Pagan Holidays

We know that the angels announced the birth of Christ to the Bethlehem shepherds in the open fields who were tending their flocks by night.. This fact certainly implies that the birth of Jesus could NOT have been on the 25th of December. "The cold of the night in Palestine between December and February is very piercing, and it was not customary for the shepherds of Judea to watch their flocks in the open fields later than about the end of October." Hislop, A., The Two Babylons, Loiseaux Brothers, Neptune, N.J. pg 91.

In addition, Jesus Himself said, in speaking of the coming destruction of Jerusalem,"But pray that your flight be NOT in winter, neither on the Sabbathday."
Matt 24:20


As for Easter, the name "Easter" never appears in the Greek New Testament. Easter is not a Christian name. It is Chaldean (Babylonian) in origin - the name Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven. By the 8th century this name had come to be applied to the anniversary of Christ's resurrection. With the passage of time the connection with the goddess was lost, the only remaining meaning being associated with Christ's resurrection. Unquestionably the resurrection was of enormous importance to the apostolic church, for it figures prominently in the evangelistic messages from the apostles as recorded in the book of Acts. No issue is made about the date when it occurred, however, other than to note in a factual manner that the resurrection occurred on the first day of the week.

It is to be noted that the apostolic church never gave attention to either the date of Christ's birth or the date of His resurrection, other than to note that the latter occurred on a Sunday. Neither of these days was observed by early Christians but as the pagan influence came into the church so did its festivals. In the third and fourth centuries a tremendous debate arose among Christian churches as to when Easter was to be observed. For the Roman Catholic branch it was largely settled at the Council of Nicaea (AD 325) with a formula still followed to this day, which cannot possibly be commemoration of the actual resurrection. In current practice Easter always falls on a Sunday and the Sunday chosen wanders over a period of four weeks ranging from March 22-April 25. The eastern branch of Christendom selected a different system, so that in the Eastern Orthodox tradition both Christmas and Easter fall on different dates from those in the Western Catholic and Protestant tradition. The point is that the early Christians gave no attention to commemorating the resurrection day of Christ. If they had been serious they would be observing the 17th day of the Jewish month, Nisan, which begins with the first new moon following the spring solstice. Passover among the Jews begins with the 14th day of Nisan. It would not be possible to commemorate the actual day of the month and have it always on Sunday, so the choice was made to have it on Sunday, adjusting the day of the month for convenience.
Given this information, although the resurrection of Jesus is a historical event of huge importance, we have no biblical precedent for making Easter a special day of celebration. The name Astarte, as found on the Assyrian monuments by the noted archeologist Layard, was the name Ishtar. The worship of Bel and Astarte was introduced very early into Britain, along with the Druids, "the priests of the groves," the high places where the pagans worshipped the idols of Baal. In the Almanac of the 1800's, May 1st is called Beltane, from the pagan god, Bel. The titles Bel and Molech both belong to the same god.

We must remember that Semiramis (also known as Ishtar) of Babylon, the wife of Nimrod and mother of Tammuz, was the same goddess worshiped throughout the world under various names, such as the Egyptian fertility god, Artemis, the Roman goddess of licentiousness, Venus, the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite, and the Ephesian, many-breasted fertility god, Diana, as well as many others.

The (Easter) bunny, the oldest pagan symbol of fertility - Semiramis - has absolutely nothing to do with the birth of Christ.

Samhain, or Halloween, is the highest night of human sacrifice on the Illuminati calendar. It is also considered a "Cross Road," a very important symbol in the Illuminati. October 31 ends the occultic year, whereas November 1 begins the new occultic year, therefore making this date an important "Cross Road."
Members of Wicca, the modern-day name for Witchcraft, celebrate Halloween as one of their highest holy days. They also gather on May 1st, May Day, the pagan festival of Ishtar. Present-day witches claim they do not worship the devil, Lucifer, or Satan. They say they believe "in a balance of both male and female." Thus, they say, they worship the god and the goddess. They, according to their literature, honor Mother Earth, and hold all of nature with great respect. However, the god and goddess they worship are the same gods worshipped in ancient Babylon, Egypt, Rome and Greece - Nimrod (Tammuz) and Semiramis, just with different names. These are pagan gods and have NOTHING to do with the true God of the Bible.

The Christianization of Pagan holidays began about the fourth century A.D. when the Roman Emperor Constantine, in order to consolidate his rule, incorporated the Pagan holidays and festivals into the church ritual - attracting the Pagans, but he gave the holidays and festivals new "Christian" names and identities - thus appeasing the Christians. Over the centuries, this practice has continued until the present time where we find the two systems, Paganism and Christianity, almost indistinguishable.

Yes, I've seen that rational and the Adventist Church follows that, but do we tell people who and what they are making festival to, the mystic false gods of Rome, Greece, Egypt and Babylon. When the Bible says flee from Babylon it is refering to the false religion which started there and is still going strong in (omited so as to not to offend) church and Protestantism.......

