We all know that christians claim the true meaning of christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus and most of us know that Christmas was originally a Pagan festival. You're probably thinking that christians stole this festival in order to compete with Paganism. However. There is much more to it than that. Supporting the Christian message of Christmas is as good as supporting terrorism. Terrorism is "the systematic and organised use of violence and intimidation to force a government or community to act in a certain way or accept certain demands" (Chambers 2003). For christians to steal the festival from Pagans ot meant that Pagans had to be killed and persecuted. After all this killing in 350AD the bishop of Rome decided that the Pagan festival be tamed and made into one suitable for the Christian son of God.
Around 2000 years ago Paganism and Christianity were the main religions in the Roman Empire. In 323AD Constantine became the sole Roman emperor and Christianity became the official religion of the empire. With the full backing of the church turned with full force and persecuted the Pagans. After Constantines death in 337 his 2 sons ruled the Roman empire. Constans ruled the western half of the empire and was like his father a christian. In 341 he decreed that all pagan worship and sacrifices should cease, warning those who persisted with the threat of the death penalty. Although Christians were allowed to practice their religion in these temples with legal impurity. Lay Christians particularly in the eastern half of the empire took it upon themselves to destroy and plunder the temples. When Constans was killed in 350 his brother Constantius became the sole emperpr of the whole empire and was as intolerant towards Pagans as his brother.
Despite all this terror shown by the Christians, they were alarmed by the contimuing celebration of Pagan customs across the Empire. As this celebration was forbidden, the Christians decided that the Pagan celebration of "Jo Saturnalia" be tamed and made into a celebration fit for the christian son of God. Jesus' birthday has been celebrated since 98AD but in 350 it was decided by the Bishop of Rome JuliusI that the 25th of december would become the date when Jesus' birth be celebrated as this day was sacred to not only Paganism but also Mithraism - 2 of Christianitys main rivals at the time. The Christians were successful in taking the lights and gifts from the Pagan festival and bringing them to the celebration of Christmas and were successful in almost wiping out two of their main rivals.
So, the Christians would never have had the 25th as Christmas day if it wasn't for their hate campaign which saw Pagan temples destroyed and Pagans persecuted.
Another important point to note is that the Pagans did not start these celebrations, about 4000 years ago the Mesopotamians would homour their God Marduk. This was a fun occasion where one of the criminals was chosen as a "mock" king, in order to spare their main king. The Persians and Babylonians had a similar kind of celebration. Early Europeans who believed in evil spirits would fear the worst when the winter solstice approached but special rituals and celebrations were held to welcome back the sunlight. The Scandinavians also celebrated the winter Solstice and would welcome back the sun.
All these celebrations have used lights, merriness and excess. It is important that we maintain these celebratiopns but ignore the Christian message ofd Christmas.
Around 2000 years ago Paganism and Christianity were the main religions in the Roman Empire. In 323AD Constantine became the sole Roman emperor and Christianity became the official religion of the empire. With the full backing of the church turned with full force and persecuted the Pagans. After Constantines death in 337 his 2 sons ruled the Roman empire. Constans ruled the western half of the empire and was like his father a christian. In 341 he decreed that all pagan worship and sacrifices should cease, warning those who persisted with the threat of the death penalty. Although Christians were allowed to practice their religion in these temples with legal impurity. Lay Christians particularly in the eastern half of the empire took it upon themselves to destroy and plunder the temples. When Constans was killed in 350 his brother Constantius became the sole emperpr of the whole empire and was as intolerant towards Pagans as his brother.
Despite all this terror shown by the Christians, they were alarmed by the contimuing celebration of Pagan customs across the Empire. As this celebration was forbidden, the Christians decided that the Pagan celebration of "Jo Saturnalia" be tamed and made into a celebration fit for the christian son of God. Jesus' birthday has been celebrated since 98AD but in 350 it was decided by the Bishop of Rome JuliusI that the 25th of december would become the date when Jesus' birth be celebrated as this day was sacred to not only Paganism but also Mithraism - 2 of Christianitys main rivals at the time. The Christians were successful in taking the lights and gifts from the Pagan festival and bringing them to the celebration of Christmas and were successful in almost wiping out two of their main rivals.
So, the Christians would never have had the 25th as Christmas day if it wasn't for their hate campaign which saw Pagan temples destroyed and Pagans persecuted.
Another important point to note is that the Pagans did not start these celebrations, about 4000 years ago the Mesopotamians would homour their God Marduk. This was a fun occasion where one of the criminals was chosen as a "mock" king, in order to spare their main king. The Persians and Babylonians had a similar kind of celebration. Early Europeans who believed in evil spirits would fear the worst when the winter solstice approached but special rituals and celebrations were held to welcome back the sunlight. The Scandinavians also celebrated the winter Solstice and would welcome back the sun.
All these celebrations have used lights, merriness and excess. It is important that we maintain these celebratiopns but ignore the Christian message ofd Christmas.
