The Pagan Faith and Christian Holidays

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Recommended: Religions compare and contrast

Since man first had conscious thought, he has sought the answers to life affirming questions. How was life created? Who created this world? What lies after death? What is the meaning of life? Time has created many answers to these questions. Many of these answers are lost in time, along with the peoples who believed them. As archaeologists search the past for a better history of the planet, old questions are answered and new questions asked. There are also ideas that have only been transformed through history, reshaped by society.

There are common themes in the answers to those questions. When they are combined, believed and ritualized, they become religions. The polytheists of ancient civilizations worshipped the celestial bodies: the sun, moon, and stars. Native Americans worshiped nature. The Greeks worshiped everything, and had a God or Goddess to represent each thing they worshiped. These religions bring morals and structure into society and lives. They may call for meditation, prayer, or sacrifice. If one should choose to live by the Bible, the Koran, or other pious texts, those life-affirming questions are answered for that person.

So ideas have come and gone and come again. Religions are like empires. Some religions are small and quickly get absorbed in others. Some are relatively new, such as Christianity. Some are very old, as Judaism is. They can begin in the most unlikely places and spread quickly through the countryside.

When religion is thought of as an empire, it easily shows growth and reformation in ideas. Christianity began only two thousand years ago, but has already grown to become one of the world's major religions. It began in Palestine, a small country...

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Noss, John B. (1968). Man's religions. The Macmillan Company.

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Pagan holidays: christmas and easter exposed!. [online] Address. Pagan holidays: christmas and easter exposed!. March 24, 1998

Plawiuk, Eugene W. The origins and traditions of mayday. [online] Address. The origins and traditions of mayday, March 26, 1998

The sacred year. [online] Address. The sacred year. March 26, 1998

Shirts, Kerry A. Abraham, father of the faithful, or osiris, pagan egyptian god?. [online]. Abraham, father of the faithful, or osiris, pagan egyptian god?, March 26, 1998.

Thomas, Charles. (1986). Celtic britain. Thames and Hudson.

Veyne, Paul. (1987). The rise of christianity. The Belknap Press of Harvard Press Company.

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