People wear Easter costumes at parades, egg hunts, or Easter-themed parties. The holiday of Easter itself is one of the holiest days celebrated by Christians, as it marks the death and rising again of Jesus Christ. Easter is joyous time of year that comes right around spring; both Easter and spring serve as signs of renewal.

In addition to the religious characteristics of Easter, many pagan elements involving the holiday have come up over the years. On top of giving children candy, coloring Easter eggs, and wearing pale colors, Easter is also celebrated by people dressing up in costumes.

Three of the most popular Easter costumes are those of Easter bunnies, chickens, and bunny girls. To begin, bunny costumes are just about the most popular Easter costumes available. The Easter bunny himself is analogous to the pagan character Santa Claus from the Christmas holiday. Just as Santa brings children presents, the Easter bunny is said to bring little ones Easter baskets filled with candy and all kinds of gifts. It is thus appropriate that Easter bunny costumes are very popular with young children, especially for egg hunts. It should be noted that there are many people dressed up as Easter bunnies in malls across the United States each year too. Parents take their young children to visit these bunnies and take pictures with them.

An additional Easter costume that is well-known is the chicken. This is befitting since chickens lay the eggs that are among the most common pagan elements used to celebrate Easter. People decorate eggs each year with beautiful pale colors as a tradition. Where chicken costumes are concerned, many styles are available for both adults and youngsters. To provide an example, there are Peeps marshmallow chick costumes. Chicken costumes are favorites at parades and egg hunts.

The bunny girl is an additional favorite Easter costume. This costume is not meant for youngsters. Rather, it has a seductive allure to it, and it is meant for women of all ages. It is not a good fit for an egg hunting event or a parade. Instead, it is usually worn at costume parties with Easter themes.

In conclusion, Easter is a joyous holiday with both very religious and pagan elements to it. Easter costumes are among the pagan elements, and three of the most popular ones available are Easter bunnies, chickens, and bunny girls.

Have you ever wondered what a bunny that lays eggs has to do with Easter? Do bunnies even lay eggs? How did the bunny and the egg theory ever come into being? How did Easter come about? What are its origins? These are some of the questions we will look at in today's article.

Bunnies, chickens and colored eggs all have to do with the Easter Tradition. Today we want to know what do eggs and bunnies have in common. Why isn't the chicken laying the colored eggs?

Easter was not always a religious holiday but actually had its roots in pagan lore and legend. It was not until 325 A.D. that the Nicean Council declared it a religious holiday.

In order to understand the symbols of Easter we must go back to its early history.

According to Legend there was always an early spring festival celebrating the end of winter and the beginning of Spring. This festival was held at the time of the first full moon following the vernal equinox. A fertility goddess named Estre was the goddess of offspring and springtime.

Many pagan religions held the same festival but with different names for their fertility goddess. She was known as Ishtar, Ashtoreth (mentioned in the Old Testament), and Eostre. Besides the difference in names the similarities suggest the same goddess.

She was the goddess of fertility. It was believed by Babylonian legend that a giant egg fell from heaven and was incubated by doves. This is how Ashtoreth/Ishtar/Eastre was born. The god of fertility was called Baal, or Bel in the celtic tongue.

The egg is an earthly symbol of the god of fertility. The hare is associated with the goddess. Together we have male god and female goddess to bring on the season of fertility.

The egg symbolizes the beginning of life, the germination of life. Gifts of colored eggs were often given to celebrate the coming of spring.

It is not surprising to find the hare as a symbol of fertility. The hare is a nocturnal creature and is actually a little different from the cottontail rabbits that we have associated Easter with today.

What is the difference between hares and rabbits? Well, as already mentioned hares are nocturnal. Hares are also born with their fur and their eyes wide open. They are ready to hop right away. Bunnies on the other hand are born with no hair and blind. They must stay with the mother until they are weaned. Bunnies run, hares hop. As rabbits are seen more readily than hares, the rabbit became the symbol for Easter.

Rabbits begin reproducing between the ages of 3 and 5 months of age. The gestation period is 28 days (a lunar cycle) and the litter can be from 3-9 bunnies with the average being 4 per litter.

Bunnies are prolific breeders so we see how they are so easily integrated into the springtime celebration of Eastre.

The legend is told that Eastre had a beautiful, large bird. One day she magically changed it into a hare and that is why it makes nest and fills it with eggs.

The Easter bunny was first mentioned in Germany in the 1500's.

Eggs, as mentioned earlier, were a symbol of rebirth. They were given to each other to celebrate the arrival of spring. The egg represents fertility, purity and rebirth.

It is believed that eggs make a man more virile. We can see why eggs would be such a mainstay in the fertility festival.

There is an old legend that you can stand an egg on its end during the spring equinox. This apparently has to do with the force of the sun on that particular day. It has been proven that this is not so. You can stand an egg on end any day of the year. It is not the force of the sun but the skill of the person standing the egg that has merit.

It is also interesting to note that eggs were used to cure the "evil eye". The evil eye was a curse which was believed to dry up all living things. It was said to wither trees, dry up milking animals and nursing mothers etc. The cure always involved using an egg to withdraw the curse.

So we can see now how we got the Easter Rabbit and colored eggs.

One more thing I would like to look at is the tradition of eating ham at Easter and how the festival of Eastre and Easter came together.

According to The Encyclopedia of Religion, 1987 "Easter" "It was a popular Easter custom amongst Europeans and Americans to eat ham at Easter, because the pig was considered a symbol of luck in pre-Christian European culture."

German tradition believed that pigs are symbols of luck. If you had a pig to feed your family you were considered lucky, because times were hard.

(This luck of the pig is probably one of the reasons that people keep their money in piggy banks.)

According to Legend, Nimrod, one of Noah's descendants, married his mother and became a great king. After his death, his wife/mother proclaimed he had become a "sun god" and was to be called Baal. He was worshipped as a god of fertility and promoted sexual sin. Ishtar (his wife/mother) eventually became pregnant with her son Tammuz who was killed by a pig. She ruled that because her son was killed by a pig, then pig must be eaten on this particular Sunday.

It is interesting to note that swine is not eaten by those of the Jewish faith. It was an abomination of God to eat. The Passover was celebrated with eating lamb which symbolizes their redemption. Some may say that eating ham at Easter is an abomination of the Christian religion.

Problems arose because the festival of Eastre and the Christian observance of celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus fell at the same time of year. Pagans did not like the idea of Christianity because it was too solemn a religion. The early church felt that if it borrowed some of the pagan symbols and icons and make them part of the Christian celebration, this would help the pagans to turn to Christianity more easily. The change was a good way to ease converts from paganism to Christianity.

