Quote:
Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor
Cool, I'm sure it's a lot of fun. I just can't wrap my head around the use of the Saint's names to mark these festivals...
Which leads to the question - is the church pissed off about these holidays? Do they try to stop them, or alter them? I'm really asking, I have no idea.
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Saints' days were how the early church organized it's liturgical year (in the Middle Ages almost every day of the year celebrated a saint). Most very important Saints' "days" or festivals co-opted traditional pagan celebrations; for instance, St Valentine's day co-opted the Pagan holiday Lupercalia.
Historically, this is one of the reasons that Christianity was so successful (beyond the fact that Constantine converted and generally, where the Emperor goes, his subjects follow), they didn't force Christianity down Pagan's throats, instead they changed the names of their festivals and ceremonies but allowed the Pagans to otherwise continue their traditions (as long as they now called themselves-- publicly at least, Christians).
So, in answer to your question, the church may not like some aspects of the celebrations, but it was the church itself who embraced the celebrations and allowed the celebrations to go forward as they had centuries prior to Christianity.