By Jessica Kelly

People have just returned from taking a walk through a park filled with gardens. They gathered seeds, dirt and flowers to later place on the altar after they have finished decorating and coloring eggs. There is a feeling of spring lingering in the air as they prepare dandelion wine, bread and vegetables for the feast that will follow the ritual.

It is a balanced day. when day and light are equal. It is now called the Spring Equinox, with the celebration of Easter. However, according to pagan custom, from which Easter was derived, the day is called Ostara.

Celebrations have always been an integral part of society. Traditionally there have been celebrations after the winning of a war, for significant changes in an individual's life or even for the change of seasons. While most holidays now have a degree of commercialism involved, they were traditionally a way for communities to come together to celebrate their fortunate circumstances.

Most Christian holidays are derived from pagan holidays. Under the Roman Empire, the Catholic Church wanted to convert the world to its version of Christianity. Pagans, believing they had a spiritual religion, were not easy to persuade. They were an earth religion that focused on nature and earth goddesses. In order to convert pagans, the Catholic Church adopted their festivals, sotthe newest members were not giving up many of their beliefs.

USU Professor Steve Siporin says, "The Christians convinced them they were doing the same thing just for a different reason. Then, they hoped after a few generations the old meanings might fade."

Instead of purely Christian holidays, many celebration days are Christian in name but pagan in practice.

"The political savvy of the priest was a religious function. The church knew they liked their festivals, so the holidays were reinterpreted to fit the religion. At the basic level, many religious holidays are pagan," said Siporin.

Pagan holidays follow the times of the season. Most are light festivals based on the significance of hte harvest and planting cycles, new year and solar or lunar cycles. The Druids divided the year in half with dark and light sections. All of the major holidays are celebrated with a basic ritual, feast and social time.

One example of a Christian in name, but pagan in tradition holiday is Halloween. Known to the Celts as Samhain, this celebration is the most solemn holiday of the year on the second full moon after the harvest. The ancient Celtic people's new year was Nov. 1. They believed that at this time the barrier between this world and the other world was the thinnest. A demon lord named Samhain came to life and kidnapped the sun god on that day. Bad spirits would take the form of animals and seek redemption from the living.

A ritual was begun by casting a circle to keep unwanted spirits from entering. A portion of the feast was set aside for those spirits in attendance. If the food was not consumed then it was taken outside. This holiday was seen as a time to remember those who had passed on to the other world.

Light ceremonies were also common among pagan practices. Imbolc, usually the full moon in February, is a midwinter celebration that turned thoughts to spring. Candles represented warmth and light. It symbolized the end of winter with hope in the spring. Many associate Valentine's Day with this traditional Druidic holiday. Some believe that Valentine's Day was to commemorate the death of St. Valentine or the beginning of the birds' mating season. However, others claim that the Catholic Church may have decided to celebrate Valentine's Day as an effort to christianize the Imbolc festival.

May Day also has pagan origins. Known as Beltane, this festival was celebrated on the second full moon after Imbolc. It was seen as a seasonal transition in the year because spring is in full bloom. It is a celebration of the fertility of nature. Marriages and hand-fastings were common. As part of the celebration, pagans would take a growing tree from the forest to the village to symbolize the coming of summer.

Again, this holiday was christianized in the late 1660s. Many had previously found this festival and others offensive because the social heirarcy was set aside. Everyone was commonly involved from the prince to the pauper. During Charles II riegn, the festival returned but did not have as much vigor. Later, it would evolve further and turn from a celebration of fertility to a symbol of "Merry England."

Today May Day is the International Labor Day. There is no significant Christian Church service associated with this festival. Traditionally it was seen as a day to take off work and pagans did so with the support of their employers. Seen as a "people's holiday" it was easily associated witht the labor movement.

In addition to redefining the holidays for pagans, many times their new beliefs were a continuation of hte past. People would worship just as they always had. In Mexico, the patron saint is Lady of Guadalupe. She was seen in the form of an emanation and the spot was made sacred in the 1500s. The spot where the Christians built the church is where a Mayan temple for an earth goddess was.

"It wasn't a coincidence that it was there. They were worshipping the same kind of being. They called the earth goddess and the form of the Virgin Mary, 'our mother'," Siporin said.

For a full list of traditional pagan festivals read on the Holidays.

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