[Avodah] Don't Blow Out the Candles and Make a Wish

[saul mashbaum]

RYLevine quotes an article about pagan practices:
>>
In Greek times, people on their birthday would try to find favor in the eyes
of the moon goddess, Artemis. [49]  In an attempt to do so, they would make
round cakes (to symbolize the full moon) and light candles on top (to
symbolize the light of the moon.) They would then ask the moon goddess to
grant their requests.

>>
Doesn't the concept than a pagan may nullify his AZ have relevance here? The various "gods" of the Greek pantheon have been rejected for thousands of years, and the whole religion is terminally disfuctional. Do its practices have the status of AZ for us now? I suspect not.
Despite the above, I was a bit nonplussed to once find a brand of tuna fish here in Israel, with a chareidi hashgacha, called Poseidon. However, I believe that in fact that there is no strict prohibition of using such a name, ie, the issur of "lo yizacher b'ficha" does not any longer apply to figures of Greek mythology (a revealing term in and of itself), although it indeed once may have been applicable. Similarly, I don't think people have problems with naming the planets (whatever number of them there are).  Since deities themselves have totally lapsed, I think the pagan practices once associated with them do not now have the status of "darchei Emori". 
Saul Mashbaum
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