Is Christmas really a pagan holiday?
Absolutley CHRIST MASS IS The Celebration of Christ's Birth is NOT and unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is CHRIST THE LORD ( Bible) ( and sheppards come to celebrate ( AT SATARNELLA TIME? IN FALL I DONT THINK SO NO MASS IN BIBLE In Original Greek the celebration of the BIRTH OF CHRIST IS is celebrated in Church as a LITURGY .. NOT "MASS" FELICE NAVIDAD ( Halppy Nativity) Xpctos Rodevcia ( Christ is Born etc in Other Languages Buon Natale. NOT CHRIST MASS ( Where is the Birth of Christ in CHIRST MASS ( NOWHERE) The Birth of our Saviou was ESTABLED IN SATURNALIA ( BY SOME) PAGAN PAGAN PAGAN IC XC NIKA Kyrie Eleison
How is Christmas a pagan holiday?
From its inception in the fourth century, Christmas has been surrounded by controversy. For example, there was the question of Jesus’ birthday. Since the Bible does not specify either the day or the month of Christ’s birth, a variety of dates have been suggested. In the third century, one group of Egyptian theologians placed it on May 20, while others favored earlier dates, such as March 28, April 2, or April 19. By the 18th-century, Jesus’ birth had been associated with every month of the year! How, then, was December 25 finally chosen? Most scholars agree that December 25 was assigned by the Catholic Church as Jesus’ birthday. Why? “Most probably the reason,” says The New Encyclopedia Britannica, “is that early Christians wished the date to coincide with the pagan Roman festival marking the ‘birthday of the unconquered sun." Following the so-called conversion of Constantine in the fourth century, vast numbers of pagans flocked to the form of Christianity that then prevailed. With what result? The book Early Christianity and Paganism states: “The comparatively little body of really earnest believers was lost in the great multitude of professed Christians.” but in the end the only celebration that Christians are commanded to observe is the Lord’s Evening Meal
Was Christmas a pagan holiday?
No. That is a popular notion, but not one that can be supported with any facts. The idea that Christmas and Easter (and Halloween for that matter) are pagan, assumes first that anything pagans did makes everything anyone else does like the pagans, wrong. For instance pagans exchanged wedding rings. Does this make the practice of exchanging wedding rings a pagan practice only? No. Pagans also sacrificed animals to their gods...the Jews sacrificed animals to the true God. God didn't have a problem with his faithful followers doing things that pagans did to their gods. So the popular belief that all things pagan remain pagan, is just ridiculous. Pagans were pagans because they were seeking God, and filled the void with false gods. People like Aristotle and Socrates were pagans, yet if you read their works you'll find that they most likely had knowledge of God, although it was not yet formed in them. They did not know him fully, and of course Christ had not yet come. The pagans did celebrate feast days and such. So what? All peoples of all times celebrated things. Also, there is evidence that Christ was believed to have been born in December. Whether he was or not, is not the issue, the early Christians believed he was and so they honored him in December. Fact is there were no pagan festivals on December 25th. In fact, there is evidence that the pagan god Mithra's supposed birthday was changed to December 25th after the Christians began to honor that day, because of the competition with Christianity. So there is more to understand then just statements that pagans did it, so Christians must be copying. Here are some articles that are worth reading if you are really interested in the history. http://www.traditioninaction.org/religio... http://catholic-skyview-tremblay.blogspo... http://vernacularcatholic.blogspot.com/2... http://www.bibleserralta.com/JesusbornDecember.html
Is Christmas really a pagan holiday?
No, Christmas is the Christian term for the holiday meant to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ. Pagans celebrate Yule at the winter solstice. Pagans do not recognize Christ nor God, because they have their own Gods. Two different celebrations, for two different reasons, with two different histories and beliefs. Christmas is a Christian holiday, Yule is a pagan festivity. It's like comparing apples and oranges. Now, when you consider what many celebrate as "Christmas" today in the U.S., well many (probably even most) people, Christians included, don't know the history behind it. Thus, it is often a conglomeration of traditions that differs from family to family, that shares traditions from both Yule and Christmas (as well as other traditions new and old, being that the U.S. is very diversified). In the end, winter solstice has been celebrated by many cultures and religions throughout history, implying that it is born of human inclination rather than invention. We just like to celebrate this time of year, Christian, pagan, or otherwise...
Is Christmas really pagan?
