And indeed the Africans dancing around their tribal fires in the opening credits are mirrored, in Ireland, by the annual
pagan festival of Lughnasa, held up in the hills, also with bonfires.
In the third century, some parts of the church celebrated Christmas on January 6, but during the following century the date was settled on December 25, the traditional date of
a pagan festival of rebirth.
Christmas was invented to counter
the pagan festival of the birth of the sun - god.
I wish you and your loved ones a happy Easter or what was originally
the pagan festival of fertility / spring.
Not exact matches
Samhain, a Celtic
pagan festival, marked the beginning
of winter and was believed to be a night on which spirits could roam among the living.
and apologies to all the
pagans that had their spring fertility
festival stolen by the christians with the blatantly copied story from other previous cultures
of the death and 3 days later resurrection
of their god character.
The
Pagan festivals always coincided with the vernal Equinox on the 21st
of March every year.
Thus, ancient Greeks held
pagan festivals to welcome Eostre and herald the onset
of spring.
The Christian church however, changed the
Pagan festival from a celebration
of spring to a celebration
of the resurrection
of Jesus.
He made conversion easier by substituting
festivals in honor
of Christian martyrs in place
of the old
pagan festivals.
It was at the behest
of the Catholic church that Christmas became an accepted tradition, though it is the combination
of the Roman
festival Saturnalia (observed from Dec 17 - 24) and the celebration
of Mithra, Persian god
of light (observed on Dec 25) The Catholic church continues to observe this
pagan celebration, rather than following God's words to «touch nothing unclean».
Well, we do know that the 25th
of Dec was a
festival observed by
pagans.
Its roots: «The establishment
of December 25 evolved not from biblical precedent,» says The Christmas Encyclopedia, «but from
pagan Roman
festivals held at year's end,» about the time
of the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere.
We don't celebrate days
of week or months
of year so not the same as actually making preparation for the
pagan festivals and feasts.
I have always observed these traditions but have felt uneasy about them and now this year have been convicted that it is not ok to celebrate these
Pagan festivals» Come out
of her my people and touch not the unclean thing».
I agree with you Jeremy in a sense, but I also agree with what Chrissy says, «I believe God is calling His bride out
of the Harlot system and these
pagan festivals are instigated by the Roman Catholicism, just as the changing
of the Sabbath day was too.»
The church followed suit (for different reasons) by displacing the Jewish
festivals with Good Friday, Easter, and Pentecost, and the
pagan winter
festival of the sun - god with Advent.
And biblical religion transformed «
pagan» rites
of spring and harvest into
festivals celebrating historic events.
However, many
of the party leaders, like Hans Schemm, and Otto Wagner, were far from happy about the use
of Hitler Youth events to stage
Pagan rituals so they complained to Hitler who ridiculed the youthful paganism by saying: «All that rubbish about the Thing places, the solstice
festivals, the Midgard snake.»
It was the successor
of the
pagan festivals, but still something new, because the news was so much more unambiguously good than anything the
pagans ever heard.
Historically, not all
pagans followed the same traditions or celebrated the same kinds
of festivals.
Again the act
of Baptism comes from other religions and like the Church that decided to build on past
pagan ground and to hijack the old
pagan festival dates like Christmas and Easter, God draws us to Himself in a gentle way as He turns our old attitudes and ways upside down.
The Encyclopædia Britannica says that church leaders probably chose it «to coincide with the
pagan Roman
festival marking the «birthday
of the unconquered sun,»» at the time
of the winter solstice.
for the next 3 weeks Christians are celebrating the birth
of a storybook character we don't even know existed, and celebrating it on a
pagan festival because no - one knows when the character was born.
Out
of that came Jesus's birthday on Dec. 25th which was originally the
pagan festival day for Sol Invictus (the Victorious Sun) and the rest
of the great fantasy story (see Pope Leo X's quote in the early 1600's... paraphrased: «It has served us well, this myth
of Christ» — out
of the mouth
of a Pope no less).
Of course, Emperor Constantine forced all the priests to combine pagan gods and festivals with the new Christian religion at the Council of Nicea in 325AD in order to consolidate his empir
Of course, Emperor Constantine forced all the priests to combine
pagan gods and
festivals with the new Christian religion at the Council
of Nicea in 325AD in order to consolidate his empir
of Nicea in 325AD in order to consolidate his empire.
Yes, Christianity co-opted
pagan winter solstice
festivals in an attempt to bring
pagans into the faith, but the vast majority
of what we associate with modern day Christmas came about after this.
Christianity was just another sect
of Judaism, until Constantine hijacked it by adding Greco - Roman mythology to it (e.g. Jesus human son
of top god Jehovah replacing Hercules human son
of top god Zeus), and
pagan festivals (e.g. Christmas replacing Yule, All Saints Day replacing Halloween, Valentine's Day replacing Juno's day, Easter replacing harvest
festival.
The nature motifs
of the great
festival, as known through the contemporary
pagan religions, were retained and in some regards sublimated; but to them was added the dramatic affirmation that Yahweh is supremely master
of history.
The famous saint had a feast day on February 14th coincided with the
pagan fertility
festival of the goddess Juno, also on this list.
Although they had no idea on which day Christ was born, their choice was not a coincidence; the date was already a
pagan festival, which marked the birth
of the sun god at -LSB-...]
The early
pagans celebrated the Winter Solstice by honoring those gods with a variety
of festivals and rituals designed to curry the gods» favor and ensure the sun's speedy return.
I have included most
of the main religious
festivals for the Christian, Jewish, Sikh, Hindu and
Pagan religions.
I am Vaclav the Magnificent, with birthday on the sixth
of May, the famous day for the generations to celebrate and rejoice, a day in the future years eclipsing Christmas and Hanukkah and Ramadan and all
pagan festivals, born in a land far, far, far, far, far, far, far distance from here, a land
of ancient and magnificent secrets, a land
of enchanted knowledge passed down from the ages and from the ancients, a land
of illusion (Russia!)
By the 20th century it seems that Mothering Sunday had lapsed in much
of Europe, and was never introduced to America, as the Puritans thought poorly
of many
festivals particularly those with
pagan roots.
The religious
festival of All Hallows» Eve seems to have ancient
Pagan roots, but in the church it marks the start
of three days
of remembrance for the hallows (saints) and family members who have died.