Is It a Pagan Christmas -- or a Christian Yule?
If they wanted to, today's Pagans could reclaim the Christmas tree -- indeed, all the decorative trappings of Christmas, save for the Nativity Creche -- as being rightfully theirs, since Pagans created them in the first place. But modern Pagans are a practical lot, with most viewing Christmas simply as the Christian world celebrating Yule in their own way -- albeit, three to five days after the actual winter solstice -- and thus see no conflict in celebrating the secular aspects of Christmas themselves.
December isn't called the holiday season for nothing. There's also Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day (in Canada) and scores of other holidays and festivals around the world this month -- all of which culminate in the ringing in of the new year at midnight on December 31.
Thanks to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar as the universal calendar used worldwide and the global system of 24 time zones, New Year's Day is our only truly global holiday -- which we all got to watch unfold on our TV screens in all its joyful glory as we greeted the new millennium (albeit, a year too soon).
So whichever way you celebrate the holidays, may yours be filled with joy, peace and love.
Blessed Be! And Happy Holidays.
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FOOTNOTE TO READERS: The initials "C.E." used in this article refers to "Common Era," which I am using here in place of "A.D." ("Anno Domini, the Year of Our Lord") to reflect dates under the now-universally-used Gregorian calendar.
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SUGGESTED BOOKS (Available at Amazon.com):
Pagan Christmas: The Plants, Spirits, and Rituals at the Origins of Yuletide by Christian Rätsch and Claudia Müller-Ebeling (Paperback - November 4, 2006)
The Origins of Christmas by Joseph F. Kelly (Paperback - August 2004)
Yule: A Celebration of Light and Warmth
by Dorothy Morrison (Paperback - September 1, 2000)
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Volume III, Number 3
Copyright 2007, Skeeter Sanders. All rights reserved.
If they wanted to, today's Pagans could reclaim the Christmas tree -- indeed, all the decorative trappings of Christmas, save for the Nativity Creche -- as being rightfully theirs, since Pagans created them in the first place. But modern Pagans are a practical lot, with most viewing Christmas simply as the Christian world celebrating Yule in their own way -- albeit, three to five days after the actual winter solstice -- and thus see no conflict in celebrating the secular aspects of Christmas themselves.
December isn't called the holiday season for nothing. There's also Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day (in Canada) and scores of other holidays and festivals around the world this month -- all of which culminate in the ringing in of the new year at midnight on December 31.
Thanks to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar as the universal calendar used worldwide and the global system of 24 time zones, New Year's Day is our only truly global holiday -- which we all got to watch unfold on our TV screens in all its joyful glory as we greeted the new millennium (albeit, a year too soon).
Blessed Be! And Happy Holidays.
###
FOOTNOTE TO READERS: The initials "C.E." used in this article refers to "Common Era," which I am using here in place of "A.D." ("Anno Domini, the Year of Our Lord") to reflect dates under the now-universally-used Gregorian calendar.
###
SUGGESTED BOOKS (Available at Amazon.com):
Pagan Christmas: The Plants, Spirits, and Rituals at the Origins of Yuletide by Christian Rätsch and Claudia Müller-Ebeling (Paperback - November 4, 2006)
The Origins of Christmas by Joseph F. Kelly (Paperback - August 2004)
Yule: A Celebration of Light and Warmth
by Dorothy Morrison (Paperback - September 1, 2000)
###
Volume III, Number 3
Copyright 2007, Skeeter Sanders. All rights reserved.
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