Origins of Pagan Holidays

Is Christmas a Christian Holiday?

MITHRAISM
(Part of the Pagan Beginnings of Christmas)

We enourage people to learn about pagan effects on customs and to avoid pagan aspects of holidays.

After the death of the third Zoroaster in the 6th century. B.C. changes began to take place in the religion which he brought forth. Ahura Mazda, the Supreme Zoroastrian God of Light and Goodness was given a helper called Mithra.

Mithra was a very ancient Aryan deity known amongst the Indo-European peoples both in Persia end in India. In India he was called Mitra. He was known as a sun god.

By the end of the 5th century B.C. Mithra had become the chief Persian god. He was invoked as Lord of Heavenly Light, the light of the sun. But he was not the sun itself. He was represented as seeing all and hearing all, having 10 thousand eyes and a thousand ears. He was the foe of darkness, impurity and vice and punished all those who broke their contracts.

Mithra was said to have been born of a virgin, the birth being witnessed by a few shepherds. This emphasized the idea of purity and Mithra as being the ideal man. The other gods-had their feminine consorts but Mithra was always celibate. Followers of Mithra were held to a rigorous code of chastity, fasting, loyalty and truth, and they were taught the brotherhood of man.

Mythraism was a mystery religion. It introduced rites which were practiced in caves, some of which were natural caves and some artificially built. Mithra, being a sun god, Sunday was held sacred to him. A celebration was held on December 25th following the winter solstice, at which hyms were sung, gifts were given, bells rung and candles lit with a sacrament of bread and water administered to initiates.

The Roman Saturnalia festival was celebrated on December 25th, On that day gifts were exchanged, slaves were freed for the day, and there was dancing, feasting and merry-making.
Mithraism found many followers in Rome as did Manichaeism, two cults that came from Persia and were an outgrowth of Zoroastrianism.

Roman Catholicism

Catholics are responsible for the creation Christmas holiday. This was done to appease the Pagans of their day while attempting to lure and hold them into the Catholic Church.

Let's be very clear in what is written here on the definition of Catholicism. Catholicism was never Christian in it's beginning and never has been Christian according to Biblical text. Roman Imperial, Mithra, and Orphic cults gathered for the creation of the Catholic church in Nicea in 325 AD. The Catholic church had their first forming ideas and philosiphies of the Trinity in 100 AD. The Trinity idea was completed in 325 AD at the Council of Nicea by those groups. The Trinitarian forms of baptism do not adhere to Biblical Acts 2:38 Jesus name baptism. Millions of souls have perished because of the belief system of the Catholic church being forced upon nations.

"The Christmas was originally a pagan festival is beyond all doubt. The time of the year, the ceremonies with which it is celebrated, prove its origin. In Egypt, the son of Isis, the Egyptian title for the queen of heaven, was born at this very time, about the time of the winter solstice. The very name by which Christmas is popularly known among ourselves-- Yule day-- proves at once its pagan and Babylonian origin. "Yule" is the Chaldee name for "infant," or "little child"; and as the 25th of December was called by our pagan Anglo-Saxon ancestors "Yule-day" or "the child's day", and the night that preceded it, "Mother night", long before they came in contact with Christianity, that sufficiently proves its real character. Far and wide in the realms of paganism was this birthday observed." (THE TWO BABYLONS; Alexander Hislop; p. 93)

The name "Christmas" appeared about 450 C.E. when Pope Julius decreed that all Catholics must celebrate the birthday of Christ at the same time that the heathen were celebrating the Saturnalia, etc. It was designated as "Christe-masse", or Christ's mass.

Early America and Christmas-

ARIZONA CURRENTS-December, 1965,Page Five
It's a Fact!
Christmas was not established as a legal holiday throughout the U.S. until late in the 19th century.
In 1659 the Puritan colony in Massachusetts passed a law that anyone "found observing any such day as Christmas or the like, either by forbearing labor, feasting or in any other way, shall be fined five shillings."
Many early Americans who refused to work on Christmas either went to jail or paid fines.
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Christmas Was Banned-DECEMBER 22, I967
BOSTON (AP) — Christmas was once banned in Boston.
The Puritans forbade the celebration of Christmas because it was a "pagan feast."
Episcopalians were the first' in Boston to observe the holiday. They were followed by increasing numbers of young people who raised 18th century eyebrows with "frolics, a reveling feast and ball."
Bul it wasn't until 1856 that, the legislature — recognizing a losing battle when it saw it — gave in and made Christmas a legal holiday.
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The exact date of Christ's birth is not known. The early Christians did not celebrate His birth because they considered the celebration of anyone's birth_to be a pagan custom. The first mention of the observance of Christ's birthday appears about a.d. 200. For many years, several dates were used. December 25 was first mentioned in 336. Christians of Egypt celebrated Christmas on January 6. Many members of the Eastern Orthodox Churches still observe this date.
Many persons today write Xmas instead of Christmas. This form of the name originated in the early Christian Church. In Greek, X is the first letter of Christ's name. It was frequently used as a holy symbol.

For many years, people observed Christmas as a religious festival only. But they gradually adopted mote and more customs unrelated to the church. Most of the customs originated, in cultures that existed before Christianity. In England during the Middle Ages, Christmas became the merriest day of the year. In 1643, the Puritans, who regarded such celebration) as pagan, outlawed the observance of Christmas in England. Colonists in New England copied the English laws. The blue laws of the Massachusetts Bay and New Haven colonies even outlawed mince pies (see blue laws). But immigrants brought Christmas customs from many lands and the old festivities soon were restored.

The World Book Encyclopedia- Robert J. Meyers.