How many pagan holidays did Christianity co-opt???

Question

For that matter, how much of Christianity is original at all, and how much is stuff taken off the shelf and re-packaged? Is there a rough percentage?

Answer 1

both of Christianity's major holidays - Easter and Christmas - are pagan in origin.

Answer 2

Contrary to the so-called x-wiccan who really has no real historical knowledge and the wesbite he quotes is mostly based on speculations and propaganda, several of the basic Christian holidays are based on older festivals, however none of them are based on neo-pagan holidays. I doubt anyone is going to claim that certain holidays are based on neo-pagan beliefs. None of the holidays are even based on celtic or general pagan holidays, they are almost all based on holidays that were originally Roman. I will use Christmas as my first example. It is NOT based on the celtic festival at around Yule, nor is it even a solar festival. Like many of the altered holidays, it was originally a Roman holiday that takes place on December 25th, known as Saturnalia, the festival for the god Saturn. The date of Jesus's birth is not mentioned in the bible, but the approximate month can be discovered. In the bible, the sheppards were out with their flocks at night. This is not something that happens in december, but rather happens even to this day at around the middle to end of may. So the date Jesus would have been born would have been somewhere in late may. Christmas was used by the early Roman church to replace one of their biggest festivals, Saturalia, which even at that time had some of the traditions we use today such a gift giving and parties. There are many more, most of them being Roman or Egyptian, but definately not Celtic, Neo-pagan, or Wiccan holidays. I think this one is a good enough example. Lord AmonRaHa

Answer 3

Your question is extremely big, how much did Christianity take from other beliefs?

The short answer is most of it, and I know that answer woul will not opu be lar popular with Christians, however much of the New Testament is simply stories from pagan belief at the time, Greek mythology, Roman mythology, and even Hinduism.

When Constantine assembled the Bible and the Christian faith, we must remember that as the all supreme Emperor that he had to appeal to his subjects both near and far. It is natural that he made selections from the beliefs including a little in from many areas throughout the Empire.

This included the holidays that we know as Christmas time and that we know as Easter and even the period before Easter that Christians celebrate as lent.

Answer 4

I ditto Joa5

and I will add my own:

Halloween, Samhain

Easter, Ostara

Christmas, Yule

May Day, Beltane

Groundhog Day, Imbolc

Valentine's day, Candlemas

Its ironic though,thinking of this..most Chrstians turn their nose up in superiority
at Paganism..yet, when asked most don't know that their holidays come from Paganism ..and that we don't judge people..

I think personally..Chrstianity needs to take a look at where their roots came from, and adopt some of our "life" ways..
I'll stop too, I have no java in me yet, but I could go on.

Answer 5

Most of the traditions Christianity has is from Paganism. But that's unavoidable... Paganism was part of the entire culture, everything in Society was "Pagan". Pagan/Heathen means Gentile in a Biblical sense. The stories given have Pagan written all over them. I believe a lot of that, though, was so Christianity, which was a new religion, would be accepted among the majority of that time... Pagans. =)

Answer 6

Christians took the following Pagan holidays:

Ostara - Easter

Beltane - May Day

Samhain - Halloween (All Saint's Day)

Yule - Christmas

Not much about Christianity is original, except for the idea of a jealous God. The idea of Jesus (a demi-god dying for the salvation of humanity) is seen in the Pagan Gods such as Mithra, Odin and Ra. Even the story of Noah was taken from the Pagan demi-god, Gilgamesh.

I could go on, but I just woke up. *yawn*

Answer 7

Sofia is Bulgaria's capital and its greatest city. Sofia was established 1000s of years ago and today is a city that remains to produce because the country's social and financial hub and now you could have the opportunity to visit it hotelbye . Sofia preserves several important monuments to its long and storied past. Readers discovering the city's roads can easily see remnants of The Eastern Gate from the times when Sofia was Serdika and Sredets, relationship from the 2nd-4th centuries CE. These remains are exhibited in the underpass connecting the Presidential Palace and The Ministerial Council, surrounded by shops selling conventional Bulgarian souvenirs and rosewater. The Saint Sofia Basilica is one of many treasures of Sofia. Is one of the oldest churches in the capital and was the city's major church throughout the Middle Ages, and under the Ottomans it had been used as a mosque.

Answer 8

Yule-Christmas
Imbolc-Valentines, Groundhog Day
Ostara-Easter
Litha-Father's Day
Lughnasadh-No major holiday assertion
Lammas-No Major Holiday Assertion
Sowen- Halloween, All Saint's Day, Veteran's Day

I realize not all of these are Christian, but I get my point accross.

Answer 9

I cannot think of one thing about christianity, that is NOT, in fact a "repackaged" version of something from Pagan origins. What most people don't seem to know is that the word "Pagan" just means "country dweller" and refers back to just the regular folk of a distant past time who, understandably, were totally ignorant of just about everything relating to the natural planet, and the anatomy of its functions, you might say. They applied their colorful imaginations to think up explanations of their own revolving around good and evil forces, and entities. You had to do certain things to please the "good spirits" and perform certian rituals to repel the "evil spirits", and if you didn't goof up too badly, you'd probably get by ok.
This fundamental premise is the exact same one that people are still locked into, only in a different, and much more sophisticated form. And, of course, the whole thing evolved into there now being basically just one "good spirit" (god) and one dirty rotten scurrilous one (Satan) Christianity latched on to the original Pagan rites and rituals, attached its own meaning to them to fit the newly repackaged religious concepts, and here we are today.
The contents of the box are pretty much the same, only the labels have been changed to confuse the innocent.

Answer 10

The religion is based off of older religions.

The holidays are pagan. A few examples are:
-Christmas- actually pagan roman.
-Easter- a fertility festival.
-Valentines day- A celebration of pagan rome to honor the activites of birds.