A question to pagans: How come almost everyone tries to copy you guys?

Question

Your holidays and rituals.... and stuff YOU KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT :)

Respectfully,
Muslimah!

Answer 1

because we had dibs on all the fun stuff!

Answer 2

Do I ever. The most frustrating thing is when the Christians claim that the only thing "taken" from Yule was the date, which is so very not true. To quote another good Wiccan on this site,

"Stating the Christmas is based on pagan roots has so much more to do with the date. It has to do with just about every other aspect of all the traditions associated with Christmas:

The colors, red and green, are the colors of the Holly King (the Oak King dies at Samhain and is reborn at Yule...hmmm....God King is born in the middle of winter....)

The tree is directly taken from pagan roots. Pagans used to bring a live tree into the house as a safe haven for woodland spirits during the cold night.

The use of mistletoe is pagan. The green celebrates the fertility while the white berries directly represent semen, or the potency of the male of the species. Holly berries represent the potency of the female because they symbolize menstruation.

Gift giving is pagan. During the winter it was commonplace to leave meat, bread, drink and clothing outside your home for any person or animal passing by that needed food, drink, or clothing. This evolved eventually into giving gifts inside the home.

Burning the yule log is directly pagan in origin. Images of what families wanted in their lives with the coming spring - prosperity, health, a good harvest, love - were carved into the log, which was then burned. Saving a piece of the yule log to start a fire the following solstice was considered good luck.

Decorating a mantle is pagan in origin. Pagans often brought fresh greenery inside and laid them across the mantle, lighting candles to signify the fertility that would be returning with the spring, and to symbolize the sun, which appeared for the shortest amount of time at any point in the year.

When the Puritans were running around burning witches, they tried to get everything that we think of as a "traditional" Christmas celebration banned, since they knew these traditions were pagan in origin."

Answer 3

Because all religions borrow from beliefs that came earlier. It's just a natural part of the creation of a religious system. Christianity took from various pagan religions, and various pagan religions took from even older ones (just study the influence that the Greeks, Etruscans and other cultures had on the Romans).

Personally, as a pagan, I really wish other pagans would quit whining about how "ZOMG they stole from us!!!!" Yeah, and why don't you look at the origins of the four Watchtowers in a Wiccan circle casting, or the concept of Karma, or the various "traditional" altar tools like the pentacle, sword, chalice and wand.

(BTW, those various elements came from the Golden Dawn, other than Karma, which stems from Hinduism.)

Answer 4

Can i give an example.....

Origins of the Christmas Tree:

Pagan traditions: Many Pagan cultures used to cut boughs of evergreen trees in December, move them into the home or temple, and decorate them.
Modern-day Pagans still do. This was to recognize the winter solstice -- the time of the year that had the shortest daylight hours, and longest night of the year. This occurs annually sometime between DEC-20 to 23. They noticed that the days were gradually getting shorter; many feared that the sun would eventually disappear forever, and everyone would freeze. But, even though deciduous trees, bushes, and crops died or hibernated for the winter, the evergreen trees remained green. They seemed to have magical powers that enabled them to withstand the rigors of winter. Not having evergreen trees, the ancient Egyptians considered the palm tree to symbolize resurrection. They decorated their homes with its branches during the winter solstice.

The first decorating of an evergreen tree began with the heathen Greeks and their worship of their god Adonia, who allegedly was brought back to life by the serpent Aessulapius after having been slain.

The ancient Pagan Romans decorated their "trees with bits of metal and replicas of their god, Bacchus [a fertility god]. They also placed 12 candles on the tree in honor of their sun god" Their mid-winter festival of Saturnalia started on DEC-17 and often lasted until a few days after the Solstice.

In Northern Europe, the ancient Germanic people tied fruit and attached candles to evergreen tree branches, in honor of their god Woden. Trees were viewed as symbolizing eternal life. This is the deity after which Wednesday was named. The trees joined holly, mistletoe, the wassail bowl and the Yule log as symbols of the season. All predated Christianity.

Answer 5

It works out all of the way through. Islam is not guiltless.
Christianity took a great many traditions and altered them to fit where ever they could. Islam took our people killed our men raped and enslaved our wives and destroyed our temples.Christianity did it too.
Living the life of humility and being humble has it's penalties.

Respectfully

En Tis Blethec.
In all things be blessed.

Answer 6

Because those are things their religion might be lacking. Take for example Christianity, they originally did not have all the fun holidays nor did they have any rituals. The Christians originally integrated those things because they were trying to convert more people over to their religion.

Answer 7

OK, speaking as a pagan:

I have no idea why someome religions tried to wipe paganism out while "borrowing" its holy days, concepts and places of worship. Perhaps they knew it was a good thing but saying so directly would lose them their power.

Nowadays it's "cool" to celebrate halloween etc because it's seen as fun and non-religious. Some pagans find this irritating, but I don't mind - we (my local group) just go off and celebrate properly while everyone's out having a good time.

And respect to you too!

Answer 8

Pagan beliefs came first. It is easier to rework things already in practice, especially when you are trying to convert, than to try and convince people to accept totally new ideas.

Answer 9

pagan religions and practices came first no matter what the uneducated, shallow-minded Christians believe

Answer 10

imitation is the sincerest form of flattery