Expert: Janko - 11/27/2005

Question
Why don't Jehovah's witnesses celebrate holidays? Isn't that hypocrisy?

Answer
Hello Jasper,
Thank you for your question and I will be sure to give you
a satifactory answer based on God's Word the Bible.
Yes that is true we do not celebrate any holidays except
our wedding anniverseries because it is an arrangement by God.The reason for why anybody should not celebrate the
holidays is because they all have pagan roots behind them
and that is a sin against God.For an example Christmas is
reconized as Jesus' birthday but in reality he was not born on December 25,and with a little research anybody could
figure it out.To take it a little further,if one knows that Jesus was not born in December,they would be part of a lie
and we all know who the father of the lie is,Satan! To give you a more detailed look at all the holidays that are pagan
related I have included this wonderful article that I think you will find very informative and shine a little more light on this subject for you,and there will be plenty of Bible passages you can look up that will be quoted,so hope this will answer your question. Janko  (read below)
Holidays and Celebrations

The fact that Jehovah's Witnesses do not participate in most holiday observances and other celebrations can be somewhat perplexing to a teacher. We hope the following helps you to understand why we take the matter so seriously.

Perhaps to a greater extent than you may have realized, many holidays and the customs associated with them have a non-Christian religious background. It is this that makes them objectionable to Jehovah's Witnesses. We try to follow the principle stated by the Christian apostle Paul:

“What fellowship do righteousness and lawlessness have? Or what sharing does light have with darkness? Further, what harmony is there between Christ and Belial [a false god]? Or what portion does a faithful person have with an unbeliever? . . . ‘Therefore get out from among them, and separate yourselves,' says Jehovah.”—2 Corinthians 6:14-17.

So if a holiday or a celebration is in some way linked to other gods or goddesses, or if observing it is contrary to our understanding of Biblical principles, we do not take part.

Birthdays: Enjoying a feast or a party and generous giving to loved ones are certainly not wrong. (Luke 15:22-25; Acts 20:35) Jehovah's Witnesses enjoy giving gifts and having good times together throughout the year. However, the only two birthday celebrations mentioned in the Bible involved people who were not true believers. They were a Pharaoh of Egypt and the Roman ruler Herod Antipas, each of whose birthday celebrations had deadly results. (Genesis 40:18-22; Mark 6:21-28) So it is not surprising to see these historical references to the attitude of early Christians toward birthday celebrations:

“The notion of a birthday festival was far from the ideas of the Christians of this period in general.”—The History of the Christian Religion and Church, During the Three First Centuries (New York, 1848), by Augustus Neander (translated by Henry John Rose), page 190.

“Of all the holy people in the Scriptures, no one is recorded to have kept a feast or held a great banquet on his birthday. It is only sinners (like Pharaoh and Herod) who make great rejoicings over the day on which they were born into this world below.”—The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York, 1911), Volume X, page 709 (quoting Origen Adamantius of the third century).

Additionally, birthday celebrations tend to give excessive importance to an individual, no doubt one reason why early Christians shunned them. (Ecclesiastes 7:1) So you will find that Jehovah's Witnesses do not share in birthday festivities (the parties, singing, gift giving, and so forth).

Christmas: As you are probably aware, December 25 was not the birthday of Jesus Christ. You may feel that this does not matter—that the event is the important thing. But the way the Christmas holiday developed shows that there is more to it than that. The following encyclopedias explain:

“The observance of Christmas is not of divine appointment, nor is it of N[ew] T[estament] origin. The day of Christ's birth cannot be ascertained from the N[ew] T[estament], or, indeed, from any other source. The fathers of the first three centuries do not speak of any special observance of the nativity.”—Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature (Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1981 reprint), by John McClintock and James Strong, Volume II, page 276.

“Most of the Christmas customs now prevailing in Europe, or recorded from former times, are not genuine Christian customs, but heathen customs which have been absorbed or tolerated by the Church. . . . The Saturnalia in Rome provided the model for most of the merry customs of the Christmas time.”—Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics (Edinburgh, 1911), edited by James Hastings, Volume III, pages 608, 609.

