Question by ToolGirl4-Call me Rev.Morgen: Don’t you think this explains christmas and its Pagan origins good?
I got tired of people asking why Atheist celebrate it and also saying it was made up by christians lol
No one knows what day Jesus Christ was born on. From the biblical description, most historians believe that his birth probably occurred in September, approximately six months after Passover. One thing they agree on is that it is very unlikely that Jesus was born in December, since the bible records shepherds tending their sheep in the fields on that night. This is quite unlikely to have happened during a cold Judean winter. So why do we celebrate Christ’s birthday as Christmas, on December the 25th?
The answer lies in the pagan origins of Christmas. In ancient Babylon, the feast of the Son of Isis (Goddess of Nature) was celebrated on December 25. Raucous partying, gluttonous eating and drinking, and gift-giving were traditions of this feast.
In Rome, the Winter Solstice was celebrated many years before the birth of Christ. The Romans called their winter holiday Saturnalia, honoring Saturn, the God of Agriculture. In January, they observed the Kalends of January, which represented the triumph of life over death. This whole season was called Dies Natalis Invicti Solis, the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun. The festival season was marked by much merrymaking. It is in ancient Rome that the tradition of the Mummers was born. The Mummers were groups of costumed singers and dancers who traveled from house to house entertaining their neighbors. From this, the Christmas tradition of caroling was born.
In northern Europe, many other traditions that we now consider part of Christian worship were begun long before the participants had ever heard of Christ. The pagans of northern Europe celebrated the their own winter solstice, known as Yule. Yule was symbolic of the pagan Sun God, Mithras, being born, and was observed on the shortest day of the year. As the Sun God grew and matured, the days became longer and warmer. It was customary to light a candle to encourage Mithras, and the sun, to reappear next year.
Huge Yule logs were burned in honor of the sun. The word Yule itself means “wheel,” the wheel being a pagan symbol for the sun. Mistletoe was considered a sacred plant, and the custom of kissing under the mistletoe began as a fertility ritual. Hollyberries were thought to be a food of the gods.
The tree is the one symbol that unites almost all the northern European winter solstices. Live evergreen trees were often brought into homes during the harsh winters as a reminder to inhabitants that soon their crops would grow again. Evergreen boughs were sometimes carried as totems of good luck and were often present at weddings, representing fertility. The Druids used the tree as a religious symbol, holding their sacred ceremonies while surrounding and worshipping huge trees.
In 350, Pope Julius I declared that Christ’s birth would be celebrated on December 25. There is little doubt that he was trying to make it as painless as possible for pagan Romans (who remained a majority at that time) to convert to Christianity. The new religion went down a bit easier, knowing that their feasts would not be taken away from them.
Christmas (Christ-Mass) as we know it today, most historians agree, began in Germany, though Catholics and Lutherans still disagree about which church celebrated it first. The earliest record of an evergreen being decorated in a Christian celebration was in 1521 in the Alsace region of Germany. A prominent Lutheran minister of the day cried blasphemy: “Better that they should look to the true tree of life, Christ.”
The controversy continues even today in some fundamentalist sects.
I did copy and paste it,but i found it and thought i would share it with anyone.. I did not claim to write it.. lol
I could of not put it as nicely as that any way lol
Best answer:
Answer by Fast_Eddie
Ya – that do explain it good. You am smart.
What do you think? Answer below!
It explains things gooder than most
Yes thank you, I know this but 10 minutes from now someone will come on and not seen this message.
no controversy, we celebrate the day the saviour was born and nothing else
This is a great explanation.
The Babylonian pagan history is the original story its where the Egyptians, East Indians and Europeans got the idea from. You don’t have to tell the whole stories of the Egyptians, Hindus and Europeans all you have to do is explain the Pagan history of Babylon. Its the worship of Sumerian gods passed down to many other ancient cultures.
wow that was long :]P lol
but anyway what I know is that the Christmas Tree is pagan and Jesus was born in March or April.. sumthin like that
I agree.
yea well it was easier to convert the pagans by saying that you celebrate the same way just to this god instead.
Blessed Be to that
It’s a perfectly good explanation, but I doubt you wrote this yourself.
