Celebrating Christmas?

Question

Why do Christians celebrate Christmas when it is actually a pagan holiday celebrating the sun god of the winter solstice?

I am not meaning to offend anyone.. I am just curious... if you dont like the question.. dont answer it

Answer 1

They celebrate it because a long time ago when the catholics were trying to convert the pagans they tried to make christianity more appealing by adopting the pagan's holidays and making it their own. or it could have been that although the pagans may have converted their traditions never died they just adjusted them to fit their new beliefs

Answer 2

Pagans celebrate the birth of the Son/Sun on the actual Solstice.
Christians chose the 25th as the date to celebrate the birth of Jesus the Christ.
While Christmas may have Pagan DNA we are not celebrating the same thing. Most Christian holidays fall near Pagan celebrations. I believe the dates were chosen to ease conversion.
I personally do not care what others are doing or celebrating...live and let live!!!

BTW, Christmas was NEVER a Pagan holiday.

Answer 3

I think someone else answered. Basically the church was trying to convert the pagan people to their religion. However, the "pagans" saw no reason to convert when they were happy with what they had and their holidays. And so the church basically told them that they had a holiday that was like such and such holiday. And so we get Christmas in winter, and Easter in the spring.

I find it funny (in a bad way), that later it became "Convert or Die."

On a side note, my family treats Christmas as a time to be together and show each other how much we care about each other. And we express this by giving gifts. It also seems as if we have been sucked in by the comerialization of the holiday.

Answer 4

There are many, many Pagan elements in Christianity. Ironically, Christmas is not one of them. The winter solstice just happens to be the one significant astronomical event that the Greco-Roman Pagans did not observe until well after it was an established Christian practice.

But even if it were Pagan, why would it matter? Do you honestly believe that members of a religious tradition can only practice the rites and doctrines that they made up from scratch? The early Christians went to great lengths prove that Christianity was a Pagan religion (many Pagans accused it of being a brand new religion). How ironic that modern Pagans try to prove that Christianity is Pagan, while the Christians try to prove that it was original!

Answer 5

Hi Princess Panda. God does not command us to celebrate the birth of Christ. But it is not sinful to do so. God tells us about the three wise men who celebrated the birth of Jesus in Matthew 2:10-11:

"When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. 11And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh."

The truth is pagans have many evil practices, and just because one of these evil traditions happens to be near or on the day of Jesus's birth, has no meaning what so ever.

Answer 6

Its tradition. I celebrate the birth of Jesus. I dont worship pagans. There is nothing wrong with celebrating anything as long as you celebrate it for the right reasons. You should feel ashamed for making people feel guilty about celebrating the birth of Jesus. Christmas is a joyous time of year for a lot of people, if you change anyones mind about it for stupid reasons it would be sad.

Answer 7

No, Christmas celebrates the birth of Christ. While it indeed incorporates many pagan practices that were "christianized" such as the tree from Satrunalia and other trappings, Christians only have Christ in mind during the holiday, not Samhain, Mithra, Shiva, et. al., ad inifinitum.

As an aside, Christmas is one of my least favorite holidays, I prefer Easter personally (all pagan trappings inclusive)

Ath

Answer 8

Because it was common practice in 'those days' for conquering forces to assimilate local customs into their religion. The Romans (and Greeks?) were champions at it, and the early Christians learnt from them I imagine.

That kind of festival originated independently in just about every early agrarian culture, it was generally just a matter of replacing the names of the deities involved. That's why 'Christmas' customs differ from place to place too.

Answer 9

What difference does it make really?
If they wish to celebrate the birth of their god, what is the problem with celebrating it on the day traditionally used to celebrate the birth of the god?

I think that all this peeing around the holidays, trying to lay claim to them is a bit juvenile. Let people worship when and as they wish. There is no need to keep up the pissing contest.

Answer 10

J.W's ARE Christians [ followers of Jesus Christ] and DO NOT celebrate Christmas, knowing through study of the bible that it is a pagan celebration wrongfully brought into religion.
Jesus never mentioned his birthday but definitely DID mention in the Bible to celebrate his death.
(Luke 22:19) Also, he took a loaf, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them, saying: “This means my body which is to be given in YOUR behalf. Keep doing this in remembrance of me.”