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Posted By: Christine - Painting Ed Pagan vs. Christian - 10/06/09 04:27 AM
Belated Mabon Greetings to my Pagan friends!

I have been doing some reading about the intertwining of the Pagan and Christian traditions during the time of the Renaissance and it is amazing to me how so many of the beliefs overlapped or were outright claimed in the name of Christianity.

In the study of Art History, I learned a lot of things about the constructs of religion that made me wonder. It seems to me that perhaps in the quest to control the masses, perhaps we lost something along the way.

What do you think?

Have a great week!
Posted By: Vance - Crime Editor Re: Pagan vs. Christian - 10/06/09 10:55 AM
All of the Christian holidays are on Pagan holidays. For instance, Christian Easter happens after the Spring solstice and there is a pagan holiday called Eostre then as well. Eostre is a pagan goddess of Spring, I believe and represents the re-birth of the summer months after the long six months of winter. The hare is an important part of Eostre as well and is assumed where we get the Easter bunny today. I am sure someone can verify this if I have anything wrong. I am only going by what I read one day about the holiday.

Being a Christian, I asked my pastor about this one time and he just said, "Yeah, we made them better."

I thought that was kind of a blow off answer.
Posted By: MelodyFor3 Re: Pagan vs. Christian - 10/06/09 02:58 PM
The incorporation of paganism into Christianity was a tactic begun during the Dark Ages to allow the pagans to swallow Christianity more readily. Allow me to explain. In essence, most pagan Gods are strong, fierce, manly, muscled, sex-loving gods and the Goddesses are beautiful, seductive, fertile, and may or may not be the nagging type (like Hera) (please correct me if I'm wrong). Then comes in Christianity trying to get these people to embrace a God that is weak, was tortured to death, and died willingly without a fight. This was adverse to their beliefs. So the priests and monks that were trying to win over the pagans learned about the pagan holidays and tried to show similarities between their holidays. Give that comparison a few hundred years and it became well-known to include both as one holiday. In addition, many priests actually became more paganized (is that a word?). The Dark Ages actually has a lot of missing information, but this is only what I remember from college. The Black Plague and the many revolutions, invasions, wars, etc. also make it difficult to obtain a lot of facts. The birth of Christ was actually sometime in October. But, the huge celebration/feast that occurred during the winter solstice was too hard to pass up to be the celebration for the birth of Christ. Personally, if it is a different day, I don't think He'd mind. He'd be excited just to know his birthday was being celebrated. But the Christmas tree...pagan. Santa Claus...that's not Christian. Holly and yule log...pagan. Halloween isn't even a Christian holiday. It's completely pagan. Vance, you're right about Easter, too. The Easter bunny represented fertility and the revival of life. Eggs are also a symbol of fertility. But think about it, if you were a priest living amongst pagans, you'd want to make friends, learn about eachother, share everything...it became a sort of compromise to where everyone was happy.
Posted By: Vance - Crime Editor Re: Pagan vs. Christian - 10/07/09 06:45 AM
I know that Halloween is Pagan and not Christian and what's funny is that the church I used to go to had a celebration at the church to keep the kids from trick or treating. What did they call this? The Harvest celebration. That's Pagan too. lol. I ried to tell them that but they just blew it off.

A lot of priests wear different color robes depending on the season. Isn't that Pagan too? lol.
Posted By: Maureen-Twisted artist Re: Pagan vs. Christian - 10/09/09 01:15 AM
QUOTE> But think about it, if you were a priest living amongst pagans, you'd want to make friends, learn about eachother, share everything...it became a sort of compromise to where everyone was happy. I can understand and agree with you on your view. After all, I am pagan and Vance is Christian so it makes for an interesting combination in our home. We respect each others views and neither of us try to bring influence to the other or the children.
Posted By: Michelle_folk/myth_Editor Re: Pagan vs. Christian - 10/11/09 05:23 PM
If you get a chance read the "Personification of the Cross." This is an anonymous work and its date of completion is unknown, however, it is indicitive of Christianity's "plea" in converting pagens. As most of you already know, many pagens were nature worshippers and believed everything in nature had a soul. I won't disclose the story but perhaps its title will give you a hint. So, in order to convert pagens to Christianity this "story" was (perhaps) used. Stretching far back into antiquity most "states" had their own gods and this aspect did not change once Christianity came into play. Even many of the saints are converted pagen deities that people particular to a certain region had once worshipped. (The saints were a little more "user" friendly than the God of medieval times who was then considered unapproachable and frightening.) If you look at some of the "artwork" of the cathedrals constructed during this period you will the tactics used by the Church to keep people in check. These people were so frightened by God that many even refused to take communion and in 1215 a "law" was passed making the taking of communion an annual obligation.
Posted By: Christine - Painting Ed Re: Pagan vs. Christian - 10/13/09 01:13 AM
I've been in El Duomo in Florence and the ceiling is painted with scenes of hell. It is the most gruesome work of art I have ever seen. Disembowelments, a devil ripping the bloody heads off its victims -- gross. It's no wonder the people were afraid. As a superstitious lot to begin with -- this must have been truly horrifying.
Posted By: Maureen-Twisted artist Re: Pagan vs. Christian - 10/21/09 04:17 AM
QUOTE>I've been in El Duomo in Florence and the ceiling is painted with scenes of hell. It is the most gruesome work of art I have ever seen. Disembowelments, a devil ripping the bloody heads off its victims -- gross. It's no wonder the people were afraid. As a superstitious lot to begin with -- this must have been truly horrifying. That was obviously to induce fear and sway others to fall in line with the church's wants and beliefs.
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