The Surprising Origins of Customs, Superstitions, Fairy Stories, Nursery Rhymes and Other things

By Les Nicholls

Millions today observe celebrations or follow tradition and customs throughout their life without ever questioning or even giving a second thought to where these come from, many in the west have believed or assumed that the things they and their family traditionally do have Christian origins and may be surprised to learn that the actual origins are not Christian but in fact pagan.
In this book we will look at some of the most popular customs, traditions, superstitions, well-known symbols, children’s stories, nursery rhymes and even comic book superheroes and try to examine their origins as accurately as possible

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Sep 9, 2020
• ISBN: 9781716594007

Book preview

Preface

Millions today observe celebrations or follow tradition and customs throughout their life without ever questioning or even giving a second thought to where these come from, many in the west have believed or assumed that the things they and their family traditionally do have Christian origins and may be surprised to learn that the actual origins are not Christian but pagan.

Of course, you may be someone who already knows the origins of these things but you celebrate, them, not for religious reasons, but out of tradition, or simply because everyone else does? It is certainly true that these customs are viewed and observed by many simply as an opportunity to have fun.

But regardless of why you observe these customs, you may find the information in this book interesting and fascinating, and the next time you engage in these celebrations you may do so with a new understanding, or you may decide as some have, to stop celebrating them altogether, you may feel annoyed that you have been so misinformed and in some cases if you have a had a religious upbringing you may feel that you have been misled.

Pagan traditions and celebrations that were around many years before the rise of Christianity, holidays and feasts that developed in Egyptian, Assyrian, Persian and Mesopotamian, fables, legends and tales from European countries, the Norse from Scandinavian countries, the Celts and Druids in England and Ireland and the religious observances and celebrations in the ancient Roman and Greek Empires have all had an impact on what we now observe and think of as Christian.

The many festivals, feasts, and celebrations from pagan religions that centred on the winter and summer solstices, and that were originally frowned on by the Christian Church were later absorbed into them, creating a hybrid of religious belief. Many religious rites that honoured ancient gods and mythical creatures were adopted into Christianity sometime in the fourth century.

To some readers, this information may be new and even surprising. For some, it may be similar to finding out that a well-loved elderly relative had a secret and evil past and finding out this information may change your view of them even though you don’t want it to. It is true that once we know something, we cannot remove it from our minds easily.

In this book, we will look at some of the most popular customs, traditions, superstitions, well-known symbols, children’s stories, nursery rhymes and even comic book superheroes and try to examine their origins as accurately as possible. This can in itself be a challenge as much has been written about these things that might have been coloured by pre-conceived ideas or bias, there is also much disagreement and many conflicting theories regarding how, why or when these came about, so I will just present the information that I have researched and leave it to you to examine these things further should you wish to do so.

Christmas Customs

Is Christmas a Christian festival that celebrates the birthday of Jesus Christ? We will now see that there is nothing Christian about it and the details regarding what we have been taught are inaccurate and the many traditions and customs that we believed were to celebrate Jesus’ birth are in fact associated with gods from other religions or from pagan superstitions.

Is December 25th the date of Jesus' birth?

Since Jesus died in the Jewish month of Nisan that in our modern calendar would be in March or April and since he was 33 and a half when he died, he must have been born around September or October.

Also his cousin John the Baptist was born around mid-March, close to the Jewish Passover, and he was six months older than Jesus, so again, Jesus would have to have been born about September.

This time would also be consistent with shepherds being in the fields at night. The weather in Israel during December can be quite cold and although indeed, Shepherds can still tend flocks during December in Bethlehem, flocks are usually brought into shelter no later than the middle of October. The argument that Sheep would not be outside in the colder months is not proof in itself but added with the dates of Jesus’ death and John’s birth date, this does strongly indicate that Jesus’ birth could not have been in December.

Did three kings visit Jesus when he was born?

Firstly these were not kings, but astrologers, or Magi; that is people who interpret the position of the stars and use Astrology. The Bible account says that while they were at home in the East, they saw a star and followed it to Jerusalem, possibly hundreds of miles away.

When they finally get to Jerusalem, they ask: Where is the child born to be king of the Jews? We saw his star and have come to bow down to him.

King Herod who is in Jerusalem gets upset by this and so he calls his chief priests to find out where the Christ is to be born?’ they tell him it is ‘In Bethlehem.’ So, Herod, has the astrologers brought to him and tells them to go and search for the child and when they find him, to come back and tell him so that he can go and bow down to him, but, Herod actually wants to find the child to kill him!

After they leave, the star travels ahead of them until it stops right above the ‘house’ where Joseph and Mary are staying. The astrologers enter the house and on seeing Mary and her young child, Jesus, they do obedience to him. They take out of their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. After this, they decide to return to Herod to tell him where the child is, but they are warned in a dream not to do that, and they return to their own country.

This is interesting since their seeing the star and travelling some distance and finding Jesus in a house and not in a stable refutes the many nativity scenes that show these ‘Kings’ being at the manger where Jesus was born. As it says in the Bible in Matthew 2:11 "And when they came into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh."

Also, there is no mention in the Bible of how many Magi there were, the idea of there being three may have come from the three different gifts, Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.

Traditions from as early as the 3rd century changed the Magi to kings, possibly an interpretation of the prophecy in Psalms 72:11 May all kings fall down before him. Then about the 8th century, their names were given as Bithisarea, Melchior, and Gathaspa or Casper.

Church tradition says that Balthasar was a king of Arabia or Ethiopia, Melchior a king of Persia and Gaspar a king of India. The Bible, however, does not record any of their names or say how many Magi visited Jesus. It does show that they did not visit him in a stable, but in a house sometime after his birth, this would also make more sense of Herod ordering the death of all children up to two years old.

Are any Christmas customs Christian? 

Most if not all of the things that people do at Christmas are of pagan or secular origin. The tree, the decorations, and even the giving of gifts wrapped in colourful paper all originate from non-Christian cultures and religions.

The English Puritans condemned many Christmas customs, such as the use of the Yule log, holly and mistletoe. Oliver Cromwell preached against "the heathen traditions of Christmas. In America, the Pilgrim governor, William Bradford, a Calvinist, tried to stamp out what he called all pagan mockery" at Christmas time. And when Pastor Henry Schwan of Cleveland, Ohio, decorated the first Christmas tree in an American church in 1851, his parishioners condemned the idea as a Pagan practice, and some even threatened him with violence.

Christmas Trees and Yule Logs

We have all seen a vast variety of decorated evergreen trees at Christmas time, both in public and in people’s homes, but what do these decorated trees have to do with the birth of Jesus?

Many ancient cultures brought evergreen trees, and other plants, into their homes upon the arrival of the winter solstice in late December generally to celebrate the return of life at the beginning of winter's decline. And this was centuries before the birth of Christ.

In fact, the Christmas tree comes from ancient Babylon; the Bible records that Nimrod built the Tower of Babel and it describes him as a king who was rebellious