The pagan origins of christian holidays pdf free download

Jeremiah 1 Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: 2 Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. The Pagan Origins of Christian Holidays is an examination of the holidays that are observed by Christians today. This book reveals a piercing truth; Satan has deceived the whole world. The intent of this book is to merely present before you the compromise that has occurred between Christianity and paganism.

Someone wise once said to me, "Christianity IS paganism. The roots of Christianity are pagan, and so I beg to differ with those who argue you can't be Christian and www. Pagan elements were incorporated into the Christian faith on the advice of Pope Gregory the Great, who told Saint Augustine of Canterbury that rather than tear down the pagan temples in Britain, he should instead add the pagan rituals into the mix of Christian practices, thus providing an easy transition to the new religion.

Then the girls jump over the fire in a line, one after the other, each supported by two young men who hold her hands and run beside her. In the twilight, boys with blazing bundles of straw run over the fields to make them fruitful. At Delmenhorst, in Olden- burg, it used to be the custom to cut down two trees, plant them in the ground side by side, and pile twelve tar-barrels against each. Brushwood was then heaped about the trees, and on the evening of Easter Saturday, the boys, after rushing about with blazing bean-poles in their hands, set fire to the whole.

At the end of the ceremony, the urchins tried to blacken each other and the clothes of grown-up people. In the Altmark, it is believed that as far as the blaze of the Easter bonfire is visible, the corn will grow well throughout the year, and no conflagration will break out.

In the Altmark, bones were burned in it. Apr 30 is Walpurgis Night. May 1 is Beltaine. Why they chose Saint Walpurga to align with this date is not known. It is celebrated widely in Europe and Scandinavia. It is traditional to build a large bonfire.

Germanic folklore talks of witches riding their brooms on this night. They would ring church bells and bang pots and pans. And, of course, they envoke the name of Saint Walpurgis. Beltane is the first day of May which celebrates the beginning of the Summer season for many agricultural societies. It has a rich history starting with the name. In his book, The Two Babylons, 5 Rev. He believes it is part of the heritage of the Druid society that is lost.

He recounts a report from the late Lady of Fern Tower in Perthshire where she observed people gather at an ancient site near her property at Crieff. Whoever draws the black blindfold must wear it while jumping over the bonfire set in the center of the circle and pay a forfeit. Sometimes they suffer horrible burns, but that is part of the ritual. They say it relates to the worship of Baal, a generic term for God or Bel.

The passing through the fire redeems their soul. Perhaps the modern-day celebration is a diversion to hide the authentic ceremonies. Wiccans and other Neopagan groups call it Litha. It is one of the 8 pagan holidays, a celebration that honors the fullness of the Sun. The anthropomorphic being Greenman.

The Celts built bonfires, and people jumped through the flames, similar to rituals of Beltaine. The mythology of Litha is the battle between the day and the night.

The Oak King represents the day and Holly King the night. The Solstice is the day with the most sunlight; each day after that is shorter, so, in the end, Holly King takes precedence until Yule, when the Oak King begins to win. Litha has a Greek connection to Libthra.

The nightingales sing sweet songs because Libthra is where the Muses buried fragments of Orpheus. She is supposedly the first wife of Adam in rabbinic literature Rabbi Shabbat b. Cults of Lilith existed at least until the 7th Century. Ancient architects designed structures to align with the Summer Soltice, including the Temple of Amun in Luxor, Egypt, also known as the Temple of Karnak. The Western Gate of the main structure aligns perfectly with the Summer Soltice at sunset.

The staircase illuminates what looks like a snake going down the stairs at midday on the Summer Solstice. The Temple of Amen-Ra at Karnak was built with such precision that sunlight would shine through a small opening for two to three minutes on the Summer Solstice. The appearance of this light allowed Egyptian scholars to calculate the days of the year. Today many congregations move this holiday to the Sunday nearest Aug 1.

Lammas Day comes from Lughnasadh or Lughnasa, a Gaelic festival marking the beginning of the harvest season. It has roots in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. Lughnasadh is one of the four primary Gaelic seasonal festivals. In the New Testament Book of Acts 12, Peter is miraculously released from chains by angels the day before Herod sentenced him.

However, the Orthodox Church celebrates this festival on Jan 1. It is an important feast day for those who belong to the Fraternity of St. The celebration is similar to a high mass with the full ceremonial dress, music, incense. A deacon and subdeacon officiate it. Pagans often celebrate this festival with a harvest feast around a bonfire. They give blessings back to Mother Earth for the bounty of the harvest.

So, they also ask for good weather for the final harvest of grains. We have already seen that in Russia on the Eve of St. John, young men and maidens jump over a bonfire in couples carrying a straw effigy of Kupalo in their arms. In some parts of Russia, an image of Kupalo is burnt or thrown into a stream on St.

Again, in some districts of Russia, the young folk wear garlands of flowers and girdles of holy herbs when they spring through the smoke or flames; and sometimes they drive the cattle also through the fire in order to protect the animals against wizards and witches, who are then ravenous after milk.

