What & How do you celebrate?

[TheGreenWizard]

On The Cauldron, we have many walks of life, and given the time of year, there are many different holidays celebrated. That got me thinking: what and how do you celebrate for your practice during this time of year? What celebrations do you have outside of your practice (if any)?

For this thread, I'd love for people to share what their practice is (e.g., Hinduism, Eclectic Pagan, Hellenic Polytheistic, Kemetic, Christianity, etc) and what major holiday(s) they celebrate around this time for their practice and how they celebrate them. Obviously, there's also the non-practice celebrations too - for example, I identify more as a Hellenic Polytheist, but I still celebrate Christmas with my family.

[Sefiru]

what and how do you celebrate for your practice during this time of year? What celebrations do you have outside of your practice (if any)?

My practice is not too big on seasonal celebrations, as such. I do celebrate Christmas as a family thing and as a seasonal thing. I tend to divide "Christmas" traditions into three categories: "Yule" (the midwinter stuff), "Christ Mass" (the Baby Jesus stuff) and "Presents Day"; I mostly celebrate the Yule aspects, though I prefer religious Christmas songs to secular ones. Plus there's the aspect of decorating with All the Shiny Things. 

One tradition that comes from my family's Swiss background is making people-shaped bread on St Nicholas' Day (dec 6). A custom which probably derives from the legend of St Nicholas resurrecting some boys that had been killed by a cannibal. 

[Altair]

My practice is not too big on seasonal celebrations

Mine is the exact opposite: *very* seasonal. I'm an eclectic, nature-based pagan who largely shares the mindset of Wiccans, minus the spells.

This time of year I celebrate the winter solstice in a big way, staying up all night for the longest night of the year (hence my devotion to Up All Night). A pagan friend (the third and final one I know in the flesh, besides Eva--who'll be leading the Great Global Group Meditation--and our own TheGreenWizard) also throws a solstice party every year around this time, though not on the actual night. And I celebrate Christmas with my family, but it's entirely a secular, cultural gathering.

[Eastling]

On The Cauldron, we have many walks of life, and given the time of year, there are many different holidays celebrated. That got me thinking: what and how do you celebrate for your practice during this time of year? What celebrations do you have outside of your practice (if any)?

For this thread, I'd love for people to share what their practice is (e.g., Hinduism, Eclectic Pagan, Hellenic Polytheistic, Kemetic, Christianity, etc) and what major holiday(s) they celebrate around this time for their practice and how they celebrate them. Obviously, there's also the non-practice celebrations too - for example, I identify more as a Hellenic Polytheist, but I still celebrate Christmas with my family.

Background: I was raised Jewish in the United States as an early millennial and consider that a continuing foundation for my pagan faith, which includes proto-Hellenic and Hellenic elements as well as the ancestor worship of twentieth-century celebrities.

My personal religion's calendar predicates on a divide between the festival season and the rest of the year. From early January through mid-July, the calendar is silent on festivals. I may observe lunations, solstices and equinoxes, Purim and Passover, and such personal holidays as my parents' birthdays, but they are not relevant to my Mercurial faith. I should note, however, that regardless of the absence of festivals, the presence of my Powers waxes in the spring.

I try to mark Passover, at least, in some way, but I have a lot of life obligations and it's not always easy to avoid eating risen bread for eight days in my life these days.

July 13th marks the preamble to the festival season in my path; on July 13th in 1973 Queen released their first album, and twelve years later in 1985 Freddie Mercury wowed the world at Live Aid. I observe this date by making note of it publicly and watching the Live Aid performance on Youtube.

July 19th marks the birth of Brian May (lead guitarist of Queen and its other main songwriter in the early days) in 1947, and July 26th the birth of Roger Taylor (drummer of Queen) in 1949. John Deacon (bass guitarist of Queen) was born August 19th, 1951. On these days, if I get the chance around my life, I try to attend karaoke and sing relevant songs.

The festival season culminates on September 5th, the anniversary of Freddie Mercury's birth in 1946. On this date I sing relevant songs at karaoke and acknowledge the date publicly. I'd love to someday attend the actual festivals in Montreux, Switzerland, but the price of travel is somewhat prohibitive.

After this date there is a liminal season; the song "Bohemian Rhapsody" was released on October 31st, 1975, and this is a time to meditate upon the song's themes of death-of-old-selves and transformation. November 24th marks the anniversary of the death of Freddie Mercury in 1991 and is a time of quiet and meditations upon the injustices of the world and how to fix them. The winter solstice is a lunation after this date, and I haven't yet figured out the significance of that to my path--but given the emphasis my faith puts on gifts and the symbolism of the sun, I suspect it means something big. (I do give gifts to friends and family according to their religion, though, and I try to observe Hanukkah.)

All of this is capped off by the three-day liminal time marked by the birthday of David Bowie on January 8th in 1947 (on which I try to attend karaoke) and his death on January 10th in 2016.

[IceAngie]

On The Cauldron, we have many walks of life, and given the time of year, there are many different holidays celebrated. That got me thinking: what and how do you celebrate for your practice during this time of year? What celebrations do you have outside of your practice (if any)?