The 25th of December, which we celebrate as Christmas, was the commemorative day of the birth of the sungod. The birth of Osiris was celebrated on this day, which was the birth of the unborn sun. When Nimrod was destroyed, he was symbolized as the tree that was cut off. To this day, his rebirth is celebrated as the new branch (Christmas tree) that sprouts from the sawn-off stump through the life-giving power of the serpent. In England, Christmas is celebrated by throwing the Jule log into the fire, representing the destruction of Nimrod, and the Christmas tree is the symbol of the branch that had sprouted. The tree was then decorated, symbolizing the rebirth of the sungod. The ancient practice of celebrating the birth of the sungod through the fir tree is found in most ancient religions, even those of the ancient Indian cultures of South America. The sacrificial animals on this day were animals such as the pig and the goose. Both these animals are the main Christmas meal in European countries. The goose on the mainland of Europe, and the Christmas gammon (pork) largely in Britain. Different birds were sometimes substituted for the goose, such as different trees were substituted for the fir tree if they were not readily available in the countries concerned. The birth of Osiris coincided with the day of the summer and winter solstice, depending on the hemisphere, and on this day the sun god would ride through the heavens in his chariot. The sungod Helios would ride through the sky in his sun chariot drawn by horses as depicted in the great fountain of Versailles. In the Hindu culture, it is the Sûrya, and his horse-drawn sun chariot, driven by his charioteer Aruna who rides across the sky, and in other cultures the chariot is drawn by other animals such as the goat (Zeus) or the reindeer. This same ancient eastern practice is held in high esteem to this day, and has virtually successfully supplanted Jesus Christ as the main feature of Christmas. On the 25th of December, Santa rides across the skies in his reindeer drawn chariot. He is made acceptable by his friendly rotund appearance as introduced by Walt Disney, but he has the same characteristics as the ancient sun deities.
Origin of Santa Claus: 4th century: Historical evidence shows that St. Nicholas never existed as a human. He was rather a Christianized version of various Pagan sea gods —the Greek god Poseidon, the Roman god Neptune, and the Teutonic god Hold Nickar. In the early centuries of the Christian church, many Pagan gods and goddesses were humanized and converted to Christian saints. When the church created the persona of St. Nicholas, they adopted Poseidon’s title “the Sailor.” They picked up his last name from Nickar. Various temples of Poseidon became shrines of St. Nicholas.[xxiv]
The theology of Santa is also in line with this thinking, since Santa, as taught to most children, has the attributes of God.
Easter was celebrated on that day in honor of the goddess of Ishtar (from thence the name). The forty-day fast was to commemorate the death and resurrection of Tammuz (a forty day fast is also a feature of Islam). In order to introduce the feast of Easter into the calendar, the dates were changed by Dionysius, so that Easter was celebrated a month later than the original Jewish Pash feast. This was to bring it in line with the ancient eastern festival dates for this feast, and the new date for Easter was then introduced by force. On this day, the ancients lit fires and baked cakes to the queen of heaven with the ancient eastern relions even-sided cross in a circle representing the sun as decoration on these round cakes. To this day, the hot cross bun is an Easter delicacy. The egg is also a pagan symbol representing rebirth, and decorated eggs were traditionally eaten on this feast day. Ancient Israel already fell to the spell of the ancient Babylonian religion. In Jeremiah 7:18, we read:
The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough to make cakes to the queen of heaven; and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger.
The ecclesiastical historian, Socrates, attributes the introduction of the festival of Easter into the church to the perpetuation of an old usage, ‘just as many other customs have been established.’ [xxv]
The Easter fire is lit on top of mountains...this is a custom of pagan origin. http://64.180.102.203/wineofbabylon-p12.html#_edn26

Halloween is an American custom and there is no direct reference in the Bible about it. Halloween traditions have never been connected with Christian religious celebrations of any kind. Although the name is taken from a great Christian feast (All Hallows' Eve), it has nothing in common with the Feast of All Saints, and is instead, a tradition of pre-Christian times that has retained its original character in form and meaning.
Halloween customs are traced back to the ancient Druids. Halloween fires are kindled in many places even now, especially in Wales and Scotland.

Another, and more important, tradition is the Druidic belief that during the night of November 1, demons, witches, and evil spirits roamed the earth in wild and furious romping of joy to greet the arrival of "their season" - the long nights and early dark of the winter months. They had their fun with poor mortals that night, frightening, harming them, and playing all kinds of mean tricks. The only way, it seemed, for scared humans to escape the persecution of the demons was to offer them things they liked, especially dainty food and sweets. Or, in order to escape the fury of these horrible creatures, a human could disguise himself as one of them and join in their roaming. In this way they would take him for one of their own and he would not be bothered. That is what people did in ancient times, and it is in this very form the custom has come down to us, practically unaltered, as our familiar Halloween celebration.

