For reasons unknown to ordinary humans, there were many miraculous births of gods and demigods on this date in history. I do see that the above could be redundant, because any birth of any god would be somewhat miraculous but these were, each of them phenomenal in some manner as to the procreation and or birthing. Beyond that, many were presanged or attended by variouos celestial phenomena and other signs and wonders. I have listed those that I'm aware of from "southwestern asia", aka "the middle east". God only knows (HEH) how many there were outside of that relatively small area.

Gods and demigods who had miraculous births on December 25 with approximate years of birth:

Horus, 3,000 bce
Zarathustra, 1,000 bce
Krishna, 900 bce
Hercules, 800 bce
Mithras, 600 bce
Dionysus, 500 bce
Thamuz, 400 bce
Hermes, 200 bce
Adonis, 200 bce
Jesus Christ, 0 bce

The followers of all but one of these were pagans. The followers of the other one were periodically exhorted to go forth and exterminate or convert all pagans and heathens, even those arising far outside of the borders of that small patch of earth. They generally did a pretty good job of it too. Off the top of my head, the Albigensians (Cathars), Old Prussians, and Taino were among the exterminated, while the descendants of the Kievan Rus were largely, after a long time, converted. The tide may be shifting currently due to a resurgence of paganism, the advance of various empirical belief systems, and the growth in numbers of "others". Beyond that, many self styled followers of the one true god are, in reality, totally devoted to Mammon.

So, go forth and celebrate or worship whom and what you will, or, alternatively;

"An it harm none, do what ye will."

For all of that, give me Yosa Buson, an Edo poet and painter often ranked with Basho, who died this day in 1784.

When the autumn wind
scatters peonies, a few
petals fall in pairs

or perhaps

Calligraphy of geese
against the sky-
the moon seals it.

Meanwhile

On this day in history:

274 -- A temple for Sol Invictus was dedicated in Rome
336 -- First recorded celebration of Christmas (in Rome.)
496 -- Clovis I of the Franks, was baptized as a Catholic
800 -- Charlemagne was coronated Holy Roman Emperor
1492 -- Columbus' flagship, The carrack Santa Maria, ran onto a reef off Haiti
1758 -- Halley's Comet was sighted, confirming Halley's prediction
1776 -- Washington crossed the Delaware at night to attack at Trenton, New Jersey, the next day
1809 -- The first ovariotomy, removing a 22 pound tumor
1815 -- The Handel and Haydn Society (US) gave its first performance
1831 -- The Great Jamaican Slave Revolt started.
1868 -- Andrew Johnson granted an unconditional pardon to all Confederate veterans (moving on, as they say)
1946 -- The Soviet F-1 nuclear reactor began Europe's first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. *****
1951 - The home of two civil rights leaders was bombed, causing their deaths
1968 -- Apollo 8 did the first successful Trans-Earth injection (sending the astronauts back to earth)
1977 -- Begin met with Sadat in Egypt
1991 -- Gorbachev resigned as President of the Soviet Union, which dissolved the next day
1991 -- Ukraine's referendum was finalized and Ukraine officially left the Soviet Union.
2021 – The James Webb Space Telescope was launched

****** It and its successors failed to produce energy too cheap to meter, unlike in the US where, as promised in the fifties, we've been producing energy too cheap to meter since, uh, well, uh ....

Some people who were born on this day:

I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people.

~~ Isaac Newton

1642 -- Isaac Newton, physicist and mathematician (old style date = Julian Calendar)
1776 -- Sydney, Lady Morgan, author
1821 -- Clara Barton, nurse, founded the Red Cross
1878 -- Louis Chevrolet, race car driver and businessman, co-founded Chevrolet
1886 -- Kid Ory, trombonist and bandleader
1889 -- Lila Bell Wallace, publisher, co-founded Reader's Digest
1890 -- Robert Ripley, anthropologist, cartoonist, and publisher (Don't believe it)
1899 -- Bogie
1907 -- Cab Calloway, singer, songwriter, and bandleader
1913 -- Tony Martin, singer
1918 -- Anwar Sadat, politician, won a Nobel for bringing peace to the middle-east
1924 -- Rod Serling, screenwriter and producer
1937 -- O'Kelly Isley Jr., singer and songwriter
1939 -- Akong Rinpoche, Tibetan-Chinese spiritual leader
1942 -- Barry Goldberg, keyboard player, songwriter, and producer
1945 -- Noel Redding, singer,songwriter, and bass player
1946 -- Jimmy Buffett, singer, songwriter, guitarist,
1948 -- Barbara Mandrell, singer, and songwriter
1954 -- Annie Lennox, singer & songwriter
1957 – Shane MacGowan, singer and songwriter, pogues

Some people who died on this day:

1. When I stand in front of a canvas, I never know what I’m going to do – and nobody is more surprised than I at what comes out.

~~ Joan Miro

1635 -- Samuel de Champlain, soldier, geographer, and explorer
1784 – Yosa Buson, poet and painter,
1938 -- Karel Kapek, Czech author and playwright
1946 -- W. C. Fields, genius
1977 -- Charlie Chaplin, ditto
1983 -- Joan Miro, painter and sculptor
1989 – Benny Binion, Go read his bio
1995 -- Dean Martin, singer and actor
2006 -- James Brown, singer and songwriter
2008 -- Eartha Kitt, singer
2011 -- Jim Sherwood, saxophonist, inventive mother
2016 -- George Michael, singer
2016 -- Vera Rubin, astronomer

Some Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such:

Christmas

Today's Tunes

Louis Chevrolet

Kid Ory

Cab Calloway

O'Kelly Isley Jr

Barry Goldberg

Noel Redding

Jimmy Buffett

Barbara Mandrell

Annie Lennox

Shane MacGowan

Dean Martin

James Brown

Eartha Kitt

Jim Sherwood

Bonus:

Fantasy

Reality

Ok, it's an open thread, so it's up to you folks now. So what's on your mind?

Cross posted from http://caucus99percent.com

Open Thread, Sol Invictus, Kid Ory, Cab Calloway.Tony Martin, Isley Brothers, Annie Lennox, Eartha Kitt, Jim Sherwood, Noel Redding, James Brown

EDIT - fixed last song