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Some Christians take for granted that we celebrate two major "holy-days" - Christmas & Easter. We have not always had these holidays, nor do all Christians celebrate them. So what's the deal, is it a good idea?

The issue is further complicated by these holidays, or something like them, that were once associated with pagan worship. A cursory glance at the scriptures will teach us very clearly that we have no right to mix the worship of God with our own inventions, or mix worship of other gods into worship of the God of Gods. So are we syncretising (e.g. mixing) pagan and Christian worship with Christmas & Easter?


The Basics


The First thing we need to say as we come to this topic is that no Christian is bound to celebrate special feast days, holidays, etc. No one should bind your conscience to feel as if you're less Christian, or unfaithful, if you do not go through traditions or attend special church services at these times.

"One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God." (Ro 14:5–6).

The only day that is held apart as a special day in the New Testament is the Lord's Day, the day that Christ rose. So Sunday has a special place on the Christian psyche. Yet even there, we are not given special instructions that we MUST perpetually worship God on that day. Instead we have a pattern of believers from the New Testament down through the ages gathering using that day for their regular church gatherings. It is not a law, but it is a natural pattern that Christians usually fall into where possible. Of other holidays or seasons, there are none that we are instructed on.


Ok, so I don't NEED to jump on board Christmas or Easter, but can I if I want to?
The short answer is yes, with a few provisos.

The Pagan Problem


One of the key issues about celebrating Christmas and Easter is the question about whether there is a connection between what we do now and what came before the Christian version of these celebrations.

We must remember, that God owns the calendar, and the world. It is a good thing, if times and places and activities once dedicated to false gods are sanctified by being "torn down" so to speak, and then have Godly worship replace them.

In the AD 700's, Boniface famously brought the Gospel to Germany by cutting down a "sacred" oak dedicated to Thor and using the wood to build a church building. He took that which was devoted to false worship, but belonged to God, and used it to help people worship the true God YHWH. There is something powerfully symbolic in the action, similar to that of Jerusalem once being a site of false worship and God's enemies, a hold out of stubborn evil in the midst of the land, yet it became the place where God met with his people in worship.

In our calendar, any day is a good day to worship God through Jesus Christ. It's all His. That certain days and times of year have been misused in the past, does not forever taint them from being used in a God glorifying way after we have put away the previous use.

A Muslim who converts to Christianity may still pray 5 times a day, at set hours, but he will be praying to the True God and his prayers will contain different content. His prayers have been "redeemed", they are now sanctified and offered in proper worship where once they were not. He no longer faces a specific direction or does other ritualistic actions. Yet he still kneels, he still prays aloud, etc., just as God permits and encourages his people to do!  Many false forms of religion and worship contain elements of worship that mimic right worship of the LORD. These elements can be "washed" of their misuse, and put to their proper use to glorify God.

Note that even now we use the ancient pagan names for the days of the week, where each of them is associated with pagan deities (e.g. Thor's day = Thursday, Odin/Woden's day = Wednesday). We understand that despite these ancient associations, we are free from the baggage that they carry, free to pursue the Lord and His will on earth as it is in heaven. We pledge no allegiance to them by using these names in this way.

The etymology of Easter has to do with dawn; the coming of the light, which is what we see in the resurrection of Jesus Christ! That the word potentially has ancient roots associated with fertility worship does not mean that we are taking that on board in the remembrance of Christ's death, burial and resurrection. In most languages around the world, Easter is instead called Passover (or some variation thereof). Whichever word we use, we're using it to designate a particular time that we set aside from the daily routines to remember and thank God for Jesus and his active obedience.

I prefer to talk of Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday because it avoids any potential negative connotations, and english speakers would look at me funny if I called it Pascha/Passover.

(BTW ancient fertility worship is tied to spring, and in the southern hemisphere we celebrate Easter  in Autumn, so there's even more disconnection for potential ancient pagan associations!)


The Content of our Celebration

So...
We're free to (or not to) have special days of worship,
Times, seasons, language all belong to God, and can be redeemed for His service.

The last thing we need to note is that the content of our worshipful celebration needs to be aligned with what God says. When pagan people become Christians, they don't just swap out the words for their false gods with the name of the true God and just carry on. No, their old ways of worship are given up, and the new, pure and true worship of YHWH replaces it. So, if we are worshiping God an a special day we have set aside for that purpose, the content and style need to conform to what God says He wants us to do. 

Giving eggs and toys are not part of the worship of God, and should not be confused with it. Speaking of which, we should examine the secondary traditions we have around these celebrations and make sure they fit inside the envelope of Christian freedom. But the other things we traditionally do on these days, such as meet, sing, read scripture, pray, praise, remember, celebrate Lord's Supper, fellowship, eat together, etc. are all things that Christians can and should do with thankfulness in our hearts. We are free to do this on any day.

If our society has a habit of celebrating some particular sin or evil on one day, it is no sin to celebrate godly things in a godly way on that same day as an alternative to what others are doing. It gives Christians a opportunity to worship "in protest," so to speak, of the other. It also shows that we are set apart as holy to God. 


So if we have the freedom to worship on any day and if we can get the content right, we need not have any fear about mixing with pagan worship. Yes, we should take care not to let extra-biblical worship practices creep in, but there's no need to worry about going to church on Good Friday or Christmas.