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I love all of the holidays, but Christmas is my favorite. It makes me sad that so many people forget that it's a celebration of the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Some will argue that it isn't even His real birthday. That's true. Nobody knows when Jesus was born. Some believe it was in the spring or summer. That could be true. Many argue that our beloved Christmas traditions are of pagan origin. That's also true. The newly converted Christians didn't want to give up their colorful and festive holiday traditions. The church was wise enough to to see the problem and offer a solution. They started a new holiday close to the old, to honor the birth of Jesus, as told in the books of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament of the Bible. They gave new meanings to old symbols and customs. They named it Christs Mass. The people embraced the new holiday and many of us celebrate it still today. Many people want to reduce it back to a pagan holiday. They have ...

All Hallows Eve is the first of three Christian holy days called Hallowmas. The word, Hallow, means Holy. It occurs on October 31st. Hallowmas are days set aside to honor the dead saints and pray for everyone else who has died recently, but haven't made it to Heaven yet. It became a tradition to ring church bells for all the souls in purgatory. There are many myths, legends, stories, and superstitions connected with All Hallow's Eve. Although there are many traditions that have been passed down, no one really knows a lot about the early Celts or Druids. The fact is, there is very little in the way of records. Most of them were lost around the time of the Roman Empire. Archaeologists have discovered items and have made educated guesses about their uses. Customs, stories, and myths were all handed down mostly by word of mouth, from generation to generation. An Irish poem from the 10th century, suggests that there may have once been sacrifices of newborns made to a heat...

Halloween is a delightful holiday for children, widely celebrated in the United States. Children dress up in colorful costumes, and go door to door chanting "trick or treat", and are usually rewarded with candy. Homes are decorated with pumpkin jack-o-lanterns, witches, skeletons, and ghosts. Nobody really knows exactly how Halloween and it's various traditions began. Some people believe that Druids from Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales used October 31st as a night to honor their gods and make sacrifices. It is a common belief that human sacrifices were made, as well as crops, and animals. The Celts of that time period did not write, so they left behind no records of their beliefs or activities. Most information about the Druids, Celts, and their traditions came from their enemies, the Romans. The Romans also wrote that Christians sacrificed their own babies. They don't seem to be a very reliable source. The Celts of England, Ireland, and northern Franc...