“We are told in various ways by Eusebius that Constantine, in order to recommend the new religion to the heathen transferred into it the outward ornaments to which they had been accustomed in their own. (Cardinal Newman, Developement of Christian Doctrine, pg 373)
Exchanging wedding vows in public - that’s from pagans.
Bride in white - that’s from pagans.
Wedding bouquet - that’s from pagans.
Honeymoon - that’s from pagans.
Maid of honor - that’s from pagans.
Groomsmen - that’s from pagans.
How many pagan practices did you indulge in at your wedding, CynicalBear?
Cue the manatee meme.
. . . I can easily understand the primitive Christians, who on the whole were not educated men, making use of paintings, sculptures, poems etc of heathen parentage in a Christian sense . . . What is far more wonderful is what is brought out by various authors, the fragments of the great doctrines of Christianity in classical mythology, to say nothing of the far East . . . For myself I have no difficulty in referring it, as so many Christian writers do, to a primeval tradition which is universal. Such a tradition must have been, if there was an Adam, a father of men, in direct communication with his Creator -- and Scripture certainly countenances the hypothesis. [1]
[1] The Letters and Diaries of John Henry Newman, Vol. XXVIII, p. 257; Letter to Sir Henry Cole, 23 Oct. 1877)