Why do pagans take Christian holidays and try to pretend they were stolen from pagan holidays?

Question

I think that some people may believe everything they google : )

Answer 1

Few people realize that the origins of a form of Christmas was pagan & celebrated in Europe long before anyone there had heard of Jesus Christ.

No one knows what day Jesus Christ was born on. From the biblical description, most historians believe that his birth probably occurred in September, approximately six months after Passover. One thing they agree on is that it is very unlikely that Jesus was born in December, since the bible records shepherds tending their sheep in the fields on that night. This is quite unlikely to have happened during a cold Judean winter. So why do we celebrate Christ’s birthday as Christmas, on December the 25th?

The answer lies in the pagan origins of Christmas. In ancient Babylon, the feast of the Son of Isis (Goddess of Nature) was celebrated on December 25. Raucous partying, gluttonous eating and drinking, and gift-giving were traditions of this feast.


Not to mention Mithras.

1. Mithra was born of a virgin on December 25th in a cave, and his birth was attended by shepherds.
2. He was considered a great traveling teacher and master.
3. He had 12 companions or disciples.
4. Mithra's followers were promised immortality.
5. He performed miracles.
6. As the "great bull of the Sun," Mithra sacrificed himself for world peace.
7. He was buried in a tomb and after three days rose again.
8. His resurrection was celebrated every year.
9. He was called "the Good Shepherd" and identified with both the Lamb and the Lion.
10. He was considered the "Way, the Truth and the Light," and the "Logos," "Redeemer," "Savior" and "Messiah."
11. His sacred day was Sunday, the "Lord's Day," hundreds of years before the appearance of Christ.
12. Mithra had his principal festival of what was later to become Easter.
13. His religion had a eucharist or "Lord's Supper," at which Mithra said, "He who shall not eat of my body nor drink of my blood so that he may be one with me and I with him, shall not be saved."
14. "His annual sacrifice is the passover of the Magi, a symbolical atonement or pledge of moral and physical regeneration."
15. Shmuel Golding is quoted as saying that 1 Cor. 10:4 is "identical words to those found in the Mithraic scriptures, except that the name Mithra is used instead of Christ."
16. The Catholic Encyclopedia is quoted as saying that Mithraic services were conduced by "fathers" and that the "chief of the fathers, a sort of pope, who always lived at Rome, was called 'Pater Patratus.'"



In Rome, the Winter Solstice was celebrated many years before the birth of Christ. The Romans called their winter holiday Saturnalia, honoring Saturn, the God of Agriculture. In January, they observed the Kalends of January, which represented the triumph of life over death. This whole season was called Dies Natalis Invicti Solis, the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun. The festival season was marked by much merrymaking. It is in ancient Rome that the tradition of the Mummers was born. The Mummers were groups of costumed singers and dancers who traveled from house to house entertaining their neighbors. From this, the Christmas tradition of caroling was born.

In northern Europe, many other traditions that we now consider part of Christian worship were begun long before the participants had ever heard of Christ. The pagans of northern Europe celebrated the their own winter solstice, known as Yule. Yule was symbolic of the pagan Sun God, Mithras, being born, and was observed on the shortest day of the year. As the Sun God grew and matured, the days became longer and warmer. It was customary to light a candle to encourage Mithras, and the sun, to reappear next year.

Huge Yule logs were burned in honor of the sun. The word Yule itself means “wheel,” the wheel being a pagan symbol for the sun. Mistletoe was considered a sacred plant, and the custom of kissing under the mistletoe began as a fertility ritual. Hollyberries were thought to be a food of the gods.

The tree is the one symbol that unites almost all the northern European winter solstices. Live evergreen trees were often brought into homes during the harsh winters as a reminder to inhabitants that soon their crops would grow again. Evergreen boughs were sometimes carried as totems of good luck and were often present at weddings, representing fertility. The Druids used the tree as a religious symbol, holding their sacred ceremonies while surrounding and worshipping huge trees.

In 350, Pope Julius I declared that Christ’s birth would be celebrated on December 25. There is little doubt that he was trying to make it as painless as possible for pagan Romans (who remained a majority at that time) to convert to Christianity. The new religion went down a bit easier, knowing that their feasts would not be taken away from them.

Christmas (Christ-Mass) as we know it today, most historians agree, began in Germany, though Catholics and Lutherans still disagree about which church celebrated it first. The earliest record of an evergreen being decorated in a Christian celebration was in 1521 in the Alsace region of Germany. A prominent Lutheran minister of the day cried blasphemy: “Better that they should look to the true tree of life, Christ.”

The controversy continues even today in some fundamentalist sects.

Answer 2

Sorry, but you're WAY WAY off on this one. There is ample historical evidence for the authenticity of most Pagan holidays.

Christmas is dated on the Solstice. Christ was born in September or October. The Solstices and Equinoxes are well known ancient celebrations.

The date of Easter and the passover are calculated as astrological dates. They are not fixed. That means that you are moving the date of the resurrection based on the first new moon of the spring.

All Saint's day was a fairly new holiday placed to coincide with Samhain. This is another very ancient holiday. It is quite known to predate Christianity in Europe.

Valentine's day coincides with an earlier fertility ritual in Rome.

Why do we know these things? Because before Europe was completely conquered by the Romans, Roman historians wrote about these things. When Christianity came to Europe, Christian writers wrote about the practices of these people.

It's not simply crap that people google.

Pagans today (at least the more mature ones) take great care in trying to be as authentic as possible. We don't jump on simply whatever someone else writes. There are authors that we trust, but still we do our homework.