Because the celebration of Eastre and the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus fell at the same time of year the Nicean Council declared that the day would be celebrated on the first full moon after the vernal equinox and would be called Easter, instead of Eastre.

And that my friends is how Easter was created.

Darwinism is an ancient shamanistic religion built on superstitions of all kinds. The origins of shamanism go back some 50,000 years.

• Shamanism is a belief system based on the worship of forces such as rain, snow, lightning, storms, wind, and the Sun. Darwinism is also a religion of nature-worship; it describes nature as an entity with “mythical and mysterious powers.” It anticipates the belief that stone, earth, the Sun, lightning and wind combined to give rise to life.

• Shamans claim to be the physicians, sages, leaders and administrators of their tribes and societies. Darwinists describe themselves in the same way. Shamans maintain that they understand the secrets of nature and can foretell the future. Similarly, Darwinists maintain that they know the secrets of matter, the atom and the Earth, and seek to describe imaginary changes that human beings and nature will be subject to in the future.

• Astronomy, biology, paleontology, physics, geology, chemistry, geophysics, embryology are all sciences. Darwinism, however, is not a science, but a primitive shamanistic religion.

Darwinists’ present-day beliefs are just as odd and irrational as those of people who once worshipped crocodiles. Darwinists regard chance and inanimate, unconscious atoms as a creative force, and are as devoted to that belief as if to a religion.

- Since the theory of evolution was first put forward, advances in a great many branches of science, have demolished the theory’s claims, one by one. Nonetheless, Darwinism still has its adherents. Typically, when a scientific theory is disproved, it is shelved, and all debate and discussion comes to an end. But not so with Darwinism. No matter how powerful and indisputable the evidence against their theory may be, evolutionists ignore it and continue to defend their beliefs in a fervent manner.

- Worshipping fire, the stars or the Sun, believing that the Pyramids were built by aliens, or venerating certain animals as sacred is not scientific. In the same way, neither is Darwinism--because just like other superstitious beliefs, Darwinism is also a religion of idols and false deities.

Members of the shamanistic religion of Darwinism spread fictitious reports about the future and try to bring new converts under their spell.

- Darwinism’s foremost idol is the “idol of chance.” Whatever Darwinist text you read, you will see claims about the power and limitless abilities of “natural selection,” the lifeblood and essence of Darwinism.

- Evolutionists claim that everything performed by the “idol of chance” is actually based on pragmatic calculations. In their view, this idol is able to consider everything and calculate in advance every step it will take.

- Evolutionists believe in one very strange force. They ascribe divine status to matter. They have belief that matter once assembled itself into a living cell and that one organism can give rise to another, entirely different one. Science has refuted these ideas. But for Darwinists, they are irrefutable facts that everyone must believe.

- Darwinism is an ancient shamanistic religion, built on insane and irrational superstitions and falsehoods. This idolatrous religion has been invented to confront Islam.

- According to the shamanistic religion of Darwinism, earth, water, rock and stone can feel, smell, hear and perceive colors.

Pagan societies have existed on Earth since the very earliest times. People at all times and all societies have fashioned different idols for themselves. In the same way that Darwinists adopt chance and inanimate matter as creative entities, similar imaginings were once adopted as idols by societies with warped beliefs. Above: Images depicting the Sumerian water idols.

- The essence of the religion of Darwinists is their nonsensical belief in chance that violates both science and reason. In fact, any rational mind is quite able to conceive that no complex entity can come into being spontaneously, by chance, but absolutely must be the product of a conscious plan. However, just like pagans who worship the idols they have crafted with their own hands, Darwinists believe in false deities.

- The nonsensical belief that Darwinists have adopted bears a very close resemblance to the beliefs of ancient pagan cultures. In the much same way that pagans believe that inanimate idols created all things, so evolutionists and materialists believe that inanimate matter created all living things. (God is surely beyond these.) They claim that even their own human bodies are the sum total of various coincidences.

- It is unacceptable for students to be taught Darwinist shamanistic religion under the name of science. What they need are courses in biology that have been purged of this shamanistic religion.

- The Turkish public laughs at the ruses resorted to by local evolutionists, because they cannot prove evolution by way of slander and aggression. Any evidence they have, they should put forward, whereupon everyone can easily distinguish between truth and error. For months now, the exhibitions of fossils taking place all over the country have helped the Turkish public realize that living things never underwent evolution.

- It is expected that evolutionists exhibit fossils if they have any. At the very least, they should display a few of them in the central headquarters or gardens of Turkish daily newspapers such as Cumhuriyet, Vatan and Hurriyet, or in such heavily frequented public spaces such as Istanbul’s Taksim Square or Ulus in Ankara. If they cannot do that, then they should cease their defense of evolution. They have no intermediate-form fossils to show, because such things never existed.

- Each fossil that evolutionists have put forward as a proof of evolution has turned out to be a fake or else misinterpreted. “Piltdown Man,” for example, turned out to be a hoax. The tooth of Nebraska “Man” turned out to be from a fossil boar. The coelacanth has been caught alive—and unchanged—since 1938. All the skull and bone fragments that allegedly show the human evolution tale have been proven to be either those of present-day human beings or else of species of ape that have become extinct.

Evolutionists conjure up creatures that never actually existed and hire skilled artists to produce “reconstructed” models and illustrations—which they use to try and convince people that evolution is a scientific fact. This false evidence is displayed in newspapers, magazines and museums. But these depictions reflect nothing beyond their makers’ imaginations. No such entities exist in the fossil record. Yet evolutionists themselves finally fall under the spell of this false evidence they have created with their own hands and start to believe in the religion of Darwinism.

SCIENTIFIC FACTS REFUTE THE CLAIMS OF THE

“SHAMANISTIC RELIGION OF DARWINISM”

According to the Shamanistic Religion of Darwinism: the first living organism formed spontaneously.

According to modern science, life cannot come into being by chance. Not one single protein or even a single cell, let alone a whole organism, can emerge by chance. The likelihood of any protein emerging by chance is only 1 in 10950. In practical terms, this equates to zero probability.

According to the Shamanistic Religion of Darwinism: living species descended from earlier, more primitive ones.

According to modern science, species cannot descend from one another. Every life form has its own unique characteristics. It is impossible for them to develop through another species’ gradual changes.

According to the Shamanistic Religion of Darwinism: fossils confirm the theory of evolution.

