New Holiday

[PokeChoppalo]

I really don't like some of the things halloween represents. It has alot of pagan background. So this year I have come up with my own holiday on Oct. 31, its called Rebirthday. Its a celebration of the day when we become adopted into The Family of GOD, when we become reborn. We dress as another creature to represent the change that Jesus changed in us.  

[Shiroi Kokoro no Mendori]

Okay, have fun with that. ^-^  

[dirtdevilgrunt13]

Haha, that sounds good. But i will skip this year than, because I gotta dress up as Zombie.. And my Lord didn't make me one.  

[PhaseBurn]

john15five

I really don't like some of the things halloween represents. It has alot of pagan background.

So does Christmas. Given that Christ wasn't born on the 25th, or, for that matter, in December, and the real origin of Christmas were pagan festivals (Saturnalia, Yule, Solstice), what are your thoughts on Christmas then?

There's more pagan tradition in Christmas (Christmas trees, caroling, candles, mistletoe, presents, etc) than there is on Halloween.  

[Icestar03]

john15five

I really don't like some of the things halloween represents. It has alot of pagan background. So this year I have come up with my own holiday on Oct. 31, its called Rebirthday. Its a celebration of the day when we become adopted into The Family of GOD, when we become reborn. We dress as another creature to represent the change that Jesus changed in us.

do you HAVE to dress up as OTHER creatures ? (what does that have to do with rebirth anyway?) i'm sorry if i'm coming across as kinda rude (don't mean to ). but i'm kinda lost.
~making up a new holidayis a cool idea tho biggrin  

[thrashmetaljunkie]

There is no need for a new holiday... did you know that Halloween used to be a Holy day? There is NOTHING wrong with Halloween if you just go for the candy.. i know its weird... but if you're there to have fun, dress up, be with friends, and get candy... then theres nothing wrong... its not like you're worshipping some weird pagan god dude thing of costumes and candy bars... o_O  

[kitsunegami]

Halloween is already followed by a Catholic holy day called All Saints Day (aka All Hallows which is why halloween is All Hallows Eve) to honor martyred saints...  

[Shiroi Kokoro no Mendori]

I find it hilarious that you're only doing what the Church has done with Easter, Halloween, and Christmas; placing a "Christian" holiday on the same date as a pagan one, pulling the same rituals from the pagan faith into the Christian one, and calling it a different name to make it "holy".  

[kitsunegami]

All Saint's Day has been around since the 600's...  

[PokeChoppalo]

All saint's day is on november 1. As for Christmas... santa cluas is not aloud in my house. He takes away from the real meaning of Christmas. I thought about being like a half-zombie with the words "was dead" on the alive side to represent being alive through Jesus. But I'll probably go with the Chi-rho face paint.  

[Shiroi Kokoro no Mendori]

john15five

All saint's day is on november 1. As for Christmas... santa cluas is not aloud in my house. He takes away from the real meaning of Christmas. I thought about being like a half-zombie with the words "was dead" on the alive side to represent being alive through Jesus. But I'll probably go with the Chi-rho face paint.

From History.com

"Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).

The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.

To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.

During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.

By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.

The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.

By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints', All Saints', and All Souls', were called Hallowmas."

From Christmas-time.com, on Christmas:

In the Western world, the birthday of Jesus Christ has been celebrated on December 25th since AD 354, replacing an earlier date of January 6th. The Christians had by then appropriated many pagan festivals and traditions of the season, that were practiced in many parts of the Middle East and Europe, as a means of stamping them out.

There were mid-winter festivals in ancient Babylon and Egypt, and Germanic fertility festivals also took place at this time. The birth of the ancient sun-god Attis in Phrygia was celebrated on December 25th, as was the birth of the Persian sun-god, Mithras. The Romans celebrated Saturnalia, a festival dedicated to Saturn, the god of peace and plenty, that ran from the 17th to 24th of December. Public gathering places were decorated with flowers, gifts and candles were exchanged and the population, slaves and masters alike, celebrated the occasion with great enthusiasm.

In Scandinavia, a period of festivities known as Yule contributed another impetus to celebration, as opposed to spirituality. As Winter ended the growing season, the opportunity of enjoying the Summer's bounty encouraged much feasting and merriment.

The Celtic culture of the British Isles revered all green plants, but particularly mistletoe and holly. These were important symbols of fertility and were used for decorating their homes and altars.

New Christmas customs appeared in the Middle Ages. The most prominent contribution was the carol, which by the 14th century had become associated with the religious observance of the birth of Christ.

In Italy, a tradition developed for re-enacting the birth of Christ and the construction of scenes of the nativity. This is said to have been introduced by Saint Francis as part of his efforts to bring spiritual knowledge to the laity.

Saints Days have also contributed to our Christmas celebrations. A prominent figure in today's Christmas is Saint Nicholas who for centuries has been honored on December 6th. He was one of the forerunners of Santa Claus.

Another popular ritual was the burning of the Yule Log, which is strongly embedded in the pagan worship of vegetation and fire, as well as being associated with magical and spiritual powers.

Celebrating Christmas has been controversial since its inception. Since numerous festivities found their roots in pagan practices, they were greatly frowned upon by conservatives within the Church. The feasting, gift-giving and frequent excesses presented a drastic contrast with the simplicity of the Nativity, and many people throughout the centuries and into the present, condemn such practices as being contrary to the true spirit of Christmas.

