Quote:
Originally Posted by countmeworthy
In an nutshell, "Christmas" and "Easter" are pagan holidays borrowed by the religious folks back in the day.
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We call them pagan (derogatorily) ... and perhaps they were. But actually early man recognized these were major times of importance to them and their survival :
1) Christmas: The renewal, or rebirth, of the Sun. When the days start getting longer. That's Dec. 21 today, but was Dec 25th back then. Moreover, even back then they prolly suffered from
-->S.A.D<--. So ... Man were they happy the sun was coming back around.
2) Easter: The beginning of Spring time, and time to start planting the crops. The Easter Bunny and the Easter eggs are obvious to this, as meaning, fertility and fecundity.
Constantine back in the days of the Council of Nicaea (325CE) -- a Sun god worshiper that made Christianity the state religion (official birth time of the Roman Catholic Church) -- established these times as the birth and resurrection of Jesus. Both related to celestial events. The birth of Jesus at the time of the rebirth of the sun, and Easter as the first Sunday after the first Full Moon after the spring equinox.
The names of the days and months also come from these pagan influences, but are another story. Google it ... and learn for yourself.