Pagan Holidays

Colossians 2:8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. (NKJV)

Romans 14:5-6 One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat; and gives God thanks. (NKJV)

            A few years ago, I was running a home-based daycare business and I had children of all ages, race, backgrounds and beliefs. I loved to teach the children various educational subjects along with arts and crafts. During the holidays, we would make all kinds of nice décor and I would purchase candy and gifts to send home with them; especially around Christmas and Easter. However, one of my clients informed me that she and her family were Jehovah Witness and that her son couldn’t participate in the various holiday crafts that I had the other children doing. Therefore, I found him some other types of crafts to do, so that it wouldn’t go against his religious beliefs. She also gave me a paper which went into detail why they didn’t celebrate the holidays. This is where my curiosity began.

            As I began to read over the sheet, I noticed that all the holidays stemmed from pagan origin. Now, I knew that most of them did prior to reading this, but I decided to do my own research into some of the holidays, so that I would have a better understanding myself. I never condemned the Jehovah Witness about their holiday beliefs even prior to doing extensive research because I knew that it had a lot of truth to it. However, after doing the research, I understood a whole lot more as to why they disassociated themselves with the holidays altogether. Although I still celebrate the holiday season, I do it full aware of the history behind it and therefore, it has taken on a different meaning for me because of my eyes being opened to its truth.

For the sake of time, I will not be able to go in depth and give as much history as I would like on this blog, but I hope to give you enough information as to why some religions do not celebrate these holidays and allow you to determine for yourself if it is for you. This is just for informational purposes and is not to say that observance of any of these holidays is a sin. YOU be the judge, and you must be convinced in your own mind as to if this information is for you. Many religions teach that some holidays are wrong to be observed and this “may” be the case. However, in their observance of other holidays that have the same origin, it “may” be a little hypocritical to condemn some and not others.  Even if a particular holiday isn’t observed, if you are trying your best to imitate that holiday in any way, aren’t you still observing it? Hmmm….

Origins of Christmas

Christmas was first recognized as an official holiday under the Roman emperor Justinian  (A.D. 527-565). December 25 in ancient Rome was “Dies Natali Invictus” which stands for the “birthday of the unconquered,” the day of the winter solace, and the last day of the Saturnalia, which was part of a week’s long festival of unrestrained partying. During these celebrations, the pagans had a long week full of drunkenness, gambling, gluttony, nudity and sexual orgies. However, it is said that the Christians were appalled by the week’s long sinful attitudes of the pagans and therefore, wanted to find a way to encourage them to convert to Christianity. In an attempt to do so, they decided to modify the original pagan holiday into one that incorporated Christ. In so doing, they could appease the pagans by not totally taking away their desire for celebrations during that season of the year. Therefore, for the sake of accommodation, Christ was thrown into a pagan holiday and the celebration of it continues. (Please be mindful that this is a real condensed version for the sake of this blog and more history is behind this holiday).

Easter (Resurrection Sunday)

Ishtar (Easter) was a day that was set aside by the pagans to honor one of their gods Tummuz. This god was believed to be the son of the moon-goddess and sun-god. Nimrod, Noah’s grandson born to Cush (Ham’s son) and his wife Sermiramis. Nimrod was said to had become a king and married his own mother.

Genesis 10:8-12 Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod the might hunter before the Lord,” And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Caineh, in the land of Shinar. From that land, he went to Assyria and built Neneveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah Ithat is the principal city). (NKJV)

Nimrod was said to had been killed and his body cut into pieces and sent throughout his kingdom, with the exception of his reproductive organ. Semiramis (Nimrod’s wife and mother) told the people that he had become the sun god, Baal, and could not come back to life without his missing organ. She later claimed that she had conceived a child by immaculate conception and taught that the moon goddess went through a 28 day cycle and ovulated when full. She also claimed that she (being the goddess herself) came down in the form of a giant moon egg, which fell into the Euphrates River after the spring equinox.  This is how Semiramis became known as Ishtar (Easter) and her “moon” egg was known as Ishtar’s (Easter) egg. (There is more to this story, but due to the sake of blogging, I will have to end it here.)

Halloween

Halloween (All Hallow’s Eve) has its origin from the Celtic festival known as Samhain. The ancient pagans used this time of year to go into their stock of supplies to prepare for the winter. They believed that on October 31, the worlds between the dead and the living would overlap therefore causing all kinds of havoc upon the living such as disease and crop damage. During this time, bonfires would be held to attract mosquitoes and then bats. In an effort to appease the spirits and to blend in, the wearing of costumes became the norm. The practice of going door to door for candy began back in the Middle Ages, which also included Christmas wassailing (going door to door singing Christmas Carols). The trick-or-treat practice copies the common practice of “souling”. This was when the poor would go door to door on Hallowmas (November 1) to receive food in exchange for their prayers for the dead on November 2 (All Souls Day).  (This is a condensed version for the sake of time on this blog.)

            Unfortunately, I cannot get into the entire history of these holidays on this one blog and will do a part 2 in an upcoming blog. However, as for now, I will suggest that if you would like to learn more about the origins of these holidays, you can do so online or at your local library. What I will say for now is that the majority of the holidays that we celebrate have pagan origins. Many religions are quick to tell you not to celebrate Halloween, while still mimicking the same practices by having “Harvest Celebrations” at their local church. Now, I am not saying that it is a sin to celebrate holidays. What I would like to bring attention to is the fact that even if we change the names and call it something else, we are still following the same pagan practices. Let’s be real! We can’t clothe the devil up and call him Christ. Isn’t that what we are doing when we through God into holidays that were actually demonic of origin?

            Don’t get me wrong, I am not going to stop celebrating the holidays because I love to do so. However, I am very realistic with my celebrations because I know the origins of them. Therefore, I will not tell anyone that Christmas is in originally in honor of the Savior when it really had nothing to do with Christ at all. What I will tell them is that we (Christians) in an effort to continue “tradition” has set aside this day in what many would consider honoring Christ. However, to honor God is to honor Him EVERY DAY of the year. God doesn’t just want us to remember Him on man-made holidays, which have become so commercialized that even if it was originally for Him, we have taken all aspects of that away due to greed, increased profits, and selfishness. To be honest, there is no difference in celebrating Halloween and Christmas. They stem back to the same demonic origins and even by changing the name doesn’t make it holy. If you imitate the devil, he then has you deceived. However, let each man be convicted in his own heart and therefore, whatever you do, do it unto God.  Look forward to Part 2 of this.