> I think it is very interesting that Christian missionaries felt it
> was necessary to assimilate pagan yuletide rituals in order to convert
> the Britons in the 5th and 6th centuries AD. Few modern Christians seem
> to realize that if Mary and Joseph journeyed to Bethlehem to pay taxes
> to the Romans as the bible says, then Jesus would have been born in April.
>
> So were the missionaries on to something? Though I've grown quite cynical
> about the crass commercialization that goes with Christmas, I'd hate to
> lose the parties and holidays that happen this time of year. Should Virus
> adopt a yuletide ritual, and if so, in what context?
The Spring celebrations were hijacked by the Christians. Oddly enough,
it still carries the name of a pagan goddess Easter. Pagan traditions,
such as coloring eggs, carried on. Eggs symbolize fertility, I imagine.
To celebrate the rising of Christ on Easter was arbitrarily chosen to
coincide with Easter, to convert pagans more easily.
The Winter celebrations were hijacked by the Christians. We carry on the
pagan traditions by decorating trees, etc. but it carries the name
Christ + Mass.
I'm not sure what happened to the summer solstice. (Midsummer).
Now the Fall celebrations are interesting. It was somewhat hijacked by
the Christians (Roman Catholic Church) with all saint's day, or all
hallow's day. Thus the day before that, all hallow's eve, or halloween
still carries on the pagan traditions of carving pumpkins, etc.
The interesting thing about this is that to fundamentalists, halloween
doesn't mean anything religious because they don't believe in saints.
(at least not the ones I've seen). They do recognize the pagan
traditions, and the preoccupation with death, and discourage halloween as
a day of the devil. However, they don't see any problems with the pagan
rituals of the other holidays. That seems pretty hypocritical to me.
Ok, enough blabbing from me.