Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As we have a few pagans on this thread, and it’s settled that Halloween isn’t actually a Christian holiday, I wonder if someone could explain the role of the goat in pagan/Wicca belief?

In addition to the Wiccan goat, could somebody explain the ceremonial use of eggs and rabbits?

Sure! Easter comes from the Saxon word Eostre. We celebrate the spring equinox. It is celebrated the Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox. Very much pagan. The feast celebrates the end of the darkness and fertility. Bunnies and eggs represent new life and fertility. I guess the Christians kinda liked that part.

The goat associated with Wicca is a way of honoring horned deities, of which there are many. All witches are not Wiccan. Most witches aren’t using goats in their practice.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another appropriated holiday. Samhain is a very sacred holiday in my faith. It’s the day the veil is at its thinnest. We communicate with and honor our deceased ancestors. Costumes were meant to help the living blend in with the dead. We carve Jack-o-lanterns to scare away any unwanted guests. It is our most important festival. I love that we celebrate Halloween in the US. But I hate how evangelical Christians pretend it isn’t a pagan/Wiccan holiday. Same with Yule (Christmas). Same with Ostara (Easter). All the so-called “Christian” holidays were appropriated.

If you attend a church that celebrates Samhain (Halloween), your church is 10O% hypocritical. It is a pagan holiday.

Do you think only evangelical Christians “pretend” Halloween isn’t your sacred holiday? All other religions, the non-religious, and everyone in between vocally acknowledge your sacred holiday?

This forum is a joke…now evangelicals aren’t acknowledging Samhain!

What I hate is the hypocrisy. It is a pagan holiday. Pretending it isn’t is ridiculous. I actually respect the churches that don’t celebrate it at all. At least they acknowledge that the holiday is not one evangelicals should participate in.

Pagans sacrificed humans and animals, and practiced cannibalism. Do you do such things to authentically worship your most sacred holiday?

Do you smear yourself with the blood of sacrificed animals and humans on Yule?

Well at my church we drink blood and eat Jesus’ body.

Well, you aren’t putting live, screaming infants on altars and murdering them to appease angry gods…which is why Jesus wants us to eat crackers and drink tiny cups of grape juice, instead.

pp isn’t a pagan. pagans needed blood to worship.

Um. God told Abraham to put his baby on an Alter as a sacrifice. 😂

(altar) We don’t do that anymore, and the “pagans” here don’t either. I bet they take Christmas vacation from work and open Christmas presents though!

Modern paganism began in the 18th century, so not much blood sacrafices.

So could the pagan arguing that Pagan traditions shouldn’t be hijacked explain their current practices’ relationship to paganism in the ancient world, when Jews and Christians were celebrating with eggs and pagans were sacrificing chickens to read auguries?

I can’t speak for all pagans. I’m a witch. And a Christian. It bothers me that the church does nothing to honor where the traditions they loosely celebrate come from.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another appropriated holiday. Samhain is a very sacred holiday in my faith. It’s the day the veil is at its thinnest. We communicate with and honor our deceased ancestors. Costumes were meant to help the living blend in with the dead. We carve Jack-o-lanterns to scare away any unwanted guests. It is our most important festival. I love that we celebrate Halloween in the US. But I hate how evangelical Christians pretend it isn’t a pagan/Wiccan holiday. Same with Yule (Christmas). Same with Ostara (Easter). All the so-called “Christian” holidays were appropriated.

If you attend a church that celebrates Samhain (Halloween), your church is 10O% hypocritical. It is a pagan holiday.

Do you think only evangelical Christians “pretend” Halloween isn’t your sacred holiday? All other religions, the non-religious, and everyone in between vocally acknowledge your sacred holiday?

This forum is a joke…now evangelicals aren’t acknowledging Samhain!

What I hate is the hypocrisy. It is a pagan holiday. Pretending it isn’t is ridiculous. I actually respect the churches that don’t celebrate it at all. At least they acknowledge that the holiday is not one evangelicals should participate in.

Trick or treating, pumpkins and the like are actually secular holidays and have nothing to do with scripture or liturgy.

