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To: Asphalt

sorry, pal - the pagan harvest festival called samhain (prn: "sow-wen") was swiped by missionaries plying their trade in Celtic Europe and "christianized"

Just as the date of what we of (Roman) Christendom (and, later, the Protestant derivatives) call "Christmas" was swiped and retrofitted from the Pagan Yule or Winter Solstice festival. Christ was not born on 25 December. IIRC the best chronologies place the date of birth in March.

Many "patron saints" are transmogrifications of elder gods and spirits - the attributes of these mythological entities became associated with celebrated Christian figures (some of whom definitely lived, others...?)

This was all a PR sell - switch creeds, keep the fun parties and minor deities under new names.

You may not like it, but facts are immune to such concerns.


2,273 posted on 01/02/2005 2:24:58 PM PST by King Prout (screw the UN - Halloween is IMPORTANT!!!)
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To: King Prout

Is there an equivalent of "Scrooge" for Halloween? If so, I'm it!


2,274 posted on 01/02/2005 2:30:30 PM PST by Tax-chick (To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just.)
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To: King Prout

Yeah, I know Jesus wasn't born on Dec. 25th, but that doesn't take away from the significance of what we celebrate.


2,340 posted on 01/02/2005 4:18:52 PM PST by Asphalt (Three can keep a secret if two are dead.)
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To: King Prout

Yep, like my dear St. Briget, who was a real and interesting woman, but who's cult picked up attributes of the goddess of the same name...

Even so, Christmas is a commemoration, and All Saints/All Souls days are a worthy addition to the church year...And I am not celebrating the ascension of the Hunter and the Wild Hunt over the winter months when I pass out candy any more than I celebrate the season of the Goddess on May day, either...

But if any around here choose to do so, well, that's what religious freedom's all about!


2,346 posted on 01/02/2005 4:26:56 PM PST by Knitting A Conundrum (Act Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly With God Micah 6:8)
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