text: "Not to encourage them"? Why not encourage them? People were partying like it's 1999 since time began. The whole Christian thing is fairly new in the scheme of things. People - church people - made up their own versions of Easter and Christmas and stories to go along with it. Equinox and Solstice celebrations predate the birth of Jesus and certainly the misguided attempt to use His name to conquer and oppress the masses.