The Holiday Season

[MidnightLetter]

At this time of year...many of us are torn between wanting to celebrate only the Sabbats and having to compromise with our families and celebrate one (or more) of the other Holidays that also come around this time of year.

So how do you do it? What all do you celebrate? Does it bother you, or do you not really care at all? Do you have any tips for getting thorough it all? (with your sanity intact blaugh )

 

[doistu]

I love Christmas. Its not a religious thing for me. To me Christmas means family. It means spending time with, and appreciating those who give so much for you all year round.
It is by far a very very very favourite time of year for me.

Sadly, my celebration of Yule is a solemn (sp?) occasion for me. As a solitary witch, with only one person within my immediate family accepting of my beliefs, it is a private, almost joyless affair.

I love Yule dearly, but until I'm living on my own I won't be able to celebrate it with the gusto that I celebrate the family Christmas with.

I have to often hide my beliefs from my family. They aren't disapproving but they aren't comfortable with it. They choose not to understand it. Unfortunately, I'll be away on Yule this year so I'll be doing a small ritual the next evening if I can.

Blessed Be.  

[Clair Fay]

Personally, I appreciate Christmas time, but I do tend to tolerate it more. The reason being probably because I do view it as completely religious because 1) that's how I was raised, 2) my family won't shut up about how Jesus Christ is so great and how we must worship and honour him (and as much as I'm for honouring, they tend to think that if I don't worship, I don't honour), and 3) because my surrounding area won't let me forget how I am essentially "betraying God and my people, even more so my family, by not worshiping God and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit."

So, as to answer the questions, I tolerate it and have a rather good mindset about it--that Christmas and Yule are rather the same thing (and they are, in truth), but mainly the point-blank line of they both honour and worship the Sun/Son of the God/dess in each respective religion. I personally celebrate Yule, though, as a sort of cross between Yule itself as celebrated in times of old, Christmas, and Hannukah. I celebrate for 13-14 (days of old and Hannukah) days straight and give a gift each day (Hannukah) and simply eat, drink, and be merry (all of them, granted in the days of old it was more like "eat, drink, be merry, and try not to die from the chill").

As far as getting through it all, I say simply shrug off any insults and correct people when they are wrong--but only if you know what you're talking about. As my dear and wise high priest has said--"It is better to stay silent and let others believe you are moronic than to speak and remove all doubt." But most importantly, don't lose your cool. If you correct someone, say it calmly, as if you are simply remarking on a fact you read in a book, not as if a friend of yours just turned around and gave you a verbal knifing. If you can't keep your cool, then don't open your mouth until you can. You will look like a fool and be humiliated. Trust me, I know from experience.  

[DenvoPryde]

Luckly my family is not very religous so I can just avoid these times if my family wants to meet I usually say I have to work(which is usually true). During Yule I take some time to myself, go hiking and pray. To keep my self sane thought I listen to my ipod instead of the radio(why do they have to play so much christmas music).  

[Clair Fay]

DenvoPryde

Luckly my family is not very religous so I can just avoid these times if my family wants to meet I usually say I have to work(which is usually true). During Yule I take some time to myself, go hiking and pray. To keep my self sane thought I listen to my ipod instead of the radio(why do they have to play so much christmas music).

That's a great idea about the iPod. *now has even more incentive to go buy iPod*  

[Kyreie]

My family isn't religious, Christmas has always meant family and a reason to celebrate.
I also celebrate Yule, usually by myself but I don't mind that part. smile

I just think any occasion to celebrate is a good thing!  

[Sanguina Cruenta]

We have a HUGE advantage in that the Solstice does not fall on the same day as Christmas/Eksmas/Annual Gift Day, so one can celebrate both without any real difficulty, unless one is going away for the Xmas week or similar. I Norse practice, Yuletide stretches from the night before Yule till the first of January, which I think is rather wonderful, and means you can have your Eksmas celebration and the giving of presents etc as a part of the same holiday season, but still have it on a different day than the Solstice itself. Handy!

For me, it is Midsummer. I am unsure what to do for my Norse practices... some sources suggest honouring Freyr and Freyja, others Baldr, and of course Sunna. My "religious-witchcraft-neo-Wicca" practices are fairly standard: I leave a lit candle to burn until it burns out, longest day, the God, the growing season, the turning of the wheel towards the darkening year, blah blah.  

[Violet Song jat Shariff]

MidnightLetter

At this time of year...many of us are torn between wanting to celebrate only the Sabbats and having to compromise with our families and celebrate one (or more) of the other Holidays that also come around this time of year.

So how do you do it? What all do you celebrate? Does it bother you, or do you not really care at all? Do you have any tips for getting thorough it all? (with your sanity intact blaugh )

I celebrate Yule for myself; I don't make my fiance participate in any of it with me. In fact, I think it would be quite weird for him to want to participate xd . Yule is very much "my" thing in our house. And I'm perfectly okay with that.
I celebrate (secular) Christmas with my fiance and his family since that's just what they do. It doesn't hurt me to celebrate it; my faith is not lessened or cheapened by partaking, so I see nothing wrong with joining in with their festivities.
I think the best advice to get through it is take it all with a grain of salt 3nodding .  

[AiRune]

I'm not the religious sort, so the divides between different observances doesn't affect me.

Yule, for me, is a mental observation that winter has arrived, I'm another year older, and that I need to start planning for the year ahead. May sound boringly mundane, but it's a solemn reflection of the passage of time and appreciation for the life I've had. Sometimes it's also a reflection of the life I share with my mate, since our anniversary sometimes falls on the astronomical solstice.

As for Christmas, I love it. Who wouldn't like getting gifts? Hehe, anyway, it was always a time for togetherness in my family, so I think of it as a time of strengthening ties with loved ones and creating new ones with complete strangers. Besides, there was always an element of magic that never seemed to come with other holidays. Go ahead and call it brainwashing, but there's a part of me that still believes in Santa Claus and Christmas magic.

Eh, for surviving the holidays, I'd just take the good cheer and tune out the preaching.  

[WitchyBoy]

in my familt chistmas is a solely social gathering, theres no real religious merit to it in there eyes so that makes it easier, i do my own ritual on yule generally involving lots of cider and good friends through the whole day, then my own written ritual later at night in private. mostly its a family thing nothing more so i guess i get off lucky in that respect.  

[Aryain Flames]

my birthday is on the same day as Ostara, so i think wat i will have to do is request some "me" time during the afternoon.