Festival dates

Tina Rath agrees with Jarett Kobek that Christian festivals are not, in fact, borrowed from those of the Pagans [ FT404:72, 406:73]. She states, correctly, that Easter was borrowed from the Jewish Passover, which is held at a time determined by the spring equinox and the Full Moon in the month of Nisan. But this has more than a passing resemblance to the Babylonian New Year, which was held at a time determined by the spring equinox and the Full Moon in the month of Nisannu. This was certainly a Pagan festival, and is known to have been held as early as the Third Dynasty of Ur, which came to an end in 2006 BC. According to the Bible (2 Kings 23:23), the Jews first celebrated the Passover in 621 BC, so it is clear who was copying whom. If Easter and Passover really commemorated historical events, then their dates would not alter depending on the Moon.

As to the date of Christmas, when Julius Cæsar inaugurated the Calendar that is named after him, the winter solstice fell on 25 December – but he took the year to be exactly 365.25 days long, when it is actually slightly shorter. The result was that by the 16th century the Julian Calendar was behind the Solar year by 13 days, so Pope Gregory XIII engaged an astronomer named Luigi Lollio to rectify this. For some reason, Lollio added only nine days to the Calendar, when he should have added 13, so that in the Gregorian Calendar Christmas Day is permanently four days out of step with the solstice. This is actually convenient for modern Pagans, as it enables us both to celebrate the solstice and to attend a conventional family Christmas.

Gareth J Medway

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