During the Roman empire there was the custom of eating or giving away fruit, especially apples, on Halloween. It spread to neighboring countries; to Ireland and Scotland from Britain, and to the Slavic countries from Austria. It is probably based upon a celebration of the Roman goddess Pomona, to whom gardens and orchards were dedicated. Since the annual Feast of Pomona was held on November 1, the relics of that observance became part of our Halloween celebration, for instance the familiar tradition of "dunking" for apples.

Here is a very good explanation of how Christmas was institued by Dr. Sam Bacchiocchi :

...The adoption of the 25th of December for the celebration of Christmas is perhaps the most explicit example of Sun-worship’s influence on the Christian liturgical calendar. It is a known fact that the pagan feast of the dies natalis Solis Invic ti—the birthday of the Invincible Sun, was held on that date.71 Do Christian sources openly admit the borrowing of the date of such a pagan festivity? Obviously not.[SIZE=-2]72[/SIZE][SIZE=+0] To admit borrowing a pagan festival, even after due re-interpretation of its meaning, would be tantamount to an open betrayal of the faith. This the Fathers were anxious to avoid.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=+0]Augustine and Leo the Great, for instance, strongly reprimanded those Christians who at Christmas worshiped the Sun rather than the birth of Christ.[/SIZE][SIZE=-2]73[/SIZE][SIZE=+0] Therefore, it is well to keep in mind that in the investigation of the influence of the Sun-cults on the Christian liturgy, the most we can hope to find are not direct but indirect indications. This warning applies not only for the date of Christmas but for that of Sunday as well.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=+0]Few scholars maintain that the date of the 25th of December was derived from astronomical-allegorical observations. It was the opinion of some Fathers that both the conception and passion of Christ occurred at the time of the vernal equinox on the 25th of March.[/SIZE][SIZE=-2]74[/SIZE][SIZE=+0] Reckoning from that date the nine months of pregnancy of Mary, the date of the birth of Christ was computed to be the 25th of December. 0. Cullmann rightly observes however that these computations "can scarcely have given the initiative."[/SIZE][SIZE=-2]75[/SIZE][SIZE=+0] They seem to represent rather an a posteriori rationale advanced to justify an already existing date and practice. To the majority of scholars, as stated by J. A. Jungmann, "It has become progressively clear that the real reason for the choice of the 25th of December was the pagan feast of the dies natalis Solis Invicti which was celebrated in those days with great splendor."[/SIZE][SIZE=-2]76[/SIZE]
[SIZE=+0]Gaston H. Halsberghe in his recent monograph The Cult of Sd Invictus, already cited, similarly concludes: "The authors whom we consulted on this point are unanimous in admitting the influence of the pagan celebration held in honor of Deus Sol Invictus on the 25th of December, the Natalis Jnvicti, on the Christian celebration of Christmas. This influence is held to be responsible for the shifting to the 25th of December of the birth of Christ, which had until then been held on the day of the Epiphany, the 6th of January. The celebration of the birth of the Sun god, which was accompanied by a profusion of light and torches and the decoration of branches and small trees, had captivated the followers of the cult to such a degree that even after they had been converted to Christianity they continued to celebrate the feast of the birth of the Sun god."[/SIZE][SIZE=-2]77[/SIZE] [SIZE=+0]Let us note that the Church of Rome (as in the case of Easter-Sunday so in the question of the celebration of Christmas) pioneered and promoted the adoption of the new date. In fact the first explicit indication that on the 25th of December Christians celebrated Christ’s birthday, is found in a Roman document known as Chronograph of 354 (a calendar attributed to Fuzious Dionysius Philocalus), where it says: "VIII Kal. Jan. natus Christus in Betleern Judaeae—Onthe eighth calends of January [i.e., December 25th] Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea."[/SIZE][SIZE=-2]78[/SIZE][SIZE=+0] That the Church of Rome introduced and championed this new date, is accepted by most scholars. For instance, Mario Righetti, a renowned Catholic liturgist, writes: "After the peace the Church of Rome, to facilitate the acceptance of the faith by the pagan masses, found it convenient to institute the 25th of December as the feast of the temporal birth of Christ, to divert them from the pagan feast, celebrated on the same day in honor of the "Invincible Sun" Mithras, the conqueror of darkness."....[/SIZE]

and some other scholars.....

The four pagan solar holidays are Solar festivals which are the Winter Solstice (Yule) which is the shortest day, Summer Solstice (Midsummer) which is the longest day. The Spring Equinox and Autumn Equinox mark the time when hours of light and darkness are equal.

The Winter Solstice (Yule) festival is celebrated as the rebirth of the great god, who is viewed as the newborn solstice sun, and was the winter festival celebrated around the bonfires. It also is the pagan Roman solar holiday Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, the Sol Invictus ("Invincible Sun") was the official sun god of the later Roman empire which was picked up from pagan worship of Mithras. “Sol ivictus” or better said as “dies natalis solis invicti” is known as the festival of the unconquered sun. Since earliest history, the Sun was celebrated by pagans at the winter solstice when sun began it's journey into dominance after it's apparent weakness during winter. The origin of these rites, followers of Mithras believed, was a proclamation at the dawn of human history by the god Mithras commanding His followers to observe such rites on that day to celebrate the birth of Mithras, the Invincible Sun.