Incorrect. Every tradition you listed is pagan in origin. Costumes were used to blend in with the deceased. Treats or tricks were a big part of the festival. Pumpkins were carved to scare evil spirits.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another appropriated holiday. Samhain is a very sacred holiday in my faith. It’s the day the veil is at its thinnest. We communicate with and honor our deceased ancestors. Costumes were meant to help the living blend in with the dead. We carve Jack-o-lanterns to scare away any unwanted guests. It is our most important festival. I love that we celebrate Halloween in the US. But I hate how evangelical Christians pretend it isn’t a pagan/Wiccan holiday. Same with Yule (Christmas). Same with Ostara (Easter). All the so-called “Christian” holidays were appropriated.

If you attend a church that celebrates Samhain (Halloween), your church is 10O% hypocritical. It is a pagan holiday.

Do you think only evangelical Christians “pretend” Halloween isn’t your sacred holiday? All other religions, the non-religious, and everyone in between vocally acknowledge your sacred holiday?

This forum is a joke…now evangelicals aren’t acknowledging Samhain!

What I hate is the hypocrisy. It is a pagan holiday. Pretending it isn’t is ridiculous. I actually respect the churches that don’t celebrate it at all. At least they acknowledge that the holiday is not one evangelicals should participate in.

Pagans sacrificed humans and animals, and practiced cannibalism. Do you do such things to authentically worship your most sacred holiday?

Do you smear yourself with the blood of sacrificed animals and humans on Yule?

Well at my church we drink blood and eat Jesus’ body.

Well, you aren’t putting live, screaming infants on altars and murdering them to appease angry gods…which is why Jesus wants us to eat crackers and drink tiny cups of grape juice, instead.

pp isn’t a pagan. pagans needed blood to worship.

Um. God told Abraham to put his baby on an Alter as a sacrifice. 😂

Um. No. That was a test of faith

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another appropriated holiday. Samhain is a very sacred holiday in my faith. It’s the day the veil is at its thinnest. We communicate with and honor our deceased ancestors. Costumes were meant to help the living blend in with the dead. We carve Jack-o-lanterns to scare away any unwanted guests. It is our most important festival. I love that we celebrate Halloween in the US. But I hate how evangelical Christians pretend it isn’t a pagan/Wiccan holiday. Same with Yule (Christmas). Same with Ostara (Easter). All the so-called “Christian” holidays were appropriated.

If you attend a church that celebrates Samhain (Halloween), your church is 10O% hypocritical. It is a pagan holiday.

Easter was originally a Roman fertility rite that included sacrifices too.

Nope. Easter started during Passover. The Last Supper was a Passover meal and the supper and Jesus’ death occurred when Jerusalem was clogged with people celebrating Passover. This is Christianity 101.

Oh, really? What is the origin of the word "Easter"? And the rabbits and eggs as symbols?

It's more complicated than your curt "nope" implies. Like many religious holidays (such as Christmas), it's origins are tied to seasonal changes, solstices and equinoxes.

Yes really, the Last Supper was a Passover meal. This is scriptural (it’s in the New Testament) and it’s really fundamental. Why would you claim that it’s not part of Passover?

The eggs may have come from Passover. Regardless, eggs and bunnies are not part of liturgy or scripture.

What role do eggs and bunnies play in Wicca? Are you saying that Wicca has a monopoly on using eggs and bunnies, and Jews shouldn’t be using eggs at Passover either?

Of course it was a passover meal. That was not in question and I am not sure why you imply it was.

The point is that passover and easter are both appropriated equinox holidays, and easter still uses the equinox and lunar cycle to calculate it's date, just as the pagans did when they invented it. The pagan celebrations were already happening, so the religious leaders appropriated them for celebrating the biblical stories of Jesus' resurrection and the time God killed a whole bunch of children but not certain ones.

It was a originally festival celebrating spring planting and reproduction, hence eggs and bunnies, neither of which have anything to do with Christianity or Judaism. And the name comes from the goddess Eostre. This all pre-dates Christianity.

Jeez I really thought most adults knew this.

I think many adults "know" this, but there's not actually much evidence for the story. Bunnies aren't a thing until the 17th century and there's no actual evidence to connect that to any documented pagan traditions that pre-date Christianity. Decorated eggs are older than Christianity, but again there's no evidence to connect them to any pagan spring festivals.

All these "connections" make sense to more ears and they make for good stories, but they're all conjecture, usually ill-informed 19th century conjecture, without real evidence.

-NP

Oh, are we talking about evidence now? Great. I'm ready. Where's yours? Start with the resurrection or the Pesach.

