A Holiday Special: The Pagan Roots of ChristmasSkeeter Sanders
With beautifully illustrated accounts ranging from the pagan roots of Yuletide, through the birth of Christ, and the long and fascinating history of the festival ever since, The World Encyclopedia of Christmas , is a rich and continually surprising array of religious and secular history, trivia, ...
lead to the First English Civil War (1642-46), after which the Puritans came to power and banned the celebration of Christmas, Easter, and the various saints’ days. In their strict view of the Bible, only the Sabbath was sacred. Christmas, with its pagan roots, was especially ...
The trappings of Christmas are almost entirely pagan in origin. Christmas trees, the lights on both trees and homes, wreaths, caroling, Santa Claus, the exchange of gifts – all of it was born in pagan solstice festivals beginning, as far as we can tell, long before ...
The pudding’s pagan roots are now celebrated rather than swept under the Christmas-tree skirt. A recent history cheerfully notes that the game of “snap dragons,” in which children compete to pluck raisins from the flaming brandy, likely has origins with the Celtic Druids. Across the ...
Halloween gained popularity in the United States in the 1840s by way of amassive Irish immigrationto escape the Irish Potato Famine. The Pagan roots of the celebration may be what led to it being popular withfarm communitiesand people looking to connect with the land as the seasons turned. ...
2.A Neopagan. 3.Offensive a.One who has no religion. b.An adherent of a religion other than Judaism, Christianity, or Islam. 4.A hedonist. [Middle English, from Late Latinpāgānus, from Latin,country-dweller, civilian, frompāgus,country, rural district; seepag-inIndo-European roots.] ...
ORIGINS OF CHRISTMAS 1. The origins of Christmas can be traced back to ancient pagan celebrations such as Deus Sol Invictus (observed Dec 25), the Kalends (Jan 1-5), and Saturnalia (Dec 17-23). The Christian Church disapproved of these festivals and co-opted the holidays by declaring Dec...
Halloween tradition, trick or treating, was seen in rudimentary forms during early pagan celebrations. Children, particularly young children, are more apt to dress as a princess or pirate than an evil spirit. This was exactly the costume worn by the masked celebrants of early Halloween festivals...
It seems fitting that the world festival of the turning of time comes in the middle of the Twelve Days of Christmas, since the Incarnation is God’s decisive embrace of the temporal and finite, while extending – simultaneously – an invitation to us humans to embody in ourselves the divine...