pagan holiday survey
I was asked the following questions by a young lady on MySpace who's writing a paper. These are my responses.
_________________________

1) Growing up, what religion did your family practice?

I was raised Roman Catholic, but my parents were not very dogmatic. They were more flexible on issues That Pope Fellow was rigid about. I myself stopped going to church at age 14, with their permission. Did not really get back into religion until my first year of college.

2) How did you come to Wicca?

Ironically, through an inner initiatory experience I had as a born-again Christian around age 20. It proved to me without a shadow of a doubt that there was a Divine presence. However, the institution of the church itself was leaving me cold. So, I began to move back into ideas and practices that had always felt comfortable, but were more spiritually oriented. One Hallowe’en around 1988, there was a very long newspaper interview with a local Wiccan priest here in San Antonio. I got in touch with him, we had lunch, and I ended up joining his coven. That was my foot in the door.

After that coven dissolved, I was solitary for a while. Then I met my future husband (another long story), and after examining his Tradition decided to join his group. We married later on, and I have been priestess with him ever since. Initiated into the Lycian Tradition in ’93.

3) Is there a traditional winter holiday celebration in the Wiccan faith? What is your understanding of it?

Different Traditions will celebrate slightly differently. The most common terms used are Yule or Winter Solstice. It is when the Divine son is born of the virgin Goddess.

4) How do YOU celebrate the winter holiday season?

My Tradition (Lycian) does not use cultural names, so it is the Winter Solstice for us. Within the family, we do the standard stuff; put up a tree, exchange gifts, play Christmas (yes, Xmas) carols. In our formal Sabbat, there is a ritual where we have a dirge for the old King and enact the birth of the Sun. Here’s the ritual from our public BoS: http://www.boniface.us/Lycian_Bookshelf/shelf/lyc/L129.HTM

5) What is your opinion of the commercial influence on your community during the Christmas season? ( Santa, snowmen, baby Jesus, Christmas trees...).

Commercially, it begins way too soon, which ruins the anticipation. But I love every overlit, overdone, sparkly moment right after Thanksgiving. You can check out my LiveJournal seasonal layout to see what I mean, http://seshen.livejournal.com

Religiously, as long as it’s not taxpayer property, they can lay out the whole town of Bethlehem on display for all I care. It’s not a threat to my faith that other people like Jesus.

I personally have very happy family memories of this time of year, so I’m less apt than other pagans to say Bah Humbug. Check out my small MySpace rant (“leggo my Christmas carols”) to see more of where I’m coming from. I have less issue with commercialism than I do with the idea that pagans must somehow disassociate themselves with the whole thing in order to be “real pagans.” To that, I blow a big raspberry.