The Spring Equinox festival was characterized by the rejoining of the Mother Goddess and her lover-consort-son, who spent the winter months in death and has been connected to the goddess Eostre the "goddess of sunrise" so we get the festival of Easter.)In Deutsche Mythologie, Jacob Grimm speculates on the nature of the goddess....

"Eástre seems therefore to have been the divinity of the radiant dawn, of upspringing light, a spectacle that brings joy and blessing, whose meaning could be easily adapted by the resurrection-day of the christian's God. Bonfires were lighted at Easter and according to popular belief of long standing, the moment the sun rises on Easter Sunday morning, he gives three joyful leaps, he dances for joy...Water drawn on the Easter morning is, like that at Christmas, holy and healing.. "

The Summer Solstice or Midsummer Day was a festival celebrated as we saw by singing songs and dancing until the sun sets, telling tales and jumping over bonfires.

The Autumn Equinox festival was the marking of one of the points in the year when hours of light and darkness are equal but the dark is overcoming the light. It is also the time when leaves are falling from the trees, greenness is turning to brown ot ‘life’ appears to be leaving the land. At this time many of the Pagan legends and myths are associated with descent into the Underworld.

Now we see how easily paganism crept into the church, the leaders allowed it and renamed the the pagan solstice celebrations to bring them in... Now lets look at what scholars say:



In the early Christian Church, the birth of Christ was not celebrated. During the first three hundred years of the religion the Church in Rome discouraged such a celebration, concerned that it would appear to be more like a Pagan ritual, than a Christian holiday. As church officials attempted to convert Romans to Christianity, many of the residents continued to celebrate a major winter holiday, "Saturnalia", which was a celebration that lasted a week, which celebrated the Birth of the Unconquerable Sun. This celebration consisted of parades, merry-making and gift giving. This celebration culminated on December 25th with a celebration of the winter solstice. Also celebrated in Rome around the winter solstice was Juvenalia, which was a celebration for children.1 Pope Julius I chose December 25 as the date that the birth of Christ would be celebrated with the hope that the choice of that date would be more easily accepted by the Romans.2

Besides the Romans, many other societies held celebrations around the winter solstice. The prevailing theme in all of the celebrations was the welcoming of the sun and the joy in the rebirth of the world. The Pagans viewed these celebrations of the return of the sun, as the fact that good will prevail over evil and the sun will return to the earth, which makes it easy to see how it could be adapted to the Christian beliefs that Jesus was born to save the world. Jesus Christ has been often referred to the "Light of the World" and it only seems fitting that the winter solstice when the sun appeared to return to the waiting world, that His birth was celebrated on that day. There has been quite a bit of controversy on the exact time that Jesus was born. Some believe that it was in March, others in September, but the choice of December 25th demonstrates a desire by early Christians to associate the day with a day honored by many as the day that the light was brought to the world.Other traditions also seem fitting including the fact that the date was the same as that chosen by the Babylonians to celebrate their god of creation.As you progress through the Christian liturgical year, the other significant holiday is Easter, which is the celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The forty days prior to this holiday is called Lent. In 519 AD, Lent gained acceptance by the Catholic Church. A writer of that time, John Cassian explains that the church didn't observe Lent. But as believers started to decline from their devotion, priests had called for a period of fasting to recall them to their original fervor.5 Many other regions, practiced a forty-day periods of fasting. In the Andes and in Mexico pagan followers practiced a solemn fast of forty days to honor the sun.6 The Egyptians also observed a fast of forty days to honor Adonis or Osiris, the mediatorial god. Among the Pagans, Lent seems to be a fast to prepare for the annual festival in commemoration of the "death and resurrection of Tammuz which was celebrated by alternate weeping and rejoicing...being observed in Palestine and Assyria in June, therefore called the "month of Tammuz"8 This period of Lent for Christians culminates in the celebration of Easter. For Christians it is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But the very name of this holiday shows pagan origin. The term "Easter" has been said to be derived from Estre or Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring and dawn. The festival for Eostre was celebrated on the day of the Vernal Equinox, the first day of spring. In Easter It's Story and Meaning the story of Tammuz is told. Upon the death of Tammuz his wife and beloved Inanna or Ishtar, was so stricken with grief that she followed him to the underworld. Since she was the goddess of spring rains that bring forth the fruit of life, the land was barren and desolate without her presence. Ea, their god of water and wisdom was moved to send a messenger to rescue Ishtar. Eresh-Kigl allowed the messenger to sprinkle the water of life on Ishtar and Tammuz, which gave them the power to return to the world for six months of the year. The remaining part of the year, Tammuz must return to the underworld, forcing Ishtar to follow him and also forcing Ea to give the water of life. This explained to their culture the miracle of resurrection and spring that occurred every year. Over the centuries the story and the yearly rites connected with Tammuz, moved westward to Phoenicia and Syria. Here Tammuz's name was changed to Adon or Adonia and the name of Inanna/Ishtar to Astarte. The belief traveled further to Greece where the names were changed to Adonis and Aphrodite.9 Even though the mythos and names changed as it moved from region to region the theme was the same, the resurrection of the god or goddess as a symbol of the coming of spring and the return of fertility to the land. This is very close to the Christian belief that Jesus Christ died for the sins of humankind and then was resurrected. Even some of the Christian ceremonies are very closely related with sunrise celebrations similar to those held by Pagan followers.