According to modern science, fossils are evidence of creation, not evolution. Some 100 million fossils have so far been discovered, and all of them represent complete, fully formed organisms. Not a single fossil indicates that it was undergoing any transitional “evolution.”

According to the Shamanistic Religion of Darwinism: species diversified through mutations.

According to modern science, mutations damage organisms, and do not improve them. They cannot cause a species to diversify: they either kill or cripple the mutated individual.

According to the Shamanistic Religion of Darwinism: humans are descended from ape-like creatures.

According to modern science, apes and humans are totally separate species. There is no family relationship between them. Despite their physical similarities, they have enormous differences that cannot be explained by claims of evolution.

According to the Shamanistic Religion of Darwinism: natural selection present in nature is proof of evolution.

According to modern science, natural selection cannot cause one living thing to evolve or give rise to new life forms.

TWO NEW DECEPTIONS FROM EVOLUTIONISTS:

TIKTAALIK ROSEAE AND GOGONASUS

The fossil discovered in Canada a few months ago and given the name of Tiktaalik roseae was portrayed as major evidence for evolution. In fact, however, this creature is obviously a “mosaic” combining a great many features. Nonetheless, evolutionists depict this creature as an intermediate species and claim, using fictitious illustrations, that it represents proof of a transition from water to land. The platypus found in modern-day Australia is also a mosaic creature that shares mammalian, reptilian and bird characteristics at one and the same time. Yet nothing about it can be depicted as proof of evolution.

In recent days, evolutionists have brought up yet another fossil found in Australia, repeating their tales that have persisted for so many years of a “completed missing link.” This new fossil, known as Gogonasus and evidently an extinct species of fish, has nothing whatsoever to do with evolution. Evolutionists seek to use it as an evidence for their myth of the transition from water to dry land, particularly on account of its fin bones, but the fossil in question is an obvious species of fish totally unconnected with life on land. The coelacanth, still alive today, also has bones in its fins, but these have been established to be perfectly ordinary structures that the fish uses solely for the purpose of swimming.

In order to substantiate their claims, evolutionists must discover “intermediate forms,” with deficient, half-formed organs that are not fully functional. Yet every one of the organs possessed by these fossil creatures is complete, flawless. There are no semi-developed organs, nor any fossil series that can be presented as evidence for an evolutionary transition from other living species.

Evolutionists must finally accept the facts and stop trying to deceive the public with their fabrications.

MATERIALIST SELF-INTEREST CABALS ARE UP TO NEW CONSPIRACIES

In recent months, both the Turkish and the world media have been issuing panicked reports about the global defeat of Darwinism. The routing of Darwinism has had a deep impact on European Freemasonry and certain other secret forces, and these have resorted to a plan produced out of terror of the threat of the elimination of atheism and materialism. British and French lodges have issued directives. Sabbatean families are also becoming involved, out of a thirst for vengeance. In order that the matter should be definitively resolved, various writers are being hired out, and a plot is being prepared against all patriotic individuals. The principal target is the Science Research Foundation.

In the future, however, just as in the past, it will be impossible for these endeavors to bear any fruit. Millions are aware of just what is going on. A new Sun has risen, and its light has illuminated all parts. The next thing for evolutionists to do is submit in the face of the facts.

ISLAM CONFLICTS WITH PAGAN RELIGIONS, NOT WITH SCIENCE

Islam commands people to research and investigate all branches of science and knowledge:

. . . Reflect on the creation of the heavens and the Earth . . . (Surah Al Imran, 191)

Have they not looked at the sky above them: how We structured it . . . (Surah Qaf, 6)

. . . You will not find any flaw in the creation of the All-Merciful. Look again . . . (Surat al-Mulk, 3)

Man has only to look at what he was created from. (Surat at-Tariq, 5)

Have they not looked at the camel—how it was created, and at the sky—how it was raised up, and at the mountains—how they were embedded, and at the Earth—how it was smoothed out? (Surat al-Ghashiyya, 17-20)

In the heavens and Earth there are certainly signs for the believers. And in your creation and all the creatures He has spread about there are signs for people with certainty. (Surat al-Jathiyya, 3-4)

It is therefore impossible to claim any divergence between science and Islam.

However, Islam does oppose all false religions. It is opposed to the worship of fire, of the devil, animals or idols—in short, to all forms of pagan belief. Shamanism is a religion that also worships chance and nature (animals, plants, stones, earth and matter). As a shamanistic creed, Darwinism is therefore in conflict with Islam.

Under the pen name of Harun Yahya, Adnan Oktar has written some 250 works. His books contain a total of 46,000 pages and 31,500 illustrations. Of these books, 7,000 pages and 6,000 illustrations deal with the collapse of the Theory of Evolution. You can read, free of charge, all the books Adnan Oktar has written under the pen name Harun Yahya on these websites www.harunyahya.com

Traditionally, it was known as All Hallow's Eve, when the dead were remembered. Over time, it became cultural. For Americans, it became commercialized. Unfortunately, the emphasis on this commercialized holiday has shifted from the little cowboys and Indians to a much more evil and pointed attraction to all things hideous and pagan. Satan has undoubtedly made this commercialized holiday into something that has subtly focused on dressing kids up as ugly demonic creatures.

Samhain. Many believe the festival of Samhain to have been the beginning of the Celtic year. At Samhain, farmers brought livestock in from summer pastures and people gathered to build shelter for winter. The festival also had religious significance and people burned fruits, vegetables, grain, and possibly animals as offerings to the gods. In ancient Celtic stories, Samhain was a magical time of transition when important battles were fought and fairies cast spells. It was a time when the barriers between the natural world and the supernatural were broken. The Celts believed that the dead could walk among the living at this time. During Samhain, the living could visit with the dead, who they believed held secrets of the future. Scholars believe that Halloween's association with ghosts, food, and fortunetelling began with these pagan customs more than 2,000 years ago.

All Saints' and All Souls' Day. Many of the customs of the pagan Celts survived even after the people became “Christianized.” In the 800's A.D., the church established All Saints' Day on November 1. About two hundred years later, it added All Souls' Day on November 2. This day was set aside for people to pray for friends and family who had died. People made many of the old pagan customs part of this Christian holy day. Some people put out food for their ancestors or they left a lantern burning in the window so that ghosts could find their way home for the night. Through the years, various regions of Europe developed their own Halloween customs. In Wales, for example, each person put a white stone near the Halloween fire at night and then checked in the morning to see whether the stone was still there. If it was, the person would live another year.

