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Pagan holidays

 

  • Pagan holidays

    To revive this forum a bit... what pagan holidays do you have in your country, if any? And do you know their origins? When and how do you celebrate them? In comparison to religious holidays, do you think there is a difference in peoples' attitudes?

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  • Easter and Christmas if you go back enough in time to their pagan roots... Otherwise: None.

    Meshuggah: "A combination of the powerful and the avant-garde, the band is as visceral and imposing an act as you’ll ever see and hear, guitarists Fredrik Thordendal, Mårten Hagström, and bassist Dick Lövgren hammering out lurching, monolithic riffs as they headbang in robotic unison, vocalist Jens Kidman barking out surreal verses like a twisted drill sergeant while gesticulating like a puppet on strings. - Adrien Begrand (PopMatters)
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    • [Deleted user] said...
    • User
    • 29 Jun 2009, 16:38
    Waldheri said:
    Easter and Christmas if you go back enough in time to their pagan roots... Otherwise: None.



    same with me.

    btw - I didn't know Easter was a pagan holliday

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  • Uhh...reading/chanting excerpts about Jesus' death/birth/Resurrection in the church is a pagan holiday?

    The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed.
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  • Christmas coincides the winter solstice (not by accident, by the way), which is celebrated in many pagan traditions: Sol Invictus and Saturnalia for the Romans, which included customs light light decoration and the giving of gifts; and Yuletide for the Germanic pagans, of which the custom of decorating trees with lights originated (to celebrate the coming of the lengthening of days).

    Easter coincides with Passover, the Hebrew holidays in which they celebrate the exodus from Egypt. It also correlates with the spring equinox, in which (what a surprise) fertility goddesses were celebrated. The word "easter" is thought to be derived from the name of the Saxon goddess of fertility "Eostre".

    So yes, they were pagan holidays before Christianity put its stamp on it.

    Meshuggah: "A combination of the powerful and the avant-garde, the band is as visceral and imposing an act as you’ll ever see and hear, guitarists Fredrik Thordendal, Mårten Hagström, and bassist Dick Lövgren hammering out lurching, monolithic riffs as they headbang in robotic unison, vocalist Jens Kidman barking out surreal verses like a twisted drill sergeant while gesticulating like a puppet on strings. - Adrien Begrand (PopMatters)
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  • Where did you think the bunnies and eggs came from, Urocyon? The last supper?

    There's no problem a few frag grenades can't fix.

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    The snake that cannot shed its skin perishes. So do the spirits who are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be spirit. -Nietzsche
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  • Hm, we got suprisingly many here in Sweden, even if you don't count for Easter and Christmas. We got Valborg and Midsommar (Midsummer's eve), that are big events.

    I already linked a video when Swedish immigrants in Great Britain were performing the Små Grodorna dansen in the ACP forums :) I understand if Americans don't have anything aside Christian traditions, but you don't celebrate these things at all in the Netherlands?

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  • There's quite a lot pagans in the UK who still celebrate the various pagan festivals.

    On the large scale we still have pagans who attend Stonehenge during the Summer Solstice: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6547935.ece

    On a smaller scale with various smaller, individual groups;

    Beginning of February is Imbolc, which is the pagan new year - which the Christian hold Candlemass, something to do with the ritual cleansing of Mary after 40 days of Jesus' birth.

    As Waldheri has already stated, the period in which Christians celebrate Christmas and Easter are pagan celebrations of the winter and spring solstices; Yule (winter) and Eostre or Ostara (spring).

    Probably the least celebrated is the Autumn Equinox, Mabon: http://www.new-age.co.uk/autumn-equinox.htm

    May day (which is still an official bank holiday here in the UK) is also known as Beltane. http://www.wicca.com/celtic/akasha/beltane.htm

    Halloween is also a pagan holiday/festival known as Samhain.

    St.Valentine is a pagan festival too, it is a Roman Pagan fertility festival:Eve of Lupercalia


    Apart from May Day, Yule and Eostre have the fortune (as far as I am aware) of falling on official bank holidays. If pagans want to celebrate other festivals then they will have to book time off. Mind you most of them are celebrated at the weekend by most pagans, or so I believe.

