Whats with the tree's

[beejw]

yeah thats true. when constantine changed the official religion, the dates chosen werechosen specifically because they were already well established celebrations on those dates.

 

[Sasquatch]

Christmas itself is of pagan origin. Easter is the most important and first christian holiday.

Actually that first part of your sentence was a near miss. The traditional Christmas, or the celebrating of the birth of Jesus, was developed by the Catholics to focus on Christianity and away from the original pagan Winter solstice celebration, (that featured the tree and yule log). So, you see, Christmas is Christmas and the pagan celebration was blurred out of existence in modern times except for the remaining symbols.

Cool stuff.

Sea ya!

 

[wardric]

Thanks for the precision Sasquatch. Anyway, correct me if i'm wrong but there is no evidence of the true date af the birth of Jesus so the choice was made for the purpose you and Beejw mentioned.

 

[Sasquatch]

Anyway, correct me if i'm wrong but there is no evidence of the true date af the birth of Jesus so the choice was made for the purpose you and Beejw mentioned.

Yes, sorta. The whole story gets a little weird but my understanding is that most scholars are convinced that, based on clues from the Bible and other sources, Jesus was actually born in late Spring to early Summer. I'll have to dig a little but I think the reason had to do with major calendar upgrades over the centuries rather than trying to eradicate the pagan holiday.