how much do holiday traditions have to do with christianity?

Question

for example, i think most everyone knows that christmas trees are a pagan symbol as opposed to christian. but what about exchanging gifts, kissing under the mistletoe, singing carols, etc? and on easter, is there a religious significance in painting and hiding eggs? i grew up catholic and always celebrated holidays in these ways because it was "the thing to do". but now i wonder what the connection is, if there is a connection at all. if anyone knows of any good websites that address this, please share. i've looked, but still have questions. thanks!

Answer 1

You are correct in saying that the Christmas and Easter traditions are pagan. Every single characteristic of these holidays is in fact pagan.

Non-Biblical Holidays
http://godkind.org/pagan-holidays.html

Answer 2

I think the exchanging of gifts was adopted because of the 3 wise men giving gifts to the infant Jesus. However this had more of a symbolic meaning of the diety of Jesus... the gold representing purity, and the frankensense and myrh representing his sacrifice and burial.

I think the mistletoe, red and green colors and also gift swapping came from the Roman observance of Saturnalia which occured around Dec 25th.

Easter eggs came from the pagan worship of Astarte, the female goddess of fertility and sexual freedom. They used to hide eggs and go hunt for them, and when found would have an orgy on the spot, in hopes of getting pregnant as I understand it. In the Bible this religion was called Ashtoreth, and is also known in other nations as Diana, Isis and Aphrodities. Check out www.religoustolernace.org for a full explanation on the origins of these holidays.

It is true the Catholics helped introduce these pagan rituals into Christianity. They tried to convert pagans, sometimes by force, yet allowed them to retain some of their traditions (kind of like making a deal with the devil in order to increase numbers). Today it seems the traditions have overpowered Christianity. In effect the Catholics have preserved these pagan religions.

Answer 3

Many of our modern Christmas traditions began hundreds of years before Christ was born. Some of these traditions date back more than 4000 years. The addition of Christ to the celebration of the winter solstice did not occur until 300 years after Christ died and as late as 1800, some devout Christian sects, like the Puritans, forbade their members from celebrating Christmas because it was considered a pagan holiday. So what is the history behind these traditions?

The Christmas tree is derived from several solstice traditions. The Romans decked their halls with garlands of laurel and placed candles in live trees to decorate for the celebration of Saturnalia. In Scandinavia, they hung apples from evergreen trees at the winder solstice to remind themselves that spring and summer will come again. The evergreen tree was the special plant of their sun god, Baldor.

The practice of exchanging gifts at a winter celebration is also pre-Christian and is from the Roman Saturnalia. They would exchange good-luck gifts called Stenae (lucky fruits). They also would have a big feast just like we do today.

Mistletoe is from an ancient Druid custom at the winter solstice. Mistletoe was considered a divine plant and it symbolized love and peace. The tradition of kissing under the mistletoe is Druid in origin.

The Scandinavian solstice traditions had a lot of influences on our celebration besides the hanging of ornaments on evergreen trees. Their ancient festival was called Yuletide and celebrated the return of the sun. One of their traditions was the Yule log. The log was the center of the trunk of a tree that was dragged to a large fireplace where it was supposed to burn for twelve days. From this comes the twelve days of Christmas.

Even the date of Christmas, December 25, was borrowed from another religion. At the time Christmas was created in AD 320, Mithraism was very popular. The early Christian church had gotten tired of their futile efforts to stop people celebrating the solstice and the birthday of Mithras, the Persian sun god. Mithras’ birthday was December 25. So the pope at the time decided to make Jesus’ official birthday coincide with Mithras’ birthday. No one knows what time of year Jesus was actually born but there is evidence to suggest that it was in midsummer.

Answer 4

http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/christmas/christmas-symbols/index.html

Here is a website meant to explain the diff symbols for kids. There are arguments as to what the old original exact symbols represented but this is a pretty good site of what they are meant to represent today in regards with christmas.

Answer 5

To me they are all about family and friends, not Christianity. But they are however you make them.

Kissing Under the Mistletoe http://landscaping.about.com/cs/winterlandscaping1/a/mistletoe.htm
Easter Eggs http://inventors.about.com/od/estartinventions/a/easter.htm
Pagan Origins of Christmas http://www.zenzibar.com/articles/christmas.asp
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1750574/posts

Answer 6

For your answers that are critical...and talk about what history says...etc.....and mention pagan beliefs...etc... Just remember ALL HISTORY is written by man.....and is slanted...in his beliefs...so whatever you read other than the God Inspired Holy BIBLE.....will be an opinion of a person....what they view as history...remember the old game that you would whisper something to one person...then it would be passed on to others...and at the end result...it was something totally different than what you originally said...this is how history is written.....

Answer 7

Jesus was born in sept most of that rituals associated with Tammuz's birthday (dec 25th) are pagan

do you want to please God or learn the way of the heathen? Jeremiah 6

Answer 8

They are all related to pagan beliefs...The early church Fathers felt christianity would be more acceptable.