Plutarch says (Isis and Osiris, c. 12) that Osiris was born
on the 361st day of the year, when a Voice rang out proclaiming
the Lord of All. Horus, he says, was born on the
362nd day. Apollo on the same.

Why was all this? Why did the Druids at Yule Tide
light roaring fires? Why was the cock supposed to crow all
Christmas Eve ("The bird of dawning singeth all night
long")? Why was Apollo born with only one hair (the
young Sun with only one feeble ray)? Why did Samson
(name derived from Shemesh, the sun) lose all his strength
when he lost his hair? Why were so many of these gods
--Mithra, Apollo, Krishna, Jesus, and others, born in
caves or underground chambers?[1] Why, at the Easter
Eve festival of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem is a light
brought from the grave and communicated to the candles
of thousands who wait outside, and who rush forth rejoicing
to carry the new glory over the world?[2] Why indeed?
except that older than all history and all written records
has been the fear and wonderment of the children of men
over the failure of the Sun's strength in Autumn--the decay
of their God; and the anxiety lest by any means he should
not revive or reappear?


[1] This same legend of gods (or idols) being born in caves has,
curiously enough, been reported from Mexico, Guatemala, the
Antilles, and other places in Central America. See C. F. P. von
Martius, Etknographie Amerika, etc. (Leipzig, 1867), vol. i, p.
758.