Are Pagan Rituals "Strange?"

A new book goes through the details of Pagan ritual explaining what each represents. The author tells us these rituals are a threat to the meaningful and genuine rituals of Christianity.

The alarmed reviewer of the book says these "new" rituals and belief systems come along now and then and are eventually left behind for something else. Her own Catholic rituals, however, are permanent because they have been performed in her church building which has been there since the 1800's. 

We are to accept, then, that strange Christian rituals like communion are not strange because they have been performed for a thousand or two years? So far as we know, strange Pagan rituals have been performed much longer. It's lost on me why the link author might think there is some objective way to decide which rituals are "old and strange" and which are "flash-in-the-pan and strange." Wouldn't it be more rational to call all rituals which are strange strange.

My thinking, of course, is that symbolically drinking the blood and eating the flesh of a leader from two thousand years is strange. The belief is it helps you obtain a nice afterlife when you die. It does not seem strange to the link author or to many who read this. Surely modern believers have to admit that it must seem strange to people not in the faith.

There is also the question as to when a person is being superstitious. I've heard folks in the faith say the rituals of other faiths are superstition. When I played baseball as a youth there was a practice of stepping on the third base pad on the way to the dugout. It was supposed to help the player do well at the next at bat. There is an old thought that if a black cat crosses in front of you it will bring bad luck. 

The above are clearly superstitions. How do these two superstitions differ from the practice of symbolically drinking the blood of a long dead religious figure in order to benefit in an imaginary world of the dead? 

It seems to me we would all be better off leaving behind all "strange rituals." If we can't leave them behind the next best thing is not calling rituals of others "strange."