It is commonly known that Christmas was not originally a celebration of Christ's birth. U.S. Catholic of December 1981, page 32, notes: “It is impossible to separate Christmas from its pagan origins.” The magazine explains:

“The Romans' favorite festival was Saturnalia, which began on December 17 and ended with the ‘birthday of the unconquered sun' (Natalis solis invicti) on December 25. Somewhere in the second quarter of the fourth century, savvy officials of the church of Rome decided December 25 would make a dandy day to celebrate the birthday of the ‘sun of righteousness.' Christmas was born.”

When learning these facts about Christmas, how have some been affected? The World Book Encyclopedia (1982) observes under “Christmas”: “During the 1600's . . . Christmas was outlawed in England and in parts of the English colonies in America.” Since people in the past refused to celebrate Christmas because of its pagan origins, it should be understandable why Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate it today. We take no part in Christmas parties, plays, singing, exchanging of gifts, or in any other such activity that is associated with Christmas.

Jehovah's Witnesses take the same position of total nonparticipation in other religious or semireligious holidays that occur during the school year. The reason is that these holidays, too, are connected with non-Christian worship; in fact, certain features of such worship often dominate the celebrations. Consider the following examples:

Easter: Although this holiday is supposed to commemorate Christ's resurrection, note what secular authorities say regarding it:

“Easter. Originally the spring festival in honor of the Teutonic goddess of light and spring known in Anglo-Saxon as Eastre. As early as the 8th century the name was transferred by the Anglo-Saxons to the Christian festival designed to celebrate the resurrection of Christ.”—The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible (Philadelphia, 1944), by John D. Davis, page 145.

“Everywhere they hunt the many-colored Easter eggs, brought by the Easter rabbit. This is not mere child's play, but the vestige of a fertility rite, the eggs and the rabbit both symbolizing fertility.”—Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore Mythology and Legend (New York, 1949), Volume 1, page 335.

Halloween: Though celebrated as a Christian holiday, Halloween finds its origins in pre-Christian festivals that propagate false ideas about life after death. Interestingly, we read: “After the Reformation, Protestants rejected this feast along with other important ones such as Christmas and Easter. Nevertheless, Halloween folk customs of pagan origin flourished.”—Encyclopædia Britannica (1959), Volume 11, page 107.

All Saints' Day: “There is little doubt that the Christian church sought to eliminate or supplant the Druid festival of the dead by introducing the alternative observance of All Saints' day on Nov. 1. This feast was established to honour all saints, known or unknown, but it failed to displace the pagan celebration of Samhain.”—Encyclopædia Britannica (1959), Volume 11, page 107.

New Year's Day: “In ancient Rome, the first day of the year was given over to honoring Janus, the god of gates and doors and of beginnings and endings. . . . New Year's Day became a holy day in the Christian church in A.D. 487.”—The World Book Encyclopedia (1982), Volume 14, page 237.

Valentine's Day: “Valentine's Day comes on the feast day of two different Christian martyrs named Valentine. But the customs connected with the day . . . probably come from an ancient Roman festival called Lupercalia which took place every February 15. The festival honored Juno, the Roman goddess of women and marriage, and Pan, the god of nature.”—The World Book Encyclopedia (1973), Volume 20, page 204.

May Day: “May Day festivals probably stem from the rites practiced in honor of a Roman goddess, Maia, who was worshiped as the source of human and natural fertility. . . . [The] Maypole is believed by most scholars to be a survival of a phallic symbol formerly used in the spring rites for the goddess Maia.”—The New Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia (1952), page 8294.

Mother's Day: “A festival derived from the custom of mother worship in ancient Greece. Formal mother worship, with ceremonies to Cybele, or Rhea, the Great Mother of the Gods, were performed on the Ides of March throughout Asia Minor.”—Encyclopædia Britannica (1959), Volume 15, page 849.

These are just a sampling of holidays that are commonly observed, and in which schoolchildren often are expected to participate by sharing in certain activities. However, Jehovah's Witnesses for conscientious reasons do not take any part in these holiday activities—whether it be singing, playing music, acting in plays, marching in parades, drawing pictures, attending parties, eating and drinking, and so forth. Yet, at the same time, we do not object to others celebrating such holidays nor try to hinder them. We appreciate it very much when teachers kindly excuse our children from participation in all activities that in any way commemorate these holidays.

