Why, as a pagan, do I celebrate Christmas?
The main reason for celebrating Christmas is, it's a time for getting together with family. I can (Covid allowing) get together with family any time, of course. But Christmas is the one time it's guaranteed to happen.
I might be 'flaky' much of the rest of the year. Or not get around to making plans. (Much like most of my family members, too.) My family (though not a million miles away by any means) are just far enough away to make it a bit of a trek. Rather than just popping around for a cuppa. So it tends to get put off.
Around Christmas we'll always get together no matter what, however. (Except for the first year of the pandemic.)
I do also decorate for Christmas. Partly it's because my spouse doesn't share my paganism. So he still wants the place decorated for Christmas. (Well, actually he could probably skip decorating altogether. But if we're going to decorate, he wants it to be Christmas themed.)
It's nice in the dreary winter to have a period of festive decorations to brighten up the place. And for me it provides a bit of a magical atmosphere (much of which probably comes from nostalgia).
Then when the decorations come down in early January there's a feeling of freshness. It feels nice and uncluttered when all the bits and bobs get put away.
Speaking of nostalgia, that's another big reason for celebrating Christmas. I just loved Christmas time as a kid, it felt really magical. I never really resonated with the Christian roots of Christmas, of course. But as we all know these days you can pick and choose which elements of Christmas you include or not. (Some will disagree, and they're obviously entitled to their own opinions.)
Magical themes feature heavily on TV around Christmas, in contrast with other times of the year. When I was small there used to be a float which drove around the streets of my town with 'Santa' aboard. He'd distribute sweets to all the kids at their doorsteps and it was enthralling. Fairy lights give a cozy atmosphere, and my sibling & I were each given a set for our rooms. Together with a little tinselly Christmas tree, about a foot high. The lights twinkled off the mini tree at nights. It was like having my own fairy grotto in my room or something. Decorating & doing all the other celebratory Christmas things as an adult, it evokes those nostalgic childhood memories for me.
Oddly, Christmas time was the first point I can recall learning of the existence of paganism, too. I was probably about 7 or 8 years old. And we learned in school that there'd been religions prior to Christianity. Also that vestiges of the same were secreted away here and there if you knew where to look. I think it was suggested that the song The Holly and the Ivy harkened back to pre-Christian times in some of its wording. And something seemed to slot into place for me, staying with me ever since.
It's difficult to put into words. It's just a feeling deep within. It resonated.
If I'm ever able to articulate it any better than that I'll write another blog post on it. But in a nutshell, those are the major reasons why I celebrate Christmas even though I'm a pagan.
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