Christianity, called by pagans everywhere, the worship of the dead man is considered nothing less than a dead man nailed to tree branches and this is all this religion ever was. Now, scholars observe this unique observation and are now obliged to research whether such a strange accusation might have some bearing in historical research. Well, then – the purpose of this article is to give the preliminary information that supports intelligently such a statement, that on the surface seems insult and sarcasm. Yet, be assured that no insult nor sarcasm is intended to christians when such a reference such as dead man worship has predominated a discussion concerning christianity – which of course is a religion of pure faith rather than certainty and therefore the most devoted of its followers would be unphased with such terminologies.
For scholars to begin such a study we must eliminate everything that the Church added from its original religion system that was an attempt of a pagan merge. Now, what precisely is left of Christianity when you actually eliminate Halloween being pagan in origin, Christmas which is pagan in origin, Easter which is pagan in origin and other assorted so called celebrations such as all saints day. You have precisely the estimation of the pagan - who being a pagan is in a position to know first hand where his celebrations have been stolen by the Church to merge with their joyless system to create converts. The Church decided All Saints' Day should fall on November 1 to make it coincide with its precursor, a Celtic festival of the harvest. By "overwriting" the pagan origins of Halloween, perhaps the new religion could steal some thunder from the lingering Celtic influence in Europe Yet, if this was the Church's intention, the strategy backfired to some degree. Drawing on Celtic traditions, people evinced much more interest in honoring dead ancestors than in honoring dead Christian saints. To curb this un-Christian tendency, the Church instituted another holiday to promote Christianity -- All Souls' Day, November 2. On All Souls' Day the people were encouraged to pray for the souls in purgatory. All Saints' Day was instituted as a holiday in the year A.D. 609 (initially celebrated in May, it was moved to the November 1 date in A.D. 834). Prior to that, a study of the pagan origins of Halloween reveals that the Celts had celebrated "Samhain" at this time of year. The Celts inhabited large portions of Western Europe throughout ancient times. They are perhaps most widely recognized for having been the people Julius Caesar fought in what is now France in his famous Gallic Wars (58-50 B.C.). .
In ancient Babylon, the feast of the Son of Isis was celebrated on December 25. Feasting and drinking, and gift-giving were traditions of this celebration. In Rome, the Winter Solstice was celebrated many years before the birth of Christ. The Romans called their winter holiday Saturnalia, honoring Saturn, the God of Agriculture. In January, they observed the Kalends of January, which represented the triumph of life over death. This whole season was called Dies Natalis Invicti Solis, the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun. The festival season was marked by much merrymaking. It is in ancient Rome that the tradition of the Mummers was born. The Mummers were groups of costumed singers and dancers who traveled from house to house entertaining their neighbors. From this, the Christmas tradition of caroling was born. .
In northern Europe, many other traditions that we now consider were part of the dead man's worship had begun long before the participants had ever heard of Christ. The pagans of northern Europe celebrated the their own winter solstice, known as Yule. Yule was symbolic of the pagan Sun God, Mithras, being born, and was observed on the shortest day of the year. As the Sun God grew and matured, the days became longer and warmer. It was customary to light a candle to encourage Mithras, and the sun, to reappear next year. Huge Yule logs were burned in honor of the sun. The word Yule itself means “wheel,” the wheel being a pagan symbol for the sun. Mistletoe was considered a sacred plant, and the custom of kissing under the mistletoe began as a fertility ritual. Hollyberries were thought to be a food of the Gods. The tree is the one symbol that unites almost all the northern European winter solstices. Live evergreen trees were often brought into homes during the harsh winters as a reminder to inhabitants that soon their crops would grow again. Evergreen boughs were sometimes carried as totems of good luck and were often present at weddings, representing fertility. The Druids used the tree as a religious symbol, holding their sacred ceremonies while surrounding and worshiping huge trees. In 350, Pope Julius I declared that the dead man would be celebrated on December 25. There is little doubt that he was trying to make it as painless as possible for pagan Romans (who remained a majority at that time) to convert to Christianity. The new religion called the cult of the dead man or Christianity went down a bit easier, knowing that their feasts would not be taken away from them. The above should be a sufficient amount of preliminary information for scholars to see what is left of Christianity when all the pagan merges that the Church cleverly maneuvered are summed up. You are left with the cult of the dead man; a religion that openly condemns all others systems of religion to hell if they do not convert to them..
Of course, we, the Armenian pagans have a general suggestion. Why get caught up in the debate of the Church and pagan merges at all? Our opinion of the matter is quite a simple remedy. Simply return to the purest form of religion that exists, with the most efficient civilization of all, which brings us right back to our ceremonies and the promotion of polytheism over the boring debates about monotheism..
