What's wrong with "Merry Christmas"?

[Goddlefrood]

Susan:
<SNIP>
> It's probably correct to say most Christmas traditions 
> originated with paganism rather than wicca...

Goddlefrood:

I suggest that depends on what traditions you refer to. 
Here's a few:

(i) Father Christmas / Santa Claus (FC) - Most usually 
traced to Saint Nicholas of Turkey. He's also the patron 
saint of pawnbrokers.

(ii) Christmas tres / logs - pre-Christian traditions.

(iii) Turkeys as the main meat for the Christmas dinner - 
unlikely to be pagan unless some tribe in the Americas 
had a festival around the same time as Chriastmas where 
these delicious birds were eaten. This wouldn't fit anyway 
with being pre-Christian because America was originally 
settled by Christians and the turkey as a staple of the 
dinner has only been adopted in Europe quite recently. 
In England the traditional bird to eat at this time of 
year is a goose.

(iv) Eight reindeers - Probably due to Odin's horse having 
had 8 legs. The Norse religion could probably be lumped in 
in the pagan category, but would usually be described as 
a pantheistic religion, not completely unlike modern Hinduism.

(v) FC's clothing - due to a coca cola advertising campaign 
of the 1930s, iirc.

(vi) The date of Christmas - a shoe in for other older 
traditions and festivals. As Susan pointed out it was 
a convenient time for the catholic church to put Christmas 
at. The early Christians, as pointed out by Geoff did often 
use older symbols and festivals to disguise their own. The 
Roman church does date back to not long after Jesus, as I'm 
sure all of you know. One of the early signs of a meeting 
place was a fish symbol, a symbol that is still used in 
parts of south eastern Europe, unless I'm much mistaken.

That's just a small sampling and I'd be truly delighted to 
compare notes with anyone out there who cares to about other 
Christmas traditions and their origins. As can be seen some 
pre-date the Chritian era while others do not. I would think 
that more are Christian based than are not.

Goddlefrood, who once did a study on many of these things, 
but has sadly lost it.