Eosturmonath has a name which is now translated "Paschal month", and which was once called after a goddess of theirs named Eostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month. Now they designate that Paschal season by her name, calling the joys of the new rite by the time-honoured name of the old observance.

That was written in the 8th century. By a Christian monk named Bede.

Now it's your turn.

You're making a claim; turning around and demanding that I produce evidence on a different claim (one I've not even made) is not a response.

Your "evidence" also doesn't prove what you're trying to claim. Bede does, indeed, claim that the word Easter derives from the goddess Eostre, but he doesn't mention eggs or rabbits. He also might well be wrong; Bede isn't writing about contemporary history, he's writing about a period a couple hundred years before he lived. Hell, it was (and to an extent still is) debated whether or not Bede invented the Eostre entirely. That seems unlikely (to me) based on some inscriptions with etymologically similar names, but you're hanging a lot on a single source who is demonstrably wrong on some issues. He has some etymologies of Anglo Saxon months that are widely considered to be wrong, for instance, which isn't unexpected given that he's describing a distant historical practice, not his own day (and invented etymologies are common in late antique and medieval writing). Either way, the "name of Easter ultimately derives from a pagan goddess" isn't proving what you think it is. The timing of Easter was set before Bede ever lived and before the Anglo Saxons were Christianized. He describes nothing in the celebration of Eostre at all, much less anything that sounds like Easter eggs and bunnies. As I said originally, you might choose to guess that that's what Eostre worship was like, but there's no evidence that you're right, it's just conjecture. Conjecture no one made until Adolf Holtzmann wrote about it in the 1870s.

I am a Christian, but I'm not concerned about this as a Christian. I have no problem with "baptizing" useful pagan customs. I have a problem with these stories, because they fail as history. There simply isn't evidence for them, and people believe them because they show up on the History Channel between showings of Ancient Aliens.

Anonymous wrote:Oh my gosh.

Pagans don’t have a monopoly on the lunar calendar. Ask Muslims, Jews, some Buddhists and the Chinese who still use the lunar calendar ton calculate holidays. In fact, the solar calendar wasn’t adopted in Britain until 1752.

Pagan pp has it backwards. First came the lunar calendar. Then came the many religions that based their festivals in the lunar calendar, and paganism was just one more of these.

It makes no sense to argue about the English word, because nobody was speaking English for centuries after the crucifixion. To spell it out: the English word couldn’t have had anything to do with establishing the timing of the festival in the ancient world (Passover did). For the first few centuries of Christianity, it was called Pascha (Passover) in Latin and Greek, and Paques in French. After that, there’s good consensus (except among pagans and atheists) that the English word Easter came to us first from the Latin designation of Easter week as in albis (plural of alba or dawn) which was translated into old high German as Eostarum (also “dawn”).

Ēostre is not an English word. Fail. See the post above about Bede's writing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%92ostre

Ēosturmōnaþ (the equivalent of April), pagan Anglo-Saxons had held feasts in Ēostre's honour, but that this tradition had died out by his time, replaced by the Christian Paschal month, a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus.

If you disagree with that, change the wikipedia page and see what happens. Cite your sources if you want it to last.

Your turn. You’ve already been asked to explain why pagans have a monopoly on bunnies and eggs. What specific pagan traditions involving bunnies and eggs have been transmitted from pagan times in antiquity to the more modern version of paganism? While you’re at it, could you please explain the Wicca goat. TIA.

A monopoly? WTF are you talking about? We're talking about the cultural origins of these icons of the holiday. And I am a different poster who knows nothing about modern paganism and cares less than that about it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another appropriated holiday. Samhain is a very sacred holiday in my faith. It’s the day the veil is at its thinnest. We communicate with and honor our deceased ancestors. Costumes were meant to help the living blend in with the dead. We carve Jack-o-lanterns to scare away any unwanted guests. It is our most important festival. I love that we celebrate Halloween in the US. But I hate how evangelical Christians pretend it isn’t a pagan/Wiccan holiday. Same with Yule (Christmas). Same with Ostara (Easter). All the so-called “Christian” holidays were appropriated.

If you attend a church that celebrates Samhain (Halloween), your church is 10O% hypocritical. It is a pagan holiday.

Easter was originally a Roman fertility rite that included sacrifices too.

Nope. Easter started during Passover. The Last Supper was a Passover meal and the supper and Jesus’ death occurred when Jerusalem was clogged with people celebrating Passover. This is Christianity 101.

