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Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous
yes, that is exactly my point, it can be useful, but I think your implication was that the religion of christianity stole its use, rather than coincided with. As I said before, my birthday often falls on the celebration of MLK's birthday, but am I borrowing or stealing from the good Dr King?
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I agree there is no reason not for both Christmas and the solstice to fall around the same time of year. However, the early Christian church did set Christmas at the time of the pagan holiday specifically because it made it easier to convert people if the holidays seemed essentially the same. If you read the Golden Bough, it's rather interesting what the origins of the Christmas tree were - it was actually a tree used in sacrifices that was set on fire with people in it!
So, for your analogy to be valid, you would have to actually be born some other time of year, then look at Dr. King's birthday and say, "Wow, a whole lot of people are celebrating on this here Monday in January, maybe I'll move my birthday to then!" And then you'd have to make special calendars for your friends and family that replaced MLK Day with your birthday. Assuming they never talked to anyone else about it, they'd all think you were the reason the mail didn't get delivered and the banks were closed, and that you must be a pretty important dude.