There is no doubt that some of what we now refer to as Christmas traditions can be traced back, in some form, to pagan cultures and celebrations. The ringing of bells, for example, is generally thought to have had its origin in the early pagan winter celebration of ringing of bells to drive out evil spirits. In later centuries, bells were rung on Christmas Eve to welcome in the spirit of Christmas with joyful noise (Psalm 95:1). When Christians enjoy the beauty of a glorious bell choir ringing Christmas carols, we are reminded of the coming of Jesus into the world, not the driving out of evil spirits. Read More:http://www.gotquestions.org/Christmas-tr... Should Christians celebrate Christmas? The debate about whether or not Christians should celebrate Christmas has been raging for centuries. There are equally sincere and committed Christians on both sides of the issue, each with multiple reasons why or why not Christmas should be celebrated in Christian homes. But what does the Bible say? Does the Bible give clear direction as to whether Christmas is a holiday to be celebrated by Christians? First, let’s look at the reasons why some Christians do not celebrate Christmas. One argument against Christmas is that the traditions surrounding the holiday have origins in paganism. Searching for reliable information on this topic is difficult because the origins of many of our traditions are so obscure that sources often contradict one another. Bells, candles, holly, and yuletide decorations are mentioned in the history of pagan worship, but the use of such in one’s home certainly does not indicate a return to paganism. While there are definitely pagan roots to some traditions, there are many more traditions associated with the true meaning of Christmas—the birth of the Savior of the world in Bethlehem. Bells are played to ring out the joyous news, candles are lit to remind us that Christ is the Light of the world (John 1:4-9), a star is placed on the top of a Christmas tree to remember the Star of Bethlehem, and gifts are exchanged to remind us of the gifts of the Magi to Jesus, the greatest gift of God to mankind. Read More: http://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-Ch...
Christmas and Easter...pagan holidays??!!?
The Easter thing is _mostly_ bunk. Christians celebrated a holiday they called the Greek work for passover for centuries before Christianity came to the British Isles. The reason for this is simple. Christ was crucified on the first day of passover, and rose on its third day. Then Christians began to celebrate that on the Friday and Sunday that coincide with it. Now it is true that when St. Augustine of Canterbury came to Britain, that he permitted the local populace to call the Paschal feast "Eostre" (a cleric named the venerable Bede records this) which was an unfortunate choice. But understand, that by the time this happened, Pascha had been celebrated for six hundred years already. Even to this day, this really remains an English-only issue. In all other latin languages, the word for the feast is a variant of Hebrew's word for passover, "pesach" - pascha, pasqua, paques, etc. These other languages represent most of Christendom, and latin-language people would certainly scratch their heads at all this "eostre" stuff which doesn't apply to the holiday as it is called in their languages. And then of course, there is how Christians celebrate Easter - with reenactments of the passion, straight out of the bible: not exactly the thing you'd expect from a borrowed holiday, wouldn't you say? Certainly not the first thing I think of when I hear the strains of "Christ the Lord is risen today."
Is Christmas modeled after a Pagan holiday? Is it really Jesus's Bday or just another day?
A winter festival was traditionally the most popular festival of the year in many cultures, in part because there was less agricultural work to be done during the winter. The prominence of Christmas in modern times may reflect the continuing influence of the winter festival tradition, including the following festivals: It is unknown exactly when or why December 25 became associated with Jesus' birth. The New Testament does not give a specific date. Sextus Julius Africanus popularized the idea that Jesus was born on December 25 in his Chronographiai, a reference book for Christians written in AD 221. This date is nine months after the traditional date of the Incarnation (March 25), now celebrated as the Feast of the Annunciation. March 25 was also considered to be the date of the vernal equinox and therefore the creation of Adam. Early Christians believed March 25 was also the date Jesus was crucified. The Christian idea that Jesus was conceived on the same date that he died on the cross is consistent with a Jewish belief that a prophet lived an integral number of years. The identification of the birthdate of Jesus did not at first inspire feasting or celebration. Tertullian does not mention it as a major feast day in the Church of Roman Africa. In 245, the theologian Origen denounced the idea of celebrating Jesus' birthday "as if he were a king pharaoh." He contended that only sinners, not saints, celebrated their birthdays.
Is Easter a Pagan holiday?
The conventional wisdom is that Easter was simply borrowed from the pagans. Well it's true, nearly every ancient religion had some kind of festival at the Vernal Equinox to celebrate fertility and the rebirth of life and all that. And also that 'Easter' itself is the name of a pagan goddess. But consider that Jesus was executed during the Jewish Passover. Jesus was Jewish. He even celebrated Passover--the Last Supper was a Passover seder. (Some modern scholars think it's very unlikely the Jews would have executed Jesus during their most important holiday!) There aren't good historical markers in the gospels for when Jesus was born. You wouldn't have had shepherds tending their flocks by night in the dead of Winter. Or Joseph and Mary traveling from Nazareth to Bethlehem at that time of year, or fleeing to Egypt. But Jesus' capture and trial and execution is better document in terms of what was going on at the time--Passover. This is like being executed on Superbowl Sunday here in the US! Also, someone earlier said that Jehovah wouldn't allow Christians to adopt a pagan holiday. Jehovah's Witnesses don't celebrate most Christian holidays because they don't consider them really a part of the faith. But they do celebrate Easter! They don't call it that, but it's a celebration of Jesus's execution and resurrection, so it's Easter.