Outside our small safe place flies Mystery... A snake beneath the forest floor, a whisper: Melusine

The most annoying thing you can do to a Pagan at this time of year is wish us a "Merry Christmas" -- heck, it's probably even more annoying to Jews, Muslims, Hari Krishnas, Buddhists, and, while we're at it, just about anyone who isn't Christian!  Do you know how vast the non-Christian population is?  Well, here's a handy chart I checked out recently.  Only about 2.1 billion people are Christian according to this chart.  That may seem like a big number, but, not including the popluation of people who do not identify themselves as being part of a religion, non-Christians largely own the world at 67% of the population.  That's a lot of people.  Yet here in the U.S. Christmas is a big deal, so big that it's unavoidable for people to assume you celebrate their holy days (holidays).  So when someone like me, a Neo-Pagan who is only one part of a growing group of 1 million people, most of whom live in the U.S., celebrates Yule, the Joe Average Christian American person does a double take.  Especially, after they wish me a Merry Christmas I wish them a Happy Yule!

 

Don't get me wrong, I love to talk, but after spending more than half my life being Pagan, I do get tired of having to explain what I celebrate and believe each year to all of you not in the know.  There are many Pagans out there who do a stellar effort at informing the public about our rituals and I commend them for it, but, really, I can't wait til the day when we no longer have to explain ourselves.  We should all acknowledge that we live in a world of diversity and stop trying to convert everyone into our ways. 

 

But, whether you're Christian or not, you have to realize that the Christmas traditions that the Western world hold dear are largely Pagan in origin.  This should not mean that lighting your Christmas Tree isn't a holy thing to do, in fact, it is and it's lovely that Christians, at one time, adopted and adapted Pagan traditions into their own.  It shows that, at one time, there was a little unity in the religious balance in the world.  All those Catholic missionaries couldn't rob the people of their traditions and were allowed to carry them on, even if it meant celebrating them to coincide with the birth of a new god; Jesus Christ.

 

I can't speak for all the Pagans of the world, but what I can tell you is that everything you're doing this holiday season didn't just spring out of a vaccuum.  There are reasons why we give gifts, light trees, sing carols, and have a jolly old fellow such as Santa Claus.  You have your Pagan ancestors to thank for keeping all the fun alive during the winter.

 

On the native side of my family, winters were considered a very harsh time of year and to say that you've survived a certain number of winters was to proclaim that you were strong and tough.  Since we were hunters and gatherers, food was scarce during the winter and the nights were long and cold.  Winter became, for us, the perfect time to tell stories and practice The Give-Away -- a tradition of giving and sharing blankets, sweets, and other supplies to ensure that every member of the tribe would have the best chance of survival during the long winter months.  Anyone who has lived along the Great Lakes can tell you stories of winters that never seemed to end with snow drifts up to our chins and days when we have to stay in.  It wasn't that different long ago in Pre-Christian Indo-European tribes; they also suffered long winters and discovered that the cold nights were perfect for gift giving and storymaking.

 

Now, most of you Christians out there know that the actual birth of Christ is archaechological guess work and that December 25th just so happens to be a very convenient time to celebrate His birth.  But it was more than just convenient, it's a day nearest to the longest night of the year, the Winter Solstice, when the light of the Sun seems furthest away from us.  It is in such dark times that we need light the most.  We know that somewhere the Sun is still shining, but our ancestors were very creative in how they saw the change of the seasons.  Whether or not you believe in our Gods, in many Pagan cultures it was believed that the Sun was a God who died and came back to life each year for us.  In my Neo-Pagan tradition, without getting too complicated, we've narrowed things down to the following legend:

 

For months following Samhain (the time of Death), the Sun God has faded away and all the world is a reflection of his dimmed light.  With the coming of the dawn after the longest night of the year, a time called Yule, the Sun God will be reborn and will grow stronger with each coming day.  Our people recognized this time of year as being a very holy time of birth and thus celebrated it just like they would when one of their own is born.  Think of it as a big baby shower; gifts are exchanged, men get drunk, songs are sung, and the entire house is decorated in the eternal greens of the season, with holly and evergreen.  And you can't forget the Mistletoe; a plant long associated with fertility and the bestower of protection sacred to many, especially so to our Celtic Druid cousins.

So you wanna know what most Pagans do when they celebrate this time of year?  We do what you do but reserve time to pray to our own Gods who represent the reborn light of the Sun.  We give gifts, we get drunk, we party, but most of all, just like for you, it is a holy time.  Besides celebrating, we take the time to pray, to give thanks, and make magick to help our friends in their times of need during the winter months. 

 

This holiday season remember that yours isn't the only religion that seeks to keep this time holy and don't be bothered when we slide that 'X' in Xmas -- the 'X' doesn't exclude Christ, it's just there to mark the spot for everyone else to fill in with their own sacred traditions for the season.  Now, go celebrate what you will and keep yourselves merry!