We know that agrarian societies relied on the cycles of the sun and moon. It was necessary to guarantee a harvest. We know that they concidered certain place holy because we find offerings there. We know of certain oral traditions because they were actually written down by Christian invaders.

Please don't insult our traditions simply because they make you feel uncomfortable. Some who have researched traditions have done less than scholarly work, but the same holds true for Christianity. The point is that we know which scholars are lacking, and we are constantly evaluating new research.

The Christian critiques of Pagan holidays are somewhat lame for the most part. In the end, their arguments boil down to "Pagan religion is new, so they can't claim the holiday" or "It doesn't really matter what date Christ was born on, we are simply celebrating his birth". Really....

Modern Paganism (excluding aboriginal traditions) is new, but we base our beliefs on something much older than Christianity. Christians like to discount Pagan claims of families that held traditions through the ages. They also disocunt the possibility of recreating the tradition. Still, newer Protestant churches will claim that the Catholics weren't real Christians, and that the church had to be recreated from Biblical principles. These do just what they claim Pagans can't. Go figure.

Lemme guess... you googled to find out if Pagan holidays were real... or worse yet, you believed someone in a church without checking his or her sources. Right?

Answer 3

There is no such thing as a Christian Holiday! Christmas is a man-made holiday. It was a "Pagan Holiday" that was renamed and has no BIBLICAL REFERENCE at all. In fact, the first century church never mentions celebrating Christ's Birth, only HIS Death, burial, and ressurection at the Last Supper. Paul said that this is to be done on the First Day of the Week. Have a great holiday anyway.
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Answer 4

Welllll,
I don't see anywhere that Jesus discussed what to celebrate or what times of the year to celebrate...... Or talked about such celebrations being wrong.

Constantine did command the Roman Catholic Church to schedule holy days at the same time as local pagan holidays, so as to discover the locals who were not following the Church only, and thus be able to target them better.

The true Christian (as in, by the teachings of Jesus) basis for Christmas is questionable, the tru Christian basis for Easter is laughable....the one thing Jesus asked, that those who followed Him would remember Him when they ate and drank, most people who celebrate Christmas, and Easter, and Good Friday seem to forget.....


Furthermore, it's not just the holidays, but a lot of the terminology......

"Washed in the blood of the lamb" was an actual ritual of Mithraism hundreds of years before the night of the nativity.

Answer 5

For the most obvious example, Christmas:

Presuming the truth of the Gospel, Jesus would not have been born on or near December 24; nor anytime in *winter* for that matter. The events surrounding his birth don't add up to the season. So why do christians celebrate his birth at that time?

The easiest answer is that it would ease the transition of newly converted 'pagans' by maintaining a sense of the traditions they were already used to holding.

Answer 6

Now, why do I get this feeling that ignorance and prejudice are as lethal a weapon as a nuke is?
I am a Christian, and I don't make fun of your question. Here's what an unprejudiced opinion could answer:
1. Could you testify for certain that Christ was born on December 25th? If so, you'd be well ahead of our best christian historians who can't even assess that Year 0, was that one when Jesus was born.
2. Could you prove with facts that no culture or religion was celebrating the Winter solstice (i.e. around December 21st) before Christ was born? If so, you'd deserve worldwide recognition for a major breakthrough in our knowledge of history.

That made, you might discover that "believing everything they google" probably tips off balance on your side.

Merry Xmas, anyway

Answer 7

i have been nice until not but you are really showing yourself to be an either a troll or an idiot here.

Fact, Pagan religions came first.
Fact, 90 % of all Christian rituals and customs are adopted from
Pagan customs and traditions.
Fact, This is not Google this is simply History. and can be proved
even through the architecture of ancient Christian
churches.
Fact, Christmas was derived from the feast of the sun, and
the Winter solstice. the feast of the sun gave them the
tree, and the winter solstice gave them the "decorations of
pine and holly trimmings." Wassail, and gift giving.
Fact. Christianity is well known for adopting the customs of any
land that they conquered. this is what made turned it into a
Pagan religion itself. (they do worship a triune god now)

i could go on here, but i think that either you are a troll trying to get a rise, or that you are just that brainwashed that i would need an industrial jackhammer to preform the lobotomy that you need.

Answer 8

They were pagan holidays, and the reason they try to incorporate them with ours is so after several years the generation wont know why there celebrating. Like now most people celebrate Christmas as a time for shopping and materialism and don't know or care about Jesus. Here is anther example: Easter is the name of a pagan Deity , she is the goddess of fertility and that's why they use the bunny eggs because it symbolized quick like a bunny, this is more Hinduism or Babylonians, and the christian holiday is really pass over, about the time the spirit of death passed over the children of Israel. the 10 commandments movie,

Answer 9

Christmas and Easter are pagan in nature, the Catholic Church created their holidays to coincide with the pagan holidays in an attempt to bring in the pagans and instead they contaminated Christianity. That tree, those wreaths and the garland, were all used by pagans to ward off evil spirits from their homes, as well as the lights(they used candles and oil lamps).

Answer 10

So? this is usual. evaluate the Roman and Greek pagan religions sometime--the Romans took a TON from the Greeks--as properly because of the fact the Etruscans, Egyptians, and various different cultures they overran. Christianity borrowing from in the previous religions isn't something new. And in case you desire to talk approximately borrowing, you're able to learn the place Gardner have been given the fabric for Wicca sometime--loads of Golden break of day and Freemasonry textile in there.

Answer 11

lol, so if event A occurs before event B. Event A & B correlates and shows causation. Then event A must of been takened from event B? That makes completely no sense. Also Jesus's alleged birth was during the spring time. Christian Theologians gathered this from contextual clues from THE BIBLE!