Well, you must remember that Easter, Halloween, as well as Christmas are
originally Pagan holidays that Christians decided to take and use for their own
means, so the original Pagan meanings are forgotten by most people.
Easter's original Pagan meaning is to celebrate fertiality and life.
Halloween's original Pagan meaning is to honor those who are dead and gone.
Christmas's original Pagan meaning is to celebrate the art of gift giving
and the spirit of giving.
In a message dated 1/18/2008 9:13:23 P.M. Central America Standard T,
blaze_at_speakeasy.net writes:
-----Original Message-----
* Irrespective of my religious beliefs, Australia is a
Christian country, it is Christian holiday and has been
part of its culture for the last 200 years*
Well, seeing as Christmas as we know it today was essentially invented in
the 1890s, and Santa Claus was pretty much unknown until Thomas Nast started
drawing him for Coca-Cola, I can’t see how Christmas can really be described as
a Christian holiday at all. Protestants have ignored it as a relatively
minor festival until very recent, Easter overshadowing it for centuries.
Calvin was aware of it’s pagan roots and would have been horrified at the idea of
being wished a ‘merry Christmas’; it wasn’t a time to celebrate, it was a
time to go to church and hope that this year wouldn’t herald the end times. I
wouldn’t mind Christmas nearly as much, if it was more Christian.
-Claw MacKain, lone half-god lion bounty hunter =^_^=
**************Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape.
http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489
Received on Fri Jan 18 2008 - 19:37:04 CST