A Defense Of Christianization

[Thy Geekdom Come]

Nearly every Catholic has heard it from a Christian Fundamentalist friend or neighbor: "why do Catholics celebrate Halloween, you know it's a pagan custom?"

Of course, it doesn't stop there. Some are inconsistent and, while refusing to celebrate Halloween, celebrate Christmas (December 25 was Saturnalia, the Roman festival of the god Saturn), New Year's (the Roman feast of Ianus, the two-faced god of doorways), Valentine's Day (the Roman feast of Lupercalia, during which the blood of wolves would be sprinkled on girls by the men who lusted over them), May Day (a Northern European day of pagan celebration of femininity), and others. Others abandon all holidays all together, including their own birthdays (a Jehovah's Witness practice, although the Church does not recognize the Watchtower as Christian).

What is behind these charges and why do we celebrate these holidays?

The reason: since the times of the Apostles, pagan customs have been changed into Christian customs and adopted. Some even say that God had been working even through paganism to prepare the pagans for the Gospel.

Christianization Begins with the Apostle Paul

[quote]So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects.  "For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, `TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.  "The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist,  as even some of your own poets have said, `For we also are His children.' "Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.  "Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead."

Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, "We shall hear you again concerning this." So Paul went out of their midst. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.  -Acts 17:22-34[/quote]

St. Paul used a pagan custom, that of honoring the unknown god so that they would not suffer the wrath of some forgotten deity, and used it as a tool to evangelize and to bring these people to the One True God. He turned a pagan custom into a Christian custom and converted souls by this practice.

Christianization Has Roots Deep in Scripture

[quote]That same night the LORD said to him, "Take the second bull from your father's herd, the one seven years old.  Tear down your father's altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.  Then build a proper kind of altar to the LORD your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering."  -Judges 6:25-26[/quote]

The Lord instructed Gideon to cut down a pagan altar and to use pieces of it, specifically the wood of the Asherah pole, to make sacrifices to the Lord. This is clearly consistent with the idea of taking pagan customs and changing them to glorify God.

Christianization Was Popular in the Early Church

We see similar thinking throughout Church history. The peacock, for instance, long a symbol of the Greek goddess Hera, has been found as symbolism in the catacombs of the earliest Christians in order to represent the glory of resurrection. Similarly, the Phoenix, an Egyptian pagan symbol of rebirth has been used since early times to represent Christ. St. Jerome alludes to the Partridge as a symbol of Satan because according to pagan custom, the bird was known for trying to gather in the offspring of other birds for itself. The halo had been a symbol of divinity for over a thousand years in Eastern Europe and the Middle East before being adopted by Christians in the 400's AD as a symbol of sanctity

We see also the common practice after the legalization of Christianity by Constantine in 313 AD with the Edict of Milan that old pagan buildings were changed into Churches. St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City was itself once a pagan sporting arena, built up by Constantine (and rebuild again over the years) into a Basilica for one of the other Patriarchs of the Early Church (the Patriarchate of Rome is at St. John Lateran Basilica, outside the walls of the Vatican. Ancient baths, where pagans had lusted after one another, have also been converted into Churches.

Pagan Holidays are Changed

The Christians in the Roman Empire and those who evangelized to other nations outside the borders, found many customs to adapt to the Christian cause. This tradition has continued even until today and it will continue as long as there are people of various customs and traditions in need of conversion. It does not subtract from the glory of God, but adds to it by granting a wide diversity of culture and a great many paths to conversion.

[StColette]

awesome job again Micah !! you're on a roll !!

This helps out a lot since I had a debate on it not too long ago and it's always good to have more great stuff to back it up

[MorphRC]

Good stuff Micah!

[phatcatholic]

here are some articles on the subject:

--[url="http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/5743/pagan8.html"]Are Christmas and Easter Pagan?[/url]
--[url="http://www.knight.org/advent/cathen/03724b.htm"]Christmas[/url]
--[url="http://www.bringyou.to/apologetics/a99.htm"]Santa or Satan?: Reply to a Funny Fundamentalist [/url]
--[url="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05224d.htm"]Easter[/url]
--[url="http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/HALLWEEN.HTM"]Halloween: Its Origins and Celebration[/url]
--[url="http://www.envoymagazine.com/backissues/2.5/story1.html"]Smashing Pumpkins (Halloween)[/url]
--[url="http://answers.org/Issues/Halloween.html"]What about Halloween?[/url]
--[url="http://www.catholicapologetics.net/Borrowing_from_the_Pagans.htm"]Did the Catholic Church "Borrow Many Items from the Pagans"?[/url]