Halloween in the United States. Many early American settlers came from England and they brought various beliefs about ghosts and witches with them. In the 1800's, many immigrants from Ireland and Scotland arrived in the United States and introduced their Halloween traditions. Other groups added their own cultural influences to Halloween customs. German immigrants brought a vivid witchcraft lore, and Haitian and African peoples brought their native voodoo beliefs about black cats, fire, and witchcraft.

We recognize that this can be a very controversial topic. Some Christians view Halloween simply as a day to dress up in a costume and have fun. Other Christians regard Halloween as a satanic holiday designed to worship evil spirits and promote darkness and wickedness. So, who is right? Is it possible for Christians to participate in Halloween without compromising their faith?

Halloween, no matter how commercialized, has almost completely pagan origins. As innocent as it may seem to some, it is not something to be taken lightly. Christians tend to have various ways to celebrate or not to celebrate Halloween. For some, it means having an “alternative” Harvest Party. For others, it is staying away from the ghosts, witches, goblins, etc., and wearing less evil or pagan costumes, e.g., little princesses, clowns, cowboys, super-heroes, etc. Some choose not to do anything, electing to lock themselves in the house with the lights off. With your freedom as a Christian, you are at liberty to decide how you react.

Scripture does not directly speak at all about Halloween, but it does give us some principles on which we can make a decision. In Old Testament Israel, witchcraft was a crime punishable by death (Exodus 22:18, Leviticus 19:31; 20:6, 27). The New Testament teaching about the occult is clear. Acts 8:9-24, the story of Simon, shows that occultism and Christianity don't mix. The account of Elymas the sorcerer in Acts 13:6-11 reveals that sorcery is violently opposed to Christianity. Paul called him a child of the devil, an enemy of righteousness and perverter of the ways of God. In Acts 16, at Philippi, a fortune-telling girl lost her demon powers when the evil spirit was cast out by Paul. The interesting matter here is that Paul refused to allow even good statements to come from a demon-influenced person. Acts 19 shows new converts who have abruptly broken with their former occultism by confessing, showing their evil deeds, bringing their magic paraphernalia, and burning it before everyone (Acts 19:19).

So, should a Christian celebrate Halloween? Is there anything evil about a Christian dressing up as a princess or cowboy and going around the block asking for candy? No, there is not. Are there things about Halloween that are anti-Christian and should be avoided? Absolutely! Parents, if you are going to allow your children to participate in Halloween, make sure you keep them from getting involved in the darker aspects of the day. If Christians are going to take part in Halloween, their attitude, dress, and most importantly, their behavior, should still reflect a redeemed life (Philippians 1:27). There are many churches who hold "harvest festivals" and incorporate costumes, but in a godly environment. There are many Christians who hand out tracts that share the Gospel along with the Halloween candy. The decision is ultimately yours to make. God's view on the subject is clear: "Be Holy, as I am Holy" (1 Peter 1:16). "God is light and in Him is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5b).

God commands us to have nothing to do with anything that smacks of the occult, devil worship, or involvement with the spirit world through the use of mediums, séances, Ouija boards, horoscopes, tarot cards, channeling, etc. He considers all of these an abomination (Deuteronomy 18:9-12; Isaiah 8:19-20; Galatians 5:20; Revelation 21:8), and those who involve themselves in such things invite disaster (Acts 19:13-16).

From the source.. http://www.gotquestions.org/

There was an important moral issue related to the situation in Corinth. But it wasn't about the food or the dedication of the food to false gods. It was about sanctification and growth in Christ. "But," said Paul, "take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak." (1 Corinthians 8:9). What right was Paul talking about? The right to ignore everything about idols and false worship. The right to participate in Christ's freedom, the right to participate in the holidays and festivals of false gods (the popular culture of the day) because those gods had no real power.

Paul would later tell the Corinthians, "But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" (2 Corinthians 3:16-17). One of the freedoms granted in Christ was freedom from the Old Testament food laws. The risen Christ instructed Peter, "What God has made clean, do not call common" (Acts 11:9). Later Paul would write to the Romans, "Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats" (Romans 14:20).

In Christ we are free indeed. Yet, our freedom is not a license to confuse those who are not as mature in the faith as we are. Our individual freedom in Christ is bound by our love of and service to the body of Christ. We are free from our bondage to sin in order to become willing servants -- slaves -- to Christ, and through Christ, to His people, the church, the body of Christ. The mature in Christ are obligated and bound to assist in the sanctification of the immature in Christ, and at the very least, not to become stumbling blocks to them.

To the mature Paul said, "Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak." (1 Corinthians 8:8). There are no moral or spiritual consequences related to the consumption of food. The point is that the rights of some can lead others astray because the less mature do not discern their own weaknesses. Immature Christians often overestimate their own spiritual development. The ESV translates the Greek word (exousia) as rights, whereas the word also means authority, jurisdiction, liberty, power and strength. Exousia is a freedom, an ability, an authority, a power. And it can be abused. The freedom of one person can become a means of sin and abuse to another.

The strong in Christ, the mature in Christ are not to live for themselves, not to overlook the special concerns of their weaker brothers and sisters. Rather, they are to protect and nurture them in Christ. The weaker brothers and sisters in Christ are just that -- weak. The Greek word is astheneo. "In all things," said Paul, "I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive'" (Acts 20:35). To the Romans Paul wrote, "Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble" (Romans 14:20). "The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin" (Romans 14:20-23).

It is not simply that insensitive and undiscerning freedom in Christ can offend those who are weak, those who are immature in Christ, but note that the prideful exercise of freedom in Christ can cause other Christians to become even weaker, even more immature, and fall into sin. How can we understand this? Perhaps the analogy of alcoholism will help.

Alcohol is a food. We consume it. And it is clean. It is not forbidden. It is even a blessing and a joy in Christ. However, it can be abused. We are free to consume it, but we must be cautious not to abuse it. In addition, we must take special care not to use it in such a way that it becomes a stumbling block to others.

Recovering alcoholics are not free to consume alcohol. They must avoid it because they have established habits of abuse. Their habit is to abuse it. So, to use it at all is to set the old habit into motion. Their weakness is their lack of control of that old habit.

Similarly recovering pagans had established patterns of beliefs and behaviors that were destructive to themselves and to the kingdom of God. Many, perhaps most of the Corinthian Christians were recovering pagans. Their weakness was the strength and tenacity of their old habits, their old patterns of belief and behavior. Like recovering alcoholics, recovering pagans found it difficult to engage their old habits without falling prey to them.