    "Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy."
    — Guillaume Apollinaire
    "Men and women are the two faces on the coin of humanity; to deface either of them is to devalue humanity." - Pru Goward
    "The Air Force pinned a medal on me for killing a man and discharged me for making love to one." - Leonard Matlovich
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  • Waldheri said:
    Christmas coincides the winter solstice (not by accident, by the way), which is celebrated in many pagan traditions: Sol Invictus and Saturnalia for the Romans, which included customs light light decoration and the giving of gifts; and Yuletide for the Germanic pagans, of which the custom of decorating trees with lights originated (to celebrate the coming of the lengthening of days).
    Oh, Gregorian calendar, right. Yeah, my Church was not actually ever celebrating Christmas during the winter solstice until recently (monks and old-calendarists still do though).

    Easter coincides with Passover, the Hebrew holidays in which they celebrate the exodus from Egypt. It also correlates with the spring equinox, in which (what a surprise) fertility goddesses were celebrated. The word "easter" is thought to be derived from the name of the Saxon goddess of fertility "Eostre".
    I don't see the Passover as a pagan tradition. After all, Jesus was supposed to have been crucified during those days.
    Easter? It's called Pasch(a) in Greece (and in almost every Orthodox region). We only refer to it as Easter just for the sake of discussion with other denominations.
    [link]
    Pascha is a transliteration of the Greek word, which is itself a transliteration of the Hebrew pesach, both words meaning Passover.

    The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed.
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  • And it NEVER occured to you that maybe Christians adapted to these already EXISTING traditions so it would be easer to convert people? Different names, same things. I am sure you can find celebrations that reconcile with these days tracing back to Ancient Greece, I'll be damned if there are none, considering every other sect of the Greek gods that existed, all from Dionysius' female sexual orgies to strict worshippers of Zeus.

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  • I don't see the Passover as a pagan tradition. After all, Jesus was supposed to have been crucified during those days.
    And resurrected afterwards, at around (oh my!) the same time all resurrected gods would. At spring, together with nature. How surprising.

    We also have the various carnival customs, which date way back.

    Futility is resistant.
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  • I don't think there were any dates left with so many gods and events anyway.

    The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed.
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  • PASSOVER is a Jewish tradition. EASTER (or your "pascha"--potato, potahto) is a Christian tradition. Passover as a holiday has nothing to do with Jesus' death and alleged resurrection save coinciding with the last supper. They are actually two separate holidays.

    Your 'pascha' is not the Jewish holiday "Passover".

    There's no problem a few frag grenades can't fix.

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    The snake that cannot shed its skin perishes. So do the spirits who are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be spirit. -Nietzsche
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  • I don't think there were any dates left with so many gods and events anyway.
    The thing to notice is that christian holidays coincide with pagan ones, not only in dates, but in what they're celebrating as well. The resurrection in spring, the birth of a king on the winter solstice, etc

    Futility is resistant.
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  • the_gray_fox said:
    I don't think there were any dates left with so many gods and events anyway.

    Well, believe me, those orgies did exist. They were solely for women too. They would leave late at night, then run around on a mead naked, eat food and drink lots of wine... and probably have intercourse too, although that part is far less described. There were cited time periods when they did occur as well, but I don't remember it very well now. Anyway, I believe those dates did reconcile with the celebration of Afrodite...

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    • [Deleted user] said...
    • User
    • 4 Jul 2009, 19:15
    LeaTelamon said:
    the_gray_fox said:
    I don't think there were any dates left with so many gods and events anyway.

    Well, believe me, those orgies did exist. They were solely for women too. They would leave late at night, then run around on a mead naked, eat food and drink lots of wine... and probably have intercourse too, although that part is far less described. There were cited time periods when they did occur as well, but I don't remember it very well now. Anyway, I believe those dates did reconcile with the celebration of Afrodite...
    Oh that sounds like lots of fun. :D

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  • "My Pascha" is celebrated on the Jewish Passover, because that's when Jesus supposedly died.
    What about a king's death? Jesus died in spring and rose after three days (still spring).
    I could have agreed that Christmas were set on such a day on purpose, hadn't so many pagans converted before.

