Why did Christianity steal all the Pagan festivals andclaim them as there own?
476595
Thank you for asking this question. Very good point. I am a Pagan, and Paganism pre-dates Chrisitianity and our festivals did come first. Any book will confirm this!
996684
Why? Can a Pagan not follow Christ's teachings? Seems to me they can if they want to do so. Lots of people consider themselves 'christian' and probably are not. Who are we to judge?
323819
Okay . . . Okay . . . the questioner is correct . . . \n\nChristmas is originally a pagan holiday . . . a week long festival . . . actually 12 days long . . . reminds you of a song.\n\nThis holiday was adopted to convert pagans into Christianity . . . and they accepted it hook, line, and sinker.\n\nThe majority of the holidays celebrated by Christian have pagan origins . . . but back to Christmas . . . \n\nSome of you said you celebrate this day in remembrance of the birth of Christ.  Did Christ ask his followers to remember his birth?  No he did not . . . instead he commanded his followers to commemorate the last supper in his remembrance . . . . Not do perform it daily or weekly . . . but annually like the early christians did . . . prior to 325 AD.
475870
The others are right. They are the traditions of man. Specifically Catholic and Pagan men. If you remember, Jesus had a talk with some religious leaders about them pushing their traditions rather than the bare Truth of God's Word. Going by Paul's teachings I shouldn't make you feel bad for celebrating a day to the Lord so I'm not trying to. But I am supposed to warn you of the pagan rituals we all know God doesn't allow! I hope this opens some eyes and God bless all of you on your mission!
531771
that's what happens when the Romans take and change a religion. but with out them it would have died out and we wouldn't have Christmas's or Easter or any of that as they are really old roman pagan holidays that were at first banned, then reworked by the new Cristian religion.
124323
Easter was stolen from the Pagans.  We had it first.  I hope you all enjoy the following article.\n\n===================\n\nThe Old Ways: Spring\nby Doug and Sandy Kopf\n\nSpring (Earrach) or Vernal Equinox, on approximately March 21, is the mid-point of the Waxing Year. The spark of light that was born at Winter Solstice has reached maturity, and from this point forward, the days grow longer than the nights. This is the time of full Dawn, 6:00 a.m. on the Year Clock, and so was the time of the festivals of the Grecian Goddess, Eostre, and the Germanic Ostara, both Goddesses of Dawn. (It is from these Bright Ladies that the modern Easter holiday takes its name). This is the time that is often seen as the time of Kore’s return from the Underworld, where She (as Persephone) has ruled throughout the Winter. It is also the time of the celebration of the rebirth of Adonis the Beautiful.\n\nSpring is the time for a celebration of planting and of the greening of the Earth. The supermarket is a sign in itself, as the produce department begins to fill with fresh fruits and vegetables. People start to talk about having ‘Spring Fever’ and doing ‘Spring cleaning’, as the brighter sunshine provides a needed morale boost.\n\nNon-Pagans start to shop for Easter finery (putting on new clothes, just like the Earth Mother), or Passover foods, unaware that we are all truly celebrating the same thing: the Revitalization of the Earth, as She warms to the waxing rays of the Sun. We have survived another Winter and are\nonce more surrounded by the delights of Spring. Some authorities say that this was probably the time that the Christian Church should have chosen to celebrate as the birth date of Jesus, since this would have been the time for paying taxes in ancient Jerusalem and, according to the myth, Mary and Joseph were traveling to fulfill that obligation. It is also the season of lambing, the only time shepherds would ‘watch by night’.\n\nMany traditions associated with Spring Equinox have been retained over the years and grafted onto the Easter celebration. Even today, people arise early on Easter morning to attend ‘Sunrise Service’. (Remember Eostre, the Dawn Goddess?) If your group is not opposed to getting up early, a Dawn Circle to greet the Sun on the morning of the Equinox can be wonderful!  Legend says the Sun Dances and, if it is reflected in a bowl of clear water, you can see it for yourself! However, we would not recommend this if you are night-owls. It’s hard to put your whole heart into ritual when you are bleary-eyed and groggy. Festivals should be FUN, not tests of your determination!\n\nDecorated eggs have always been symbols of fertility. In 17th century France, gifts of decorated eggs were given to new brides, in hopes they would bear many children. In Germany, bowls full of eggs were given to the field-workers by the farmer’s wife, to insure a rich harvest. Many\ncultures see the egg as a symbol of Life, or the actual home of the soul.  The egg is the symbol of all good fortune in Russia and decorated eggs are still given as gifts to loved ones and buried in graves to insure rebirth.  These elaborate and ornate treasures are sometimes even set with precious stones. (Note: Faberge’ and Tiffany eggs)\nThe Old Ways: Spring\nby Doug and Sandy Kopf\n\nSpring (Earrach) or Vernal Equinox, on approximately March 21, is the mid-point of the Waxing Year. The spark of light that was born at Winter Solstice has reached maturity, and from this point forward, the days grow longer than the nights. This is the time of full Dawn, 6:00 a.m. on the Year Clock, and so was the time of the festivals of the Grecian Goddess, Eostre, and the Germanic Ostara, both Goddesses of Dawn. (It is from these Bright Ladies that the modern Easter holiday takes its name). This is the time that is often seen as the time of Kore’s return from the Underworld, where She (as Persephone) has ruled throughout the Winter. It is also the time o
1156472
I asked this same question and the answers were hilarious. You are dealing with an irrational brainwashed mass of idiots. The bible was stolen from Pagans, Romans, Greeks, all kinds of people. And, used to cause more death and destruction than all wars combined (heck, most wars were caused by christians)
469257
I think that some of the people answering this question would benefit greatly from an elementary history lesson. Easter, in it's original form, was very much a Pagan holiday.  You can deny it until you're blue in the face, that doesn't change history.\n\nWhen Christians were forcing people to convert, they took over the Pagan holidays because it was easier to manipulate those holidays than it was to get Pagans to celebrate new ones.  So, they took over our holidays, built their churches on our sacred space and called it a day.  That's history, not opinion.  It's fact, look it up.