So, the problem was that if such a recovering pagan, a new Christian, saw some other respected Christian participating in pagan rituals and holiday celebrations, he might be tempted to participate as well, to engage in his old habits, his pagan worldview, before he has matured to the point that he could control those habits. He could easily get caught up in his old habits and ways of thinking, often without realizing it until it was too late. The truth is that we can all slip back into our own old habits of sin and immaturity all to easily. We are all creatures of habit and habits are hard to change.

While it is true that false gods have no power, idolatry and false belief are very strong human habits that have very deep roots in the human psyche. The false gods themselves have no real existence or power, but the habits of false belief and the behaviors they engender are very alluring and destructive. While alcohol consumption is not always a sin, a life of excessive drinking is deadly. It will interfere with and obstruct one's sanctification. So, even though it is not always a sin, said Paul, avoid it for the sake of your weaker brother. Don't let your knowledge of the truth, or your strength to not succumb to old habits, become the undoing of others. "And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died" (1 Corinthians 8:11).

Paul makes this point later, "'All things are lawful,' but not all things are helpful. 'All things are lawful,' but not all things build up" (1 Corinthians 10:23). Just because we can, doesn't mean that we should. So, Paul counseled the Corinthians not to participate in the holiday celebrations or eat the food that had been dedicated to idols, not because it was a sin, nor because it would in any way harm them, but rather for the sake of the sanctification of those who were less mature, less stable in the faith, those who could still be drawn back into their old habits of false belief and destructive behavior.

“Love is a promise, love is a souvenir, once given never forgotten, never let it disappear.”.............But........."If you love someone, let them go. If they return to you, it was meant to be. If they don't, their love was never yours to begin with..."

Legends of St Valentine's Day

There are various popular and interesting legends of St Valentine's Day. Some legends trace the origin of Valentine's Day to pagan times while others link it one or more Saints of early Christian Church. Yet another point of view on the origin of Valentine's Day links it to the beginning of birds mating season. Popularity of the festival is perhaps due to the combined effect of all these legends along with the notion that spring is the time for love.

Feast of Lupercalia

Historians trace the origin of Valentine's Day to ancient Roman Empire. It is said that in the Rome of ancient times people observed a holiday on February 14th to honor Juno - the Queen of Roman Gods and Goddesses. The Romans also regarded Juno as the Goddess of Women and Marriage. On the following day, February 15th began the fertility festival called 'Feast of Lupercalia'. The festival of Lupercalia was celebrated to honor the Gods Lupercus and Faunus - the Roman God of Agriculture besides the legendary founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus.

An interesting custom was followed in the Feast of Lupercalia to bring together young boys and girls who otherwise were strictly separated. On the eve of the festival names of young Roman girls were written on a slip of paper and placed into jars. Each young man drew out a girl's name from the jar and was paired with the girl for the duration of Lupercalia. Sometime pairing lasted for a year until next year's celebration. Quite often, the couple would fall in love with each other and later marry. The custom lasted for a long time until people felt that the custom was un-Christian and that mates should be chosen by sight, not luck.

Defiance by Saint Valentine

The pairing of young boys and girls did set the mood of the Valentine's Day Festival as we know today. But it was actually due to the efforts and daring of a priest St Valentine that the festival got its name and clearer meaning. The story goes that during the reign of Emperor Claudius II Rome was involved in several bloody and unpopular campaigns. Claudius found it tough to get soldiers and felt the reason was men did not join army because they did not wish to leave their wives and families. As a result Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. A romantic at heart priest of Rome Saint Valentine defied Claudius's unjustified order. Along with Saint Marius, St Valentine secretly married couples. When his defiance was discovered, Valentine was brutally beaten and put to death on February 14, about 270 AD. After his death Valentine was named a Saint.

According to another version of legend Valentine was killed because he attempted to help Christians escape from the Roman prison as they were being tortured and beaten there. Yet another popular version of the legend states that while in prison Valentine or Valentinus fell in love with jailer's daughter who visited him during confinement. Before his death Valentine wrote a farewell letter to his sweetheart from the jail and signed ‘From your Valentine'. The expression became quite popular amongst love struck and is still very much in vogue.

By the Middle Ages, Valentine assumed the image of heroic and romantic figure amongst the masses in England and France. Later, when Christianity spread through Rome, the priests moved Lupercalia from February 15 to February 14. Around 498 AD, Pope Gelasius declared February 14 as St. Valentine's Day to honor the martyr Valentinus and to end the pagan celebration.

Beginning of Birds Mating Season

During the middle Ages, people in England and France held a belief that birds started to look for their mate from February 14. This popular notion further helped to link Valentine's Day - celebrated in the middle of the February, with love and romance. Over the period of time, St Valentine became the patron saint of lovers and they began to celebrate Valentine's Day as a day of romance by exchanging love notes and simple gifts such as flower.

Popularity of St Valentines Day

Valentine's Day festival gradually grew in popularity amongst the masses due to the combined effect of all the above said reasons. To mark the day lovers began to exchange love notes called ‘Valentines' with their sweethearts. In the beginning the trend was to send handmade cards but this was changed in the beginning of 19th century and mass-produced greeting cards caught the fancy of the people. In the course of time, Valentine's day came to be regarded as the festival that celebrates love and not just romantic love. Today, Valentine's Day cards are gifted to teachers, parents, friends, siblings and sweethearts. Popularity of Valentine's Day has spread in countries across the seven continents and is still increasing by the year.

Some famous legends of Valentine's Day are:

Feast of Lupercalia

Several historians trace the origin of Valentine's Day to pagan times in ancient Roman Empire. In those times, people organized a holiday on February 14 to honor Juno - the mythological Queen of Roman Gods and Goddesses. The Romans also regarded Juno as the Goddess of Women and Marriage. From the following day - February 15 started the Fertility Festival called the Feast of Lupercalia. This feast was organized to protect humans from wolves and to honor the Roman Gods of Agriculture - Lupercus and Faunus besides the founders of Rome - Romulus and Remus. During the Feast of Lupecalia, members of Lupercali - an order of the Roman priest used to gather in a sacred cave where Romulus and Remus were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. Following the tradition, the priest would sacrifice a goat for fertility and a dog for purification. Boys would slice the goats hide into strips, dipped them in sacrificial blood and move about the streets gently slapping women and fields with the animal hide. Womenfolk gladly received a slap, as they believed that the practice would make them more fertile. Later, during the Feast of Lupecalia, all the young women in the city would place a chit of their name in a big urn. Bachelors in the city would each then take a chit out of the urn and became paired for the girl whose name was on the chit for the rest of the year. Quite often, the paired couple would fall in love and marry.

