Holidays: Holy or Hollow?

People have celebrated with festivals and holidays since ancient times in many tribes and nations throughout the world. Holidays or holy days as they were originally called in the English language, though not necessarily Biblical, were religious in nature and served to remind the people of solemn vows, rituals, or jubilation surrounding a historic delivery from the enemy. Indeed, as long as any celebration is held in the name of a religion or a god, it is technically a festival or holy day whether sophisticated or plain, somber or sensual.

Many holidays indicated the progression of natural events such as the moon’s phases or the sun’s orbit. For example, of the many Roman festivals, Saturnalia in mid-December celebrated the winter solstice. Feasts and festivals sometimes glorified planting and harvesting seasons. In line with these were fertility rites such as the Lupercalia in February.

These elaborate festivities commemorating their many gods and goddesses are well documented in Scandinavian as well as Greek and other Mediterranean countries’ mythological literature. In the Western Hemisphere, Mesoamerican deities and their feasts have been introduced to us not from literature, but through archaeological digs and linguists decoding inscriptions found in mounds, tombs, and pyramids.

The world’s religious holidays included a major Hindu holiday, Navaratri which honored, and continues to do so, the goddess Durga for her victory over Mahisa, the buffalo-headed demon. Hatchepsut, the female pharaoh of Egypt, celebrated the Feast of the Valley, an annual festival of death and renewal. Many other pagan festivals were connected with gift-offerings of the dead or in some way placating evil spirits. Undoubtedly, Huacca del Sol, Temple of the Sun, of the ancient Tucume in Peru, South America witnessed its share of religious “holy days” where humans were sacrificed. Readers of the Old Testament may be well acquainted with Babylonian festivals honoring Baal and Ashtoreth. Anyone not remembering the fate of Belshazzar’s great feast needs only to reread Daniel 5.

In the Bible, the first reference to feasts, canonically speaking, is in Genesis 19:3 which records Lot entertaining visiting angels. The second mention is Abraham’s feast at the weaning of Isaac. If one accepts the Book of Job as chronologically the oldest book of the Bible, then Job 1:4 is the first reference to feasting. Job’s sons held feasts, each hosting his own birthday party. Recorded deeds of faithful “heroes” and evil “villains” in the inspired scriptures show how each rejoiced over victories with merry-making.

Many references are found with the words “feast to the Lord”, “feast of the Lord”, or “feast for the Lord”. God clearly revealed to His people when such feasts were to be given and the purpose of each. Nothing was left to chance. There was no assumption that the people could participate or not according to personal whims.

Most of those who have accepted Jesus as the Messiah or as their Head would agree that the Hebrew feasts are not to be celebrated today. If we are not to observe the above referenced feasts, then what feasts or holidays should be celebrated? Are we expected to replace Hebrew holy days with so-called Christian ones as many have tried to do? If so, which days are to be replaced, and how do we know? Also, at what point in time did well-meaning “holy days” turn into commercially oriented “holidays”?

In contrast to the clear instructions of the Hebrew Scriptures, no festival appears to have been clearly instituted by Jesus Christ or the twelve apostles, who were sent to the Hebrews. Nor did Paul, the apostle sent to the Gentiles, command any such feasts. How can we account for the fact, then, that Christians have long celebrated the memory of Christ’s resurrection and numerous other religious events? If they were not instituted by the Greek and Aramaic Scriptures, the New Testament, then the only alternative and logical explanation is to say that they were developed by men over the centuries.

Thousands of books rest in libraries’ archives describing “…gods many, and lords many…” (I Corinthians 8:5). We know that “when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods” (Galatians 4:8). Readers have books at their disposal featuring secular and religious festivals and anniversaries around the globe for potentially every day of the year. It is not our purpose here to investigate all holidays of all religions. It has been said that to trace the festivals of the world would be to trace mankind’s entire history. Time would not permit. The purpose of this study is to approach some of the widely celebrated holidays in the United States from a Biblical viewpoint. More specifically, we want to see from a “rightly dividing the word of truth” viewpoint (II Timothy 2:15 KJV), just where we, the Bible believers of the Body of Christ, fit into the holiday scheme. Also, it is not the purpose of this book to tell an individual believer that he/she should or should not participate in various traditional or secular facets of these days. Our purpose is to inform where specific holidays originated and to let the reader be guided by the scriptures regarding what God wants him/her to do.

What began as holy days, religious in character and dedicated to “gods” or to the Supreme God, have become blurred with secular holidays that revere respected persons or historical occasions. Some customs, carried over into modern day celebrations, resist efforts to be sorted into the secular or sacred, pagan or Christian, and sometimes remain obscured in tradition. In short, we have the oxymoron of “secular holy days”, holidays.

Consequently, in this account, the words, feast, festival, and holiday will generally be used synonymously. It is recognized that not all will agree with conclusions reached in this effort toward accuracy in apprising current celebrations. It is hoped that all will read with an open heart, and open mind, and with open scriptures in hand.