Why do some people consider Christmas a pagan holiday?

Answer 1

because christmas was a pagan holiday.

Christmas Dec 25th. No clue who came up with that date but it isn't correct. Jesus was born in the spring time with flowers blooming and songs singing, so says the bible. Even in Israel, that still translates to April-ish not December. It snows in Jerusalem in December.

Before Christmas was Christmas it was known as Appollo's birthday as well as Mithras. Both popular religious sects in Rome, before Christianity was founded (yes I did just say founded, read up some) There was an old belief that the Holly King and the Oak King were born opposite one another on the yearly cycle. The easiest way to explain this idea is the winter king and the summer king. winter king was born in December (or snow) so that his rule would be transfered at the height of summer. summer king was born in the height of summer so his crown would transfer at the height of winter. Appollo was thought to be the holly/winter king and his birthfeast was afixed to december. more than likely around the solstice December 20th or 21st. As Christianity absorbed these sects the traditions came with them. the apple was the signature fruit of Appolo.

Now the celebration of Christmas had always been a somber and less than joyful celebration. In the English area, the commoners celebrated Yule, while the nobils or rather highborns celebrated christmas....they were christians. Once Christianity became the adopted form of religion Yule was prohibted, but again since Christianity was a Roman creation....it followed the roman ways, adopting things and calling it theirs.

The Christmas celebration had always been much tamer in the Protestant homes as they concentrated on the sacrifices Jesus made, until....

One English Queen married a German Nobil and the German Tradition (which was really a leftover from the Viking Era) was the Christmas tree. This now German born English King refused to give up his winter/yule tradition and thusly the Christmas Tree tradition was born as everyone wanted to be like the Queen.

Then in the early 18th century, Christmas became a little less formal and more of a family affair about brotherly love and so forth.

Christmas has seen a huge change since it's inception. Anything to party and have fun, right? Every reason is a reason to get together.

Answer 2

Christmas started off as a pagan holiday. It is celebrated around the Winter Solstice (Dec. 20 or 21).

Man has always been afraid of the dark. So the holidays and celebrations around mid- December center on bringing in light into the world.

Hannukah, which is in December is the Festival of Lights.
Christmas is in December: Christ is the Light of the World.

Christmas (Dec. 25) was Mithra's Birthday. Mithra was a pagan god to the Romans.

When Christianity began to spread, some of the Christian leaders used pagan holidays to woo converts.
Easter began as a pagan holiday,too. (dealing with rebirth and spring).

Sometimes it was easier for converts to "move" over to another religion when the practices and holidays were similar to theirs.

Answer 3

Christmas itself is not a Pagan holiday.....however the Christmas tree is, in origin, Pagan.......It most likely comes form the time when christian and Pagan religions were having intense conflict.....as a result some aspects merged together......
The Pagans, during the winter months used to "pray" to evergreen trees for the return of the sun and spring as the tree maintained its green, life like qualities when all other trees appeared to be dead. The time of year that the Pagans participated in these practices was closely linked by the Christians to the birth Christ.

Answer 4

Conquering empires reform old exsisting rituals into the new belief system. It is easier to change minds a little at a time.

Christains were conquers of the Pagans, which is really a catch all phrase for many of those old world religions.

Wicca celebrates 4 major holidays every 3 months, cyles of earth's seasons kind of thing , and 4 more minor ones.

One of these major Pagan Holidays lines up around Christmas.

Answer 5

The alignment of planets that made the "Star of Bethlehem" that signaled the birth of Jesus happened in June, not in December. My mother is an Astrologer, and she knows this. The Catholic church needed a holiday in late December to convert pagans to Christianity because the 21st of December is the pagan Winter Solstice, the shortest day/longest night of the year. It was a BIG pagan holiday. So they decided that the birth of Jesus should be celebrated near that time.

Actually, alot of Christian holidays were arranged for that reason. That is why many of them fall near the date of pagan holidays.

Answer 6

Christianity incorporates many Pagan beliefs because early Christians wanted to differ their religion for converts. Paganism is a very "environmental" religion in that Pagans believe in the natural beauties. For example, Phi (equal to about 1.6666....) was placed in the bible as evil. 666 was recognized as the sign of the devil. The pentagon which has the ratios of Phi was also portrayed as the sign of the evil. The winter solstice is December 21st, however, the exact date wasn't always known. (The winter solstice is the shortest day of the year) Christmas is not in itself a Pagan holiday, however, the date, and some traditions, are rooted in the Pagan celebration of the winter solstice.

Answer 7

Many of the traditions were taken from Pagan practices and Christmas is celebrated in December only to overshadow the Pagan celebrations in an effort to convert Pagans to Christianity.

Makes one question the real motives of Christianity.

Answer 8

well Christmas by definition isn't a pagan holiday... but as someone else answered the Romans took Apollos celebration just to convert the pagans to Christians. How our society celebrates xmas is usually the same as how they have celibrated Yule (a pagan holiday of celebrating the shortest day of the year and the sun god coming and being born, very close to christian beliefs) long before people celebrated christ.

Answer 9

We (pagans)celebrate Yule around the 21st Dec as part of the winter solstice. Christians and Catholics wanted to convert everyone to there way of thinking and so decided to adopt Christmas and have it around that time, but not be the same. Sort of like a blending in. The same could be said about most Pagan and Christian holidays e.g. Easter

Answer 10

Most of the customs and even the date for Christmas was "borrowed" from previous pagan celebrations like Yule (still used to refer to Xmas) and Saturnalia. These holidays both celebrated the Birth of the Sun God because the days started to get longer after the longest night on Winter Solstice. The decorated trees, went caroling, made wreaths, gave each other presents, drank eggnog and plenty of ale, some sacrificed pigs and ate them (we still eat ham for Xmas dinner, except the one year my mom burnt the ham and we went out for pizza, but we got canadian bacon on the pizza so it was still pork related.). The only things that have not been authenticated as Pagan customs are Candy Canes and fruit cake and frankly you can have them. Leave it to the Xians to think of such a vile substance as fruitcake. I'd take my mom's stullen anyday and that was made in Pagan times. Yes, I'm German. We eat alot of German food.