Christian Holidays - Placement or Replacement?
Christianity has often been accused of stealing holidays from other religions for several reasons. One is to assimilate a culture with less resistance. Another is to add to the culture of Christianity. The other is to replace competition. There are many Christian holidays, but there are only a few "major" and widely celebrated. Two of them are most frequently accused of being "invented" or "stolen" to replace, assimilate or act hostile to other religions in other ways. Those two holidays are Christmas and Halloween.
Halloween
Christmas
First, the idea of Halloween being stolen to "add" to Christianity is incorrect for the reason that it is not treated as a Christian holiday. It is a secular holiday. Practised by many Christians, true, but currently has no religious affiliation to most. Halloween however is the day before a Christian holiday called All Saints Day, or All Hallows.
All Hallows' Eve is celebrated by Catholics and members of the Eastern Orthodox church. Catholics celebrate it on November 1 and Eastern Orthodox celebrate it on the first Sunday after Pentecost, which is in the Easter season. These dates were not always the dates used. The dates often fluctuated from country to country. Naturally, Pentecost is on a different day each year. In Ireland (even though that is currently predominately Catholic, and then almost completely Catholic) they celebrated All Hallows on the first Sunday after Pentecost. Since Halloween is often called a replacement of Samhain which is a pagan Irish holiday, but in Ireland All Hallows was celebrated in spring. This fact negates the claim that All Hallows was to replace Samhain. November 1 was set as a universal date for All Hallows to all Catholics by Pope Gregory III who reigned from 731 - 741. By this time Ireland had long since been converted to Catholicism. All Hallows had been celebrated all over Europe in one form or another, by the 4th century, which is about the time Ireland was first being visited by Christian missionaries. St.Patrick has been credited with the most wide spread conversions in Ireland, but he was not born until the 5th century. Thus the holiday was celebrated before major expansion of Christianity into Ireland. The date of November 1 was used in Germany, a nation that didn't celebrate Samhain as the Celts did. When Pope Gregory III (who was a Syrian) set the date, he based it on the German model. It is also important to remember that Eastern Orthodox, which splintered off of Catholicism in the 11th century, still celebrates All Hallows on the old model which revolved around Pentecost.
Now the origins of Samhain should be reflected upon. Samhain was a pagan Irish holiday associated with the end of summer/beginning of fall. Also believed to be associated with the new year (though this is debatable) and a celebration for the dead. While the latter does make a parallel with All Souls Day, All Souls Day is not the same. For starters, the two holidays do not fall on the same day. All Souls is separated from Samhain by at least 2 days. Second it is also important to remember that Christians had the benefit of the Julian calendar (which ultimately gave rise to the currently used, Gregorian calendar) before the Celts. Christians were able to mark dates and they would be set. Before the spread of the Julian calendar along with Christianity, the Celts (like many cultures) used fluctuating cycles of the moon to measure the date. The actual date (according to the Julian calendar) of Samhain could be different each year since it was it was celebrated on or in proximate to the full moon. At best, Samhain would be in the vicinity of All Saints Day, either before or after the Christian holiday. This shows (along with the fact that the date was set off of a German model) that the holiday was not appropriated, or set as a replacement for Samhain. One actually could argue that Christian elements were borrowed to contribute to Samhain. Calling it a Christian appropriation legitimises it in a new Ireland (for it was a Celtic tradition, in Celtic lands) that was becoming less pagan. Borrowing the name All Hallows and calling Samhain, "Halloween" instead can accomplish this. Also be renaming Puca Night, "Devil's Night." Then the use of the Julian calendar to set an exact date, and placing it the day before All Hallows rather than any of the other days the full moon could potentially fall on, can give the guise of being the true origin of All Hallows.