All Souls Day is an official holiday of the Catholic Church, which occurs on November 2nd, following All Saints Day that occurs on November 1st. The day was a holiday to honor all of the faithful departed and there are Requiem Masses said by clergy to assist the souls from Purgatory to Heaven. This holiday is traditionally attributed to Saint Odilo, the fifth abbot of cluny. He had felt that it was important to offer special prayers and singing from the office of the dead on the day following All Saints Day.10 The Aztecs celebrated a similar holiday known as the "Day of the Dead". This holiday lasted over two months, but during the tenth month they held a great feast for dead adults. Even though the actual mention of honoring the deceased differed, with the Catholic Church holding masses and the Aztec's holding of a feast, they are similar in the fact that both events were to help the fallen loved ones travel to a better place. For Catholics, prayers for the deceased helped them travel from Purgatory to Heaven. For the Aztecs, who believed that there are nine levels that a soul traveled through before finding its final destination, the feast was to assist the deceased in this journey. But both religions stressed the importance of the assistance of the living to those that had died.

The Annunciation is observed on March 25th. It is believed and celebrated to be the day that the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she was to give birth to Jesus;11 but if December may not have been the actual birth date of Jesus, this would make the choice of this date a random one. It doesn't appear to be as random, when compared to the fact that it is the day that the Babylonians held a festival to honor Cybele, the mother of the Messiah.Christian Feast Days and Their Relationship to Pagan Holidays

We know that the angels announced the birth of Christ to the Bethlehem shepherds in the open fields who were tending their flocks by night.. This fact certainly implies that the birth of Jesus could NOT have been on the 25th of December. "The cold of the night in Palestine between December and February is very piercing, and it was not customary for the shepherds of Judea to watch their flocks in the open fields later than about the end of October." Hislop, A., The Two Babylons, Loiseaux Brothers, Neptune, N.J. pg 91.

In addition, Jesus Himself said, in speaking of the coming destruction of Jerusalem,"But pray that your flight be NOT in winter, neither on the Sabbathday."
Matt 24:20



Because of these facts, and others to be discussed, it is virtually impossible for the birth of Christ to have occurred on December 25.

It is beyond doubt that Christmas was originally a pagan festival. The time of the year and the ceremonies with which it is still celebrated, prove its origin.




In Babylon, where the sun (Baal) was the object of worship, Tammuz was considered the incarnation of the Sun.

There are many other Christmas counterparts of the Babylonian winter solstice festival, such as: 1) candles lighted on Christmas eve and used throughout the festival season were equally lighted by the Pagans on the eve of the festival of the Babylonian god, to do honor to him, 2) the Christmas tree was equally common in Pagan Rome and Pagan Egypt. In Egypt that tree was the palm tree; in Rome it was the fir. The tree denoted the Pagan Messiah.
The Yule log was considered the dead stock of Nimrod (or Tammuz, depending on the specific nation involved), deified as the sun god, but cut down by his enemies; the Christmas tree is Nimrod revived - the slain god come to life again.



The story of the death of Adonis, also known as Tammuz, involved a fatal wound from the tusk of a boar when Tammuz was 40 years old. That is why a boar was sacrificed on this Pagan holiday. Even today, a Christmas ham is a traditional favorite of many..

