How many pagan rituals, or customs, are in Christmas?

Question

this is not ment for a fight, just wondering. i would get a little offended when some one would say "happy holladays" real offended when i would hear "merry Xmas" to the point i would say "ba humbug" amungst other things.

To me its "Merry Christmas"
the celabration of the birth of Jesus.

so, the question is, because i am curious, as to how many pagan rituals have infiltrated Christmas? And who´s bright idea was it to take Christ out of Christmas and put an X?

another question,

How would you feel if some one crashed your birthday party and said, "you are no longer invited" and on your cake, takes your name out and puts a big X?

I am just wondering? asking where the X came from and why its such a crime to say

"MERRY CHRISTMAS"

ok, well,
i am trying to understand it more, to be more prepaired. next time some one says happy holadays or merry xmas, i won´t be so quick to jump, or get upset.

as i said, i am just asking, in advance to be more prepaired.

i know Jesus was not born in December, i believe he was born in October, just after the harvest:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%202:1-7;&version=9;
it would not make any since to tax people in the spring, when they are planting the fields, it would make more since to tax them after the harvest, and that was around the time Jesus was born.

i also asked those questions to my pastors, and the final answer i would get from any of them was this:
its the end of the old year and right next to the new year, its the best time to celabrate the birth of Jesus.

so, what is the next best thing to do?
any one who has already answered, feel free to change your answer if you like. i would like to understand it more so i am not so offended.

Answer 1

Chistmas is not about the birth of Jesus Christ. The forms and ceremonies of paganism gradually crept into the worship. Some of the old heathen feasts became church festivals with change of name and of worship. About 405 AD images of saints and martyrs began to appear in the churches, at first as memorials, then in succession revered, adored, and worshipped. The adoration of the Virgin Mary was substituted for the worship of Venus and Diana; the Lord's Supper became a sacrifice in place of a memorial; and the elder evolved from a preacher into a priest.... The church and the state became one when Christianity was adopted as the religion of the empire, and out of the unnatural union arose two evils, one in the eastern, the other in the western provinces. In the east the state dominated the church until it lost all energy and uplifting life. In the west ["Rome,"], the church gradually usurped power over the state, and the result was not Christianity but a more or less corrupt hierarchy controlling the nations of Europe, making the church mainly a political machine.......Here is the untold story about Christmas. http://www.ucg.org/booklets/HH/christmasuntoldstory.htm

Answer 2

you're an fool. How is Christ's Mass a pagan holiday? because of the fact it became into placed around a similar time as yuletide and different pagan holiday journeys? Please. What greater desirable use can money have than to make human beings chuffed? what's faulty approximately present giving? the concept of giving presents at christmas comes from the clever men bringing presents to jesus, and jesus' doctrines which coach to be charitable. Santa Claus won't take human beings to hell. he's an exaggerated legend in reaction to saint Nicholas, and is only meant for little ones. do you be attentive to anybody above the age of 8 that unquestionably believes in Santa Claus? Easter is the party of jesus' resurrection. i will admit that the easter bunny and egg hunts come from pagan custom; in spite of the incontrovertible fact that it extremely is relaxing for the little ones and would not go against any coaching interior the bible. What injury does it reason? Are you asserting which you, a meant "christian", do no longer have fun jesus' delivery and Resurrection? the two you're a useful troll, or a severely under knowledgeable and evil guy or woman. the two way you ought to loosen up and do a splash analyze, and specifically, end JUDGING human beings. Being judgmental IS a sin and is very taught against interior the bible. you ought to take a number of those judgmental attitudes and direct them inwards in the direction of your self. problem approximately your self, no longer others. enable god cope with something. this could yield you lots greater desirable fruit.

Answer 3

you have it quite backwards- pagan traditions have not "infiltrated" Christmas- The whole Christmas feast was pagan to begin with - Christians began to worship God in the way of the pagan rather than in the way that God ordained for them to do so.
We were never told to celebrate Jesus' birthday- we were given a feast , ordained by God to celebrate Jesus and his purpose here.
Jesus was not born on December 25th , Jesus is no longer a baby ion a manger and should not be worshiped as such.
Say Merry Christmas all you want but know that it is the position of the earth on it's axis that is the 'reason for the season'

If one chooses to use this time of the year to preach the gospel and be a witness, fine, but don't get angry or defensive when the nonbelievers (who have been celebrating long before Christians were even tempted to participate in this feast of the flesh) want to continue observing without the Christian additions.

Answer 4

It was originally a pagan holiday for the worship of Saturn, where they drug in trees and decorated them with silver and such, the Christians wanted their own day to celebrate the birth of Christ but the government of the time didn't want them taking another day off work so they told the Christians they could use the same day as the Pagans.
I work a job that involves the Federal Government and by Law I am forbidden from using "Merry Christmas" because it might offend non-believer and atheists and the like so I am required to say "Happy Holidays" instead, this applies to any Holiday. I don't who the idiots are that started using "X-mas" I suspect it was probably atheists as they seem to be fond of calling Christians "Xians", I think that is just ignorant and rude.

Answer 5

Why pick on Christmas. Our culture is Judeo Christian Greco Roman.

For example, is our marriage biblical? No. It is Roman. We have one man one woman as oppose to one man many women.

Is the US Constitution a biblical document? No. Again. Senate comes from Rome and Congress comes from England's Parliament.

What about owning slaves. Yes, that is biblical.

Need I go on.

Xmas is a time to celebrate Jesus birth. Jesus was born in September 4 BC, so both the month and the year are wrong. Gift giving, etc. is not biblical.

Answer: If you expect to be without pagan rituals or customs, you clearly forgot the the Kingdom of God is not of this world.

Answer 6

As to your "birthday party" example, how would you feel if someone crashed your Saturnalia and told you that you had to stop celebrating, convert to a new religion, or die? Christmas was not invented until thousands of years after the Winter Solstice was celebrated. Why should anyone respect the birthday of your god when it a) never happened on that date and b) was an obvious attempt to usurp the current religious atmosphere?

The Winter Solstice did not infiltrate X-mas, the Christians infiltrated the Winter Solstice. Don't you think it is wrong to steal other peoples holidays and then get upset when they don't recognize the usurpers?

Answer 7

Pagans do not celebrate Christmas and they never have! Merry Christmas! To the rest of you Happy Holidays.To the Pagans enjoy your Winter Solstice! Now we are all part of the Human race we can at least agree on that can't we? Lets just respect one another FCOL (for crying out loud)

Answer 8

As a Pagan, I should be asking YOU that question. Christmas has nothing to do with Christ, since his birth was in the Spring. Christmas was originally celebrated on the Winter Solstice, and this was done in order to forcefully convert Pagans to Christianity. So, exactly how many Christian traditions have infiltrated Winter Solstice celebrations?

Edit: Just make the conscious choice not to be offended. That's all you have to do.

Answer 9

The whole idea of Christmas is pagan. God never gave a date to celebrate his Son's birth because the important thing in Jesus' life was actually his death which saves us from sin. Jesus thus instituted his memorial following the Passover on Nisan 14 at sunset saying: Do this in rememberance of me.

Answer 10

Actually, there are pagan rituals in Christmas. The Christmas tree, for one, was taken from a pagan ritual. And, I'm curious....where in the Bible does it talk about egg nog? The "Holy Family" certainly didn't eat ham, a tradition Christmas favorite in the U.S, since they were practicing Jews! They "Happy Holidays" came about because we're a multi-cultural nation. Don't be so sensitive. You'd see things differently if you were a minority.