Do we celebrate Christmas by thanking God for the birth of His Son or do we buy shitloads of presents and decorate a tree?
Do we celebrate Easter by giving thanks for the resurrecton of Christ or by surrounding ourselves with bunnies and eggs?
What exactly is the Christian precedent for celebrating the gathering in of the Harvest?
What Saint's day is celebrated around 20th - 25th June?
What are we celebrating on Hallowe'en? Do we remember the lives of all the various saints who don't have their own day, or do we celebrate the day on which the physical and spirit worlds come together?
Why do we have a day off on Mayday?
The plain fact is that none of these festival days would have been celebrated in Jesus' day, or during the lifetime of the first few generations of Christians.
Through the centuries, various inheritors of the faith have sought to integrate...let's say "Indigenous religions" into their traditions. The forms of worship we have today bear little or no resemblance to what is mapped out as the way to Heaven in the Bible. In short, they're all fucked and they don't know it.
That is ironic, Alanis.
So why on earth do we get all bent out of shape about how terribly unChristian everything's become? I keep seeing words like "supposed to" and "should be" and "expect", but why should we? The UK is now the most secular country in the world. We have the lowest number of Church attendees and the least reliance on what's supposed to be the State religion of any time throughout our history.
The most cursory investigation will reveal the fact that every single significant day in the Christian calendar coincides with an equally significant day in many different Pagan traditions. That same cursory investigation will reveal that it's no accident.
It's time to start acknowledgeing the true roots of these festivals and celebrations and ignoring the cynical, ultimately futile attempts of the church to muscle in on everyone elses act.
