Explain Christmas Trees then
Christianity is not combined with paganism at all
Jarix@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 22 minutes ago
Christmas trees are a German tradition. Originally they were “Paradise trees” and were representing the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden in Mystery plays. Typically there are readings around Christmas surrounding the Garden of Eden due to depicting The Fall and why Christ had to come. An evergreen tree was picked, likelt due to practicalities with the fact it was winter, but it also helped that they represented eternal life. They were decorated with fruits and later candles to represent the Light of Christ. Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband, was German, and he brought the tradition to the UK.
redsand@infosec.pub 18 hours ago
Ever heard of Baal or Osiris?
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 17 hours ago
Don’t see how either have anything to do with Jesus
daychilde@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
If you’re ignorant, it’s trivial to research this issue. Google “pagan origins of easter” and find a source you like. There will be shit tons of options.
If you’re being willfully ignorant, you deserve nothing but ridicule.
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 10 hours ago
I have researched this issue. “The pagan origins of Easter” is a common myth (often there are several variants of this myth) which has been debunked.
daychilde@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
So. Willfully ignorant it is.
backalleycoyote@lemmy.today 5 hours ago
No, he’s correct. Jesus directly referenced what we know as Easter traditions in the Bible:
“While they were eating, Jesus took a box of Peeps, and when he had given thanks, he broke them apart and gave them to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; they’re honestly not that bad.”
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 10 hours ago
No, it’s you lot with the trendy new-atheist dogma of “Christianity actually just copied xyz” which has been thoroughly debunked by scholars. It’s just a myth that secular society repeats without questioning at this point. I literally posted a link to an article debunking it. That’s not wilful ignorance. I used to believe that these holidays were pagan too, until I actually researched it.
Scrogu@lemmy.zip 5 hours ago
Bro. Why else would Jesus be claimed to be a demigod. Jews never believed that God and humans mix. That’s standard Greek half god paganism.
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 21 minutes ago
Jesus never claimed to be a demigod, and is not a demigod. Jesus is and claimed to be God incarnate in Human Form. There are several instances in the Torah and Old Testament where God appears in human form.
_haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works 17 hours ago
They most certainly did: What do you think Easter is? Why do you think Christmas is in December when Jesus was not born during the winter? Many native pagan holidays were basically transformed into the modern Christian holidays you know today.
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 17 hours ago
Easter in Greek and Latin (the language of the first Christians) is Pascha. It’s around the same time as the Passover. That’s why it changes every year due to the lunisolar calendar. It’s just using the old Jewish calendar. The earliest record of Easter being celebrated is from the time when pagans were the ones persecuting Christians.
We don’t know for certain that Jesus wasn’t born in December.
The reason lies within Jewish superstition - that a prophet/holy man died on the anniversary of their conception. Someone, likely a century later, reckoned that Jesus died on the 25th of March (we reckon now that it was actually the 3rd of April) so this became the Feast of the Annunciation (conception). So a cycle was created where the day of the death happened on the same as the conception. Another factor is this was also traditionally believed to be the date of the world’s creation.
In fact, in the UK it was this date that was used to demarcate new years. So traditionally many people still commence and terminate land contracts on “Lady day” (the 25th of March) and the tax year begins on the 6th of April (today) which is the 25th of March on the Julian Calendar.
So simply add 9 months - you have the 25th of December.
As for the saints - most saints commenorated in Christianity are generally Biblical figures or early Christians such as St Patrick or St Nicholas
Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 16 hours ago
You can try to retcon it all you want. All this stuff existed way before the Christians came along and appropriated it.
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 10 hours ago
What stuff? There’s no evidence of Sol Invictus existing before Christianity. The earliest record of the Ostara cult (which was only really an English thing) was 600 years after Christians were recorded celebrating Pascha(Easter) in Greece.
ExperiencedWinter@lemmy.world 16 hours ago
So Sunday is going to be the holy day, and December 25th is going to be a festival, are you sure that there wasn’t any plagiarism going on? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sol_Invictus
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 10 hours ago
I think plagiarism was happening. Because the earliest record of the belief of Jesus’ conception being on the 25th of March from Sextus Julius Africanus predates the Chronography of 354 which is the earliest date of Sol Invictus being on the 25th of December, which interestingly enough also records this being Jesus’ date of birth. If I had to accuse anyone of plagiarism, it would have to be the Pagans.