In Little Russia, a stake is driven into the ground on St. As soon as the bonfires are kindled, the young people take hands and leap in pairs through the smoke, if not through the flames; and after that, the cattle in their turn are driven through the fire. Sept 22 to 23 is when we have the astronomical alignment of the Autumn Equinox.

We know the ancient Celts celebrated the Spring and Fall Equinox because they built the megalith cairns in the hills at Loughcrew, 55 miles North West of Dublin in Ireland. Michaelmas is the Catholic feast celebrated on Sunday, It is the Churches replacement for the celebrations of these celestial alignments. Their festival is mute about the Equinox alignment. Mabon is the Son of Modron in Celtic mythology. But, he never witnessed them, nor has anyone else reported this. Unfortunately, it has repeated enough to be accepted as truth by those who seek to disparage the Gaelic traditions.

It is common knowledge that the Celts conducted a mock sacrifice of a wicker-work figure which represented the vegetation spirit. The Celtic mock sacrifice is now reborn in the Burning Man Project each year. Oct 31 is Halloween, next to Christmas, is the most celebrated holiday worldwide.

It is popularized in movies and has become a staple of the advertising industry. It does not coincide with the shortest day of the year, but it does represent the time when the people need to store the last harvest before the beginning of Winter. Dressing like demons and decorating with pumpkins is a strategy to scare away or trick unwanted evil spirits.

How did the ancient people know when to celebrate Samhain before the advent of either Gregorian or Julian calendars? Why, of course, by using the Wheel of the year. The four main Gaelic holidays are halfway between Solstice and Equinox. The Celts call them the Cross-Quarter Day. This method of timekeeping divides the year into 8 nearly equal portions of time. When combined with the 13 cycles of the moon, you have a calendar rooted in astronomical precision since each moon phase is approximately 28 days.

Nov is also a special day known as The Day of the Dead, a holiday celebrated primarily in Mexico, but this holiday is evident in other cultures. The holiday focuses on family gatherings where the focus is on remembering and praying for friends and family members who have died. They practice various rituals to honor the deceased using skulls and the deceased favorite foods. The ceremony often includes a precision to the gravesite where they sing and pray. Sometimes they leave pictures and other possessions that honor their ancestors.

Scholars trace the origins of this holiday to the Aztec festival dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl. The annual celebration has since spread worldwide. In Brazil, Dia de Finados is a public holiday that many Brazilians celebrate by visiting cemeteries and churches. There are festivals and parades in Spain, and people gather at cemeteries and pray for their dead loved ones. Similar observances occur elsewhere in Europe, and similarly, themed celebrations appear in many Asian and African cultures.

The rituals for Samhain are certainly older than the remnants that we find in the British Isles. James Hutton gives us a good foundation:. For the Celts, Samhain was the beginning of the year and the cycle of the seasons. Samhain was a time when the Celts acknowledged the beginning and the ending of all things. As they looked to nature, they saw the falling of the leaves from the trees, the coming of Winter, and death. It was a time when they turned to their Gods and Goddesses, seeking to understand the turning cycles of life and death.

Here, on the threshold of the cold, barren winter months, it was also a time of feasting and celebration as the weakest animals were culled to preserve valuable foodstuffs and provide food to last until the following Spring. For the Celts, Samhain was a time when the gates between this world and the next were open.

It was a time of communion with the spirits of the dead, who, like the wild autumnal winds, were free to roam the Earth. At Samhain, the Celts called on the spirits of nature. We can trace the modern to the Celtic festival of Samhain, but like the other three Galaec festivals dates back further. Lighting bonfires for security is a common concern, so people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts.

Soon, All Saints Day incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain. The evening before was known as All Hallows Eve, and later Halloween. Over time, Halloween evolved into a day of activities like trick-or-treating, carving jack-o-lanterns, festive gatherings, donning costumes, and eating treats.

James George Fraizer conducted extensive research in the 19th Century, and his writings are still a rich source of information about the history of this celebration in the British Isles:. The custom, thus found among three separate branches of the Celtic stock, probably dates from a period before their dispersion, or at least from a time when alien races had not yet driven home the wedges of separation between them.

The custom of kindling bonfires on Midsummer Day or on Midsummer Eve is widely spread among the Mohammedan peoples of North Africa, particularly in Morocco and Algeria; it is common both to the Berbers and many of the Arabs or Arabic-speaking tribes.

In these countries, Midsummer Day Jun 24 is called Pansara. The fires are lit in the courtyards, at crossroads, in the fields, and sometimes on the threshing floors.

Plants which in burning give out thick smoke and an aromatic smell are much sought after for fuel on these occasions; among the plants used for the purpose are giant-fennel, thyme, rue, chervil-seed, camomile, geranium, and penny-royal.

Many of these celebrations are money-making opportunities for the Church. It is interesting to note many of them lead to or through Druidic tradition, for they were some of the last hold-outs against the power of the Church.