Later, when Christianity spread through Rome, the practice of finding mate through ‘lottery' was deemed un-Christian and outlawed. Around 498 AD, Pope Gelasius is said to have declared February 14 St. Valentine's Day. Some writers link Valentine's Day with Feast of Lupercalia because of similar date and connection with fertility.

Legends of Saint Valentine

Early Christian Church indicates the presence of at least two saints names Valentine. Some scholars however, says that there were as many as seven saints credited with the name of Saint Valentine or Valentinus all of whom lived in the Third Century and apparently died on the same day. Given here are some of the most popular of all legends of Saint Valentine:

Saint Valentine of Rome - I

According to one very popular legend, Valentine was a priest in Rome who lived during the reign of Emperor Claudius II. Under his regime, Claudius is said to have engaged Rome into several bloody battles. To strengthen his army, the Emperor continuously needed to recruit soldiers. However, Claudius found that not many soldiers were keen to join the army because of attachment with their wives and families. In order to sever the bond of attachment, Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. Valentine - a romantic at heart priest, defied this callous decree of Claudius by secretly arranging marriages of young men and women. When Valentine's defiance was discovered by the Emperor, he was brutally beaten up and put to death on February 14, about 270 AD.

For his martyrdom and dedication for the cause Valentine was name a Saint after his death. By Middle Ages, Saint Valentine became popular as the patron saint of love and lovers in England and France to the extent that Pope Gelasius declared February 14 as Valentine's Day on 498 AD and put an end to pagan celebrations. Thus, Saint Valentine's martyrdom day became an occasion to celebrate love.

Saint Valentine of Rome - II

Another famous legend on Saint Valentine states Valentine was an early Christian in Rome who was very popular amongst children. But during the time when Valentine lived, Roman regime was not in favour of Christianity and it even persecuted Christians to make Rome free of the followers of Christianity. In spite of this strict law, Valentine continued to practice his faith and refused to worship Roman Gods. This enraged Emperor Claudius II and he put Valentine into prison.

Valentine is said to have spent a year in rigorous imprisonment during which he was missed a lot by children. They began to toss loving notes and flowers between the bars of his cell window. To an extent, this legend may explain the tradition of exchanging notes and flowers on Valentine's Day.

Some scholars believe that during his stay in prison Valentine made friends with jailer's blind daughter who at times brought to him notes and flowers from children. Whenever, possible Valentine also replied to the notes. Days before his execution, Valentine prayed for the jailer's daughter and she regained her sight. Before his death, Valentine is also said to have written a farewell note for the jailer's daughter and signed it "From Your Valentine”. This expression is popular even till date.

Some scholars believe that Valentine was killed because he tried to help Christians escape from the Roman prison as they were being tortured and beaten. Yet another set of scholars say Emperor Claudius II was impressed by Valentine's kindness and good behavior. He even stated that Valentine could be freed if he agreed to worship Roman Gods. Valentine not just refused he even tried to convert Emperor to Christianity. This made Claudius very angry and he ordered his execution. Valentine was beheaded on February 14.

Birds Mating Time

During the Middle Ages, people in England and France held a popular belief that birds started to look for a mate from February 14. This popular notion further strengthened the idea that Valentine's Day festival that falls in the middle of February should be celebrated as the day of love and romance. The concept soon gained ground amongst the lovers and they began to celebrate the day by exchanging love notes and simple gifts like flower.

About St Valentine

Historical archives talk of at least three different individuals known by the name of Saint Valentine and associated with Valentine's Day celebration of February 14. Some scholars even talk of the presence of as many as seven Saint Valentine all of whom lived in the Third Century and apparently died on February 14. Discussed here are the legends of three saints who were all martyred for their faith and have been recognized by the Catholic Church. Some scholars say that these saints were not separate individuals and are likely to be one and the same. Since these saints lived during the reign of the same Roman emperor and are believed to have died on the same day, this assumption seems to have some validity.

About Saint Valentine of Rome - Legend I

One of the most popular Saint Valentine associated with Valentine's Day festival is said to have lived in Rome when the country was under the reign of Emperor Claudius II. It is said that Emperor Claudius was hard-hearted king who continuously engaged Rome in bloody battles. But in order to keep fighting, he needed to keep recruiting soldiers. However, to his disappointment Claudius found that men were not willing to join army because of their attachment with their wives and families. In order to get rid of the issue, Claudius passed a callous decree that banned engagements and marriages in Rome. He also said that any priest who married a young couple would be put to death.

Young men and women found a savior in Valentine or Valentinus a romantic at heart priest. Even at the cost of his life, Valentine stood against the unjustified order and secretly arranged marriages with the help of Saint Marius. When Claudius finally found out about Valentine's defiance, he was brutally beaten up and put to prison. Later, Valentine was put to death on February 14, about 270 AD. For his martyrdom and service towards lovers Valentine was named a saint after his death.

By Middle Ages, Saint Valentine had become the patron saint of love and lovers in England and France. So, when Pope Gelasius decided to put an end to pagan celebrations of Feast of Lupercalia, he declared in 498 AD that 14th February be celebrated as Saint Valentine's Day. Since then lovers began to express their love on the martyrdom day of Saint Valentine.

About Saint Valentine of Rome - Legend II

According to another popular legend related to Valentine's Day, a saint called Valentine was an early Christian in Rome who loved children a lot. However, at that time Rome was not in favor of Christianity and it even persecuted Christians to ensure that Rome remains free of followers of Christianity faith. In spite of this law, St Valentine continued to practice Christianity and refused to worship Roman Gods. When Emperor Claudius came to know of this defiance, he put Valentine into a rigorous imprisonment for a year. It is said that when Valentine was in jail, little children began to feel sad as they missed Valentine so much. They even used to toss loving notes and flowers from the bars in the prison window.

Some scholars say that during his stay in prison Valentine fell in love with jailer Asterius's blind daughter (whose name may have been Julia), who used to bring for him flowers and notes from children. It is said that day's before his execution, Valentine prayed for his sweetheart and she regained her eyesight. Valentine also wrote a farewell note to jailer's daughter a signed it “From Your Valentine”. This phrase became quite popular amongst the lovers and is still very much in vogue. Some scholars say we remember his death on Valentine's death by sending kind messages to our friends.

Some historians believe that Valentine was executed because he tried to help some Christian prisoners escape from the prison as they were being treated badly. Some also believe that because of his good behavior Valentine was even given a chance by Claudius to change his faith. But Valentine not just refused, he tried to convert Claudius to Christianity. This enraged Claudius and he finally passed orders for his execution. Saint Valentine was beheaded on February 14 269 AD or 270 AD.