The 25th of December, which we celebrate as Christmas, was the commemorative day of the birth of the sungod. The birth of Osiris was celebrated on this day, which was the birth of the unborn sun. When Nimrod was destroyed, he was symbolized as the tree that was cut off. To this day, his rebirth is celebrated as the new branch (Christmas tree) that sprouts from the sawn-off stump through the life-giving power of the serpent. In England, Christmas is celebrated by throwing the Jule log into the fire, representing the destruction of Nimrod, and the Christmas tree is the symbol of the branch that had sprouted. The tree was then decorated, symbolizing the rebirth of the sungod. The ancient practice of celebrating the birth of the sungod through the fir tree is found in most ancient religions, even those of the ancient Indian cultures of South America. The sacrificial animals on this day were animals such as the pig and the goose. Both these animals are the main Christmas meal in European countries. The goose on the mainland of Europe, and the Christmas gammon (pork) largely in Britain. Different birds were sometimes substituted for the goose, such as different trees were substituted for the fir tree if they were not readily available in the countries concerned. The birth of Osiris coincided with the day of the summer and winter solstice, depending on the hemisphere, and on this day the sun god would ride through the heavens in his chariot. The sungod Helios would ride through the sky in his sun chariot drawn by horses as depicted in the great fountain of Versailles. In the Hindu culture, it is the Sûrya, and his horse-drawn sun chariot, driven by his charioteer Aruna who rides across the sky, and in other cultures the chariot is drawn by other animals such as the goat (Zeus) or the reindeer. This same ancient eastern practice is held in high esteem to this day, and has virtually successfully supplanted Jesus Christ as the main feature of Christmas. On the 25th of December, Santa rides across the skies in his reindeer drawn chariot. He is made acceptable by his friendly rotund appearance as introduced by Walt Disney, but he has the same characteristics as the ancient sun deities.
Origin of Santa Claus: 4th century: Historical evidence shows that St. Nicholas never existed as a human. He was rather a Christianized version of various Pagan sea gods —the Greek god Poseidon, the Roman god Neptune, and the Teutonic god Hold Nickar. In the early centuries of the Christian church, many Pagan gods and goddesses were humanized and converted to Christian saints. When the church created the persona of St. Nicholas, they adopted Poseidon’s title “the Sailor.” They picked up his last name from Nickar. Various temples of Poseidon became shrines of St. Nicholas.[xxiv]
The theology of Santa is also in line with this thinking, since Santa, as taught to most children, has the attributes of God.

1. He is virtually omnipresent. He can visit hundreds of millions of homes in one night.
​

Here is a very good explanation of how Christmas was institued by Dr. Sam Bacchiocchi :




C.In the 4th century CE, Christianity imported the Saturnalia festival hoping to take the pagan masses in with it. Christian leaders succeeded in converting to Christianity large numbers of pagans by promising them that they could continue to celebrate the Saturnalia as Christians.[2]

D.The problem was that there was nothing intrinsically Christian about Saturnalia. To remedy this, these Christian leaders named Saturnalia’s concluding day, December 25th, to be Jesus’ birthday.

E.Christians had little success, however, refining the practices of Saturnalia. As Stephen Nissenbaum, professor history at the University of Massachussetts, Amherst, writes, “In return for ensuring massive observance of the anniversary of the Savior’s birth by assigning it to this resonant date, the Church for its part tacitly agreed to allow the holiday to be celebrated more or less the way it had always been.” The earliest Christmas holidays were celebrated by drinking, sexual indulgence, singing naked in the streets (a precursor of modern caroling), etc.

F.The Reverend Increase Mather of Boston observed in 1687 that “the early Christians who first observed the Nativity on December 25 did not do so thinking that Christ was born in that Month, but because the Heathens’ Saturnalia was at that time kept in Rome, and they were willing to have those Pagan Holidays metamorphosed into Christian ones.”[3] Because of its known pagan origin, Christmas was banned by the Puritans and its observance was illegal in Massachusetts between 1659 and 1681.[4] However, Christmas was and still is celebrated by most Christians.

G.Some of the most depraved customs of the Saturnalia carnival were intentionally revived by the Catholic Church in 1466 when Pope Paul II, for the amusement of his Roman citizens, forced Jews to race naked through the streets of the city. An eyewitness account reports, “Before they were to run, the Jews were richly fed, so as to make the race more difficult for them and at the same time more amusing for spectators. They ran… amid Rome’s taunting shrieks and peals of laughter, while the Holy Father stood upon a richly ornamented balcony and laughed heartily.”[5]

H.As part of the Saturnalia carnival throughout the 18th and 19th centuries CE, rabbis of the ghetto in Rome were forced to wear clownish outfits and march through the city streets to the jeers of the crowd, pelted by a variety of missiles. When the Jewish community of Rome sent a petition in1836 to Pope Gregory XVI begging him to stop the annual Saturnalia abuse of the Jewish community, he responded, “It is not opportune to make any innovation.”[6] On December 25, 1881, Christian leaders whipped the Polish masses into Antisemitic frenzies that led to riots across the country. In Warsaw 12 Jews were brutally murdered, huge numbers maimed, and many Jewish women were raped. Two million rubles worth of property was destroyed.


The Origins of Christmas Customs

A.The Origin of Christmas Tree
Just as early Christians recruited Roman pagans by associating Christmas with the Saturnalia, so too worshippers of the Asheira cult and its offshoots were recruited by the Church sanctioning “Christmas Trees”.[7] Pagans had long worshipped trees in the forest, or brought them into their homes and decorated them, and this observance was adopted and painted with a Christian veneer by the Church.

