Do other Christians see the pagan influences in our holidays?

Question

i am a Christian and i can admittedly see the Pagan influences in the holidays we have to celebrate Christ. for example, Easter and its symbolism of the bunny and easter eggs. definitely influenced by pagan holidays of fertility in my opinion. also, i am not so sure that the times we celebrate these holidays are exactly when these events happened, such as Christs birth. anyone else feel this way, or am i wrong?

Answer 1

They are not really influenced, more like stolen. They decided to make the holidays fit in with the existing holidays as it is easier to get some to follow what is at least partially their own. it is the same reason they smashed pagan churches and rebuilt their own on top.

Answer 2

This is an awesome question, but you have it reversed.

Christian holidays are celebrated on Pagan holidays. This is due to the fact that Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, etc... were instituted on known "turns of the wheel" (holidays) as they were referred to originally. The people were already accustomed to celebrating during these timeframes so the Christian calendar was built around these as well. This is also true with the first churches that were built - way back then - they were built on Pagan ritual grounds, because people were accustomed to worshipping in these places. Putting up a building just created a comfortable place to hold "ritual" and worship the Lord.

Theologens have determined (or surmized) that Jesus was born in the summer not December, but what a better way to capitalize on a known Pagan holiday!! People did not have to change their time to celebrate, just what they were celebrating. Pagans worshipped Mithra's birth in Dec, so it was an easy transition to Jesus' birth!

Christmas is celebrated during Yule. Just as the Jews celebrate Hanukkah during the same time. Actually all religions around the world celebrate in some fashion during the Christmas season.

Easter and Passover are celebrated during the same cycle as Ostara - which is where the bunny comes from (look it up - it's a great story about the fertility of nature and how it transpires through all of us!!) - rebirth of the earth when all of the trees wake up from their winter slumbers and the animals start to multiple. One of my favorite hymns is "For the Beauty of the Earth" by John Rutter and it beautifully outlines how God gives us every thing we need and it explains spring better than words could ever say.

Sorry to be so long winded, but I'm so glad you asked this question!!

Answer 3

You are absolutely correct, Kelly. The Problem stems from the fact that ALL of the Christian Holy days were stolen from the Pagans in the FIRST place with the SOLE exception being Easter itself. The EARLY Church did this in order to make Pagans feel more "comfortable" about becoming Christians. Christmas was chosen for December because it occured at the time of the Winter Solstice (Pagan Yule), All Hallows Eve was chsoen for October 31st, because in coincided with the Pagan harvest fest of Samhain, and so forth. Pick ANY day that is Sacred in Christianity and you WILL find a corresponding Pagan celebration. The symbolism behind the Rabbits came from the Pagan priests who noticed that in the springtime, Rabbits were at their MOST fertile period of the year. While Rabbits are one of those creatures who are able to reproduce ALL year around, the BIGGEST litters of Rabbits tended to occur during the Spring. The same for chickens, the eggs are laid in the early spring and the hens tended to hide them all over tha place to keep them safe from predators. This activity usually began around the Spring Equinox and by the time Passover came around (the traditional date of Jesus's Death and ressurection) the hidden eggs were being still found where the chickens had hidden them and forgot where they were hidden. Easter is the ONLY TRULY Christian Holy Day because it occurs on the Passover week, which is based on the First Full Moon AFTER the Vernal Equinox. Pagans celebrate the ACTUAL day of the Equinox, so they are never going to coincide.

So YES, the answser to your question is that the early Church DID base almost ALL of it's Holy days on the Pagan Calender. It was done on purpose, BOTH to help the newly converted Christians to adapt to Christianity AND to USE the Pagan Days as a WAY of finding out WHO was and was NOT a Pagan. The Church made attendence at Church Mandatory so, anyone NOT at church on the Holy Day was either Excused by the authorities OR was off worshipping in some "UnChristian" Pagan celebration.

Hope this helps to answer some of your questions.

Raji the Green Witch

Answer 4

No, religionist (for the most part) will not recognize the origins of the major holidays. Someone here mentioned The Counsel of Nicea. That is not just a scene in the DaVinci Code. That truly happened. Constantine saw the writing on the wall so to speak and found a way to merge Paganism and the emerging Christianity. Talk about the worlds longest lasting hoax. He was the ultimate politician.

Now, since you have peeled back the first layer of the onion, continue to chip away and see what else you can figure out about religion. At the center lies the invention of God! Can you figure out who did it?

Answer 5

Anyone who has been a Christian for any length of time is fully aware of these things. As with most things in life it's not the nature of the event but the condition of your heart that matters. Something many forget is when you remove something from someone it leaves a hole that needs to be filled. The early church understood that many long standing pagan events needed to have their focus changed to help the new believer remember Jesus instead of the old ways. If you ever have to give up anything you'll find it easier to keep your focus if you replace it with something postive or something that keeps you focused on the main issue. That's why many of the Christian holidays were established. It gave the people something to replace the old religion with. It's not a bad thing. It simply means the early church understood the nature of man's psyche.

Answer 6

You are 100% correct, the things which you say are true and I am with you. The only baby born on December 25th as far as a religious figure goes was Tammuz, the baby of Semiramis (hoped I spelled that correctly) the wife of Nimrod, the king of Babel, absolutely pagan. Most of the pagan influence in Christianity was brought when Constantine merged paganism and christianity together and created Roman Catholicism. Christmas, Easter (or Ishtar) and other holidays are traditions that have no higher authority than the Catholic Church. As ambassadors for Christ, are we to take part in traditions that are sprung from demons? There is much more to this that I would not have time and space to write.

Answer 7

The pagans will have you believe that Easter and Christmas are actually old pagan festivals. What they forget to tell you is that every other day is a pagan festival so the chances of one coinciding with a Christian Holy Day are very high. They would like for us to believe this rubbish and start to doubt out faith but until we have a Christian festival every time the weather changes their arguments don't mean anything.

Answer 8

I do not pose as a christian. You are right although you see only the tip of the iceberg right now. Be aware that if you keep digging and picking at it you may find out things you really didn't expect or want to know.

Answer 9

One of Gods 10 commandments is put not other Gods before me.

99% of the holidays that man has set forth come from the origins of false Gods, easter the Goddes of fertility, christmas, if you read Jerimiah 10 he clearly tells us do not do this thing. Even mothersday origins come from the mother goddess. When people celebrate these holidays they are actually sinning against God most of them do not know it. God has Holy days and feast days that he has set up for us to celebrate, they are clearly outlinde in Leviticus 23. If God never changes that means he stays the same. The only law that was nailed to the cross when Jesus died was the law of animal sacrafice. According to the word of God all other laws still exist. You may want to check this web site it. Maybe you will understand an llitle more about God and his people.

Answer 10

Of course they are not the exact day the events happened. No one knows the exact day the events happened. What difference does it make what day they are celebrated? Days doesn't belong to Pagans or anyone else. We can celebrate our holidays on any day we like.
Kisses Betty B.