The term Christianized calendar refers to feast days which are
Christianized reformulation
''Interpretatio Christiana'' (Latin for Christian interpretation, also Christian reinterpretation) is adaptation of non-Christian elements of culture or historical facts to the worldview of Christianity. The term is commonly applied to recasting ...
s of feasts from pre-Christian times.
Christianization of saints
Historian
Peter Brown, in his ''The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity'', argued that one cannot equate the ancient cults of pagan gods with the later cults of the saints. However,
Caesarius of Arles
Caesarius of Arles ( la, Caesarius Arelatensis; 468/470 27 August 542 AD), sometimes called "of Chalon" (''Cabillonensis'' or ''Cabellinensis'') from his birthplace Chalon-sur-Saône, was the foremost ecclesiastic of his generation in Merovingia ...
and other churchmen deplored certain customs that from time to time seem to develop around the saints, such as the prolonged drinking of toasts, ostensibly in honor of the saint.
The
historicity
Historicity is the historical actuality of persons and events, meaning the quality of being part of history instead of being a historical myth, legend, or fiction. The historicity of a claim about the past is its factual status. Historicity denot ...
of some Christian saints has been treated skeptically by a number of academics, either because there is a paucity of historical evidence for their origins, or due to resemblances to pre-Christian deities and festivals. Some such local saints, especially those dating to when regions were being Christianized have been removed from the
Calendar of Saints
The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...
and effectively desanctified by the Catholic Church after investigations led to doubts about their historicity.
Others, such as
Brigid of Kildare
Saint Brigid of Kildare or Brigid of Ireland ( ga, Naomh Bríd; la, Brigida; 525) is the patroness saint (or 'mother saint') of Ireland, and one of its three national saints along with Patrick and Columba. According to medieval Irish hagiogra ...
, have had doubts raised about their historicity, but retain their position in part due to their historical importance.
The legend of
Barlaam and Josaphat
Barlaam and Josaphat, also known as Bilawhar and Budhasaf, are legendary Christian saints. Their life story was based on the life of the Gautama Buddha, and tells of the conversion of Josaphat to Christianity. According to the legend, an Indian ...
was derived, via
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
and
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
versions, from the life story of
Siddartha Gautama
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism.
According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...
, known as the
Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism.
According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...
. The king-turned-monk Joasaphat (Arabic ''Yūdhasaf'' or ''Būdhasaf''; Georgian ''Iodasaph'') also gets his name from the
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
Bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood.
In the Early Buddhist schools ...
, the term traditionally used to refer to Gautama before his
awakening.
Barlaam and Ioasaph were placed in the
Orthodox
Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to:
Religion
* Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...
calendar of
saint
In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...
s on 26 August, and in the Roman
martyrology
A martyrology is a catalogue or list of martyrs and other saints and beati arranged in the calendar order of their anniversaries or feasts. Local martyrologies record exclusively the custom of a particular Church. Local lists were enriched by na ...
they were canonized (as "Barlaam and Josaphat") and assigned 27 November. The story was translated into Hebrew in the Middle Ages as ''Ben-HaMelekh ve HaNazir'' ("The King's Son and the
Nazirite
In the Hebrew Bible, a nazirite or a nazarite ( he, נָזִיר ''Nāzīr'') is one who voluntarily took a vow which is described in . "Nazarite" comes from the Hebrew language, Hebrew word ''nazir'' meaning "consecrated" or "separated". Those w ...
"). Thus the Buddhist story was turned into a Christian and Jewish legend.
Theories of the Christianization of feasts
St. Valentine's Day
Saint Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, thro ...
on 14 February, commemorates three separate martyrs named Valentinus. One is described as a priest at Rome, another as bishop of Interamna (modern Terni). Both apparently died sometime in the second half of the third century and were buried at different locations on the
Flaminian Way
The Via Flaminia or Flaminian Way was an ancient Roman road leading from Rome over the Apennine Mountains to ''Ariminum'' (Rimini) on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, and due to the ruggedness of the mountains was the major option the Romans had ...