National Holidays

Other holidays are somewhat different in nature. These are not so universally celebrated, but may be unique to a particular country. For example, there may be national days of thanksgiving. In some places there may also be a certain day set aside to memorialize a nation's war dead, or a day to remember the birth of a country or certain prominent presidents, rulers or national heroes.

Jehovah's Witnesses also respectfully refrain from participating in such national holidays. Though we respect the authorities in whatever country we may reside, for conscientious reasons we do not give them what we view as worshipful honors. We remain neutral toward all such celebrations. This is in keeping with Jesus' words regarding his followers: “They are no part of the world, just as I am no part of the world.”—John 17:16.
Pagan Holidays on Christendom's Calendar

THE earliest Christians made every effort to stay free from pagan practices. “Certainly,” you might say, “my church does too.”

But does it?

You may be surprised to know how many religious celebrations come, not from true Christianity, but from pagan customs. In this regard, it is enlightening to note what Louis Réau, a member of the famed French Institute who occupied the chair of Middle-Age art at the Sorbonne, France's leading university, wrote a few years ago:

“Despite the theologians' aversion to admitting the pagan origin of Christian ceremonies, most of them recognize however that one must look to the agrarian and funeral rites of the [pagan] Romans to find the origin and explanation of numerous Christian celebrations.”

But why did Christendom put the pagan holidays on her calendar in the first place? “To keep from colliding with and diverting popular beliefs,” Réau says, Christendom's leaders “maintained the date of the [pagan] religious feasts.” He points out that the adoption of heathen holidays and the continuing of them under another name “considerably facilitated the rapid Christianization of the pagan world.”

Thoughtful persons, however, might wonder if it did not also lead to a paganizing of Christianity. Consider, for example, some of the common holidays on Christendom's calendar, comparing your own beliefs and customs with those of the early Christians.

DAYS FOR THE DEAD, EASTER, CHRISTMAS

Due to the widespread belief in the inherent immortality of the human soul, various days for the dead were adopted by Christendom. Réau, for instance, says: “All Saints' Day, celebrated at the beginning of November, is the Christianization by the Church of a pagan festival of the Dead.”

What now of All Souls' Day, November 2, the purpose of which is, by prayers and almsgiving, to assist souls in purgatory? Again it is the adoption of a pagan practice. Says a standard reference work: “Essentially, All Souls [Day] is the adaptation of an almost worldwide custom of setting aside a part of the year (usually the last part) for the dead. The Babylonians observed a monthly Feast of All Souls in which sacrifices were made by priests.” Both the Greeks and Romans also celebrated feasts for the dead, based on Babylonish paganism.

And what about the period of fasting observed by members of the Anglican, Greek, and Roman Catholic Churches in preparation for Easter? A reference work on pagan worship tells us: “The forty days' abstinence of Lent was directly borrowed from the worshippers of the Babylonian goddess.”

It should not surprise us, then, that Easter also found its way onto Christendom's calendar, not by any command of Jesus Christ or his apostles, but through pagan practices. Clergyman Alexander Hislop wrote:

“What means the term Easter itself? It is not a Christian name. It bears its Chaldean origin on its very forehead. Easter is nothing else than Astarte . . . the queen of heaven, whose name, as pronounced by the people of Nineveh, was evidently identical with that now in common use in this country [England]. That name, as found by Layard on the Assyrian monuments, is Ishtar. The worship of Bel and Astarte was very early introduced into Britain. . . . Such is the history of Easter. The popular observances that still attend the period of its celebration amply confirm the testimony of history as to its Babylonian character. The hot cross buns of Good Friday, and the dyed eggs of Pasch or Easter Sunday, figured in the Chaldean rites just as they do now.”

With Easter's having such pagan origin, you may rightly wonder about another of Christendom's major festivals—Christmas. By checking various standard reference works, you will find that it was unknown among the earliest Christians, but in the fifth century C.E. the Roman Catholic Church ordered a feast celebrated in memory of Jesus' birth on the day of the Mithraic rites of the birth of the sun and at the close of the Saturnalia, a Roman festival honoring the god Saturn. That pagan time of merrymaking, with exchanging of presents, furnished the model for many of the customs of Christmas. Thus for a time after the Reformation, Protestants rejected both Christmas and Easter as pagan, but gradually they began to join in the pagan revelry.