Are you plagiarizing/???
I agree, nobody knows exactly what day Christ was born. But we have to pick one day to celebrate his birth, even if we’re not 100% sure that day was really the day he was born on.
Until the day comes where can we learn what day Jesus’s birth really took place on, we’ll just have to stick with December 25.
Origins =/= Current Meaning
I don’t know why this is a controversy though….. 1 Corinthians 10
The first damn good response as to why Christmas is not Christian I have seen in a long time – thank you 😀
Toodles
On December 25th the three stars of Orion’s belt known to the ancients as “The Three Wisemen” point towards Venus, the brightest star in the sky, which in turn points to the sunrise.
So the three wisemen follow the brightest star to the birth of the “sun”
Christmas is astrological, and the story of his birth is completely made up.
Agreed…Nobody knows for sure when Jesus Christ was born….Dec. 25th is the day that Christians choose to celebrate his birth….I celebrate Christmas how I choose to celebrate it…and others can celebrate how they wish to….
the christians took over all the pagan festivals, i keep an open mind over it i cant say i belive or disbelieve. all i prefered when my kids were little was to tell them pagan lore not the 10 commandments. do what ever you want in life as long as you do no living being any harm.
Only one comment. Bunk. The Catholics were around 1500 years before the Lutherans were around and they celebrated the birth way back then. You copied and pasted from what? The internet?Good luck.Merry Christmas. Peace
The United States did not claim their independence on July 4th, 1776 but it is the date that we celebrate it.anyway.
The fact that the Christmas holiday would borrow from those faiths that preceded it shouldn’t be surprising neither does it make Christianity any less true. The one has nothing to do with the other.
I did, however, enjoy the history lesson.
the fact of the matter is that during Roman occupation, Christians had to celebrate in secret. So they chose a Roman holiday to celebrate the birth of Christ so that they would not be noticed and could freely celebrate the birth of Christ without worrying about being tortured and martyred for it. The date stuck. It doesn’t matter if it isn’t the exact same day that Christ was born. For one there was no calendar like the one we have today in the time of Christ. They couldn’t exactly put a month and day to anything back then because the days were not recorded that way. What matters is the cause of our joy. If we chose to celebrate the birth of Christ on August 15th instead of December 25th it would make no difference. It is the purpose of the celebration that matters, not the date of it.
Yes you are correct, but many think that they “christinized” Pagans
but what they really did was “PAGONIZE” Christendom, There are only 2 birthdays mentioned in the Bible, & both incurred violence. The Jews didn’t celebrate birthdays.
the first commandment is “you shall have no other God before me” & thats exactly what people are doing when they take part in a celebration that is PAGAN in Orgin.
interesting view,dont forget,that back then there also 13 month in a year,befor it was change to 12..
Your explanation is very good. We were just talking about this in Seminary class tonight. Did you know it has recently begun to be widely accepted that Jesus’ actual birth date was April 6th, 30- I have heard it was the year 304 in the 4th Century. I have known for a good number of years that Jesus was born on April 6th but thought in the year 3 not 300-something. But one of you said it succinctly, it doesn’t really matter what the date actually is but why we celebrate it in the first place. Christmas is not really a christian holiday, so non-christians, agnostics and atheists should be accepting of this national holiday as one of their own. I think they would really be steamed if we asked for April 6th off for religious reasons, in addition to Easter; which by the way, is a religious holiday. Jesus was killed in April very near his 33rd or 34th birthday. How sad to think of it in any fashion, to be killed because of one’s faith and beliefs that are contrary to whomever are in authority. Nothing has changed, you would think that mankind would learn. My son doesn’t like to celebrate Christmas. He is 15yrs old. I like to celebrate it because of the bleakness of winter. I like the colors and to have a living plant like a ficas tree or something with color lights on makes things cheery, like spring and summer. I try to keep the lights up till spring.
I think you have confused Isis with Ishtar. Ishtar was the Babylonian goddess of War. Isis is the Greek version of Aset, a Kemetic goddess, mother of Heru.
What I don’t understand is why this is an issue for so many people, and why you feel the need to explain it. Let the Christians have their Christmas.
It sure does and its all true.