Paganism and its influence on Catholicism

What many people fail to realize is that much of the celebrations within the Roman Catholic faith were based on Pagan tradition. The Roman Catholic church came into its being in 312 A.D., at the time of the so-called "miraculous conversion" to Christianity of the Roman Emperor Constantine. In order to help Pagans relate to the traditions of the Catholic church, the Christian movement adopted some of the paganistic celebrations. They have them new meanings in order to "reclaim" them for God and the church. They were able to do this because they believed that the outward gestures could represent whatever meaning they chose to give them.

The most notable celebration is that of Christmas. The church placed the feast day of Christmas on December 25th because that was the date of the Roman feast of the Unconquered Sun, or Sol Invictus or Mithras. Also, December 25 was the conclusion of the Pagan festival of Saturnalia, which was the Roman celebration  honoring the agricultural god Saturn. This was usually a time of much merrymaking, sort of like our modern Christmas parties.When Wicca came into being (in the mid-20th century), two other celebrations were created. That of the Winter Solstice and that of the Yule Celebration. The early Europeans celebrated light and birth during the darkest days of winter. Many cultures celebrated the winter solstice, which marks the ending of the worst of the winter and look forward to longer days and extended hours of sunlight (The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year. But it is from here on in that daylight becomes longer).

Another Christian holiday also finds its roots in Paganism…..Easter. We see many cultures celebrating the spring equinox, just as the Christians celebrate the resurrection and the Jewish celebrating Passover. The story of the death of Jesus on a cross and his resurrection is a well known in the ancient world. But, there are many parallels that can be drawn between these celebrations and Paganism.

The Pagan festival of Eostre, who is the Germanic Goddess of Spring, is celebrated on the Vernal Equinox, around March 21, the first day of Spring. Eostre symbolized rebirth and renewal. The date is fluid due to the phases of the moon, which is why Easter is celebrated on a different date every year. Eostre is also known as a dawn goddess, and thought to be related to the Greek Goddess of the dawn Eos. Which is why Christian Easter services are held at sunrise. Yet another carry over from the Pagans! 

These are just two of the many influences of Paganism on Christianity. Christians may scoff at the idea and even deny it! But if they took the time to learn and look close, they will see that Paganism, indeed, spread its influence into the Christian faith.