Xmas, Mahavrata etc (was Holi); also spam.

[Vidhyanath K. Rao]

If the Chrismas Party atmosphere is assigned to Saturnalia etc, why is that
every Christmas brings half a dozen or more theories about the Star of 
Bethlehem, without any mention of the obvious theory, given the coincidence
of date with the Feast of Mithras, proximity to Day of the Invinsible Sun etc.?

Turning to Mahavrata: Are the abhigara and apagara always identified
with the arya/aarya and shudra, two combatants for the Sun symbol?
(note the distinction between arya and aarya). And is the use of a shudra
for the other side original or an innovation? Peter Snoy, in an article
titled ``Last pagans of the Hindu-Kush'' (I have a xerox copy with no
indication of the source; page numbers are 520--529) refers to a
``vigorous combat between a `pure' and `impure' person'' as an important
feature of the winter solstice festival of the Kalash, the last non-Muslim
tribe in NE Afghanistan/NW Kashmir. I borrowed a copy of ``Solstice Paien''
(rather the English translation, apparently the only copy of either the
original or the translation in university libraries of Ohio) by Loude and
Livre, a book length report on the same. Unfortunately some pages
were replaced duplicates of earlier pages. Otherwise there was no such
incident mentioned there. I will have to look this up, but I don't
remember this being mentioned in the only other reference on this festival
that I know. Perhaps some member of Indology with access to an
intact version of Solstice Paien can shed further light.


-Nath