I was recently asked about what we celebrate and why.  That is, do we celebrate Christmas?  Easter?  Biblical holidays?  Nothing?

There are a few different elements to my answer, which are complementary to one another, and which encompass principles we believe form a solid foundation for making this decision.

What About Holidays That Are Said to Have Pagan Roots?

Christmas, Easter, and Halloween are common bones of contention, because all three are said to have pagan roots.

The “problem” with this is that the history of all these things is complicated. There was definite pagan entanglement, but there was also church influence, and it’s hard to really clearly say, from thousands of years ago, what was truly first.

Were these Christian celebrations that the pagans inserted their ideas into?  Or pagan celebrations that Christians tried to reclaim?  It’s hard to say, and it’s not out of the realm of possibility that there was actually some back and forth

In our home, we don’t find it prudent to make decisions based on such vague, muddled, or obscure information, so we concern ourselves less with what these holidays may have been a thousand years ago or more, and more with what they are now.

Now Christmas is primarily known (despite much commercialization) as a celebration of the first advent of Christ. Halloween is primarily known as a celebration of death, darkness, evil, ugliness, and fear. The former is something we believe is worth celebrating/glorifying; the latter is not.

What About the Biblical Feasts?

We also celebrate God’s feasts (or try to).  This is often a bone of contention in certain Christian communities because, for some reason, many  people seem to think that experiencing types and shadows inherently undermines the substance.  Given that we don’t view things this way where baptism and the Lord’s Supper are concerned, this makes no sense to me.

We’re aware that they’re just shadows.  But they are shadows, and they’re engaging, compelling, hands-on shadows that bring certain truths to light in a way that abandoning the physical for only the spiritual does not.

(For this reason, I’d say we “sort of” celebrate Easter. We essentially celebrate Passover at what others call Easter, because Passover and Firstfruits point to — and now back to — the crucifixion and resurrection.  Without all the pagan trappings of fertility goddess symbols.)

3 Questions for Deciding What to Celebrate

Ultimately, I’d say there are a mix of things we celebrate every year, and we’re also not opposed to periodically celebrating just “silly” days like Star Wars Day or something like that, but our overall gauge for traditions boils down to these three questions:

1) Is this celebrating something worthy of celebration?

Philippians 4:8 tells us to dwell on those things which are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy.  So we shouldn’t be setting ourselves up to have a special focus on something that’s contradictory to goodness and godliness.

2) Is this means of celebration edifying?

It’s important to note that we’re not opposed to “just fun” traditions.  As my daughter said, “fun is edifying.” Sometimes “just fun” is part of making a celebration celebratory.

But  we prefer to primarily emphasize those activities that specifically build up — and certainly to be cautious of those that might on the surface appear to be “just fun,” but which might actually detract from biblical thinking.

These two questions are technically enough on their own.  In fact, my husband questioned whether it was even necessary to include this third one!  But as a sort of “backup” or “safety net,” I think it can be helpful to also ask yourself this third question — especially with regard to those “just for fun” holidays that aren’t overtly meaningful or edifying but aren’t destructive, either (like Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day).

3) By participating in this, would we be associating ourselves with something we’re called to separate ourselves from?

There are activities that seem to be harmless — may, in fact, be harmless in themselves — but which, in certain contexts, create an  association with things we would be better set apart from.  These are activities we probably want to avoid (or, depending on the circumstances, perhaps save for a different context.)