Now that December has arrived, many of us are thinking about the upcoming holidays, and preparing for the celebrations that mark this time of the year.
Such celebrations prompted a friend to send me an email asking
“I know that you are Pagan, Ocean… but I am curious – do you celebrate the holidays? If so, how do you (and other Pagans) celebrate this time of the year?”
A good question!
Do Pagans such as myself celebrate the December holidays?
Well…yes and no.
Officially, most Pagans do not celebrate Christmas… although many of us might do so unofficially with our family, friends, and loved ones.
However, this doesn’t mean we don’t celebrate the holidays. Indeed, many of the traditions that are now incorporated into the Christmas celebrations had their beginnings in ancient times – long before the birth of Christ.
Many Pagans celebrate the Winter Solstice – which is also known as Yule, Midwinter, Modranacht, and Alban Arthan. The Winter Solstice is one of the eight Sabbats in the Pagan Wheel of the Year, and is traditionally celebrated on December 21st.
There are many different themes and many different traditions associated with the Winter Solstice, and several of them have made their way into our modern day festival of Christmas. Nowadays few of us question why we bring an evergreen tree into the house, and decorate our homes with holly and candles and lights and so forth. We don’t stop to think about the origins of Santa Claus, or even consider how it is that this time of the year is celebrated as the birth of Jesus Christ.
We take all of these things for granted, as they have become so deeply imbedded within us that we rarely pause to think about where such celebrations come from. And yet, the festival known as Christmas has been celebrated for around two thousand years, and by other names long before that. Over time, it has taken on many different forms, changed direction many different times, absorbed the influence of many different cultures, and developed into a modern industry.
Developed into a modern industry indeed! One of the biggest complaints today is how Christmas has become so commercialized, and seems to be more about getting than giving. Not to mention that the spiritual aspects of the holiday seem to be almost forgotten amidst the throes of crazy shoppers crowding the stores in search of the perfect present.
And yet the simplicity of the Christmas message has continued to ring throughout the ages, and it continues to exert a powerful effect upon everyone who celebrates it – children and adults alike.
painting showing an ancient european Midwinter celebration
Over the next couple of weeks, I will be posting a series of “Yule Blogs” in which we will examine the origins of some of the customs surrounding the Winter Solstice, and how some of those customs have made their way into modern day Christmas celebrations. We will learn about the significance of the timing of Christmas, discover how the Christmas Tree began life as the Solstice Evergreen, and find out why Santa Claus dresses in red, climbs down chimneys, gives gifts, and flies through the sky in a sleigh pulled by reindeer.
No, I am not suggesting that we should all return toward a less secular celebration of Christmas. I’m not asking that we throw Christmas out and go back to honoring the festival of Midwinter.
However, it is my hope that by shifting the emphasis away from the current perception and commercialization of Christmas, and back toward traditions which existed for centuries before the beginning of Christianity, that by doing so perhaps it might help to put us more in touch with the true meaning of Christmas… and of the Winter Solstice.
For just as much today as in ages past, this is a time for honoring the rebirth of Wonder… a promise of new beginnings.
Perhaps by studying the traditions of the Winter Solstice, and acknowledging its rightful place in the history of civilization, we can come to appreciate the holidays with a deepening sense of the true sacredness of this spiritual time of the year.
Blessings to you and yours during this holiday season…
~ Ocean
This sculpture shows the sign for "connect"...and that is what Deaf Pagan Crossroads is all about - making connections. Connections between Deafhood and Paganism, connections between the Deaf Community and the Hearing Community, connections between myself as the writer and you as the reader. I hope you will take the time to read my various posts, some of which are listed below. Welcome to the Crossroads, and I hope you make some connections here!
This will be interesting- iam looking forward to it.
When I found out why santa was dressed in red, I laughed!
i usuly do a solotary thing coupled with an exchange of gifts with hubby, this should be interesting.
Looking forward to this discussion. Trying to keep our Christmas madness to a minimum this year. Kind of hard when the little one loves watching Rudolph and the Santa Claus series daily 🙂 lol. Any suggestion for a book to use while discussing this trend… like a book club type of thing?
Although I use a variety of sources for my posts, one source that I highly recommend is
The Winter Solstice by John and Caitlin Matthews.
It’s a beautiful book with a lot of interesting information in it. It’s not a cheap book, but if you can find it I would suggest adding it to your library.
Another book I would encourage people to read is
Stations of the Sun by Ronald Hutton.
It’s an excellent resource for information on ancient customs and practices and how they have been incorporated into modern day rituals and celebrations.
Interesting you mention Stations of the Sun, Hawk. I had a good conversation today with a fellow Pagan who was suggesting the same thing. I don’t have this particular book (it is on my wish list, but my budget is tight these days), but I do have Ronald’s book The Triumph of the Moon which is another one that I recommend. Actually, he’s got a couple of books that I would like to get!