    "In contrast to the pagans who worship the Sun, we worship its Creator."

    The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed.
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  • What about a king's death? Jesus died in spring and rose after three days (still spring).

    Exactly.
    I could have agreed that Christmas were set on such a day on purpose, hadn't so many pagans converted before.
    That's why.
    In contrast to the pagans who worship the Sun, we worship its Creator
    Jesus is a solar deity

    Futility is resistant.
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  • No, there were a great many pagans still around when the Catholics brought in their holy days to coincide with pagan celebrations.

    "Christian Holidays are ancient pagan feasts that were ushered in by the Roman Catholic Church during the rule of emperor Constantine. Constantine was a pagan sun-worshipper who had a "Christian experience" that wanted to unite his empire, both Christian and pagan together. He achieved this by re-writing history and re-naming pagan feasts with Christian names."

    "Early believers kept Saturday as the Sabbath until March 7, 321 CE when Pope Constantine passed a law requiring believers to worship on Sunday, the day the pagans worshipped the sun-god. Believers still kept Saturday as the Sabbath until another law was passed eleven years later. This law signed into decree by Pope Constantine forbid believers to worship on the Sabbath (Saturday) and it was punishable by death by the Catholic Church. Many believers were burned to death by the Catholic Church for keeping the Sabbath."

    source:Evil Holidays

    "Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy."
    — Guillaume Apollinaire
    "Men and women are the two faces on the coin of humanity; to deface either of them is to devalue humanity." - Pru Goward
    "The Air Force pinned a medal on me for killing a man and discharged me for making love to one." - Leonard Matlovich
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  • Yes, but the fact that they -as pagans- used to celebrate their god's birth during the winter solstice made them want to celebrate their new God's birth on that day as well.
    If a new religion emerges (not scientology), we will probably replace the major Christian holidays with it. And there will also be numerous discussions about how that new religion stole everything from Christianity, hah.

    Wait, which solar deity became a mortal man and died for the whole world's sins?

    The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed.
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  • A common thread in this argument seems to be that because Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus on a day on which Jesus was not actually born somehow invalidates that celebration. Why?

    So a few dates were moved around in order to make it simpler to convert unbelievers (which was seen as a holy duty back then). The birth, death and resurrection of Jesus are still celebrated every year by millions of believers. If tomorrow the Pope declared that Christmas will be celebrated in June, how would it affect anyone except the gift industry in any way?

    Back on topic, it was probably mentioned before, but over here they celebrate both solstices among other pagan holidays.

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  • Really? I don't see anyone claiming that the shifting of dates invalidates the holiday. We just mentioned the pagan roots of 'Christian' holidays such as Christmas and Easter.

    Meshuggah: "A combination of the powerful and the avant-garde, the band is as visceral and imposing an act as you’ll ever see and hear, guitarists Fredrik Thordendal, Mårten Hagström, and bassist Dick Lövgren hammering out lurching, monolithic riffs as they headbang in robotic unison, vocalist Jens Kidman barking out surreal verses like a twisted drill sergeant while gesticulating like a puppet on strings. - Adrien Begrand (PopMatters)
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  • Well, as a matter of fact, it was calculated that Jesus actually died in Spring, according to a Christian friend of mine. NOT around the Winter solstice, when we celebrate Christmas. It might've been in March or May... but Jesus Ascension of Easter then seems more appropriate to become our new Christmas. But that means no snow :(

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  • Jesus died on Good Friday. This date is confirmed as the last supper was a Passover celebration. The only reason he was in Jerusalem at that time was to tie in with the Passover, and the reason he was sppeared by the legionnaire was so that he would die faster, as they were not allowed to have crucifixes up over Passover.

    There are so many aspects of the story that depend entirely on the event happening around Passover.

    Curse you all men,
    Whose coil is strong
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  • Lea meant born, not died.

    There's no problem a few frag grenades can't fix.

    Cookies for Godlessness
    My Twin in life, love, mind, and music: ISoS
    The snake that cannot shed its skin perishes. So do the spirits who are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be spirit. -Nietzsche
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