Should Christians Celebrate Christmas and Easter?

Question

Both Christmas and Easter were pagan holidays that were not celebrated by the Church, until the Romans gained control of the Church in 325 A.D. December 25th has nothing to do with Christ's birth, instead it is the Roman goddess Saturn's birthday. Easter is holiday named in honor of Estore the Anglo-Saxon goddess of Spring. Knowing this history, shouldn't Christians take a stand against these pagan observances? What does a decorated tree, snow and Santa Claus have to with Christ? What does a Bunny, colored eggs, hot cross buns have to with Christ? Even more puzzling, what does Good Friday have to do with Christ? By the way he did not die on Friday, he was crucified in the middle of the week, and was and the grave for 3 days and 3 nights just as the scripture states, just as Jonah was in the belly of the fish for 3 days and 3 nights. He was crucified on Wednesday at around 3:00 PM and arose Saturday Evening after sundown. His Grave was discovered empty early Sunday Morning.

Answer 1

You are right about Christmas and Easter. they are both Pagan holidays. And Alexandra The Great made Christmas a 'Christian' holiday, (the day when Jesus Christ was supposed to be born), to appease the Pagans. Then the Roman Catholic Chruch adopted this as well.

But Christ was crucified on the cross on the day before the Jewish Holiday of the PASSOVER . The accounts of the Apostles, all say that Jesus told them to go and prepare a room, so that he might celebrate the Passover meal with them.

It was the morning after the Passover that He was handed over to Pilot and crucified. And He rose again on the 3RD day. The Bible states that they had to bury Jesus before making preparations for the Passover, which is celebrated on the Jewish Sabbath, which is Saturday. The Jewish Sabbath Day begins at 6PM on Friday and ends at 6PM the next day.

Jesus himself said he would rise again on the 3RD DAY, which brings us to Sunday. Although he did make reference to Jonah. he never actually said he would be dead for three days.

I believe Christians should be celebrating the death and resurection of Jesus on the same dates as the Jewish Passover, according to the Jewish calendar. Which varies and some years ago, actually fell on the same day as Easter. We should not celebrate Easter according to the Gregorian Calendar, which we now work on.

As for Christmas, again, no one knows the exact date of Jesus's birth, Christmas, as you say is a Pagan holiday. If Christians want to celebrate Christmas Day, then I believe their focus should be on the celebrating the gift God gave us, with the birth of Jesus, holding that above all the hype of presents etc. And I believe that it is the responsibility of Christian parents, to emphasise this to their children.

Some Christians just ignore Christmas as just another holiday.

It is also interesting to note that all the great events that happened in Jesus life, happened in conjunction with important Jewish Feast days. Chanukka the Festival of Lights is the closest to December 25th. However, other scholars put his birth date at around November some time.

Answer 2

Actually, although we took the name Easter from the ancient pagan celebration, the timing is biblically correct because we are following the jewish calendar.

And I don't buy that just because there were pagan holidays before that it somehow invalidates the Christian celebrations. More to the point, it shows how the early Christians were able to bring new believers into the fold and adapt a new religion to the world.

And not all Christians refer to Easter as Easter. In many other countries, Easter is known as Resurrection Day. And Jesus was not crucified in the middle of the week. The Sabbath begins on Sundown on a Friday and they needed him to be dead by then in order to put him in the tomb. That's why it took three days for the women to come with the oils, they had to wait for the Sabbath to be over.

Answer 3

Hello,

Christianity was in fact smart to leave some of the pagan vestiges in the cultures the christianized to make the transformation to a new religion easier and understandable when they could equate certain concepts back to their former gods. You got the festivities that you described through to the Day Of The Dead in Mexico so colorful and fun. Pagans knew how to have a much better social time and throw better parties and that is why the Jews in the old tetament got waylaid by them at times.

Leave things as they are, let there be some enjoyment in celebrating God and Jesus. Why ruin good times and celebrations we have in the Christian religion thanks to some Roman religion ideas? We all have to put some time in here on earth in spite of eventual salvation so I say forget those stuffy Puritanical or Calvinist attitudes:

No parties, no wine, no dancing, no entertainment, no excitement of Christmas and Easter, merriment and holiday seasons... why live?

Cheers,

Michael

Answer 4

Excellent history lesson. Christmas and Easter, as we celebrate it, is not pagan. Neither is Halloween but that's my personal pet peeve. I think (and I respect what you've said) that taking a worldly event, even pagan event, and making it about Jesus is honoring Him. Christmas should be about Christ's birth first. If we want Santa to come later, so be it. But Christmas is all about Jesus. Easter should be about His Death first. If we want the Easter bunny to come later, fine. But the holiday itself is all about Jesus. And Good Friday just gives us an extra day off for the weekend but a lot of people think it's three days including Friday and Sunday. The Bible's not very specific on the subject and it takes some study, as you've done, to reach the correct conclusion. But in the end, I think we need to honor God in everything we do. Since Easter and Good Friday, and especially Christmas, is such a big part of our lives, I think we should make it about Jesus.

Answer 5

I celebrate 24/7. It's all religious to me. What's up with more celebrating? I like to celebrate having some time with friends for a break and that's a religious experience too. So much of this other stuff all came out of the dark ages by Romans who killed Christ in the first place and then burned Christians of their day. I'm not saying the church today is the same, but back then they were the pagans, calling themselves Christian killing Christians. I think we should wash ourselves of all that.and start over. Christ talked against the traditions of men. Is it OK to display a swastika today because Hitler was a nominal Christian. I think part of the problem today is kids relating the tooth fairy and God as another fairy tale we told them. They need to trust us, no games.

Answer 6

I see nothing wrong with celebrating either as long as the focus is kept on Christ instead of Santa Claus and the Easter bunny.

Answer 7

that was Christendom's strategy: spread out and conquer. eh, so what if we took over a holiday or four. and Easter, we take three days for, not just the one.

hot corss buns? never heard of them being associated with any Christian holiday. the wabbit and the fatman, not Christian at all.

Biblically, yes He was crucified on friday, as it mentions the day following being the Sabbath, and He rose on the first day of the week. it was death at 9 PM Friday, and awakening at 3 (just after dawn it says) on Sunday.

Answer 8

A day begins in the evening and ends the following evening.

Genesis 1:5  And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Notice the order, "...the evening and the morning were the first day...".

GOD bless

Answer 9

any one can celebrate anything
who cares what they are really about it is a time to celebrate not to pondor on why Christians celebrate these holidays even if they werent really true to dates
and its the middle of august in between the 2 said holidays why not wait until it is closer to one of them to ask

Answer 10

You are correct that Jesus died on Good Wednesday.

I don't celebrate Easter. I do celebrate the day Jesus rose from the dead.

I also celebrate the birth of Jesus, just like the angels did when he was born.

If its ok for angels to have a party to celebrate the birth of our Messiah, why is it wrong me?

Pastor Art