Christmas - a Christian festival, or a pagan one?

Most Christmas traditions are pagan and often from Scandinavia. Santa Claus is based on Odin, and how about them elves??? Decorating an evergreen tree with lights is full of pagan symbolism. The evergreen keeps it's form throughout the coldest part of the winter and the lights represent the return of the sun on winter solstice. Historically, there have been many ways in which Christianity would incorporate aspects of other religions in order to convert more people. It is nice that many religions have winter holidays, but lets not kid ourselves about the origins of many Christmas traditions. How many Reindeer live in the Middle East by the way?

Though I haven’t studied much into Christmas traditions, I think a lot of people confuse the secular, non-Christian, traditions of Christmas with the CHRISTIAN event of Christmas. I often hear the statement “Remember the reason for the season!” chanted from Christians around Christmas time, I think this is an obvious repudiation by Christians of the secular traditions of Christmas like Santa, reindeers, stockings, elves ect…. One will find when observing Christian homes that there will be more Christian Christmas traditions than secular traditions, and in non-Christian homes it is visa-versa. Christmas has become a confusing mishmash of secular and Christian traditions, leading people to stereotype Christmas and make narrow sighted polls like the title of this one suggests, thus validating the evermore necessary chant; “Remember the Reason for the Season

hence why the archbishop of Canturbury recently told Christians not to take the story too seriously

The Queen of England has two birthdays: an official celebration and her real one. The time of Jesus' birth can be worked out roughly from readinjg the scriptures. It revolves round when the priests ministered in the temple.

Suffuce it to say it was around the time of the Feast of Tabernacles.

And the Word was made flesh and Tabernacled among us.

This is all very interesting. It prompted me to do some research. I must say, I'm shocked at what I discovered. Apparently, the Christian church incorporated pagan traditions into the celebration so as to attract the Druids and other such Pagan groups, most likely to increase membership to the Church. I find what they did to be repulsive, and it makes the Church at that time seem very hypocritcal. I have always loved Christmastime, but this really has put a damper on it. I have to think of how God feels about us taking part in something that he obviously was against from the outset. And now I'm finding it really has nothing to do with Jesus, it makes me upset. I'm going to talk to the pastor at my church, because I would be surprised if he doesn't know about these origins. But what turns my stomach is why we as paying paritioners and loyal members aren't made aware. I got into a little debate with a guy I work with about Christmas a few months back who's one of the Jehovah Witnesses, and I feel stupid now, because everything he was saying is totally true. Go figure....