B.The Origin of Mistletoe
Norse mythology recounts how the god Balder was killed using a mistletoe arrow by his rival god Hoder while fighting for the female Nanna. Druid rituals use mistletoe to poison their human sacrificial victim.[8] The Christian custom of “kissing under the mistletoe” is a later synthesis of the sexual license of Saturnalia with the Druidic sacrificial cult.[9]

C.The Origin of Christmas Presents
In pre-Christian Rome, the emperors compelled their most despised citizens to bring offerings and gifts during the Saturnalia (in December) and Kalends (in January). Later, this ritual expanded to include gift-giving among the general populace. The Catholic Church gave this custom a Christian flavor by re-rooting it in the supposed gift-giving of Saint Nicholas (see below).[10]Origin of Christmas | The history of Christmas and how it began

and here is a good post I came across written by Benjamin M. Mangali......

Tis the Season

'And they worshipped the sun toward the east' Ezekiel 8:16.

Baptised Paganism

Many superstitions and pagan philosophies have been baptised into the church and occupy a prominent place in modern theology; pagan traditions, practices, and symbols that can all be traced back to idolatrous Babylon, have crept into the church and have been concealed by new names. But let's go back even farther than ancient Babylon in tracing this apostasy. "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven." Revelation 12:7,8. Here we are told of Satan's rebellion in heaven and his consequent defeat He was defeated and cast to this earth and through the centuries has succeeded in deceiving the whole world. Satan's name used to be Lucifer, which means day star (Isaiah 14:12, margin). How many stars can you see in the daytime? There is just one. It is that great luminous body called the sun. It is the day star of this earth. Since Satan does not appear in person, he has turned men's attention to the worship of the sun, the greatest, the most powerful, luminous body in the visible universe. Therefore, sun worship forms a part of most heathen religions. The devil has worked through the great isms of our world to deceive millions. One of those isms is heathenism. In fact, Satan holds more captives in heathenism than in any other ism to day. An inherent desire to worship God was instilled in man at creation. But Satan has perverted this desire and has led man to worship the sun instead of the God who created it. Well-Meaning Christians

No doubt there are many well-meaning Christian people, who have been taught, and therefore believe, that Easter, Christmas, and Sunday are biblical institutions, established by Christ, and kept by the apostles, and hence are very sacred. It is not our intention in this article to unsettle any of God's children on what is truth or bring undue unhappiness to such who are enjoying their religious belief; but as true happiness only comes to "the man whom God correcteth," and who does not "weary of his correction"; therefore, let us ever be ready to receive correction, "for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth." Job 5:17; Proverbs 3:11,12.

Nimrod

Heathen philosophy claims that when Nimrod, the great-grandson of Noah, died, he was immortalized and his spirit took possession of the sun, where he is dwelling as the sun god. The initial" t" for Tammuz was always considered the symbol of sun worship.

Semiramis

Semiramis, the wife of Nimrod, became a great queen; and in order that the people would love her, she told them that she would take possession of the moon after she died, just as her husband Nimrod had taken possession of the sun Semiramis never remarried after the death of Nimrod, but a few years later, she gave birth to a son, Tammuz, on the 25th day of December. This great queen claimed that this son was miraculously conceived by the spirit of her dead husband Nimrod. After the death of Semiramis she was revered by the pagans as the Mother of God and the Queen of Heaven. Her son "Tammuz" was called the Son of God, and worshipped in different lands under various names. He was commonly called Zoroaster, meaning the seed of the woman. You can see how the devil was counterfeiting the Trinity, and counterfeiting the birth of Christ, counterfeiting the miraculous conception of Jesus by producing a false god and a false mother and son combination.

Tammuz

Tammuz was considered the "son of the sun. The first letter of his name T was ever afterwards considered the symbol of sun worship. Sun worshippers offered to their sun god human sacrifice, which was upon a wooden cross-the initial T of the name Tammuz.

Sun Worship

The origin and character of sun worship was, and always will be, pagan. By whatever name or whatever form the son was worshipped, there was always a female divinity associated with it. As the sun was the great god, the supreme lord, and as he exerted his mortal glorious powers of production, it was held to be the most acceptable worship for his devotees to employ themselves and their power.

When God established His worship with the children of Israel in the very midst of the sun-worshipping nations surrounding them, He required His people to make the door of the tabernacle (or temple) always toward the east, in order that all who worship the Lord would in so doing turn their backs upon the rising sun and its worship; and that whosoever joined in the worship of the sun had first to turn his back upon the Lord. But even though the Lord was so careful in His dealing with His children, yet Israel did apostatise from Him, turned their backs towards the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east and worshipped the sun toward the east (Ezekiel 8:16). Sunday came from this sun worship and was dedicated to the sun god. It was on this day that the worst sun-worship features were practiced. The origin and character of Sunday, like sun worship, was, is, and always will be pagan. No matter how this child of paganism is dressed up so as to make it look like a Christian festival, it is pagan in both origin and character. Sunday is the wild, solar holiday of all pagan times. But on contrary, the Lord has given His children a rest day He furnished the earth with the fullness thereof, and made the Sabbath rest for His children. Which will we observe? The child of paganism or God's seventh day Sabbath?

