Hi...my name is Maggie and i'm lost when it comes to religion...I was raised a catholic(so there is tons of guilt in my life...lol) as a teenager I discovered paganism(wiccan) and I loved what I found...but I had no one I could turn to to talk about it...to learn from and I got frustrated in my lonely quest...I can't seem to find a happy place when it comes to my spirituality and now that I have a son I am even more confused...my husband is an atheist so he is of no help.
I truly believe there is something greater then ourselves out there...I believe we have to love and respect the earth that has given us our home and from which our life springs...I believe our souls are our true selves and when we die our souls all come together again somewhere...I do not believe in one true male god who we should follow blindly and accept as our own personal saviour...

ok now on to the topic of this post...lol
I LOVE Christmas but if I decide to follow the pagan path as I am want to do how to I justify my love for christmas?
Do you as pagans celebrate christmas?

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We encourage the celebration of ALL positive holidays/sabbats We celebrate Christmas as well, and the Christian holiday actually has most of it derived from Pagan roots, hence the Christmas tree and Yule log.

Also, they timed Christmas around the time of the winter solstice in order to be in tune with the Pagan sabbat.

So, celebrate and be merry. We have a tree and presents as well!

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that is pretty much how I feel as well I just wanted to see what others did...

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I agree with Jen. Many traditions are pagan anyway.

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Most christmas traditions were taken from Pagan traditions. A few examples:

- Santa and gift exchanges? Father Winter. There is also Befana, an Italian Witch who would bring children gifts on the winter solstice.

- Stockings hanging by the fireplace and filled with gifts are another pre-christian Italian tradition. It was a gesture honoring Hestia/Vesta Goddess of the Hearth.

- Mistletoe: Sacred to Druids, a symbol of fertility, hence the kissing beneath.

- Tree decoration: German Pagan tradition

Also, the "Federal Winter Holiday" is celebrated on Dec 25th cuz that's when congress declared they'd take the day off rather than following the specific solstice date. (I hactually have an article about this on my other computer, remind me and I'll dig it out when I can get to it).

If you're feeling lonely and want to find other Pagans in your area, I highly reccomend witchvox.com and theor Witches of the World section with contacts in all 50 states and around the world.

Good Luck!

Beth

We celebrate Solstice and Christmas. Solstice is just us, no grandparents or anything. Christmas is celebrated mostly to keep the grandparents happy

This year, because of scheduling nightmares we are all celebrating Solstice together, so probably Christmas day will be really low key. My 13 year old son is not Pagan oriented, so out of respect, we will still celebrate Christmas day.

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