Christians please stop monopolising our Pagan Holiday. It's got nothing at all to do with Jesus. Find out when Jesus was born or died and make those your Holidays....Then we can all have more .
2006-12-25 06:32:51 · 33 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I am a Christian and I agree with you 100%. Christians should pick another day to celebrate the birth and resurrection of Christ. I would like to take this following year and have all Christians stand together in unity and not participate in these pagan holidays.
2006-12-25 06:38:42 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Excellent point it is of pagan origin as are many of the holidays Take Easter for example " there is no indication of the observance of the easter festival in the New Testament or in the writings of the Apostolic Fathers the sanctity of special times was an idea abscent from the minds of the first Christians " Encyclopedia britanica 1910 Vol III p. 828 2. A great many pagan customs celebrating the return of spring gravitated to easter the egg is the emblem of the germinating life of early spring the rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility" the catholic Encyclopedia 1913 Vol V p227 3. the term easter is not of christian origin it bears its Chaldean origin on its very forehead easter is nothing more than Astarte one of the titles of Beltis the queen of the heavens whose name as found by Lanyard on the Assryian monuments is Ishtar such is the history of easter the popular observances that amply attend the period of its celebration amply comfirm its Babylonian characted the hot cross buns of goood friday and the dyed eggs of pasch figure in the Chaldean rites as they do in easter. The two Babylons by Alexander Hislop New york 1943 Pages 103,107,108 see also Jer 7:18 enjoy this one Gorbalizer
2006-12-25 06:48:05 · answer #2 · answered by gorbalizer 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Every religion borrows from earlier religions and beliefs system. Wicca has more taken from ceremonial magic such as the Golden Dawn and Thelema than from any supposed Ancient Cult of Wytchcrafte (Margaret Murrays theories, BTW, were largely wrong). Christianity borrowed from a number of older pagan religions. Those religions borrowed from even older ones--the Romans, for example, pretty much engulfed the Greek ways, as well as many of the other cultures they conquered.
Modern pagans need to quit complaining about how "Christians stole our holidays!" We're not ancient Celts or Mithraists, and we're just as syncretic as anyone else. Pagans quite happily call the Four Watchtowers (Golden Dawn) while eating cakes and ale (while sacrifices are ancient, this particular manifestation is pretty much taken straight from Christianity's wine and wafers) and believe in reincarnation (Hinduism and Buddhism). We may also participate in sweat lodges (various Native American cultures) and pound on drums in three or four-beat patterns (much of modern pagan drumming stems from African drumming styles brought to America by Mickey Hart, the drummer for the Grateful Dead). And some pagans even work with the Kabbalah (Judaism).
Stop worrying about what the Christians are doing, and pay attention to your own path. Older does not necessarily mean better, nor does it confer legitimacy.
2006-12-26 11:52:23 · answer #3 · answered by Lupa 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I will agree with you that the timing of Christmas was set by the church to co-opt the celebration of the winter by pagans. The actual timing was probably sometime in the spring (which is the only time that sheperds would have been watching their flocks by night.).
However, the timing of Easter is closely related to the Jewish Passover. Jesus was in Jerusalem to celebrate that holiday when he was crucified. So the timing of Easter is not an attempt to co-opt some pagan festival, but rather it does reflect the time of year when Jesus death and resurection occurred.
2006-12-25 06:48:05 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Actually Jesus was born in the fall, around the Biblical feast of Succot. And yes you are right, Christmas and Easter have nothing to do with Jesus. they are pagan, originally invented by Constantine in an effort to unify Christianity and paganism. But the original feasts were pagan. Easter was a spring equinox feast to the goddess of fertility, Ishtar. Hence the rabbit and eggs (symbols of fertility). Christmas was a feast to Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture. Jesus was added to the mix to keep both religions happy. this way pagan converts to Christianity could keep their pagan rituals.
2006-12-25 06:57:31 · answer #5 · answered by shorty 2 · 3⤊ 1⤋
It might be helpful to check out history. Constantine did indeed create Christmas out of a pagan holiday. The pagan day was 12/21, winter solstice. He chose 12/25 to lure the pagans away and unify the empire. Many customs have their roots in the pagan holiday. Since Easter is not related to a pagan date, your point is difficult to identify.
Now a question, are you suggesting pagans are so intolerant they would be unwilling to share a day? Perhaps they can learn from Christians who are quite willing to let pagans have today off and feast.
2006-12-25 06:47:25 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
The Catholic Encyclopedia makes right here admission: “Christmas replaced into no longer between the earliest fairs of the Church." "on the line to Civilization", website 164: “The ceremonial dinner of Saturn, the Saturnalia, replaced right into a wintry climate pageant which lasted a week beginning up on the twenty-5th day of December, and replaced into celebrated with dancing, the replacing of presents, and the burning of candles. The Saturnalia replaced into later taken over by employing the Christians as their Christmas, and given a sparkling magnitude.”
2016-10-06 00:17:47 · answer #7 · answered by kinjorski 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
How much study do you need to do before you become a paid up pagan?
The tradition of celebrating Feast Days in the Christian Religion are firmly entrenched. I don't think there is any possibility of anyone changing them now.
2006-12-25 07:52:41 · answer #8 · answered by Raymo 6 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Looking at the first few replies fills me with dismay because you have missed the point of it all
It does not matter the exact date of Christmas or Easter. The fact is that both events resulted out of Gods love for the world. He gave Jesus to be the saviour of our world and to bring love and forgiveness and reconcile to the world to God his heavenly Father. Read John ch3 v16. For God so loved the world so much that He gave his only begotten son so that those who believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life'
2006-12-25 07:37:59 · answer #9 · answered by jay or 2 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Who are you all trying to kid. The ONLY God worshipped at Christmas (as Easter also) is MONEY, via un-controllable consumerism, debt and trivia!
So forget all the other calls on Christmas and accept what we have ALL made it!
2006-12-25 06:45:33 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