Christmas

Christmas, or Christ-Mass, has become one of the leading holy days in the world today. But the 25th of December is not the birthday of Jesus - it is the birthday of Tammuz The Bible says that the shepherds were with their flocks; and shepherds were never with their sheep on the hills in the winter Jesus must have been born at a warmer season Nobody really knows when he>us was born. The Bible does not reveal the date of His birth. Rather, it was the birthday of the pagan sun god; hut the Church of Rome started calling it the birthday of Christ, the Son of the true God People have been taught to trample on God?s holy day, the Seventh-day Sabbath, but at the same time to reverence a day that is totally pagan in origin.

We have now traced the origin of heathen customs that have crept into Christianity (such as the worship on Sunday, in reverence to the Sun-god, and also Christmas, worship of the birthday of Tammuz who was the sup-posed reincarnation of Nimrod-the Sun-god). In the early centuries, Christianity tried to win the pagans over to their religion. But, instead of revealing to them the power of the Gospel as the Apostles did, they just baptised the pagans together with their false worship and incorporated their festivals into Christianity. Let us now take a brief look at Lent and Faster.

Lent and Easter

Tammuz, the supposed son of Nimrod, was also a great hunter. But while yet quite a young man, he was killed by a wild boar, in the spring of the year. This caused much weeping throughout the whole kingdom. The forty days before the time of the celebration for the moon were set apart as the days for weeping. Especially did the women take a lead in this weeping for Tammuz. We would be amazed if we knew of all the traditions that have been handed down from paganism and have been baptised into the Christian Church. Lent, which was a season of weeping forty days for Tammuz, is one of those traditions that have been handed down to Christianity today.

Dr. Hislop says: "The forty days' abstinence of Lent was directly borrowed from the worshippers of a Babylonian goddess. Such a lent of forty days, in the spring of the year, is still observed by Yezidis or Pagan Devil-worshippers of Koordistan. Such a lent of forty days was held in spring by the Pagan Mexicans. Such a lent of forty days was ob-served in Egypt."-The Two BabyIons, pp.104,105. In Christian churches to-day, solemn services are conducted during this forty-day period, climaxing on Easter Sunday.

Semiramis was also worshipped under the names of Ashtaroth, Ishtar, Astarte and was also associated with the worship of Dianna of the Ephesians. It is from the names Ishtar or Astarte that our modern name of Faster is derived. How was the date of the feast of Astarte, or Semiramis, determined? Counting back nine months from the 25th of December, or the birthday of Tammuz, brings us to the month of March. In order to make this feast always occur on a Sunday, or the sun's day, it was decided that Tammuz (the in-carnation credited to Nimrod the sun-god) was conceived the first Sunday after the first full moon after the first day of Spring. And friends, that is exactly how the date for Easter Sunday is still determined today. It has nothing to do with the actual crucifixion date of Jesus. Originally, this was the day that was set apart in honour of Semiramis, as Astarte; and it became a festival of great licentiousness, the most acceptable offering being virginity. Yes, this is the origin of our Easter Sunday.

Many do not realise that the Bible mentions these pagan customs. Ezekiel 8:12-18 tells of Israel, the people of God, weeping for Tammuz. "Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in. the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The Lord seeth us not; the Lord hath forsaken the earth. He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do. Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord's house which was toward the north; and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, 0 son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east. Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, 0 son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations, which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have re-turned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose. Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them." Let's read Jeremiah 7:18: "The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger." Here they are making cakes or buns to the Queen of Heaven. This practice continues down to our day, for at Easter time, all the world makes and eats buns commonly called Hot Cross Buns.

The Third Angel's Message

The warning of the third angel is against the worship of the beast and his image. All such as give homage or reverence unto the mandates of this beast or his image shall drink of the wrath of God, which we find to be the seven last plagues. To give homage or reverence unto the mandates dates of the beast is the very worship against which we are warned in this message. No man can claim he is worshipping God while he himself is still hanging in the balance concerning the mandates of the beast and his image. No church can claim to be giving the third angel's message while the leaders and laity are trying to bolster up any of the mandates of the beast and his image.

In Matthew 15:13 we read: "Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up." Sunday keeping, Christmas, and Easter all originated in paganism, and were then transplanted into the Roman Catholic Church. From there they have been transplanted into the modern Protestant churches. But God never planted these institutions, and Jesus says His Father will root up what He has not planted.

No amount of money can buy our salvation. It is a free gift. We do not deserve it. But the Son of God has purchased us with His blood, so that we may be able to enter into the heavenly kingdom of God. If we have been saved by grace through faith, we will choose today to keep God's commandments and enter in-to the city of God, or we will be outsiders. The Bible says, "To whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey." Romans 6:16. Reader, whose servant are you today? Are you willing to sacrifice the traditions of men and to keep the commandments of God? May the Lord give us victory over every besetment that surrounds us.