Also we should remember that while Samhain and All Hallows are not the same, All Hallows and All Souls are not the same either. All Hallows was a day to venerate the saints. All Souls was to remember and pray for the souls of the faithful departed. All Souls is typically only celebrated by Catholics because of its relation to the belief in Purgatory, though some Protestant churches take part in it as well. Samhain is credited with the idea of the dead being able to return to Earth. This idea is absent in Christian belief, thus All Hallows is a different holiday. This also means its not the same as All Souls as the concept is different. Its placement in the year after inception was deliberately placed after All Hallows, which has already been established as a having a dated picked based on a German model. Thus, not to push out an Irish tradition. Also is important, as stated a few times, Samhain is an Irish tradition. Christianity was covering a much larger part of Europe, parts of Africa and Asia by the time Ireland was converted. It is some what narrow minded to think that the powers that be would put so much effort into pushing out one tradition of one new nation welcomed into the fold. Particularly when other, frankly more important concerns were everywhere and ever present.
It has now been established that Samhain, Halloween, All Hallows and All Souls are separate holidays, with separate origins. We should now consider the modern context in which Halloween is practised. Today, people of many religions and in many parts of the world celebrate Halloween in a variety of ways. It has become a secular holiday, free from religious trappings. There are those however (Christians usually) who prefer not to celebrate it all for fear of entanglement with pagan religions. This again takes away from the "Christian appropriation" theory.
It's important to remember that not all pagan religions are the same. For example there are Celtic and Norse, which will be discussed. These two groups were polytheistic but had different mythos. The Celts were celebrating Samhain which is a festival for the dead and an end to summer. The Norse celebrated Álfablót (Elven Blot) in which they paid tribute to the elves, offering them gifts of food and/or sacrifices. The Celts used this time to prepare for winter so indulgence (such as giving away food or treats) would not have been condoned. Also the druids believed that communing with spirits in this time could help with future predictions. In Christianity, such divination is frowned upon. This is an enmity that can not be mended. When the Romans took over land in Britain, they brought their own beliefs and customs, blending them with that of the Celts. Such Roman beliefs practises include Feralia which commemorated the dead. Another is Pomonia in which they paid tribute to Pomona the orchard goddess. This is where the practise of bobbing for apples comes from. Already we can see that Halloween is a blend of various different religious beliefs.
In Christianity there is St.Martin's Day. St.Martin is the patron saint of beggars, which contributed to the Western European practise of begging for charitable gifts on St.Martin's Day. This day is on November 11, but it has fluctuated over the years. Some practises for this feast day are similar to that of some practised on Christmas, which also could have contributed to Christmas traditions. Such as gift giving, for even today some countries believe St.Martin brings gifts rather than St.Nicholas. Martinmas is an important holiday in Estonia, which is not a country in the British Isles. It is a country on the Baltic sea. Also St.Martin lived in the fourth century, so again it would predate Christian expansion into Ireland. Other Martinmas practises include dressing as animals, going door to door and singing for treats.
With the four holidays separated and described, we can see that they aren't the same. We can that four (and possible more) religions have contributed to Halloween. Since its current practise is with out religious significance, and is often shunned by Christians, we can safely call it a secular holiday and not a Christian appropriation.
This now brings us to the next holiday accused of being an appropriation, Christmas.
Often we are told that Christmas was "invented" or "moved" to replace Saturnalia which was a common Roman practise. First we must look at the term "invented" and remember that Christ could not have lived as a Man with out first being born.
It is also been accused of being moved to force out or take over Northern European holidays. We must remember that Christianity isn't a European religion. It's Middle Eastern. It's roots are planted firmly in Judaism, also a Middle Eastern religion. What happened in Europe (short of which Roman emperor was in power during the occupation) was inconsequential as the religions are literally thousands of years old, much predating the expansion into Europe. The date being settled upon as December 25 was done in 221 AD which is before much of the European expansion. It was in 274 Emperor Aurelian designated December 25 as the festival of Sol Invictus. This may have been an attempt (to the contrary) to appropriate Christmas. Recall that Christians were still persecuted in this time. If Christmas was moved to take over Saturnalia, why would an existing Roman holiday be moved to the same day as Christmas? Why not put extra effort into what was already placed there? Also remember that when the Romans started Saturnalia, it was celebrated from December 17 through December 23. It was not one day. It would be hard to place a Christian holiday on any day in December with out being accused of appropriation. Unless of coarse they believed the date to be correct. It is also important to remember that the Romans had many holidays. Over 120 days of their year had a holiday on it. You could barely go more than 5 days with out celebrating something.