I usually get together with friends for the summer solstice, and we have lunch or an afternoon meal in someone's backyard or the park. Then we do some divination for the new year and give each other guiding messages until the next celebration (February 1st).

On the 24th and 25th my family comes to my house to have dinner and luch, respectively. At 00:00 (12:00 am) on the 25th we toast and then proceed to open the gifts that Papá Noel (Santa Claus) left under the tree (obviously, we left the presents there).

Then on the 31st and January 1st we do the same thing, without the presents. On the afternoon of the 1st my husband and I may do some divination for each other for the New Year.

[Jainarayan]

On The Cauldron, we have many walks of life, and given the time of year, there are many different holidays celebrated. That got me thinking: what and how do you celebrate for your practice during this time of year? What celebrations do you have outside of your practice (if any)?

For this thread, I'd love for people to share what their practice is (e.g., Hinduism, Eclectic Pagan, Hellenic Polytheistic, Kemetic, Christianity, etc) and what major holiday(s) they celebrate around this time for their practice and how they celebrate them. Obviously, there's also the non-practice celebrations too - for example, I identify more as a Hellenic Polytheist, but I still celebrate Christmas with my family.

I am the only non-Christian, and Hindu, in my family but I sometimes celebrate Christmas with them. Easter is maybe the Sunday dinner. Hindus have a shit-ton of festivals, but not all Hindus celebrate all of them. Most of them are specific to the sect we belong to, but there are some pan-Hindu festivals like Diwali. Unless I go to the temple for a festival, I have no one to celebrate them with at home. Even when I go to temple I often feel out of place because during the festivals, families go together. I may just do a little something extra in my home practice then. It's the loneliness of the solo practitioner.

[EclecticWheel]

On The Cauldron, we have many walks of life, and given the time of year, there are many different holidays celebrated. That got me thinking: what and how do you celebrate for your practice during this time of year? What celebrations do you have outside of your practice (if any)?

For this thread, I'd love for people to share what their practice is (e.g., Hinduism, Eclectic Pagan, Hellenic Polytheistic, Kemetic, Christianity, etc) and what major holiday(s) they celebrate around this time for their practice and how they celebrate them. Obviously, there's also the non-practice celebrations too - for example, I identify more as a Hellenic Polytheist, but I still celebrate Christmas with my family.

I practice within the Episcopal tradition communally and publicly.  Within that tradition I am influenced by the theologies of Marcus J. Borg, the non-realist priest Anthony Freeman, and to some extent John Shelby Spong, though I am accustomed to worshiping in high church settings and identify heavily with Anglo-Catholic ritual and devotion, and I find some Christian mystical writings insightful and helpful in forming my own sense of what it means to be an Episcopalian in modern times.

Right now we are observing Advent and preparing for the coming of Christ.  In the liturgy I am attending on Sundays there is an emhasis on Mother Mary and Joseph, even in the prayers of consecration over the bread and wine, and in the petitions we are specifically praying for refugees and immigrants.

There is an advent wreath with four candles lit progressively on the four Sundays of Advent, and the music and readings focus on Christ's imminent coming as a babe.

My private prayers and rituals, which are informed by the structure of the high liturgies I attend, follow the church year from Advent on through the various seasons.  Privately my devotions during Advent are focused on healing, and when I enact a full ritual, this focus on healing takes a sort of narrative form that is acted out.

That narrative keeps unfolding through the seasons according to the rhythms and cycles of the church year.  Then it all starts over again in Advent, the liturgical new year.

[Hariti]

what and how do you celebrate for your practice during this time of year? What celebrations do you have outside of your practice (if any)?

I celebrate Diwali, which often falls in winter, and I celebrate Christmas. 

[IceAngie]

I practice within the Episcopal tradition communally and publicly. 

I'm going to make the most stupid question that you probably ever read, but... what's the Episcopal tradition? From your post I gather is a Christian tradition, but what defines it?

[EclecticWheel]

I'm going to make the most stupid question that you probably ever read, but... what's the Episcopal tradition? From your post I gather is a Christian tradition, but what defines it?

The Episcopal tradition grows out of the Anglican Church of England with whom we are in communion.

Traditionally Anglicanism has contained both Protestant and Catholic elements.  Some individuals and parishes emphasize one over another.

At least since the 1960s there are also liberal and charismatic branches within the Episcopal tradition and some other Anglican provinces.  Liberalism began developing in the 1800s and often takes non-literal approaches to doctrines like the resurrection.

I have been perplexed to some degree as to what extent some varieties of liberalism within the church are Christian and whether some of our liberal priests and bishops are Christians, and where I belong.

Over time I have tended to accept that the Episcopal tradition is evolving and broad.  There are many approaches within it and combinations of approaches.

The church in practice includes very liberal and non-literal approaches alongside more orthodox, conservative approaches.  Is that Christian?  I don't really know, but this is where I have made my home, and I am grateful for space being made there for people like me on the fringes.  The three people I mentioned are Anglicans, a layman, a bishop, and a priest.

