where does "christmas" come from?

What of easter,advent,lent etc??...there is no place in the scripture that said we should celebrate dm...should we stop that too?

Now we're opening up a big can of worms. I think most of our "Christian celebrations" originated when Constantine converted to his form of christianity.

1. Christmas - In all probability Christ was not born in December. The pagan holiday of the winter solstice was replaced by Constantine to celebrate the birth of Christ. It may have been a good idea then, but......

2. Easter - Follows closely with passover. The problem comes up when you look at the original celebration it replaces and that was to the goddess of fertility Ashtar. Guess what the symbol for Ashtar was? If you said egg give yourself a pat on the back. If you notice the similarity in the words Easter and ashtar pat again.

3. Lent - Passover is celebrad with the exclusion of levened bread. This is because during that time in Egypt the Israelites could not leven their bread (no yeast). Constantine decided to add a sacrifice to start 40 days before Easter.

4. Meatless Friday - Haven't got a clue where this came from except that it has been rescinded by one of the popes. Mexico still follows the meatless fridays though.

5. Unmarried Priests - can't blame this one on Constantine. Both Peter and Paul were married. Peter's mother-in-law is mentioned in the Bible and Paul had to have been married to be a part of the Sanhedrin. It came down to money, pure and simple. Married priests in wealthy areas beame wealthy themselves. When they died their estates went to their wives and children. In order to keep that wealth within the church priests were forbidden to wed. If you look back a Papal history you will see that more than one had children. Do as I say not as I do.

All Hallows eve - was and is a wiccan holy day. In Mexico they have the Day of the Dead. In a way it is a realy neat celebration. The family goes to the cemetary and cleans up the grave site for a picnic the following day. Stories are passed down from generation to generation. That is good. The wierd part comes in when you realize they leave food for the dead people the night before. What ever is left over the next day they can eat themselves. In Mexico where I live it is hotter than blazes in April and May. Like mid 90's (30'sC). I am not leaving macaroni salad out all night to eat tomorrow. Something about food poisoning and dysentary just don't seem like things to celebrate.

We too often confuse tradition with God's Will. I would love to see the church revert back to what it was in the days of Peter and Paul. Small groups meeting in homes and reading scripture, praying for the sick and helping the poor. No mortgage on a mega 4,000 seat church or a humongous electric bill. No fund raisers for a new wing or a youth center or roof repair. Just a group of like minded folks seeking God. When the group starts getting too big then break it off and start a new group. If you want to meet with some other groups for a specal time that is fine. I have not seen a church that has not gone from being an organism to an organization with by-laws and elected boards and committees. The definition of a committee is a body with 8 heads and no brain.