Pagan Calendar?

[Araninski]

Hey guys, just wanted to know how do you feel about using a pagan calendar, that would be the Gregorian Calendar, in your daily life.

Recently I started to recognize that in the “default calendar” there’s a lot of pagan origins in the names of months, days ,etc. For example: Tuesday (The god Tyr or Mars), March (Greek god Mars), January (Roman god Janus).

The Word of God tells us that:

Exodus 23:13
“Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips."

And started to think, it would be better to use the calendar accord to the time of God, that would be the Biblical Hebrew Calendar, were days start at sunset and end at sunset, the calendar which the Three Magi used to know when Jesus was going to be born. Would you switch(but continuing observing the default calendar, to know the date the “world” uses)?

God bless.

 

[ZDHayden]

English is a Germanic language, thus the Germanic gods are within its name. English has been highly Romanized from the pre-Christian Empire, thus the Roman* gods are within certain names. The Gregorian calender itself is not pagan, but the English names used for certain repeated instances are pagan in origin. The Spanish use the same calender, but their days are not named after gods (lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, viernes sábado, domingo.) All of these are referenced to the planets (Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus) - yes, they are named after the Roman gods, but let’s stick with pure chronology and astronomy. Saturday and Sunday, however, are “Sabbath” and “Lord’s Day,” respectively. You must remember that, prior the advent of electricity, the stars and planets were relied upon, especially the moon, which is why it is placed in the same position for both languages. Here are some other inventions of the pagans from various cultures off the top of my head:

paper (Ancient Chinese)
our time system (Mesopotamian)
monday-friday (in spanish -Roman) tuesday-saturday (in English -Germanic, Roman)
the wheel (Only God Knows)

Also, recognize that those pagans probably would not be able to recognize the names of their deities in our usage, as each has been transformed. Let’s take English: Tuesday (Tyr is its base) TOOZ or TYOOZday against TEER. Wednesday: Odin’s day: WEHNDZday against OH-dihn. Thursday: Thor’s day: THERZday vs THOHR. Friday: Freida’s day. FRIday vs FRAYdah (Friday uses an a-based sound while Freida uses an e-based sound. The importance of this distinction is lost to us American English-speakers, but it would sound like a completely different word in old Norse.) Saturday is the closest: Saturn. But the Romans would have pronounced it sah-TOOR-noh, like the Spanish.

Also recognize that the people are dead. Their gods died with them. No one now worships them, and everyone recognizes the Roman gods’ names as planets and the Nordic gods’ names as characters in stories. They aren’t gods anymore and haven’t been for several centuries.

*Mars is Roman, not Greek. Ares is the Greek name for this Olympian. Doesn’t matter to the argument, no, but I’m a stickler on that kind of thing.

 

[Corki]

. Would you switch(but continuing observing the default calendar, to know the date the “world” uses)?

God bless.

Nope. Who cares what the days and months are called?!? The calendar itself is called “Gregorian” after Pope Gregory XIII. That makes it a much more Christian option than the Hebrew calendar.

 

[Apollos]

I don’t have a problem with it. Those gods are either demons or nonexistent, and those religions are extinct. Actually I kind of like the idea of keeping the pagan names just to rub it in.

I’m not opposed in principle to using heavenly bodies to measure time, since that’s what they were made for in the first place. But while the Hebrew calendar is a good one, it sends a weird message that we are somehow going back to the time before the dispensation of grace. We deliberately unhooked the date of Easter from the Hebrew calendar to assert our independence from the law of Moses, and we’re not going back.

I am a math and science teacher, and I have spent a lot of time playing around with alternative calendars both historical and theoretical. It’s one of those problems that are interesting because there doesn’t seem to be one right answer for all applications.

In the end, I don’t think it matters, so I don’t think I would switch.

 

[Nine_Two]

Even the old Hebrew calendar was not unique in its names for months and days, sharing names with its pagan neighbors. They are likely of similar origin.

 

[Third_Day]

Araninski;6917608]Hey guys, just wanted to know how do you feel about using a pagan calendar, that would be the Gregorian Calendar, in your daily life.

How do you feel about using what came from the pagans in our daily life like money, maps, painting, sculpture,musical instruments, the wedding ring, fire…the alphabet. I could go on and on.

 

[Nine_Two]

How do you feel about using what came from the pagans in our daily life like money, maps, painting, sculpture,musical instruments, the wedding ring, fire…the alphabet. I could go on and on.

Though I disagree with the OP, I think the issue was with using pagan names. Letters money, etc. don’t have pagan names.

 

[Publisher]

A point of interest…at least for me…similar objections toward the calendar arose among those Seekers in 16th century England…and from the Seekers and Ranters arose the Society of Friends (Quakers)…who used…and still use…the designations “First Day” for Sunday…“First Month” for January…“Fifth Day” for Thursday and “Seventh Day” for Saturday…such designations are common among the various “un-programmed” Meetings…but among the more Evangelical “Friends Church”…the standard/common days of the weeks and months are employed…except when Evangelical Friends are speaking to “un-programmed Friends”, then they revert back to “Quaker lingo”.

 

[Deo_Volente]

Grace & Peace!

