Christ = Jesus Christ, king of Jews.
Mass = the celebration of the Eucharist.
Nothing pagan in that.
As i said, the name is Christian, the festival is borrowed from various pagan mid winter festivals
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Christ = Jesus Christ, king of Jews.
Mass = the celebration of the Eucharist.
Nothing pagan in that.
Don't forget gluttony, drunkenness, crap TV and dreadful music. Ding bloody dong.
I know that Christmas is about Jesus. I need not know more than that.Is Christmas Pagan itś that time of the year again. Christmas looks different this year with the covid and all
Northern Europe the pagan tradition was to cut a young evergreen tree for yule and hang apples from it
Dec 25th being the day when the day begins to be longer after becoming shorter all winter. This to sun worshipers signified the moment when the sun god came back to life each year. So for them the sun dies that night(shortest day in the year) so that morning is especially significant because that's when the days begin to grow longer. This was also why Ezekiel saw the women weeping for "Tammuz" in the temple. (Ezekiel 8:14) Tammuz was a god said to die each year. So, the pagan women would weep each year when he dies and then there would be celebration when he comes back to life the next day. So the day was very significant to various pagan beliefs.Is Christmas Pagan itś that time of the year again. Christmas looks different this year with the covid and all.I heard on the news Internet shoppping is way up,more going to the internet to buy then in person.
Christmas ended up based on the much more ancient and widely found tradition of a midwinter celebration. Christmas was enthusiastically pagan long before it was Christian.Is Christmas Pagan itś that time of the year again. Christmas looks different this year with the covid and all.I heard on the news Internet shoppping is way up,more going to the internet to buy then in person.
There's been a lot of speculation that Jesus would have been born sometime in August/September, and much of what you see as "Christmas traditions" were actually traditions of the Winter Solstice within Paganism. They were adapted to fit 'Christmas' when Christians began trying to convert the Pagan populations. Kind of an intentional blending of intent, with the hope that Pagans would find this acceptable and be more willing to convert, if my understanding is right.
The birthday of Jesus was not apparently a matter of concern to the early church. We find Clement of Alexandria suggesting May 20 in the 3rd century, and we find the observance of Dec 25 in Rome 336 CE, which is the same date as the pre-existing midwinter festival of Sol Invictus (the 'Unconquered Sun').
According to Wikipedia (with my emphases),1. Sol Invictus, as some new henotheistic god, didn’t actually exist. It’s just plain old Sol/Helios from before.
See above. And according to my Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, entry 'Christmas', Dec 25 "was probably chosen to oppose the feast of the Natalis Solis Invicti".2. The idea that there was a major tradition for Sol on 25 Dec to be ‘stolen’ is highly dubious as there is no real evidence for it. It likely post-dates Christmas and may even be a response to Christmas initiated by Julian the Apostate.
The two citations above would suggest (but not specify) that at least since Aurelian, Dec 25 was the special time. The first also doesn't rule out celebrations of the sun at other times, though Dec 25 may have been the special day. I note your:3. Counterintuitively, celebrations for the ‘Unconquered Sun’ were not traditionally tied to solar events with festivities for Sol recorded on multiple dates in August and early December recorded so it is not correct to assume it must have been centred on the solstice.
According to Wikipedia (with my emphases),
Sol Invictus ("Unconquered Sun") was the official sun god of the later Roman Empire and a patron of soldiers. On 25 December AD 274, the Roman emperor Aurelian made it an official religion alongside the traditional Roman cults. Scholars disagree about whether the new deity was a refoundation of the ancient Latin cult of Sol, a revival of the cult of Elagabalus, or completely new. The god was favored by emperors after Aurelian and appeared on their coins until the last third-part of the reign of Constantine I. The last inscription referring to Sol Invictus dates to AD 387, and there were enough devotees in the fifth century that the Christian theologian Augustine found it necessary to preach against them.
See above. And according to my Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, entry 'Christmas', Dec 25 "was probably chosen to oppose the feast of the Natalis Solis Invicti".
The two citations above would suggest (but not specify) that at least since Aurelian, Dec 25 was the special time. The first also doesn't rule out celebrations of the sun at other times, though Dec 25 may have been the special day.
To summarize, the Calendar of 354 mentions the following three festivals of Sol:
The only one of those to refer to Sol Invictus is Dec 25
- - August 28: Sol and Luna; 24 chariot races;
- - October 19-22: Ludi Solis, 36 chariot races;
- - December 25: Natalis Invicti, 30 chariot races.
It doesn't mention Invictus, though. So the argument is available that Invictus is the midwinter sun.The standard norm for Roman festivals at this time was 24 chariot races. Of the 63 race-days listed in the Calendar of 354, 59 had 24 races, the only exceptions being February 25th and June 1st, when only 12 races were held, December 25th with 30 races, and October 22nd with 36 races.34 The 36 chariot races of October 22 thus represent the highest number of the year, which further suggests that this was not an annual, but a rarer, quadrennial celebration.35
The only one of those to refer to Sol Invictus is Dec 25
It doesn't mention Invictus, though. So the argument is available that Invictus is the midwinter sun.
Why not? Constantine had been on the Imperial throne since 306 and the atmosphere for Christians grew much lighter in his time.That doesn't even mention Sol, just 'birth of the unconquered'. Invictus was an epithet applied to many gods.
The source also postdates the likely dating of Christmas on the 25th.
Points like this are addressed in the attached article above.
An argument not yet based on any evidence, that still assumes they stole the minor Sol festival, that still assumes people willing to die to avoid pagan practices also gladly appropriated them at the same time, etc.
Why not? Constantine had been on the Imperial throne since 306 and the atmosphere for Christians grew much lighter in his time.
Later the RCC certainly appropriated local festivals and customs into its missionary work.
Yes but I think itś worth revisiting. My sister doesn´t celebrate it because of Pagan roots, neither does the Jehovahs Witnesses.