Reluctant though church leaders may be to admit the pagan origin of the many holidays on Christendom's calendar, the facts are that they originate in paganism, and the proof can be found in encyclopedias and other reference books in almost any public library. Christendom has not followed the example of the faithful Christians of the first two centuries C.E.

EARLY CHRISTIANS REJECTED PAGAN CELEBRATIONS

It is true that during the second through the fourth centuries C.E., especially after the time of Constantine, more and more professed Christians began to celebrate heathen festivals. But those Christians who adhered to the true faith as taught by Jesus Christ did not adopt any heathen holidays. A brief review of the facts shows that they did not.

They held no celebrations for the “souls” of the dead, because the early Christians did not teach the pagan doctrine of the immortality of the human soul; rather, they knew that the Bible makes clear that “the soul that is sinning—it itself will die.”—Ezek. 18:4.

And having learned that Lent is of pagan origin, you will not be surprised that Cassianus, a monk of Marseilles, writing in the fifth century C.E., contrasted the first-century Christians with the church of his day, saying: “It ought to be known that the observance of the forty days had no existence, so long as the perfection of that primitive church remained inviolate.”

As to Easter: “There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament, or in the writings of the apostolic Fathers. The sanctity of special times was an idea absent from the minds of the first Christians. . . . The ecclesiastical historian Socrates [not the Greek philosopher] states, with perfect truth, that neither the Lord nor his apostles enjoined the keeping of this or any other festival. He says: ‘The apostles had no thought of appointing festival days, but of promoting a life of blamelessness and piety.' . . . This is doubtless the true statement of the case.”

Moreover, the birth of Jesus was not celebrated by the early Christians, for Jesus Christ commanded his followers to commemorate his death, not his birth. (1 Cor. 11:24-26) Understandably, The Encyclopedia Americana tells us: “The celebration [of Christmas] was not observed in the first centuries of the Christian church.”—Vol. VI, p. 622, 1956 edition.

So the many celebrations that were added to Christendom's calendar over the years were not what Jesus Christ or his apostles commanded but the product of Christian apostasy.

INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE WORD OF GOD

Upon what basis, then, did those early Christians reject pagan feasts? On the basis of the Word of God. Many first-century Christians had come out from under the Jewish or Mosaic law, with its feasts and celebrations. They were not about to replace that God-established arrangement, which had served its purpose and then was abolished by God through Jesus Christ, with debased pagan celebrations and festivals, based on the worship of false gods. And even to Hebrew Christians who held to the Jewish festivals, once required by God as a religious obligation, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, wrote:

“You are scrupulously observing days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you, that somehow I have toiled to no purpose respecting you.”—Gal. 4:10, 11.

Certainly it is impossible to imagine the apostle Paul's giving Christian names to celebrations that honored pagan gods. Rather, Paul vigorously urged worshipers of Zeus and Hermes “to turn from these vain things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all the things in them.”—Acts 14:12-15.

So the apostle Paul would not adopt any of those “vain things,” such as pagan holidays, just to get more pagans to become Christians. No, but the Christians of the first century adhered to God's Word and the divine command:

“What sharing do righteousness and lawlessness have? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? Further, what harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what portion does a faithful person have with an unbeliever? And what agreement does God's temple have with idols? For we are a temple of a living God; just as God said: ‘I shall reside among them . . . ' ‘“Therefore get out from among them, and separate yourselves,” says Jehovah, “and quit touching the unclean thing,”'; ‘“and I will take you in.”'”—2 Cor. 6:14-17.

There is overwhelming evidence, then, as to the pagan origin of Christendom's holidays. There is, in addition, clear-cut evidence that the early Christians shunned such pagan practices, and that the Bible warns against Christians' taking up these customs. So, in honesty now, ask yourself: What stand do you take on these pagan celebrations? How does your church view them? Are you and your church like the early Christians? Even if your religious organization does not reject such practices, can you, knowing these things, fail to do so?