was represented to have taken place in a stable and was celebrated throughout the northern world at midnight on Dec. 24. The 25th is the most celebrated of pagan festivals.

Notice that astrology has a very similar thing to say. At the very exact time that Mithra was being birthed by his virgin mother, the constellation Virgo (the virgin) was rising on the east horizon at midnight, presiding over the birth of a son in the stable of Augias, the station of the celestial goat Capricorn.

It is also the Jesus of Nazareth story, and 1,500 other personalities that had exactly the same background as Jesus of Nazareth (Please watch part 1 of “Zeitgeist—The Greatest Story Ever Told” on YouTube for confirmation).

They were all born of a virgin on Dec. 25, with 12 apostles; and they all rose not on the third day but on the third sign after Capricorn, which would make it the sign Aries or the first day of spring.

In ancient times, the first God that humanity worshipped was the sun, and many believe that in the evening God died and rose again as the sun rose.

The most well-known of these personalities was named Zoroaster, who lived in Persia at least 600 years before the time of Jesus. Legends have it that he was born of a virgin, and about the age of 30, he went about preaching that God is good and he was our Father.

He urged people to think good thoughts, speak only good words and do a lot of good deeds. Also, that at the end of time there will be a resurrection and final judgment. Furthermore, he also healed the sick and cast out demons by his spoken words. The established priesthood at that time had him killed, and his followers believed he rose to heaven.

Later, these followers formed a religion based on his life. It was called the Zoroastrian or Parsi religion. Zoroaster’s teachings have a striking similarity to the Jewish and Christian beliefs in resurrection, the devil, angels, demons, the final judgment, paradise (which is the Zoroastrian word for heaven) and hell.

According to the gospel of Matthew, Zoroastrian priests or Magi brought gifts to the baby Jesus—known as the Epiphany or the Three Kings story.

I trust that this column will serve as an epiphany for many readers. Have the Merriest Christmas ever, for this is a celebration of all that is good—good thoughts, good words and good deeds, while remembering that good is synonymous to God.

Christmas tree lighting

This week,  Peninsula Manila and  Dusit Thani hotels lit their Christmas trees in their respective lobbies. The one of Peninsula was outstanding because of its enormity in width and height, like only a lobby such as Peninsula’s can manage.

Dusit Thani, on the other hand, had several Christmas trees of different heights bundled together. And to make the evening truly festive, it featured Jose Mari Chan singing his popular Christmas carols. He moved around serenading the guests of honor—Ms Universe Philippines Mary Jean Lastimosa, Bb. Pilipinas International Mary Anne Bianca Guidotti, Bb. Pilipinas Tourism Parul Shah, Bb. Pilipinas Intercontinental Kris Tiffany Janson and Bb. Pilipinas Supranational Yvethe Marie Santiago.

That evening, general manager Alex Willats welcomed the guests who filled the lobby dressed in their Christmas best. He then proceeded to introduce management icon Evelyn Singson—president and vice chair of Philippine Hoteliers Inc., the company behind Dusit Thani—who officially “lit” the trees, followed by a shower of gold and silver confetti to add glitter to an already sparkling evening.

Surprisingly, Ilocos Norte 2nd District Rep. Imelda Marcos was in the lobby and not in the Club Bulakenyo ball which she usually attends.

After the lobby event, I had dinner with friends considered family at Tosca at Dusit Thani’s Mezzanine. The dishes specially prepared by chef Mauricio were gourmet-excellent. To top it all, he made sure to serve cantucci. After all, “What would dinner be like without cantucci,” he said, chuckling.

‘Happy in this country’

The palatial residence of the suave and friendly German ambassador Thomas Ossowski was brimming over with 150 guests, mostly of Teutonic origin, during a send-off reception for Miss World Philippines Valerie Weigmann, who left on Thursday to represent the country in the Miss World beauty pageant, to be held in London on Dec. 14 (Dec. 15 Philippine time).

Yesterday, Nov. 22, was Valerie’s birthday, the start of her first cycle where one can expect blessings in both expected and unexpected ways—an advantage devoutly to be wished by anyone. Bring home the crown, Valerie!

My short conversation with the bachelor ambassador Thomas revealed that he is about to get married next year to his fiancée, who is also in the diplomatic service in Thailand.

I also found out that Thomas had Polish blood and that he was Cancerian, making him the perfect host. He was full of compliments for the Philippines and its people, especially its beautiful women. “I am so happy to be in this country,” he said.

Andy Bautista’s PCGG

I am so elated that the PCGG under Andy Bautista is slowly recovering a treasure trove of paintings from the Marcoses, even if Imelda claims they are just copies. Will the PCGG ever get to the art collection of the one who was doing the purchasing of Imelda’s collection of local masters? This person reputedly was buying on the basis of “one for her and one for me”—and kept the better ones.
What comes to mind is the anecdote about Rico J. Puno and the former First Lady, who once patronized Rico’s bar lounge.

When he recognized her, Puno enthusiastically said, “Congratulations Madame Marcos, you’re such a genius to have escaped jail for as long as you have.” She kept her cool as usual. Like the above-mentioned purchases, malaya pa rin siya (she is still free).

Dummies, dummies, dummies—ang dami nila. Why do rich people allow themselves to be used as dummies? There are so many new malls and condominiums that allegedly belong to only one couple, and yet, some rich people are fronting for them. Is it greedy living, or are they just plain dumb-my?

Hilmarc and DMCI

Talking with Jorge Consunji, president of DMCI, has revealed the following information about the much talked-about Torre de Manila. It is a 46-story (not 40-) structure with 700 units and 700 parking slots, at the cost of P35,000 per sq m.

Let us now compare this to the allegedly overpriced Makati City Hall building two, which is a relatively simple structure with five floors of parking spaces and five floors of offices—built, according to lawyer Renato Bondal, at P84,000 per sq  m.

What should surprise everyone is the fact that Hilmarc won the Iloilo Convention Center contract and beat DMCI in its bid. Why did Hilmarc Construction costs suddenly plummet and become so competitive? Is there such a big difference between the Makati and Iloilo environments? Will the cost of materials and labor change so dramatically from Makati to Iloilo?

Hilmarc management, please clarify. The people need an explanation, and soon. If this is not done, you will find yourselves over the hill, with no music whatsoever.