What pagan holiday did Christmas replace?
Saturnalia, held in mid-December, is an ancient Roman pagan festival honoring the agricultural god Saturn. Because of when the holiday occurred—near the winter solstice—Saturnalia celebrations are the source of many of the traditions we now associate with Christmas, such as wreaths, candles, feasting and gift-giving.
Ancient records indicate that a feast dedicated to Sol Invictus, a sun god, was held in the Roman Empire on Dec. 25, raising the possibility that Christmas replaced it. There was also a pagan festival called Saturnalia in mid-December that occurred over several days.
Although some evidence suggests that his birth may have occurred in the spring (why would shepherds be herding in the middle of winter?), Pope Julius I chose December 25. It is commonly believed that the church chose this date in an effort to adopt and absorb the traditions of the pagan Saturnalia festival.
Now, as Christmas applies to the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, Christmas is decidedly not pagan. However, there are some differences of opinion when it comes to the selection of day of celebration. On the Roman calendar, December 25 was the date of the winter solstice (December 21 on the modern calendar).
When the Roman Empire converted to Christianity, Saturnalia became a Christian holiday, one honoring the birth of Jesus. And ancient greetings of "io Saturnalia!" were replaced with "Merry Christmas."
A lot of people assume that Kwanzaa was intended to replace Christmas. But the celebration has nothing to do with Christmas. Its purpose is to promote unity among African-Americans, as well as an understanding of our cultural roots.
“It's considered politically correct to say Happy Holidays, so it's just considered insensitive to say Merry Christmas to other people who aren't from this country that don't celebrate it,“ said senior Miguel Montano, Div. 022. “Merry Christmas” is a traditional saying that's been around for centuries.
The pre-Christian Germanic peoples—including the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse—celebrated a winter festival called Yule, held in the late December to early January period, yielding modern English yule, today used as a synonym for Christmas.
The reason being that Christmas Day this year falls on a Sunday. This means, that because the day itself is on a weekend, you're entitled to a substitute holiday in its place, normally taking the place the following Monday.
The common Christian traditional dating of the birthdate of Jesus was 25 December, a date first asserted officially by Pope Julius I in 350 AD, although this claim is dubious or otherwise unfounded.
What does Bible say about Christmas?
Luke 2:8-12 (NIV)
But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
The Bible and the Believer. The New Testament contains two Christmas stories, not one. They appear in Matthew 1–2 and Luke 1–2.
From ancient times, the season that we now know as Christmas was a midwinter celebration called The Winter Solstice, or Yule. A pagan festival, The Winter Solstice was a time to celebrate the fact that the worst of winter was over, and the people could look forward to longer days with more sunlight in the near future.
Christmas owes its roots to the ancient Roman holiday of Saturnalia, which was a pagan festival which was celebrated from December 17-25 each year. This custom was altered and absorbed into Christmas, and this allowed early Christians to gradually erase these old pagan holidays.
The Worship of Saturn
The first difference between Christmas and Saturnalia is clearly the divinity which is being worshipped. Saturnalia celebrated the rule of Saturn, the father of Jupiter, who was imagined to have reigned in a mythic time of infinite pleasure, peace, and harmony for mankind: 'The Golden Age'.
Saturnalia is an ancient Roman festival and holiday in honour of the god Saturn, held on 17 December of the Julian calendar and later expanded with festivities through to 23 December.
“Thus, Africans of all faiths can and do celebrate Kwanzaa, i.e. Muslims, Christians, Black Hebrews, Jews, Buddhists, Baha'i and Hindus, as well as those who follow the ancient traditions of Maat, Yoruba, Ashanti, Dogon, etc.” According to Karenga, non-Black people can also enjoy Kwanzaa, just as non-Mexicans ...
Who typically observes Kwanzaa? Kwanzaa was created for and is celebrated by Black Americans. Although it waned in popularity following its peak during the 1980s and 1990s, the holiday is still annually celebrated by millions of Americans. It is also celebrated by Black people in Canada and the Caribbean.
Kwanzaa is not a religious holiday, it's a cultural one. Because of this, people from all different religious backgrounds — including African spiritual traditions — celebrate the holiday.
Dec. 25 is not the date mentioned in the Bible as the day of Jesus's birth; the Bible is actually silent on the day or the time of year when Mary was said to have given birth to him in Bethlehem. The earliest Christians did not celebrate his birth.
Is it disrespectful to say Xmas instead of Christmas?
Christians should use Christ's name as much as possible, but “Xmas” is not inherently a blasphemous term. Because of the use of “Xmas”, some Christians get bent out of shape when people take Jesus' name out of the holiday. Evangelist Franklin Graham even called the term “a war against the name of Jesus Christ.”
Why would any Christian be against the celebration of the birth of Christ? The answer lies in interpretations of the Bible, and a rejection of the pagan origins of the holiday. One of the main arguments against Christmas is that early Jews and Christians did not celebrate birthdays.
The first Christmas ban was in 1644, as it coincided with Parliament's monthly day of prayer & fasting in the hope of bringing about an end to the war, and a specific ordinance was passed to emphasise this. Church services were not to be carried out that day.