A point of interest…at least for me…similar objections toward the calendar arose among those Seekers in 16th century England…and from the Seekers and Ranters arose the Society of Friends (Quakers)…who used…and still use…the designations “First Day” for Sunday…“First Month” for January…“Fifth Day” for Thursday and “Seventh Day” for Saturday…such designations are common among the various “un-programmed” Meetings…but among the more Evangelical “Friends Church”…the standard/common days of the weeks and months are employed…except when Evangelical Friends are speaking to “un-programmed Friends”, then they revert back to “Quaker lingo”.

Catholic tradition has done a similar thing through associating months and days of the week with specific devotions or memorials (October for the Rosary, July for the Sacred Blood, November for the Holy Souls, May for Mary, etc.). There are various systems for the says of the week. One I like is:

Monday: Day of the Holy Ghost
Tuesday: Day of the Holy Angels
Wednesday: Day of St. Joseph
Thursday: Day of The Blessed Sacrament
Friday: Day of the Passion
Saturday: Day of Our Lady
Sunday: Day of the Holy Trinity

An Encheiridion I’ve looked through has these memorials from the Sarum Use:

Monday: Faithful Departed
Tuesday: Holy Ghost
Wednesday: All Saints
Thursday: Blessed Sacrament
Friday: Holy Cross
Saturday: The Incarnation
Sunday: Holy Trinity

I don’t know that any of these schemes caught on in the popular imagination, but the impulse to “baptize the calendar” or sanctify the day in a meaningful way (particularly through the observance of the liturgical calendar in the Daily Office) has a rich tradition in the life of the Church.

That having been said, I think it would be absurd to suggest that using the word “Monday” to refer to the second day of the week is an idolatrous practice. While the word may have pagan/astrological origins, the word is currently and practically void of all meaning except: the name used to designate the second day of the week.

Under the Mercy,
Mark

All is Grace and Mercy! Deo Gratias!

 

[SonCatcher]

I think the Official Church Calendar actually uses:
Lord’s Day
Second Day
Third Day
Fourth Day
Fifth Day
Sixth Day
Sabbath

or something similar. I’m not sure about month names, however.

The names you object to are cultural only. The Church has no objection to culture.

 

[Apollos]

I think the Official Church Calendar actually uses:
Lord’s Day
Second Day
Third Day
Fourth Day
Fifth Day
Sixth Day
Sabbath

or something similar. I’m not sure about month names, however.

The names you object to are cultural only. The Church has no objection to culture.

Exactly. The Church calendar says

• Dies Dominica (Feria Prima)
• Feria Secunda
• Feria Tertia
• Feria Quarta
• Feria Quinta
• Feria Sexta
• Sabbato (Feria Septa)

 

[tee_eff_em]

I’m not sure about month names, however.

English speakers will find the month names to be disappointingly boring (and/or pagan), especially the last four:

Ianuarius
Februarius
Martius
Aprilis
Maius
Iunius
Iulius
Augustus
September
October
November
December

tee

 

[scriabin]

The Word of God tells us that:

Exodus 23:13
“Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips."

I think you’re being a bit scrupulous.

After all, Jesus used the pagan god’s name, “Hades” in Matthew 16:18. The ‘gates of Hades’ was a pagan term for the underworld, named after their god, Hades.

Revelation 1:18 has Jesus again using the pagan god’s name, Hades.

Follow Jesus’ example, just because a calendar day, month, or place had originally been given a pagan name honoring a pagan god doesn’t mean we Christians can’t refer to that day, month, or place by its original pagan name. We are not honoring that pagan god.

Let’s not be scrupulous, seeing sin where there is none.

 

[cyberwolf001]

That’s how cultures grow and change. The past influences the present.

Also recognize that the people are dead. Their gods died with them. No one now worships them, and everyone recognizes the Roman gods’ names as planets and the Nordic gods’ names as characters in stories. They aren’t gods anymore and haven’t been for several centuries.

I don’t have a problem with it. Those gods are either demons or nonexistent, and those religions are extinct. Actually I kind of like the idea of keeping the pagan names just to rub it in.

Hate to tell you but they are still here and they have been regaining worshipers at a rapid pace.

 

[Nine_Two]

I think you’re being a bit scrupulous.

After all, Jesus used the pagan god’s name, “Hades” in Matthew 16:18. The ‘gates of Hades’ was a pagan term for the underworld, named after their god, Hades.

Revelation 1:18 has Jesus again using the pagan god’s name, Hades.

Follow Jesus’ example, just because a calendar day, month, or place had originally been given a pagan name honoring a pagan god doesn’t mean we Christians can’t refer to that day, month, or place by its original pagan name. We are not honoring that pagan god.

Let’s not be scrupulous, seeing sin where there is none.

Additionally the word translated as “Heaven” in most bibles is the Greek rendering of “Uranus”, the Great Titan.

 

[Nine_Two]

That’s how cultures grow and change. The past influences the present.

Hate to tell you but they are still here and they have been regaining worshipers at a rapid pace.

Neo-paganism is not the same as paganism.

 

[cyberwolf001]

Neo-paganism is not the same as paganism.

The same gods being honored in very similar ways.

 

[Apollos]

Hate to tell you but they are still here and they have been regaining worshipers at a rapid pace.

So if I call my cat “Mephistopheles”, I’m rolling out a red carpet for the unholy forces of darkness?

 

[Nine_Two]

The same gods being honored in very similar ways.

When I hear of human sacrifices at stonehenge I might start to believe you.

 

[Apollos]

When I hear of human sacrifices at stonehenge I might start to believe you.

How about at the clinic downtown?