Midwinter cometh.....
I return to LJ!!!
Been sick, been busy, been..... otherwise distracted.
My focus tonight is on the impending Yuletide Season. Yes, "Yuletide". After much deliberation, I have settled on this term for the holidays. Christians view it as a harmless synonym for "Christmas", and I don't feel like I'm betraying my heartfelt paganism. A nice compromise.
Compromise? Yes. I AM pagan - used to be a solitary Wiccan, but nowadays I'm just generally pagan. I know there are a lot of pagans of many stripes out there who would resent the idea of compromising a festival as primary as a solstice. The solstices and equinoxes are biggies in the pagan world. There are few constants in the pagan sphere of worship, but the observance of the astronomical events are amongst them. Events like full moons and solstices and such are, well, right up there for evereyone - the same for every culture, religion and tribe, the same for every continent and ecosystem.
Yes...... the "biggies".
Yule is a particularly irksome one for most pagans. Of all the modernized Christian-ified festivals it's arguable that it has remained the most blatantly pagan (okay, maybe Easter/Spring Equinox). Many pagans feel obligated to publicly reclaim Yule. I'm not sure I completely understand it.... It's like they feel that they have to make it perfectly clear to everyone that they are celebrating Something Different Than The Rest of You, and a little bit of You Are Bastardizing Our Festival with Your Christianization/Commercialization and We Must Make You Aware of It.
Why?
Honestly, rather baffling to me.
I mean, pagans openly admit modern pagan beliefs are BASED on earlier traditions, be they European, Mediterranian, Egyptian, African, Asian, etc. Why should we be offended that their traditions are likewise rooted in ancient ways? I think I can say with confidence that Christians know that a pine tree decorated with do-dads has nothing to do with the birth of their Saviour. Frosty the Snowman was not involved in the Nativity. They are aware of that, I'm pretty sure. They know the trappings of Christmas are an overlay of something older, something different onto their observance of the birth of Jesus. They may not know where the traditions come from, but they don't really need to, do they? I mean, honestly why do they need to care about the Oak King and the Holly King? They worship the King of the Jews.
At the end of December, I celebrate "Renewal" and "the Promise of a Time of Light that is To Come" with lights and food and gift-giving. So do you? Awesome! Want some egg-nog?
That's Yule to me.
:)
AT
Been sick, been busy, been..... otherwise distracted.
My focus tonight is on the impending Yuletide Season. Yes, "Yuletide". After much deliberation, I have settled on this term for the holidays. Christians view it as a harmless synonym for "Christmas", and I don't feel like I'm betraying my heartfelt paganism. A nice compromise.
Compromise? Yes. I AM pagan - used to be a solitary Wiccan, but nowadays I'm just generally pagan. I know there are a lot of pagans of many stripes out there who would resent the idea of compromising a festival as primary as a solstice. The solstices and equinoxes are biggies in the pagan world. There are few constants in the pagan sphere of worship, but the observance of the astronomical events are amongst them. Events like full moons and solstices and such are, well, right up there for evereyone - the same for every culture, religion and tribe, the same for every continent and ecosystem.
Yes...... the "biggies".
Yule is a particularly irksome one for most pagans. Of all the modernized Christian-ified festivals it's arguable that it has remained the most blatantly pagan (okay, maybe Easter/Spring Equinox). Many pagans feel obligated to publicly reclaim Yule. I'm not sure I completely understand it.... It's like they feel that they have to make it perfectly clear to everyone that they are celebrating Something Different Than The Rest of You, and a little bit of You Are Bastardizing Our Festival with Your Christianization/Commercialization and We Must Make You Aware of It.
Why?
Honestly, rather baffling to me.
I mean, pagans openly admit modern pagan beliefs are BASED on earlier traditions, be they European, Mediterranian, Egyptian, African, Asian, etc. Why should we be offended that their traditions are likewise rooted in ancient ways? I think I can say with confidence that Christians know that a pine tree decorated with do-dads has nothing to do with the birth of their Saviour. Frosty the Snowman was not involved in the Nativity. They are aware of that, I'm pretty sure. They know the trappings of Christmas are an overlay of something older, something different onto their observance of the birth of Jesus. They may not know where the traditions come from, but they don't really need to, do they? I mean, honestly why do they need to care about the Oak King and the Holly King? They worship the King of the Jews.
At the end of December, I celebrate "Renewal" and "the Promise of a Time of Light that is To Come" with lights and food and gift-giving. So do you? Awesome! Want some egg-nog?
That's Yule to me.
:)
AT