You might try googling Episcopal, Anglican, and Anglo-Catholic.  I am within the liberal currents of thought and Anglo-Catholic in terms of emphasis and liturgical practice and devotion, but another Anglican may be a conservative Anglo-Catholic or liberal Protestant or charismatic or have various other emphases.

My private rituals are informed by non-traditional approaches to Christian doctrine and neo-paganism as well in that I design rituals and theology that work for me as an individual.  I shy away from the term Christopagan for various reasons: most of that is Wicca based, and I don't have any Wicca in my path.

The Anglican part of my path is very important in that my private path follows the same yearly cycles, but whereas in the Anglican tradition the cycles follow Christ's life, in my private cycles of prayer I honor aspects and events in my own life as illuminated by my devotion to Christ and various saints either traditionally honored as such or honored as such by me personally.

[IceAngie]

You might try googling Episcopal, Anglican, and Anglo-Catholic.  I am within the liberal currents of thought and Anglo-Catholic in terms of emphasis and liturgical practice and devotion, but another Anglican may be a conservative Anglo-Catholic or liberal Protestant or charismatic or have various other emphases.

Thanks for your answer, I will look into those terms.

[RitaCeleste]

On The Cauldron, we have many walks of life, and given the time of year, there are many different holidays celebrated. That got me thinking: what and how do you celebrate for your practice during this time of year? What celebrations do you have outside of your practice (if any)?

For this thread, I'd love for people to share what their practice is (e.g., Hinduism, Eclectic Pagan, Hellenic Polytheistic, Kemetic, Christianity, etc) and what major holiday(s) they celebrate around this time for their practice and how they celebrate them. Obviously, there's also the non-practice celebrations too - for example, I identify more as a Hellenic Polytheist, but I still celebrate Christmas with my family.

Black Friday eats my Thanksgiving.  I don't care much for it except that Turkey is on sale.  So next year we will cook a turkey, and strip it for sandwiches and just plan a shopping trip with our family and our Mother-in-law and skip the big dinner.

On Xmas I make Chex-mix, chocolate chips, and a massive amount of my Xmas Chili.  We are late getting the tree up, but there will be tree this year.  Last year, we skipped the tree and felt awful.  Usually, we go to my sisters to hand off gifts to my niece and see some family members.  She has a bigger living room and is more social with Mom's side of the family.  My living room is small and I pretty much don't have anything to do with the extended families now that my grandparents are gone.

I am not a holiday person, really.  I liked when we did the Xmas season and just shopped and passed the gifts out as we bought them.  I find all the extra holidays in Paganism look exhausting instead of fun to me.  Growing up we spent every holiday loading up the car and riding to both Grandparents houses where we were insulted and treated poorly.  We did this every holiday every year.  I am trying to do my own thing and my kids like the food and the tree and our close family.

[Owl]

On The Cauldron, we have many walks of life, and given the time of year, there are many different holidays celebrated. That got me thinking: what and how do you celebrate for your practice during this time of year? What celebrations do you have outside of your practice (if any)?

For this thread, I'd love for people to share what their practice is (e.g., Hinduism, Eclectic Pagan, Hellenic Polytheistic, Kemetic, Christianity, etc) and what major holiday(s) they celebrate around this time for their practice and how they celebrate them. Obviously, there's also the non-practice celebrations too - for example, I identify more as a Hellenic Polytheist, but I still celebrate Christmas with my family.

This year we are having a big bonfire (largely of blackberry brambles that tried to disappear the house, barn, and shed while my husband was laid up due to losing his leg to necrotizing fasciitis). Guests are invited. Gifts will be given. Hot dogs and marshmallows will be roasted. Homebrew will be drunk. We are going to make a torch and have our 5 yr old grandson use it to light the fire. Could be our new tradition.

Why blackberries?  Because in the Pacific Northwest of the US, they are a native but highly invasive species. We leave a patch in one area of our 10 acres for wine and blackberry pancakes, the rest have to be beaten back yearly or we will soon be unable to find our place at all.

Edited to add - you can’t compost them on dirt. The a holes re-root from cuttings. And we are talking a 4 by 8 by 6 foot pile this year.

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[Louisvillian]

I mostly celebrate the Yule aspects, though I prefer religious Christmas songs to secular ones...

I strongly agree with both parts of this. I'm not a Heathen, I identify my practice more firmly as Roman syncretism, but I do celebrate Germanic festivals and honor Germanic gods, as an extension of my ancestor worship. So, I do celebrate Yule and other seasonal festivities.

And I agree on the religious Christmas songs. There's just something...genuine? about them. Commercial songs are much more overtly...well, commercial, part of the wider culture industry. They're tacky and plastic and are about selling something (though it might in this case be an abstract idea rather than a thing).

[Hariti]

And I agree on the religious Christmas songs. There's just something...genuine? about them.

I actually said something similar in the thread about Christmas pet peeves. I appreciate religion, and I would prefer someone else's sincere religious devotion over feigned piety any day.