Why do christians celebrate holidays that are Pagan in origin???

Question

Both Xmas and Easter are originally Pagan holidays. Since Christianity views Paganism as evil, why bother celebrating a holiday that has Paganism at its roots????

Just one of the many sites explaining the Pagan origns of Xmas...

http://de.essortment.com/christmaspagan_rece.htm

Just one of the many sites explaining the Pagan origins of Easter...

http://www.religioustolerance.org/easter1.htm

I think I'm gonna let this one go to the voting crowd. There are so many really good answers here that I can't choose just one. Good luck everybody.

Answer 1

They were Christianized at some point so that now they reflect church holidays. Typically it was made into the feast day of a particular saint and thus any worship on that day can be rationalized in therms of the church's fathers.

Answer 2

There are two differing theories on this. One is that the Christians began celebrating their holidays at the same time as the Pagans and the pagans joined in. The other is that the Christians forced the Pagans to convert their holidays to Christian ones. The truth may never be known because the Christians destroyed whatever records from that time. The fact that no one bothered to even note the date of Jesus birth until three hundred years after it is indicative that it is a lie. Historians mostly agree that the circumstances described in the bible point to his birth being closer to September. If he was such an important person in his time, why would no one record his birth date?
In any case, Christmas as it is “celebrated today” is now a mish mash of many different cultures, from many different eras. It does not in anyway reflect the way that Pagans or Christians celebrated as recently as 30 years ago. It has evolved over the millennia into a bickering, hate filled, disgusting reason to pick a fight with someone. I remember Christmas as time when families came together. People tried to help someone in need, just because it felt good.

Answer 3

Remember when as a childe, ya may have fibbed or recreated a story to suit what you wanted or stay outta trouble? It is not the best comparison, but in many ways christains have lived the lie for so long, they have begun to believe it and all the propaganda that goes along with it. I know there are good folks of all faiths and I am not trying to bash here, but atleast christains should honestly admit where the roots of many of their holidays came from. Even as Pagans we adopted traditions of other cultures throughout history through inter-marriage or travel or war, but we absorbed the teachings and Deities into our lives and made them our own without denying their roots. I am of the belief if christains were more honest on this issue(and I do not mean deliberate dishonesty....but check out the history and get the facts), there may be a better understanding between Pagans and christains

Answer 4

You are right, Adam. Several holidays like Christmas were not originally "Christian" holidays which were created for the purpose of honoring God. They are secular in orgin, and most people are unaware of that.

Even some songs, which are today considered some of the classic hymns of the Christian faith, such as "A Mighty Fortress is our God" and "Away in a Manger" were originally drinking songs that Charles Wesley re-wrote the lyrics to.

I think that is likely the best explanation to the question you raised. In the early days of the Church, Christians lived in a society that was very oppressive and hostile to their beliefs. They were often poor, and didn't have access to copies of the Bible, church buildings to gather with other believers, or good teaching by qualified members of the clergy every Sunday. So the practice of celebrating "Christianized" versions of secular holidays was begun to give believers an encouraging, inspirational alternative to what was typically practiced - just as new lyrics to common melodies could be used to teach and inspire people of the faith, and promote unity with fellow believers.

Christ was not born on December 25th in the year 1. The actual date is unknown, and believed to be somewhere between between the years 8 and 4 BC based on the calendar we use today. But the fact that Christmas has been celebrated worldwide for centuries with a myriad of customs and traditions testifies that adding a spiritual component to the once-secular holiday really did catch on, didn't it?

Hope this helps.

Answer 5

Have you ever heard of the genetic fallacy? I'm providing a link.

Although Easter has Pagan origins, when Christians celebrate Easter, they are not pouring those pagan meanings into their celebration. Instead, they are celebrating the resurrection of Jesus.

Likewise, though Christmas has pagan origins, Christians do not pour those pagan meanings into their celebration. Instead,they are celebrating the birth of Christ on Christmas.

There's nothing wrong with celebrating the birth of Jesus or the resurrection of Jesus, even if those celebrations happen on the same day as people used to celebrate other things.

Answer 6

This is getting boring here is a Clue Christians celebrate Christian holidays which just happen to fall on the date as Pagan celebrations I think it's kind of sensible myself different people celebrating different things on the same day

Answer 7

Christianity has a long history of colonialism and evangelism. When converting a population to Christianity, Christians often ran into difficulties convincing their subjects to abandon their previous, non Christian, religious ceremonies. The solution was to declare the day of the non Christian ceremony a Christian one. This way, the population the Christians wanted to convert could continue with the ceremonies that were tightly woven into their society, yet still adopt the new order.

That being said. Christmas and Easter honor the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If you manage to convince Christians that those are actually “pagan holidays” you will have achieved a feat equaled only by the Christians themselves.

Answer 8

Most people blindly follow traditions; and so, fail to see the contradictions in their own beliefs and practices.

The adaption of pagan practices by the early Christians was a strategy to help convert non-Christians (if you can't beat 'em, join 'em); and from then on, these practices have been handed down from generation to generation until the real origins of these have been forgotten or at least no longer believed.

If it was difficult then for the early Christians to convince the people to stop these pagan practices, it would be harder now that Christians have already integrated these practices into their own beliefs and traditions.

Answer 9

from what I have gathered, it is due to a king. He was tired of the Pagans and wanted more to follow in what he believed so he started taking the Pagan holiday's and spinning them into Christian holiday's. Dec. 25th is not a "birth" day, the "birth" was in Aug or Sept, they aren't real sure. It is just another way of turning to conform people who know there is more out there then just the one thing.

Answer 10

One reason the Jesus followers celebrate pagan holidays (Christmas, Easter, Halloween) is because when St Patrick returned from his missionary trip and started converting Ireland from Celtic/Pagan believes to Christian they refused to give up their holiday celebrations. So the only way he would be able to get them to believe in Jesus was to add the pagan holidays to his Jesus belief.

Answer 11

Interesting answers; some seem bitter, some downright blasphemous.

n the early days of the Christian Church, Christians were persecuted, haranged, murdered in droves for following the teachings of CHrist. As the church gained momentum and grew in popularity, Christians began encountering other religous groups, pagans if you will, in their effort to spread Christ's message to the world. In some of the more entrenched religions, Christians transplanted their own celebrations, feasts, holy days, overlaying them on already existing feast days known to the "pagans" converting to Christianity. This practice, which is NOT exclusive to Christianity, allowed those new to the following to more easily adapt to the new way of doing things, and the new beliefs.

Other "borrowed" practices include the garments worn within the Roman court, as well as the Roman hierarchy, ostensibly to denote and easily recognize who held what position in the church. Roman culture and society was also the origin of the diocesean model, with small organizations of the church within the overall church.

EDIT: Joe Fleeman's answer is a good case in point; Joe claims to Messianic, and celebrates Jesus' resurrection during PASSOVER, which was originally a Jewish or Hebrew holiday celebrated within the Jewish Church to remember the slaves flight from Egypt; the Angel of Death, sent by God, struck down the first born of Egypt, buy spared those of Israel. Passover is now celebrated within the Christian Church when remembering Christ's Last Supper with his disciples prior to his crucifixion. Does the fact that this was originally a Jewish holiday negate the significance of this holiday to those of the Christian faith??