The word Christmas comes from Middle English Cristemasse, which in turn comes from Old English Cristes-messe, literally meaning Christ's Mass. Of course, we are not talking about the physical mass of Christ's body. The origin of mass, in the Christian sense of the word, is not entirely clear.
The nations that celebrate on December 24 are mostly Christian, and a Christian liturgical day always begins and finishes at sunset. As a result, Jesus is said to have been born at 5 p.m. on December 24, and his birthday finishes at the same time on December 25.
What is Christmas in July? According to legend, Christmas in July was first celebrated at a summer camp in 1933, when Keystone Camp in Brevard, N.C. decided to dedicate two days (July 24 and 25) to the holiday—complete with cotton fake snow, a decked-out tree, a gift exchange, and, of course, Santa.
Anyway, before the calendar was reformed, England celebrated Christmas on the equivalent of the 6th of January by Gregorian calendar reckoning. And so it came to be called Old Christmas Day by many people of Great Britain.
Yule is one of the oldest winter solstice festivals, with origins among the ancient Norse thousands of years ago. Its roots are complicated and difficult to trace, although there are several theories about how and why the festival was celebrated.
The modern Santa Claus is a direct descendent of England's Father Christmas, who was not originally a gift-giver. However, Father Christmas and his other European variations are modern incarnations of old pagan ideas about spirits who traveled the sky in midwinter, Hutton said.
Why do we celebrate birthdays? The idea of celebrating the date of your birth is a pagan tradition. In fact, many Christians didn't celebrate birthdays historically, because of that link to paganism. Pagans thought that evil spirits lurked on days of major changes, like the day you turn a year older.
Why was December 25th chosen for Christmas?
The Roman Empire, before it recognized Christianity, celebrated the rebirth of Sol Invictus (Roman god of the sun) on Dec. 25, a date which coincided with the Roman festival Saturnalia, when people feasted and exchanged gifts.
From Rome, the Christ's Nativity celebration spread to other Christian churches to the west and east, and soon most Christians were celebrating Christ's birth on December 25.
The first official mention of December 25 as a holiday honoring Jesus' birthday appears in an early Roman calendar from AD 336. The celebration of Christmas spread throughout the Western world over the next several centuries, but many Christians continued to view Epiphany and Easter as more important.
Deuteronomy 16:21 says:
All in all, whether you put up a Christmas tree or not, the worship should always be about the Lord and nothing else. If that is your driving force, whether or not you put up a tree is solely up to you.
The origins of Christmas stem from both the pagan and Roman cultures. The Romans actually celebrated two holidays in the month of December. The first was Saturnalia, which was a two-week festival honoring their god of agriculture Saturn. On December 25th, they celebrated the birth of Mithra, their sun god.
On Christmas Eve, Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus, who came into the world as the Son of God and Saviour to redeem humanity from its sins. The exact date of Jesus' birth is not known and there is no reference to it in the Gospels.
Among them are Quakers, Jehovah's Witnesses, and members of the Churches of Christ. Some of the half-dozen Christian faiths that do no celebrate Dec. 25 contend there is nothing in the Bible that says Christ was born on that day.
On Christmas day, "it was always customary in those days to catch peoples Christmas gifts and they would give you something." Slaves and children would lie in wait for those with the means to provide presents and capture them, crying 'Christmas gift' and refusing to release their prisoners until they received a gift in ...
6.98ff). And the Saturnalia did continue to be celebrated as the Brumalia (from bruma, "the shortest day," winter solstice, cf. Varro, De Lingua Latina, VI. 8) down to the Christian era, when, by the middle of the fourth century AD, its festivities were becoming absorbed in the celebration of Christmas.
The New Testament contains two Christmas stories, not one. They appear in Matthew 1–2 and Luke 1–2.
What are the 4 pagan holidays?
Valiente identified the four "Greater Sabbats", or fire festivals, by the names Candlemas, May Eve, Lammas, and Hallowe'en, though she also identified their Irish counterparts as Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnassadh, and Samhain.
Dec. 25 is not the date mentioned in the Bible as the day of Jesus's birth; the Bible is actually silent on the day or the time of year when Mary was said to have given birth to him in Bethlehem. The earliest Christians did not celebrate his birth.
The pre-Christian Germanic peoples—including the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse—celebrated a winter festival called Yule, held in the late December to early January period, yielding modern English yule, today used as a synonym for Christmas.
Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate Christmas. Why not? First, Jesus commanded that we commemorate his death, not his birth — Luke 22:19, 20. Second, Jesus' apostles and early disciples did not celebrate Christmas.
Christmas and Hanukkah are holidays celebrated in the winter that are very different celebrations. Christmas celebrates the birth of Christ, while Hanukkah is in remembrance of past miraculous event, when Jews reclaimed their temple after Syrians forced them to worship false gods.
This is a five-day holiday and it is called Diwali. Like Christmas, it is marked by displays of colorful lights and bright holiday clothes and gift-giving and sweets. Everywhere in Hindu lands lamps called diyas are lit.