With Christmas in a few days, I can't help but ask: do you think it's wrong for Christians to celebrate holidays like that that were adopted from pagan origins? I especially wonder when you consider that Jesus probably wasn't born on December 25th. Tell me what you think. Also: since the Julian/Gregorian calendar didn't come into effect until after the Roman empire and the Catholic church, should Christians follow the Jewish calendar instead? A guy from my church pointed to Daniel 7:25 as evidence of this (and of the changing of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday) and said that the Hebrew calendar was "God's calendar."
The Julian Calendar was named after Julius Caesar, so that was already in use in Jesus' time. Jews would have had to know it in order to interact with gentiles, though their own calendar was the one they followed for themselves.
The Jewish calendar is based on the moon cycles, and so includes leap months in order to keep it somewhat in sync with the solar year. Ironically for this topic, the Jews inherited this basic structure from the surrounding Mesopotamian cultures. The Mesopotamians also gave us the zodiac, hours and minutes, and the week. (The Hebrew innovation was in the sacredness of the seventh day.)
There's even a month in the Jewish calendar named after a Mesopotamian god - Tammuz. He was a god of death and rebirth, who was sent to the underworld for half the year as a ransom for the goddess Ishtar. Ezekiel disapproved the mourning rituals done on Tammuz's behalf in front of the Temple at Jerusalem. On the other hand, while there's a strong parallel with the Greek myth of Persephone, there's also a (very imperfect) parallel to the sacrifice of Christ to ransom the world.
C.S. Lewis, influenced by Chesterton and Tolkien, said that in the Gospel "myth become fact"; Christ is the historical and true fulfillment of all the hints and longings in the pagan myths. If the Jewish prophets pointed toward the Messiah, maybe the bards and rites of the gentiles do in some sense as well.
For a real twist, consider this: the Church of the Nativity may be built on the site of an ancient shrine to that dying god Tammuz! Even if that's not the actual site of Jesus' birth, I find that a fascinating connection. Could it be an instance of what Marshall Sahlins called the "structure of the conjuncture" ? (Sorry if I'm losing you here.)
Anyway, my suggestion is to keep some of the old pagan (or pseudo-pagan) traditions, but dispense with some of the consumerism. Sing some meaningful carols like the Holly and the Ivy instead of Winter Wonderland or Santa Clause is Coming to Town. And even though the chance that it snowed copiously in Bethlehem on Jesus' birth is slim to none, In the Bleak Midwinter is still a great song.
"Winter Wonderland" and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" are more Christmas pop songs, not really carols. I have no problem with that but feel that you still need to remember Jesus.
