The Pagan War on Winter Solstice/Yule

Dec 7

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***WARNING*** This blog post is solely my opinion and not that of any Pagan organization.  If you don’t like my opinion, we can agree to disagree.

This Yuletide, I’ve been seeing multiple Pagan friends posting things explaining that Christmas is an outgrowth of Yule and the Bible forbids cutting trees from the forest.  There is an overload of these images.  Why?

Can we not be content that Christmas is Yule with a different focus for Christians?  Why are we not having issues with Hanukkah?

Christians will continue to think Pagans and others who post things explaining why Christmas “isn’t” Christian means that we’re attacking Christmas.  If I were Christian, I’d be scared away by my friends’ posts!

It is true that much of Christianity is an outgrowth of ancient Paganism–but this was done for a reason.  If you wanted to convert people from their old, lifelong religion to a new religion that just appeared, it’s highly advised that you adopt some of the customs of the old religion but give them new meaning.  That way, the potential converts recognize some of their familiar practices and the new religion will seem less threatening.  It’s OKAY to recognize the roots of a faith, yet acknowledge the new meaning the faith has given those roots.

The title of this post refers to attempts by fellow Pagans to emphasize Christmas’s Pagan roots, which results in making Christians seem like they are “just pretending” as they observe their holiday.  Christians are real people, just like us, and they deserve the same respect that we are asking for.  Christmas has deep meaning for many people.  Pagans seem to be trying to devalue their deeply-held beliefs, which leaves Christians rightly offended.

I leave you with a few images that sum up my thoughts perfectly.

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Blessings, Rosemary

About OrchidCasarez13

I am an animistic, polytheistic, neurodivergent, non-binary Pagan aspiring to religious activism and community ministry through an (United States) Indigenous-led organization.

Posted on Saturday, December 7, 2013, in General and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.

  1. Treeshrew | Monday, December 9, 2013 at 10:29 am EST

    To be fair, a lot of this is push-back against the way some Christians harass pagans, atheists, etc for not ‘keeping Christ in Christmas’ or saying ‘happy holidays’. I know that stooping to their level isn’t always helpful, but I can certainly see where the frustration comes from.

    Reply
    • rosemary1987 | Monday, December 9, 2013 at 12:26 pm EST

      I understand the frustration, but I feel like Pagans need to rise above this sort of thing–so we can show Christians and others that Paganism is a valid Path worth respecting and perhaps exploring. 🙂

      Blessings, Rosemary

      Reply

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