Are you a Pagan? Could you help answer this?

Question

I have nothing against you by the way and have found out on here that Christmas isn't christian at all but taken over by them. (I am Christian but I can believe it!) How do you celebrate Christmas?
Also do you believe that you're traditions are based soley on faith in worshiping different Gods, like Christians put faith in one God?

Answer 1

My beliefs draw from paganism so perhaps I can partially answer this question, but shall not go into the merits of who stole who's celebrations as I do not believe that such celebrations should be exclusive. ^_~

The way one celebrates varies widely from person to person (or group), which can be expected considering that pagans are more dispersed in organization than, for example, the roman catholic faith (which has its advantages and disadvantages).

Pagans celebrate Yuletide or Yule, tending to celebrate this on the 21st/ 22nd of December. I suppose that many amongst pagans tend to gather for a celebration, usually including a ritual in celebration and appreciation of the continuing turn of the wheel (of the year). I am sure that others will pick up where I leave off here.

As regards to the basis of one's faith, well some do believe solely on faith in worshiping the gods and others have the blessing of having tried practices that can support and enforce one's faith, such as, for example, projection or certain divinatory methods.

At the end of the day it is my personal belief that virtually all religions are but mediums that try to illustrate a universal truth. One need not lay a finger upon the universal truth but can rest assured that there is one (as otherwise all that we are is a universal fallacy). Hope that helps some.

Answer 2

It isn't that Christmas isn't a Christian holiday- it is. It just has a bit of pagan influence is all. We all learn from eachother and groups borrow from other groups. We all do it. The placement of Christmas at the winter solstice was probably influenced by Yule (Germanic) and Saturnalia (Roman) but that doesn't make Christmas itself a pagan holiday. A lot of cultures choose to put their holidays around the solstice- because when it's dark, well, it's a good time to have a party. We need one. The religious reasons they do it differ from culture to culture though.

As for how I celebrate the season, well, I celebrate it as the darkest night, and the return of the sun. I do a lot of christmassy things, like give gifts. I also decorate with holly, mistletoe, and pine- which do have pagan origins. I also use fire in some way to represent a bonfire- if I can't have a real one.

As for my faith- I'm not sure what you're asking, here, so i'll answer what I think you're asking. The point of my faith is worship of a certain group of gods. My traditions came from a lot of sources, but they are all used to honor the gods.

Answer 3

We celebrate the return of the Sun. You notice it gets darker earlier and earlier. After the Solstice, it gets dark later and later. Candles and lights represent this. Christmas trees represent the eternal soul and its triumph over death- as evergreens triumph over the dark of winter. They are brought into our homes and treated with honor in recognition of their strength.

We exchange gifts as a sort of Thanksgiving ritual for the people in our lives. Traditionally, gifts were given to those people who helped you bring in your crops. You had a big harvest festival in autumn to celebrate the end of the hard work and give thanks for all the food you'd gathered. Then a few months later you gave gifts to those people who helped you plant and gather food and otherwise enriched your life. This was also kind of an unspoken trade. If I have sheep, and you helped with the sheering, and you have corn, and I helped with the harvest, I might give you a nice warm shawl I made with the wool as a gift and you might give me something wonderful and tasty you made with the corn. In essence, we would be helping each other get through the winter in acknowledgement of the help we'd received earlier. Those who didn't get gifts, cause they didn't help out, would be eaten by wild beasts.

Of course, things are different now. Back in the day, community was very important, much more so than it is now. Our annual Yule celebration is a celebration of thanksgiving for our community and the people who enrich our lives.

Answer 4

I don't celebrate Christmas. I did with my children, because I didn't want them to feel isolated, but they're grown now.

Answer 5

The holidays I celebrate were around before Chrisitanity.