About Saint Valentine - Bishop of Interamna - Legend III

Some scholars talk about the presence of yet another Saint Valentine related to Valentine's Day celebration of February 14. This Valentine was a Bishop residing in Interamna (today known as Terni) in Italy in the Third Century. He is said to have dedicated his life to the Christian community of Terni, becoming the first Bishop of the town. People adored Bishop Valentine and the fame of his holiness and miracles reached Rome. Valentine's was also linked with love because he is believed to be the first religious personage to oversee the celebration of marriage between a pagan man and a Christian woman. This Saint Valentine is believed to have been scourged, imprisoned and beheaded by Placidus, Prefect of Interanma. The relic bones of this Saint Valentine are housed in a basilica in Terni. To commemorate the saint, every year on February 14, the town of Terni hosts exhibitions, fairs and cultural events.

A Different look at the Mid English poem

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Introduction

The usual interpretation of the poem is seeing in it a test for chivalry for one of King Arthur's most prominent knights, Sir Gawain. My contention is that behind the mask of Christian chivalry lies an idea based on pagan ritual. It is possible that this basis was not only familiar to the initial readers, but perhaps even in actual use at the time among the populace, camouflaged by ideas more acceptable to the authorities.

I. The Poem

It may be helpful to take a look at the main points of the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (s. links below) in order to clarify the idea presented in the Introduction. The poem tells us that, on New Year’s Day, while the knights of King Arthur’s court are celebrating under the auspices of Queen Guinevere, a giant knight appears dressed all in green. He challenges the knights at court to behead him, claiming it would cause him no harm; in return, he demands to do the same to his beheader on the next New Year Day. Sir Gawain, King Arthur’s nephew, volunteers for the task, holds the great axe the Green Knight hands him and cuts off his head. Instead of dying, the knight picks up his head and rides away, after reminding Sir Gawain his promise for next year, and appointing their meeting at his dwelling place in a Green Chapel.

Toward the end of the year, Sir Gawain rides in search of the Green Chapel. On his way he meets many adventures and many dangers until, at Christmas, he arrives at a castle. The Lord of the Castle, Bertilak, who is an avid hunter, welcomes him with courtly manners; he introduces him to his wife, the Lady of the Castle, who is a beautiful young woman; and to her companion, who is old and ugly. The Lady flirts with Sir Gawain in the absence of her husband on his hunting trips, and gives him a green belt to guard against being killed.

At the end of the poem, a few mysteries are solved. It seems that the castle is actually the sought-for Green Chapel, and the Lord of the Castle is the Green Knight himself. Sir Gawain, who had been made a fool of over the green belt and his flirting with the Lady, is courteously sent home, unharmed.

II. Sir Gawain

The figure of Sir Gawain is crucial for the story, as no other knight would have gone through the improbable task demanded by the Green Knight. Who was he, then, to take such a prominent part in Arthur’s court? In a genealogical table from a site about the figures featuring the Arthurian legends (s. link below), it can be learned that Gawain has been seen by some scholars as the representative of the Solar God.

In the Welsh legend, Gawain was known as Gwalchmei or the "Hawk of May". Gwalchmei appeared not only as a hero and a nephew of Arthur, he was also son of the goddess Gwyar. In his seasonal interpretation of Celtic myths, presented in his book The White Goddess, Robert Graves sees the life of the Hero as symbolizing the course of the sun through one year. That heroic divinity was born at Christmas (25 December), soon after the birth of the sun at the shortest day of the year (21 December); in the spring month of May, when the sun has climbed higher in the sky and gained enough strength, the young Hero flies up to the sky in the shape of a hawk.

Gwalchmei had also been compared to the greatest Irish hero, Cu Chulainn, who was the son of the Sun god Lugh. (A “son of god” would usually symbolize the god’s younger version). In the tale of Culhwch and Olwen, Gwalchmei was the hero who "never returned without fulfilling his quest" – the quest being the completion of the Year's full circle, as represented by Gawain’s wanderings. It was known that Gawain's greatest strength in duels would always be shown at noontime, when the sun is at its highest point in the sky. In the Mid English poem, then, Sir Gawain represents the mythological figure of the Sun god.

III. The Course of Seasons

The seasonal atmosphere of the poem is strongly marked, a fact that adds to the character of the hero as a seasonal Sun god. Thus, the poet describes what happened with Sir Gawain after the Green Knight had left the festivities, and before he sets on his quest for the Green Chapel; Gawain is given "a year and a day" for this purpose, as the Irish year is counted: 13 months of 28 days plus one day to complete the official number of 365 days.

These are the seasons mentioned in the original poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: It begins with the festivities on New Year Day because, although the Sun god is born on Christmas eve, the lengthening of the days becomes evident only around New Year Day. After that comes the season of late winter called Lent, when the earth is bare and the sun is cold and ineffective. As the days get longer and the sun gets stronger, what happens in the poet’s words is that: “The cold withdraws itself, the clouds uplift, and the rain falls in warm showers on the fair plains.” That is when the Hawk of May spreads its wings and flies to the sky. Then, “the flowers come forth, meadows and groves are clad in green, the birds make ready to build, and sing sweetly for solace of the soft summer that follows thereafter... The blossoms bud and blow in the hedgerows rich and rank, and noble notes enough are heard in the fair woods.“ Strangely the poet is silent about what happens when the sun reaches its peak at Midsummer – perhaps because in ancient days, unspeakable things happened at that time, which might included human sacrifice (as will be seen below). After Midsummer, the year turns, “harvest comes and hardens the grain, warning it to wax ripe ere the winter... The drought drives the dust on high, flying over the face of the land.” Autumn comes, and “the angry wind of the welkin (=sky) wrestles with the sun; the leaves fall from the trees and light upon the ground, and all brown are the groves that but now were green, and ripe is the fruit that once was flower.” This description of the dying of the year fits the closing circle of the sun’s travels. That is the time when people begin to wait for the darkening of winter.

At Michaelmas (29 September), with the onset of autumn gloom, Sir Gawain begins to think about his coming journey. On the Day of All Saints, after the Autumn Equinox, in a mournful mood in expectation of his coming execution, Sir Gawin sets on his adventurous way to look for the Green Chapel and the Green Knight. By Christmas Eve, he arrives at the beautiful castle surrounded by a green park, where begins the next stage of his adventures.

