Does it ever annoy or irritate you to see so many of your religious festivals adopted by the christian church?
Or does it kind of make you smile a bit?
2007-10-31 03:00:22 · 11 answers · asked by since you asked 6 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
It used to annoy me. I guess it still does if someone is still completely ignorant of the fact. (i.e. they think Jesus REALLY was born on December 25...)
Now I think it is a good thing. Why?
I think these times of the year have been sacred for a very long time and are part of our Western Spiritual Heritage. I am glad my neighbor celebrates Yule, Eostra, etc., even if they use different names, tell different mythical stories and pray in different ways. As neighbors and as a community it helps bind us together and create a deeper sense of connectedness to one another.
So long as people practice the Old Ways and celebrate the passing of seasons while keeping an awareness of the cycles of earth and sky, there is hope that people will return to an Indigenous Spirit and a relationship with something deeper than their current religion will allow them to experience.
And that hope is a beautiful thing. The fear so many Christian churches express over Samhain (Halloween) simply serves to demonstrate their connection to the Spirit of the day, regardless of how they wish to express it.
Spirit doesn't care what we call these days, or what stories we tell, or what we call our religions or how we wish to identify our selves and our "tribe." These things come and go, but Spirit remains.
Sure, I would like a bit more understanding and cooperation between the "tribes," but for me, for today, it is enough we are still connected to something greater than the sum of our differences.
2007-10-31 03:38:29 · answer #1 · answered by Xythos 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
My religion (Wicca) is only about 60 years old, so I am confident that the Christian Church hasn't adopted ANY of my holidays. We have borrowed at least as much from ancient pagan culture as the Christians, probably more.
What really iritates me is how people people keep harping about this. Half the arguments that circulate R&S are wrong on the matter (we have no evidence that christmas trees are pagan, or that pagans decorated eggs, or that there was ever a goddess named Eostre, and while Christmas was placed on a top of a pagan holiday, the holiday in question wasn't Yule)
There's only 365 days in the year. Of course there will be overlap. There will also be a sharing of ideas. That's normal. What would be really weird was if the sharing was absent. This whole "I had the holiday first" thing really makes us look pretty childish.
2007-10-31 13:16:26 · answer #2 · answered by Nightwind 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It doesn't bother me.What makes me smile is how many Christians are convinced that everything about their religion and their Easter and Christmas and Halloween and the Harvest festivals is an original Christian idea.
2007-10-31 22:26:14 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
kind of both. Its frustrating because i hear (some) christians say they dont do halloween because its a pagan holiday, yet they still have xmas trees, they still have an easter bunny... which are just a few examples of pagan traditions adopted and minorly adjusted.
its both amusing and annoying.
2007-10-31 10:05:38 · answer #4 · answered by melissa 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
smile :) I am not a wiccan but have read on it before, and no surprize that they are so similiar. They all come from the same place Pagan influence. the Jesus fish, the cross etc :) you should watch http://zeitgeistmovie.com/ the beginging is about religion
2007-10-31 10:04:54 · answer #5 · answered by Looking for the REAL answer! 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I mean no disrespect but I am of Celtic heritage, and they are my festivals too. Wicca is not ancient. Paganism is. Wicca has adopted rituals from others too.
2007-10-31 10:08:48 · answer #6 · answered by PROBLEM 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
makes me smile a bit, it only irritates me when ignorant jerks say samhain glorifies evil or some other nonsense like that
2007-10-31 10:03:56 · answer #7 · answered by bregweidd 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I enjoy it! Let them tell themselves whatever they want to believe, we all know they enjoy Pagan things. Hypocrisy reigns in Christianity.
2007-10-31 10:03:22 · answer #8 · answered by Elphaba 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
It most likely makes them Smile alot!
I know I laugh at the monkey's who claim to believe in this and that. but Celebrate Holidays that Contradict everything they utter out their azz backwards mouth!...Yup!
2007-10-31 10:03:24 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
i just love the irony of it. they "borrowed" almost their entire religion from pagans and then turn around and say paganism is evil
jokes on them!
2007-10-31 10:09:17 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