. The connection of the saints' feast day with popular romantic customs arose in the Middle Ages, when it was commonly believed that half way through the second month of the year, the birds began to pair.
Alfred Kellogg and Robert Cox, have claimed that the modern customs of
Saint Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, thro ...
originate from the Roman
Lupercalia
Lupercalia was a pastoral festival of Ancient Rome observed annually on February 15 to purify the city, promoting health and fertility. Lupercalia was also known as ''dies Februatus'', after the purification instruments called ''februa'', the b ...
customs.
[Henry Ansgar Kelly, in "Chaucer and the Cult of Saint Valentine" (Leiden: Brill) 1986, pp. 58-63] But
J. Hillis Miller
Joseph Hillis Miller Jr. (March 5, 1928 – February 7, 2021) was an American literary critic and scholar who advanced theories of literary deconstruction. He was part of the Yale School along with scholars including Paul de Man, Jacques De ...
and others find the hypothesis unconvincing: they say there is no proof that the modern customs of
Saint Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, thro ...
can be traced to the Lupercalia, and the claim seems to originate from misconceptions about the festivities.
Jack Oruch says there is no written record of Gelasius ever intending a replacement of Lupercalia.
[Jack B. Oruch, "St. Valentine, Chaucer, and Spring in February" ''Speculum'', 56.3 (July 1981:534–565)]
Easter
Christians generally regard Easter as the most important festival of the ecclesiastical calendar. It is also the oldest feast of Christianity, and connected to the Jewish
Passover
Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday that celebrates the The Exodus, Biblical story of the Israelites escape from slavery in Ancient Egypt, Egypt, which occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew calendar, He ...
. Many terms relating to Easter, such as ''paschal'' are derived from the Hebrew term for ''passover''. In many non-English speaking countries the feast is called by some derivation of "pasch". The English term, according to the Venerable
Bede
Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...
, is an Anglo-Saxon form relating to
Ēostre
() is a West Germanic spring goddess. The name is reflected in ang, *Ēastre (; Northumbrian dialect: ', Mercian and West Saxon dialects: ' ),Sievers 1901 p. 98 Barnhart, Robert K. ''The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology'' (1995) . ...
, a Teutonic goddess of the rising light of day and spring.
[Holweck, Frederick. "Easter." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 18 Jan. 2015]
/ref>
St. Mark's Day
According to Hippolyte Delehaye
Hippolyte Delehaye, S.J., (19 August 1859 – 1 April 1941) was a Belgian Jesuit who was a hagiographical scholar and an outstanding member of the Society of Bollandists.
Biography
Born in 1859 in Antwerp, Delehaye joined the Society of Jesus ...
, the Greater Litanies of the Feast of St. Mark (April 25) are a continuation and adaptation of the Roman agricultural festival, Robigalia.[ Delehaye, Hippolyte. ''The Legends of the Saints'', Longmans, Green, and Company, 1907]
/ref>
All Hallows
"Hallowtide", refers to the three days of Halloween
Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...
, All Saints' Day
All Saints' Day, also known as All Hallows' Day, the Feast of All Saints, the Feast of All Hallows, the Solemnity of All Saints, and Hallowmas, is a Christian solemnity celebrated in honour of all the saints of the church, whether they are know ...
, and All Souls' Day
All Souls' Day, also called ''The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed'', is a day of prayer and remembrance for the faithful departed, observed by certain Christian denominations on 2 November. Through prayer, intercessions, alms and ...
that are traditionally observed in Western Christianity
Western Christianity is one of two sub-divisions of Christianity ( Eastern Christianity being the other). Western Christianity is composed of the Latin Church and Western Protestantism, together with their offshoots such as the Old Catholic ...
from October 31 through November 2 as a commemoration of the dead.