869629
ITS NOT PAGAN.\n\nSET ASIDE A DAY TO HONOR THE BIRTH OF JESUS.\nGIFT GIVING REPRESENTS THE THREE GIFTS JESUS RECEIVED.\n\nNOTHING MORE NOTHING LESS.\n\nCHARITY---GIFT OF LOVE..........\nCHARITY COVERS A MULTITUDE OF SIN..\nTRY IT.............DOES A BODY GOOD.
255074
Every Christian religion has Pagan DNA, and I haven't met a Christian yet willing to admit it. It only takes a small bit of research from nonbiased sources to find out for themselves, but too many of them are afraid of being wrong to actually search for truth.
734463
Jesus was made Jewish by his family and was the Jewish eqivalent of Luther. Hence he was a Protestant !\nBesides why do christians think they own the right to brand others Pagan. I'm sure all others see christians in the same light, as non believers.  Now would ultimateprogrammergod please give it a rest. We are sick to death of hearing Jewish people declare every utterance against them as anti-smite  or Neo-Nazi. How dare you ! Get a life. You won,t win friends around the world that way.
1165148
in my opinion its because most Christians cant think for themselves and wont accept any other religion as valid. and i hate how the first Christians adapted many pagan traditions just so they could convert them easier
732864
Well, after Constantine conquered Rome, he legalized Christianity.  You could make the case that he's directly responsible for the Dark Ages, which began a little over a century later, a thousand years of superstition, ignorance, and repression of the arts and sciences, under religious rule.   More like de-civilzation and cultural devolvement.
670495
actually there is a good reason that is paganism hidden behind the curtain, constatine was a very smart pagan and instead of watching paganism die at the hands of hard and mean christianity which was very fastly gaining strength in his time, he became christian started the nicean council that made everything that was christian and inserted overlays on pagan holidays to make them christian and he was successful in hiding pagan worship under the curtain of catholicism
817103
the burning times, when they burnt witches at the steak.\n\nthe crusades. (pretty much againse everyone)\n\nlook at their treatment of the Picts and gauls when the Holy Roman empire took over the British islands. \nthey had to build a wall acrost Britan to keep the picts out of roman occupied space. (Hadrians Wall)\n\nSalem witch trials. \n\nthe destruction of Sacred Druidic groves and the construction of Abby's and Churches on the same sites. \n\nthe Demonising of all of the Pagan gods. the Christian devil is a deranged mix and match of many or the more popular Pagan Gods. \n\nthe destruction of colture and the assimilation of holidays.\nChristmas, easter, and halloween are christian holidays that were placed on top of Pagan holy days in a direct attempt to substitute the colture. \n\nlook at the horrible things that they did to the Native Americans when they got here. they lied to them, cheated them. and then tried to exterminate them. they smashed and burnt sacred lodges and killed thousands. \n\neven today they are trying to have their beliefs forced on everyone else by trying to legislate their religion as a law of man.\n\nlook at all of the Christian political pressure to ban gay marriage and abortion. \n\nis this enough or do you need dates and places, e-mail me if you do.
1037610
If you look deeply into what the christian religion is, you'll find its a means of controlling, through fear of damnation, the general public.  the best way of controlling  people is convince them that they have a common enemy,  the devil.  Its motivates people to do things they wouldn't normaly do like kill other humans or give all their money to a church.  Anyone who doesn't believe in the church degrades the churches power over people and therefore must be hated.  This includes pagans.  That's a very very condensed version and I hope it still made sense.
7433
Yes. In fact, almost all of the traditions of Christmas were "stolen" (if you will) by the Christian religion from the pagan celebration of the winter solstice.\n\nAnd, by the way, "pagan" doesn't mean satanic, nor does it mean "having no religion" in this context. Rather, in ancient Rome, pagans followed a polytheistic religion.\n\nThe winter celebration was called the festival of Saturnalia. "By the fourth century, the pagans were worshipping the god of the sun on December 25, and the Christians came to a decision: if you can't stop 'em, join 'em. They claimed (contrary to known fact) that the date was Jesus' birthday, and usurped the solstice holiday for their Church."\n\nLights were very much a representation of the stars and sun, as a way to celebrate the pleasures of life.