Recall also, Saturanlia was not a Western European holiday. It was a Mediterranean European holiday. Again, separate from the area in which Christianity started.
Another relation to the Romans was the census mentioned in The Bible. Joseph was in the process of returning to his home in Nazareth with his pregnant wife, Mary. She would have been carrying Jesus, so He would have been born in the middle of a census. There is also records of Jesus' circumcision which happened (as was tradition) 7 days after birth. Jewish records are meticulous and they would have made records of the Rabbi who was there. This would narrow down the time of year, even to a month and day. Now, this may be considered to be a hind sight point of view and difficult to prove an exact time in the 21st century. However, in the 3rd century when Sextus Julius Africanus, a Christian traveller and historian, declared it to be the date, only a short time would have passed. Again in 525 when Dionysius Exiguus set the number system by which we number the years, it would have been a relatively short period of time.
The Eastern Rite Catholics and The Eastern Orthodox church celebrate Christmas in January, This is not December, but it close to the December date. Since their churches started under Greek tradition, they were free from a need to compete with Western European and Roman religions. Still, their date is very close to that set by Latin Rite Catholics and Protestants. Why, unless when the tradition was spread, they had an idea that Christ's birth was towards the end of or very beginning of the Julian calendar?
Another reason for the idea that Christmas was moved is the secular belief in Santa Claus. He has been likened to a horned god in the myths of various European faiths. Likening the horned god and the reindeer to Santa is specious as the reindeer are not Santa but the beast of burden used to pull his sleigh. In reality this practise is not uncommon for the cold areas to which reindeer are native. Hence the name REIN-deer. Reins being the straps used to tie the deer to the sleigh. Similar to the name "sled dog." A flying reindeer however is unheard of.
We should also remember that St.Nicholas (also known as Santa Claus) like Christianity, is not European. He was Turkish, thus Middle Eastern, like Christianity. The image of Santa Claus that has been popularized came from the poem "The Night Before Christmas" written in 1822 by Major Henry Livingston Jr. That image sprung up in that time. Saint Nicholas was a very real man, not mythological. People still had beliefs that Saint Nicholas gave gifts on Christmas before the poem was written, though their mental picture of him was different. In fact it was this belief that inspired the poem. St.Nicholas' feast day is December 4. Also we should remember St.Martin who shares similar status as St.Nicholas, but that he has not come under fire equally.
While it is true, Christianity has borrow traditions from other religions, it has not borrowed doctrine. Other religions (as we have discussed earlier) have also borrowed customs. It was decreed that if possible, the missionaries should allow the converts to keep their old ways, should they not conflict with Christianity. Such as the change from a Celtic Cross to a Celtic Crucifix. Anything that could be kept and Christianised, was. This doesn't change the fact that Christ was born. As such, He would have a birth date.
Not to imply that is how Christmas started, it is easy however to see why certain practised would be looked upon as something to be "removed" however. Such as Saturnalia. It was after the Roman god Saturn (or Cronus in Greek mythology) and it was celebrated on December 17. It was banned probably due largely to the excessive drinking and promiscuity it involved. During the Saturnalia, roles of master and slave were reversed, moral restrictions lessened, and the rules of etiquette ignored.
Other points to consider is that while Saturnalia, and later on Sol Invictus, were celebrated around the same time as Christmas, other holidays did as well. In fact, most world religions have a holiday that happens around this time. Hanukkah for example, but no accusation of Christmas being moved to replace this holiday has been made. This is surprising since Christianity did start as a sect of Judaism. Unless of coarse, the original Christians who were still considered to be (by themselves and others) a sect of Judaism didn't see a need to "replace" an existing holiday. That the holiday was placed then because it was a true anniversary.
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