In many early cultures, the day was considered to start at dusk. Similarly, in Celtic countries the year was considered to begin in winter at Samhain, and it was thought that the start of the year was a time when the world of the dead met that of the living; rather than a sinister event, this was considered a time when a feast should be laid on for the supposed temporary visit from the souls of the dead. The Orthodox tradition, deals rather with the zealous prayer for the dead, whom they believe are allowed to visit the living during 40 days after the moment of death, and always are greatly comforted and even saved from hell, through these prayers. In some Catholic traditions, the night is one when the graves of dead relatives are visited, with candles being lit, under a familiarly atmosphere, often including picnic
A picnic is a meal taken outdoors ( ''al fresco'') as part of an excursion, especially in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event such as preceding ...
; many historians argue that this is clearly derived from the pre-Christian events. The Christian festival was originally held annually on the week after Pentecost
Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christianity, Christian holiday which takes place on the 50th day (the seventh Sunday) after Easter Sunday. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles in the Ne ...
, and is still held at about this date by the Orthodox churches, but in western Europe, churches began to hold it at the same time as the pre-Christian festivals commemorating the dead, and it was eventually moved officially, by Pope Gregory III
Pope Gregory III ( la, Gregorius III; died 28 November 741) was the bishop of Rome from 11 February 731 to his death. His pontificate, like that of his predecessor, was disturbed by Byzantine iconoclasm and the advance of the Lombards, in which ...
.
The process was repeated in Southern Mexico, where the Aztec feast of Mictecacihuatl in early August was syncretized into the Day of the Dead
The Day of the Dead ( es, Día de Muertos or ''Día de los Muertos'') is a holiday traditionally celebrated on November 1 and 2, though other days, such as October 31 or November 6, may be included depending on the locality. It is widely obser ...
.
Christmas
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
on 25 December is, according to Christian tradition, a celebration of the birth of Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
, determined around 350 A.D. by Pope Julius I
Pope Julius I was the bishop of Rome from 6 February 337 to his death on 12 April 352. He is notable for asserting the authority of the pope over the Arian Eastern bishops, as well as a dubious claim that he set 25 December as the official birthda ...
. Although there have been various folk suggestions regarding the origin of Christmas, the earliest historical source stating December 25 as the date of birth of Jesus was Hippolytus of Rome
Hippolytus of Rome (, ; c. 170 – c. 235 AD) was one of the most important second-third century Christian theologians, whose provenance, identity and corpus remain elusive to scholars and historians. Suggested communities include Rome, Palestin ...
(170–236), written very early in the 3rd century, based on the assumption that the conception of Jesus took place at the Spring equinox which he placed on March 25, and then added nine months. There is historical evidence that by the middle of the 4th century the Christian churches of the East celebrated the birth and Baptism of Jesus
The baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist is a major event in the life of Jesus which is described in the three synoptic Gospels of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark and Luke). It is considered to have taken place at Al-Maghtas (also called Bethan ...
on the same day, on January 6 while those in the West celebrated a Nativity feast on December 25 (perhaps influenced by the Winter solstice
The winter solstice, also called the hibernal solstice, occurs when either of Earth's poles reaches its maximum tilt away from the Sun. This happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere ( Northern and Southern). For that hemisphere, the winte ...
); and that by the last quarter of the 4th century, the calendars of both churches included both feasts.[''Aspects of the liturgical year in Cappadocia (325-430)'' by Jill Burnett Comings 2005 pp. 61–71]
See also
* Allhallowtide
* Christianized sites
The Christianization of sites that had been pagan occurred as a result of conversions in early Christian times, as well as an important part of the strategy of ''Interpretatio Christiana'' ("Christian reinterpretation") during the Christianizat ...
Notes
References
* Kerenyi, Karl, ''Dionysus: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life'' 1976.
*MacMullen, Ramsay, ''Christianizing the Roman Empire, AD 100 – 400'' Yale University Press (paperback, 1986 )
*Trombley, Frank R., 1995. ''Hellenic Religion and Christianization c. 370-529'' (in series ''Religions in the Graeco-Roman World'') (Brill)
*Vesteinsson, Orri, 2000. ''The Christianization of Iceland: Priests, Power, and Social Change 1000-1300'' (Oxford:Oxford University Press)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christianized Calendar
Liturgical calendar
Saints
In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness
Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual res ...
Ancient Christianity