But often the most entertaining.

I agree. People let their extremist family members into their lives and wonder why their kids are ****** up.

No it is not a pagan holiday. It's based off a pagan holiday. That is not the same thing. Easter is a Christian creation. Pagans celebrate Ostara, which takes place on the Spring Equinox.

Hey, don't bring the weather people into this! They just want to give you hope of sunny skies...

while you're technically correct, she's right as well. Ostara's sacred symbols are the rabbit and the egg due to her being a fertility goddess which is how they became associated with Easter.

@23: but isn't that number 20's point? That Easter is based on the pagan holiday (thus sharing certain similarities and what-not), but is not the same thing? The point is, just because a holiday is based on another, doesn't mean they're both the same holiday. They're two different holidays celebrated by two different groups of people and celebrating different things.

If you're saying that Easter is a pagan holiday because it carried over pagan traditions, then you're going to have to also concede that Christmas is a pagan holiday, unless you've never before decorated a tree as part of the celebration.

Actually yes, Christmas is also a pagan holiday. Both are not based on Biblical facts. For Easter, they used a different calendar than us and he died on Nisan 14, which this year falls on April 14th. The bunnies and eggs have nothing to do with Jesus and everything to do with Gods of Fertility. Now with Christmas, the Bible says that Jesus was born at a time when the Shepherds were still sleeping outside with their flocks which means definitely NOT the middle of winter. And like Easter, Christmas has nothing to do with true Biblical doctrines and everything to do with Santa Clause and decorating trees. Pretty sure neither of those things are in the Bible. Oh and you know those Three Wise Men? ...They were Astrologers who were looming to kill Jesus. Read Matthew 1 it tells all about when Jesus was born and it's quite different than what some Churches may teach. Same with Easter.

Oh hey OP's mother

34, where do you get this information on the day Christ died? I would like to find the uber-exact dates on when the world was created, too.

Oh hey #40 what's up

@34 If you read Matthew 2, you’d know that the three wise men weren’t out to kill Jesus, king Herod was. As for Easter and Christmas not being doctrinal, people know there isn’t a command “thou shalt celebrate Christmas and Easter” in the Bible. They don’t celebrate them because they think God commanded them to. They celebrate it to have fun, or to reflect on parts of the Bible, or to follow tradition. Also, since (as was mentioned earlier) Christmas and Easter traditions were based on pagan holidays it makes sense they would share similar traditions (the date being in December, eggs, decorating trees, etc). However the symbols mean different things to Christians than to pagans. For example, in Christian practice, Easter eggs would symbolize new birth and therefore the resurrection of Christ and salvation “new life” through him. The resurrection of Christ is a true Bible doctrine. Christmas evergreen trees symbolize everlasting life thanks to the birth and sacrifice of Christ. Candy canes symbolize the blood of Christ and purification of sin by him. Santa Claus was created by a mixture of legend, consumerism and secularism. The point is, popular Christian holidays may have similarities to pagan holidays, but the symbols and the actions mean totally different things to the two groups. To Christians, the symbols are just meant to reflect on what God has done and as a way to thank him. For secular people, it's a celebration to have fun :)

You know, as one of the resident historians who frequently comment on this site i get tired of explaining how these festivals came to be part of christianity. So this year i'm not going to. And, i'm just going to leave this link here for you all to read at your leisure :p. it's the letter from pope gregory to abbot mellitus where he gives instructions on the incorporation of the pagan festivals. www.fordham.edu/hallsall/source/greg1-mellitus.txt

However as has been mentioned, much of these festivals traditions have been translated into christian traditions now.

It doesn't matter how they've been "translated" into Christian symbols... They first and foremost represent pagan things and I don't know why any true "Christian" would inculcate things that are undeniably rooted in paganism into their celebrations of Jesus. It's not Biblical no matter how you try to spin it.

78. That's why i usually say that most christians don't actually follow those festivals (although a considerable amount do, and there are probably more non christians, like myself, who follow them than actual christians. I'm not pagan either btw).

78 - When you pick "dead guy on a stick" as the primary symbol of your religion, you have a serious marketing problem -- like it, or not. You need lots of warm-and-fuzzy help to get and keep followers.

To be fair though, tons of traditions that Christians follow come from non-Christian religious practices. Just take weddings as an example. Bridesmaids originally had the role of outsmarting evil spirits by dressing similarly to the bride to prevent the evil spirits from finding her. Wedding cakes were used in Roman times and medieval times for good luck. Even the flowers (not just the bouquet, but also those in the maids hair, and used as decor) were meant to ward off evil spirits. All these practices have origins in non-Christian superstitions. We use them today however because they have completely different meanings to us. Does that mean people who have bridesmaids, or cake, or flowers at their wedding are disobeying God and are not "true" Christians?

Christianity incorporated pagan idols to help convert them.

Also, you say that the symbols cannot truly be translated to Christian symbols since they "first and foremost represent pagan things" and are "undeniably rooted in paganism." But is it truly Biblical to say that a religious group can "lay claim" to things like eggs, bunnies, and evergreen trees? If you are a Christian, then don't you believe God created them first? Shouldn't eggs, bunnies, and trees first and foremost represent God's creation? I mean, many ancient civilizations worshiped the sun as God. But would it be fair to tell a Christian "hey you shouldn't hang a picture of a sun in your house because people might associate it to ancient worship of the sun God?" I would understand more if we were living in the past where someone decorating with bunnies, eggs, and evergreens were primarily associated to pagans. However nowadays when you see someone with a Christmas tree in their house, the first reaction is rarely "oh they must be pagans." There is no longer the risk of being associated to such a practice. Just like the sun is now rarely associated to "the sun god" anymore.

@75 I tried to go to your link, but I couldn't access it. Is it possible you need to be part of fordham university to have access to it? Do you have another link you could send me to? It's always interesting to learn about the origin of certain practices :P

Easter, Christmas and so on were not created to "stamp out" Pagan holidays. The man who wrote the bible was a Pagan himself. He saw the rise of Christianity and knew what it would mean. Rather than fight it, he decided to facilitate the transition from Paganism to Christianity. He therefore based these holidays on Pagan ones (Santa clause, decorating a tree, the Easter bunny, etc, are all based on Pagan traditions). He did this with the church too. There are Pagan symbols ever present in today's church.

The man who wrote the bible?? Also, the bible doesn't dictate the dates of Christmas and Easter.....I'm curious as to which exact man you are referring.

The bible is written over centuries by many, many different men. Also, there is no Christmas or Easter in the bible. There is the birth of Christ, tweaked to conform to the messiah prophecy, and the risen Christ, completely a Christian invention. Also, do you really think the bible is an historical document written by some pagan (one guy!) who witnessed the rise of Christianity? Do you know the Old Testament is part if the Jewish bible? Do you know that Judaism predates Christianity? Do you know the time between the books in the New Testament spans hundreds of years? Do you know the time between the New and Old Testament spans about a thousand years? One guy?

Methuselea must have had hellish writers cramp.

Its only pagan if she wants it to be.