What does it mean to be Pagan?

Question

What type of things do you celebrate? I see a lot of what people assume are Christian traditions have actually come from Pagan beliefs. I guess that all goes back to when the Roman empire was trying to convert everyone to Christianity they thought it would be easier center celebrations around the Pagan "holidays". I don't know much but am interested in learning more.

Answer 1

Pagan is an umbrella term. With in the term "pagan" you have different traditions, or denominations. Even with the denominations you have paths. For example, some of the traditions are Wicca, Heathenism/Asatru,Hellenistic (Greek), Romano (Roman) Kemetic (Egyptian), Celtic, Druid, and I have even met some Chinese since China is still mostly pagan.
The underlying "theme" to paganism is that we are polytheist. We believe in more then one god. Some use the term "soft" polytheist for those who believe that all gods and goddesses are aspects of the god and god and goddess. Then you have "hard" polytheist who believe that all gods are separate and individual. And then you have your atheist pagans who believe that the gods are only symbolic, nothing more.
We, in general, follow the seasons as a guideline for the holidays. I do know that Hellenistic holidays are completely different but I will let Hestia explain those as she is our Hellenistic here at Y!A. Hehe.
The Christian Yule is almost completely Norse if that helps explain the holidays. Yule log, tree,wreaths,gifts, wassailing...yup all of it. All us. What can I say. We rock. :)
There are pages and pages and pages more I could write JUST on Heathenism. If you want specific answers from us you have to ask specific questions and you have to be ready for all of us to have different answers because there are just that many different paths.

Answer 2

Paganism (from Latin paganus, meaning "an old country dweller, rustic") is a term which, from a Western perspective, has come to connote a broad set of spiritual or cultic practices or beliefs of any folk religion, and of historical and contemporary polytheistic religions in particular.

The term can be defined broadly, to encompass the faith traditions outside the Abrahamic monotheistic group of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The group so defined includes the Indian religions (such as Hinduism, Jainism), Native American religions and mythologies and Shinto as well as non-Abrahamic ethnic religions in general. More narrow definitions will not include any of the world religions and restrict the term to local or rural currents not organized as civil religions. Characteristic of Pagan traditions is the absence of proselytism, and the presence of a living mythology which explains religious practice.[1]

The term "pagan" is a Christian adaptation of the "gentile" of Judaism, and as such has an inherent Christian or Abrahamic bias, and pejorative connotations among Westerners,[2] comparable to heathen, and infidel, mushrik and kafir (كافر) in Islam. For this reason, ethnologists avoid the term "paganism," with its uncertain and varied meanings, in referring to traditional or historic faiths, preferring more precise categories such as polytheism, shamanism, pantheism, or animism.

Since the later 20th century, however, the words "pagan" or "paganism" have become widely and openly used as a self-designation of adherents of polytheistic reconstructionism and neo-paganism.[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paganism

Answer 3

When I use the word pagan, I mean someone who is neither Christian nor Muslim nor Jew. Please note the lower-case "p." This obviously includes a lot of people, from Hindus to atheists to Wiccans, etc. There may also be people who call themselves Pagans (with a capital "P") and they may have some kind of belief system, but if so I'll let one of them explain it.

Answer 4

I would not leave my pagan way. It is beautiful, peaceful, celebratory, all revolving around the natural world and all it holds. The only law to be adhered to is: Do as you will, but harm none.. It's as free as the wind blowing and the rushing waters of flowing river running to the sea.

Answer 5

What we celebrate depends which Pagan path we follow.Are you interested in any path in particular?

Answer 6

if u celebrate christmas, easter, have earrings, and tons of other pagan things, ur pagan too. simple. and YOU really are. so is eveyrone else here. no offense for telling the truth...

Answer 7

paganism is not a religion or a category of religion really... it means "pre-christian" beliefs.... 99% of religion has been around way longer than christianity and most of them make way more sense.