Oh, really? What is the origin of the word "Easter"? And the rabbits and eggs as symbols?

It's more complicated than your curt "nope" implies. Like many religious holidays (such as Christmas), it's origins are tied to seasonal changes, solstices and equinoxes.

Yes really, the Last Supper was a Passover meal. This is scriptural (it’s in the New Testament) and it’s really fundamental. Why would you claim that it’s not part of Passover?

The eggs may have come from Passover. Regardless, eggs and bunnies are not part of liturgy or scripture.

What role do eggs and bunnies play in Wicca? Are you saying that Wicca has a monopoly on using eggs and bunnies, and Jews shouldn’t be using eggs at Passover either?

Of course it was a passover meal. That was not in question and I am not sure why you imply it was.

The point is that passover and easter are both appropriated equinox holidays, and easter still uses the equinox and lunar cycle to calculate it's date, just as the pagans did when they invented it. The pagan celebrations were already happening, so the religious leaders appropriated them for celebrating the biblical stories of Jesus' resurrection and the time God killed a whole bunch of children but not certain ones.

It was a originally festival celebrating spring planting and reproduction, hence eggs and bunnies, neither of which have anything to do with Christianity or Judaism. And the name comes from the goddess Eostre. This all pre-dates Christianity.

Jeez I really thought most adults knew this.

I think many adults "know" this, but there's not actually much evidence for the story. Bunnies aren't a thing until the 17th century and there's no actual evidence to connect that to any documented pagan traditions that pre-date Christianity. Decorated eggs are older than Christianity, but again there's no evidence to connect them to any pagan spring festivals.

All these "connections" make sense to more ears and they make for good stories, but they're all conjecture, usually ill-informed 19th century conjecture, without real evidence.

-NP

Oh, are we talking about evidence now? Great. I'm ready. Where's yours? Start with the resurrection or the Pesach.

Eosturmonath has a name which is now translated "Paschal month", and which was once called after a goddess of theirs named Eostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month. Now they designate that Paschal season by her name, calling the joys of the new rite by the time-honoured name of the old observance.

That was written in the 8th century. By a Christian monk named Bede.

Now it's your turn.

Oh my gosh.

Pagans don’t have a monopoly on the lunar calendar. Ask Muslims, Jews, some Buddhists and the Chinese who still use the lunar calendar ton calculate holidays. In fact, the solar calendar wasn’t adopted in Britain until 1752.

I am also interested in the above question.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another appropriated holiday. Samhain is a very sacred holiday in my faith. It’s the day the veil is at its thinnest. We communicate with and honor our deceased ancestors. Costumes were meant to help the living blend in with the dead. We carve Jack-o-lanterns to scare away any unwanted guests. It is our most important festival. I love that we celebrate Halloween in the US. But I hate how evangelical Christians pretend it isn’t a pagan/Wiccan holiday. Same with Yule (Christmas). Same with Ostara (Easter). All the so-called “Christian” holidays were appropriated.

If you attend a church that celebrates Samhain (Halloween), your church is 10O% hypocritical. It is a pagan holiday.

Easter was originally a Roman fertility rite that included sacrifices too.

Nope. Easter started during Passover. The Last Supper was a Passover meal and the supper and Jesus’ death occurred when Jerusalem was clogged with people celebrating Passover. This is Christianity 101.

Oh, really? What is the origin of the word "Easter"? And the rabbits and eggs as symbols?

It's more complicated than your curt "nope" implies. Like many religious holidays (such as Christmas), it's origins are tied to seasonal changes, solstices and equinoxes.

Yes really, the Last Supper was a Passover meal. This is scriptural (it’s in the New Testament) and it’s really fundamental. Why would you claim that it’s not part of Passover?

The eggs may have come from Passover. Regardless, eggs and bunnies are not part of liturgy or scripture.

What role do eggs and bunnies play in Wicca? Are you saying that Wicca has a monopoly on using eggs and bunnies, and Jews shouldn’t be using eggs at Passover either?

Of course it was a passover meal. That was not in question and I am not sure why you imply it was.

The point is that passover and easter are both appropriated equinox holidays, and easter still uses the equinox and lunar cycle to calculate it's date, just as the pagans did when they invented it. The pagan celebrations were already happening, so the religious leaders appropriated them for celebrating the biblical stories of Jesus' resurrection and the time God killed a whole bunch of children but not certain ones.

