This year though, it really doesn't feel like Christmas!!!!
My love of Christmas has been on the wane for a long time now and some years we have spoken about not doing it, but celebrating the Midwinter Feast instead, but we've always ended up going with the same routine of 'christmas' again though, really more for our boys and/or other family members.
This year I don't really want to do Christmas cards, theres no real gifts to buy for anyone and our children are all past the age of advent calendars, stockings etc, so who are we doing it for and why??
I guess you feel you ought to do it - like a responsibility, conforming to the norm! In light of watching some eye opening programmes just recently, it seems even more ludicrious to carry on regardless.
What will my parents say? They'll raise their eyebrows and say that I always like to be different and then my mum will perhaps plead with me that it won't be the same if I don't put a tree up.
Well shes right, it isn't the same anymore and hasn't been for a while.
Don't get me wrong though, I do like the festive spirit, spending time with family and friends and also the change in the seasons.
I'm not christian, but then I don't really class myself as pagan, wiccan or anything else. I do observe the old ways, the knowledge and the appointed festivals, but I do it loosely.
So this year and from now on we'll be celebrating and placing more awareness on Yule and Midwinter Festivities.
We'll still do some gifts and nice food, but it won't be a big money draining affair and
we'll still have some decorations, though it will be more of the greenery and none of the glitz......and no tree!
Now that I've made the decision, its a huge weight off my mind!
Moon - Waxing Crescent 40%
Yoga - Earth Gratitude Sequence, Mountain, Stretchy Cat, Warriors 1, 2 & 3, Dolphin, Prayer Twist
Card Message - The Sun
You are free to express the radiant essence of your being. Joy and creation flow from you like the rays of the sun.
On this day - Today is the festival of Poseidon, Greek god of the sea and rebirth.
I think I would join you if I could! We are all contrained by many many traditions, and over time those traditions do change albeit slowly. Without tradition we become afraid of having no identity, and so the tradition wins out in the end!
ReplyDeleteI've spent a great deal of time this lead up to Christmas researching lots of festivals that have taken place over the Christmas period, many of them are prechristian and many have the same traditions as we know as modern Christmas. So we have been celebrating for millennia in much the same way. I'm now happier with this understanding and have kept with a few more of the traditions than I originally said I would.......however spending was kept to a minimum! x
ReplyDeleteAll the consumerist values at Christmas time often annoy me, especially when I think what a damaging effect this capitalist attitude has on our planet's environment. It bothers me a bit in this era where people think nothing of buying food products shipped all the way from Kenya when they could pick up some perhaps a little less attractive at least from this country! (I couldn't find any green beans from Britain when I went Xmas shopping in Tesco, and almost stamped my feet in the shop, lol)Other times I find myself having to ignore these kinds of thoughts because I have a budget to follow, which is annoying and a bit ironic - I would have preferred a free range, organic turkey this year, but they were literally twice the price of a standard turkey. I actually have dreaded the forthcoming Xmas quite a few times, feeling stressed and pressured because of all the money it will cost, and worrying about getting the boys their presents at the minimum,and ultimately wishing that I didn't have to deal with it. But it is what matters to spend time with the people you love and care about, and I was lucky moneywise this year. It gives me joy to give loved ones their gift, (that's probably a pheromone thing, ask Dad, lol) and I enjoy it all the more when I get it just right! I used to get annoyed at myself every year, as I kept finding I had to work on Yule Tide, but in the end I considered it was something destiny didn't seem to have planned for me. I did celebrate it properly once, with a family roast dinner, and a small present for Nicholas every day of the Solstice. But like you, I don't really think of myself as in any set religion, and I often wonder about, and appreciate aspects of other religions even when they are as a whole, not for me. Ultimately, having fun with family and friends is reward enough I think - one day I hope to sit by a real home fire to see out the cold in contentment! - Rowena xx
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