The earliest English reference to December 25th as Christmas Day did not come until 1043.

Also from Christmas-time.com

In the Western world the birthday of Jesus Christ has been celebrated on December 25th since AD 354, partly to replace the pagan worship that was commonplace in those days. However, we can be fairly sure that Jesus wasn't actually born on that date. (See also The History of Christmas)

The Bible tells us that shepherds were staying out in the fields overnight when Jesus was born (Luke 2: cool , but in that part of the world it would have been far too cold at night to do so in December. What is more likely is that He was born in the Spring, perhaps between March and May. Whatever the time of year, it is virtually impossible to identify the actual date.

This situation is further complicated by the fact that the Christian scholar Dionysius Exiguus was asked by the Pope in AD 525 to calculate new cycles for fixing the date of Easter. However, he decided to base his calculations on the date of Jesus's birth. Unfortunately, it wasn't discovered until the 9th century that he got it badly wrong, by which time it was too late to change the calendar.

He fixed the birth in the year 1 BC or AD 1 (Historians apparently can't agree which.) and began counting from the latter. But both earlier and later scholars agreed that Jesus was born at an earlier date. Indeed, it was eventually established that Herod the Great died in Spring of 4 BC. If Jesus had been born at the start of AD 1, as we currently have it, then Jesus would have been born some 4 or 5 years after Herod died. There is no way of accurately establishing the actual date of his birth, but it is most likely to have been between 5 and 6 BC.

The important thing is that he was born, and his nominal birth date of December 25th seems as good as any to celebrate his birth and his message. It also a wonderful catalyst for enjoying the precious and simple pleasures of being, if only for a brief time, close together in the warm familiarity of friends and family, renewing relationships and sharing memories.


On Easter:

As with almost all "Christian" holidays, Easter has been secularized and commercialized. The dichotomous nature of Easter and its symbols, however, is not necessarily a modern fabrication.

Since its conception as a holy celebration in the second century, Easter has had its non-religious side. In fact, Easter was originally a pagan festival.

The ancient Saxons celebrated the return of spring with an uproarious festival commemorating their goddess of offspring and of springtime, Eastre. When the second-century Christian missionaries encountered the tribes of the north with their pagan celebrations, they attempted to convert them to Christianity. They did so, however, in a clandestine manner.

It would have been suicide for the very early Christian converts to celebrate their holy days with observances that did not coincide with celebrations that already existed. To save lives, the missionaries cleverly decided to spread their religious message slowly throughout the populations by allowing them to continue to celebrate pagan feasts, but to do so in a Christian manner.

As it happened, the pagan festival of Eastre occurred at the same time of year as the Christian observance of the Resurrection of Christ. It made sense, therefore, to alter the festival itself, to make it a Christian celebration as converts were slowly won over. The early name, Eastre, was eventually changed to its modern spelling, Easter.

The Date of Easter

Prior to A.D. 325, Easter was variously celebrated on different days of the week, including Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. In that year, the Council of Nicaea was convened by emperor Constantine. It issued the Easter Rule which states that Easter shall be celebrated on the first Sunday that occurs after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox. However, a caveat must be introduced here. The "full moon" in the rule is the ecclesiastical full moon, which is defined as the fourteenth day of a tabular lunation, where day 1 corresponds to the ecclesiastical New Moon. It does not always occur on the same date as the astronomical full moon. The ecclesiastical "vernal equinox" is always on March 21. Therefore, Easter must be celebrated on a Sunday between the dates of March 22 and April 25.  

[missymisa]

thrashmetaljunkie

There is no need for a new holiday... did you know that Halloween used to be a Holy day? There is NOTHING wrong with Halloween if you just go for the candy.. i know its weird... but if you're there to have fun, dress up, be with friends, and get candy... then theres nothing wrong... its not like you're worshipping some weird pagan god dude thing of costumes and candy bars... o_O

you know, I don't exactly agree with that, because by doing all that stuff is like you are honoring that day, and lots of bad things used to happen on that day, people would get killed......so yeah, that's just my point of veiw.....not to be a downer or anything....I really like candy  

[lordstar]

eek

stare

xp

rofl  

[thrashmetaljunkie]

etchedspirit

thrashmetaljunkie

There is no need for a new holiday... did you know that Halloween used to be a Holy day? There is NOTHING wrong with Halloween if you just go for the candy.. i know its weird... but if you're there to have fun, dress up, be with friends, and get candy... then theres nothing wrong... its not like you're worshipping some weird pagan god dude thing of costumes and candy bars... o_O

you know, I don't exactly agree with that, because by doing all that stuff is like you are honoring that day, and lots of bad things used to happen on that day, people would get killed......so yeah, that's just my point of veiw.....not to be a downer or anything....I really like candy

not if you dont support the themes of death and all that such... like being a fireman and that good stuffs. i'm too lazy for explainations right now.. trying to write a song.. and its eluding me >.<  

[Kaki Pan]

You all need to shut up. He wasn't making this into a debate. I like the idea. Maybe not on the 31st and maybe not dressing up or something like that. We should come up with some original ideas.

Also, I know some really smart guys who have looked this up, so I don't want a debate. Anyhow, Halloween was a wiccan holiday a long time ago. Why do you think that they all go out to their alters and worship on those nights. I know that they do for a fact too.