It was a originally festival celebrating spring planting and reproduction, hence eggs and bunnies, neither of which have anything to do with Christianity or Judaism. And the name comes from the goddess Eostre. This all pre-dates Christianity.

Jeez I really thought most adults knew this.

Did you ignore everything on the previous page? Here, reposting the gist for you.

It makes no sense to argue about the English word, because nobody was speaking English for centuries after the crucifixion. To spell it out: the English word couldn’t have had anything to do with establishing the timing of the festival in the ancient world (Passover did). For the first few centuries of Christianity, it was called Pascha (Passover) in Latin and Greek, and Paques in French. After that, there’s good consensus (except among pagans and atheists) that the English word Easter came to us first from the Latin designation of Easter week as in albis (plural of alba or dawn) which was translated into old high German as Eostarum (also “dawn”).

Your turn. You’ve already been asked to explain why pagans have a monopoly on bunnies and eggs. What specific pagan traditions involving bunnies and eggs have been transmitted from pagan times in antiquity to the more modern version of paganism? While you’re at it, could you please explain the Wicca goat. TIA.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another appropriated holiday. Samhain is a very sacred holiday in my faith. It’s the day the veil is at its thinnest. We communicate with and honor our deceased ancestors. Costumes were meant to help the living blend in with the dead. We carve Jack-o-lanterns to scare away any unwanted guests. It is our most important festival. I love that we celebrate Halloween in the US. But I hate how evangelical Christians pretend it isn’t a pagan/Wiccan holiday. Same with Yule (Christmas). Same with Ostara (Easter). All the so-called “Christian” holidays were appropriated.

If you attend a church that celebrates Samhain (Halloween), your church is 10O% hypocritical. It is a pagan holiday.

Easter was originally a Roman fertility rite that included sacrifices too.

Nope. Easter started during Passover. The Last Supper was a Passover meal and the supper and Jesus’ death occurred when Jerusalem was clogged with people celebrating Passover. This is Christianity 101.

Oh, really? What is the origin of the word "Easter"? And the rabbits and eggs as symbols?

It's more complicated than your curt "nope" implies. Like many religious holidays (such as Christmas), it's origins are tied to seasonal changes, solstices and equinoxes.

Yes really, the Last Supper was a Passover meal. This is scriptural (it’s in the New Testament) and it’s really fundamental. Why would you claim that it’s not part of Passover?

The eggs may have come from Passover. Regardless, eggs and bunnies are not part of liturgy or scripture.

What role do eggs and bunnies play in Wicca? Are you saying that Wicca has a monopoly on using eggs and bunnies, and Jews shouldn’t be using eggs at Passover either?

Of course it was a passover meal. That was not in question and I am not sure why you imply it was.

The point is that passover and easter are both appropriated equinox holidays, and easter still uses the equinox and lunar cycle to calculate it's date, just as the pagans did when they invented it. The pagan celebrations were already happening, so the religious leaders appropriated them for celebrating the biblical stories of Jesus' resurrection and the time God killed a whole bunch of children but not certain ones.

It was a originally festival celebrating spring planting and reproduction, hence eggs and bunnies, neither of which have anything to do with Christianity or Judaism. And the name comes from the goddess Eostre. This all pre-dates Christianity.

Jeez I really thought most adults knew this.

I think many adults "know" this, but there's not actually much evidence for the story. Bunnies aren't a thing until the 17th century and there's no actual evidence to connect that to any documented pagan traditions that pre-date Christianity. Decorated eggs are older than Christianity, but again there's no evidence to connect them to any pagan spring festivals.

All these "connections" make sense to more ears and they make for good stories, but they're all conjecture, usually ill-informed 19th century conjecture, without real evidence.

-NP

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another appropriated holiday. Samhain is a very sacred holiday in my faith. It’s the day the veil is at its thinnest. We communicate with and honor our deceased ancestors. Costumes were meant to help the living blend in with the dead. We carve Jack-o-lanterns to scare away any unwanted guests. It is our most important festival. I love that we celebrate Halloween in the US. But I hate how evangelical Christians pretend it isn’t a pagan/Wiccan holiday. Same with Yule (Christmas). Same with Ostara (Easter). All the so-called “Christian” holidays were appropriated.

