Sol Invictus - The Festivity Before Christmas

December 25th has always been a special day, since the ancient times. Several traditions overlap  on this day: the oldest one started in the year 272 AD, when Emperor Aurelianus imported from Syria, whose legendary Queen Zenobia was defeated during the same year,  the worship of the Sun, which was widely practiced in that area of the world. The Emperor ordered the construction of a new temple on the Quirinal Hill, which was inaugurated on December 25th, 274 AD, giving officiality to this new kind of worship.
From that year on, Dec. 25th was a sacred day, namely "Dies Natalis Solis Invictus" (Day of Birth of the Invincible Sun). 

This celebration also overlaps with another "Sol Invictus" celebration, that was related to the fact that, despite the Solsitce of Winter in on December 21st, only on the 25th the first visible signs of improvement of the daylight length, and of the height of the sun over the horizon start appearing. 


Only at the end of the 4th century AD, when the celebration of Christmas started officially (the Edict of Theodosius of 380 AD banned all worships other than Christianity), the day of December 25th, after several centuries was turned from a late Pagan festivity into one of the most sacred days for Christianity.


Merry Christmas everybody!
  

Santa Maria Maggiore - 2 - The World's Most Ancient Crib

The ancient Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore has more to offer beside the wonderful mosaics, the Cosmatesque floors and a legendary history, it also keeps a little hidden treasure. 

In the underground museum, accessible from the first door on the right hand side of the Basilica, beside a small treasure made of precious objects for the celebrations, like chandeliers, books and gold-embroidered clothes, in a niche in the wall stands a group of small statues, made of white marble, about 50-60 cm (2 ft) tall. The little statues, which resulted from examining by the experts to have been detached former high reliefs (two of the Magi Kings are still attached to a special backdrop made of painted marble), while the rear sides of the figures are made of a much coarser craftsmanship compared the the rest of the works. 

It is also interesting to note how St. Mary's Statue has a very different style from the other characters: at a closer glance, it looks like a Renaissance artwork; this is partially true, because the statue has been modified in the 16th Century, possibly to repair some damage suffered by the artwork, as proved by closer examination of the faces of the 2 characters, whose imperfection shows that is not a brand new sculpture, but a modification of a pre-existent one.

This artwork, made by the famous Florentine sculptor Arnolfo di Cambio in 1291 AD, is considered to be the first "non-live" Crib (Nativity Scene), after that the custom of the Crib was ontroduced by San Francesco from Assisi, earlier in the same 13th Century, using real people and live animals to make the Nativity Scene. 


Related Link: http://viewsofrome.blogspot.com/2011/08/miracle-of-snow-birth-of-basilica.html