IV. The Figure of the Goddess

The Goddess is the one who rules life and death and all things of Nature, including the seasonal course of the sun through the year. The three women in the poem represent her three aspects, according to pagan theories: Queen Guinevere, who presides at King Arthur’s court over the festivities of the birth of the Sun god (whose Christian name is Jesus), represents the Goddess as the Sun Hero’s Mother. The Lady of the Castle, young and beautiful, elegantly dressed with her neck and bosom exposed, flirts with Sir Gawain and would have chosen him for a husband were she not married; she represents the Goddess as a Spring Bride, who each year makes her choice of a Hero to be her lover for the season. In some cultures she is the sister and lover of twin-brothers, who between them symbolize the waxing and the waning year. Her old companion, who is described in the poem as “wrinkled, stocky, hairy, black-browed”, covered entirely in clothing, represents the Goddess at the end of the year, when she causes the death of the Hero symbolizing the death of the Sun. These are the three aspects of the Triple Goddess, who appears as Bride, Mother and Crone.

V. The Green Man

The person who, more than anyone and anything else shows the pagan basis for the poem, is the “Green Knight”, who represents an ancient but well established figure called the Green Man. The green color appears consistently in the poem, in the Green Knight, the Green Chapel, and the green belt given by the Lady to Sir Gawain as protection against being killed. This green color, which does not have much to do with Christianity, more than anything else hints at ancient pagan times. In those times many rituals would take place in field and forest, and not under the roofs of church, palace or castle, where chivalrous manners are so important. The Green Chapel itself points out to the forest, with its green canopy, where unheard of savage rituals took place in olden times. The Green Man was part and parcel of those wild rituals.

In an article called ‘The Green Man – Variation on a Theme’, which appears at a site called Edge (s. link below), Ruth Wylie says that “the mighty questions of who, what and why” concerning the figure of the Green man “have no answer yet”. However, in her own article she manages to give quite a few answers to those questions. The idea and figure of the Green Man, as Ms. Wylie states, is spread all over England. It is “a mediaeval image usually found in churches... He can be recognized as a face, often grotesque, with foliage sprouting from his mouth, nose, eyes or ears. Alternatively, he may be a face composed entirely of leaves... The earliest known examples are in the art of Classical Rome, from where the idea seems to have moved northwards, to be adopted by Christianity and spread far and wide along the pilgrimage routes. The Green Man vanished with the ‘Old Faith’ after the Reformation...”

The expression of “Old Faith” is the answer to those questions initially brought in by Ruth Wylie. This obviously the pagan religion spread all over Europe before the advent of Christianity. Referring to the same wide occurrence of the Green Man, the Mything Link site (s. link below) states plainly: The Green Man was the god Pan – dweller of the forest, dressed in its leaves and ruling over all kinds of wild rituals.

But according to other sources, the god Pan had a double in the better known, more widely spread and powerful god, Dionysus. In his book The Golden Bough, Sir James Frazer says about Dionysus that he was a god of trees in general, sacrificed to by all Greeks as Dionysus of the Trees, sometimes represented as just an upright post (which is considered a phallic symbol). Dionysus assumed the form of a goat, as was Pan, and was worshipped under the title The One of the Black Goatskin; he himself was sacrificed in the shape of a kid in the autumn festival (which marks the end of the year in Mediterranean countries). As God of the Forest, Dionysus can be identified with the King of the Wood at Nemi. At Diana’s grove there, he was her mate and her yearly sacrificial victim, because “some peoples preferred to kill the king while he was still in the full vigor of life.”

In an elaborate site explaining the essence of some Greek deities (s. link below), it is said about Dionysus: He was associated with death and rebirth; (the Great Goddess) Hera arranged for the Titans to kill him and they ripped him to pieces, while the (Earth) goddess Rhea (also known as Cybele) brought him back to life, and he was raised by the mountain nymphs. The followers of Dionysus worshipped him in the woods, working themselves up into mad states of frenzy and ecstasy, and any animals (or people) they came upon would be ripped apart in sacrifice, their flesh eaten raw. In art he is depicted wearing a crown of ivy, and covered in vine leaves and grapes, a typical image of the Green Man. He is a God of Nature and Lord of the Harvest, a God of the Underworld, a Son/Lover of the Goddess, a Child of Promise, the Green Man and the Horned God, all combined into one. The Green Knight of the poem, then, represents this ancient God of the Forest, who was sometimes brother to the Sun god. His being torn to pieces in his sacrifice is symbolized in the poem by being decapitated; his staying alive shows him as the dying and resurrected god in the figure of Dionysus.

In a site by that name (s. link below), it is claimed that The Green Man makes his appearance in the Morris Dancers of England as Jack-In-The-Green. His is a disruptive character that attempts to distract the dancers from their dancing by playing the fool, as well as by breaking away from the dance troupe and accosting the onlookers. This description is evidence to the appearance of the Green Man, not only in Medieval England, but even in these days.

Conclusion

The main points connecting the Green Man with the Green Knight of the poem are, firstly, the widespread figure of the Green Man in England, enough to be familiar to the listeners of that medieval poem. Secondly, the character of the Green Man, which is evident in the figure of the Green Knight: he lives in the forest and takes part in uncivilized customs not known in King Arthur’s court; he takes part in a dismemberment, which does not kill him. He is definitely connected with the seasons of the year, making a point at his ritualistic dying taking part at Midwinter, with the death and rebirth of the sun. As the Lord of the Castle, he is obviously connected with the Nature goddess as a Bride, who can bring dying things back to life with the help of a “green belt”. Both heroes of the poem, who vie for the Lady’s love and for their right to live, represent the twin Sun gods in the manner of many known pagan gods and heroes of ancient days, and the story revealed behind the mask of a poem of test for chivalry, is the story of their birth, love, death and revival from ancient days, when that pagan religion ruled everywhere.

Links:

www.lib.rochester.edu/CAMELOT/sggk.htm - English Translation in Full

www.sparknotes.com/lit/gawain/section1.html - Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

www.timelessmyths.com/arthurian/roundtable.html - Knights of the Round Table

www.indigogroup.co.uk/edge/greenmen.htm - Edge, The Green Man as a mystery

http://www.controverscial.com/Greek%20Mythology.htm - Description of Dionysus as a Green Man

http://thegreenman.net.au/mt/archives/2003_06.html - Jack in the Green

www.mythinglinks.org/ct~greenmen.html - Comments on ideas and customs of the Green Man

Of course, these are the same type of people who go ballistic when someone of a Christian sect says the same to them. Isn't that being hypocritical?

Pagan Witch who follows the Greek Pantheon, and no, I won't be changing to please anyone.