I would suggest that it's more complex than that. A mid-winter festival in the Northern Hemisphere is very common for obvious reasons. And the Christians would be just as likely to want to celebrate it. The oppression of paganism in this sense, i.e. Roman pantheon, was patchy, and it seems more likely that the 'cultural appropriation' here is more based around trying to win over pagans rather than force.
This one was intended to be tongue in cheek!
. . . trying to win over pagans rather than force.
stuck a cord. It reminded me of a Kent church in which I was shown a small carved mouse on the back of the bench upon which the choir would sit during service.
It seemed to be nothing special until it was explained that it was a reminder from the carpenter that made the bench that the site had been the old pagan gathering site.
The early Chritians built many churches on such sites and moved many festivals to cover pagan fetivals, it was a conflict that Paganism lost and continued to lose until the 1960's re-discovery of the Craft at the hands of Gerald Gardner.
The frequent misquotes about anything pagan sometimes touches a nerve, sometimes we, pagans, jump before the pin actually gets stuck in us. We are, regretably, only human!
Owlswing
)O(