If you attend a church that celebrates Samhain (Halloween), your church is 10O% hypocritical. It is a pagan holiday.

Easter was originally a Roman fertility rite that included sacrifices too.

Nope. Easter started during Passover. The Last Supper was a Passover meal and the supper and Jesus’ death occurred when Jerusalem was clogged with people celebrating Passover. This is Christianity 101.

Oh, really? What is the origin of the word "Easter"? And the rabbits and eggs as symbols?

It's more complicated than your curt "nope" implies. Like many religious holidays (such as Christmas), it's origins are tied to seasonal changes, solstices and equinoxes.

Yes really, the Last Supper was a Passover meal. This is scriptural (it’s in the New Testament) and it’s really fundamental. Why would you claim that it’s not part of Passover?

The eggs may have come from Passover. Regardless, eggs and bunnies are not part of liturgy or scripture.

What role do eggs and bunnies play in Wicca? Are you saying that Wicca has a monopoly on using eggs and bunnies, and Jews shouldn’t be using eggs at Passover either?

Of course it was a passover meal. That was not in question and I am not sure why you imply it was.

The point is that passover and easter are both appropriated equinox holidays, and easter still uses the equinox and lunar cycle to calculate it's date, just as the pagans did when they invented it. The pagan celebrations were already happening, so the religious leaders appropriated them for celebrating the biblical stories of Jesus' resurrection and the time God killed a whole bunch of children but not certain ones.

It was a originally festival celebrating spring planting and reproduction, hence eggs and bunnies, neither of which have anything to do with Christianity or Judaism. And the name comes from the goddess Eostre. This all pre-dates Christianity.

Jeez I really thought most adults knew this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I lived in Carly, NC in the 1990's, The local evangelical and Catholic churches went full on with hating Halloween.

We were left pamphlets every Halloween how we were going to hell etc....

Then on Halloween, they came to the doors. They were horrific...

Catholic and evangelical people came to your house on halloween to tell you you were going to hell?

Yes, I was in my late 20's first child. OMG so scary.

The pamphlets were creepy and just awful. Worse than anything Halloween could bring.

Those people were not Catholic.

I
Oh yes they were. Were you there? I was and they signed their church's name! I came from a predominately Catholic area on Long Island I definitely know a Catholic Church.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another appropriated holiday. Samhain is a very sacred holiday in my faith. It’s the day the veil is at its thinnest. We communicate with and honor our deceased ancestors. Costumes were meant to help the living blend in with the dead. We carve Jack-o-lanterns to scare away any unwanted guests. It is our most important festival. I love that we celebrate Halloween in the US. But I hate how evangelical Christians pretend it isn’t a pagan/Wiccan holiday. Same with Yule (Christmas). Same with Ostara (Easter). All the so-called “Christian” holidays were appropriated.

If you attend a church that celebrates Samhain (Halloween), your church is 10O% hypocritical. It is a pagan holiday.

Do you think only evangelical Christians “pretend” Halloween isn’t your sacred holiday? All other religions, the non-religious, and everyone in between vocally acknowledge your sacred holiday?

This forum is a joke…now evangelicals aren’t acknowledging Samhain!

What I hate is the hypocrisy. It is a pagan holiday. Pretending it isn’t is ridiculous. I actually respect the churches that don’t celebrate it at all. At least they acknowledge that the holiday is not one evangelicals should participate in.

Pagans sacrificed humans and animals, and practiced cannibalism. Do you do such things to authentically worship your most sacred holiday?

Do you smear yourself with the blood of sacrificed animals and humans on Yule?

Well at my church we drink blood and eat Jesus’ body.

Well, you aren’t putting live, screaming infants on altars and murdering them to appease angry gods…which is why Jesus wants us to eat crackers and drink tiny cups of grape juice, instead.

pp isn’t a pagan. pagans needed blood to worship.

Um. God told Abraham to put his baby on an Alter as a sacrifice. 😂

(altar) We don’t do that anymore, and the “pagans” here don’t either. I bet they take Christmas vacation from work and open Christmas presents though!

Modern paganism began in the 18th century, so not much blood sacrafices.

So could the pagan arguing that Pagan traditions shouldn’t be hijacked explain their current practices’ relationship to paganism in the ancient world, when Jews and Christians were celebrating with eggs and pagans were sacrificing chickens to read auguries?

Exactly.