December?

[qos]

I'm 43 years old.

You would think that after all this time I would realize just how quickly December follows Thanksgiving. But no. . .

I think that a big part of it is not being part of a Christian community and thus not celebrating Advent, and because of that not having spent the last couple of weeks preparing for the preparation that the season is about.

Some of my Christian friends have been posting about Advent, and it's reminded me that I have no spiritual stake in the season anymore. "Yule" has never been meaningful to me in the way that Christmas was. My current theology and mythology don't include the coming of an avatar, and I have become so accustomed to walking in darkness that even the symbolism of the return of the light/Light doesn't feel particularly meaningful to me.

And yet, I want to observe. I want this to be a holy season again.

Maybe that's what my next journey should be about: finding my own "reason for the season" and/or discovering how the old celebrations can take on new meaning for me.

Comments

[mamadar.livejournal.com]

I've been slowly discovering that the Neopagan holy days need not have a fixed meaning based on European agricultural traditions. They can also take shape from one's life, the local climate, the astrological correspondences, even from the nearest Christian equivalents. Good luck with your search for new meanings!

[qos.livejournal.com]

You might want to scan down this thread and check out amqu's suggestion. :-)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'm not particularly fussed about Christmas one way or the other. If it wants me to take it seriously it will have to do something to catch my attention.

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

I have had similar (though unformed) thoughts about the season.

[mankycat.livejournal.com]

I have the same problem with Yule. I never could get into it like I could with Christmas, probably because Christmas was so intilled into me and the rest of my family celebrate it. For me, Christmas isn't about the avatar or anything of the sort. It doesn't follow the Christian or Pagan meanings. For me, it's just a celebration of family. Getting together, giving gifts of love, and just finding a reason to kindle a bit of warmth inside to counteract the oncoming cold. I don't need any other reason.

My family also celebrates a Germanic holiday... St. Nicolas night (or something like that... I'll have to find the actual name again!)... the children leave out a shoe on a specific night (I believe it's December 5th). The next morning their shoes are filled with candies and trinkets or coal, chimney dust and switches (for spankings), depending on if they were good or not all year. We didn't get the bad stuff if we were naughty... but we did get candy coal if we were mischeviously good. (If we were bad, we got little to nothing. A just punishment.) So basically... we do both Christmas and the St. Nicolas night thing.

But like I said, it's more about the togetherness than the actual gifts in my personal views. :-)

[qos.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing. My family celebrations have always been lovely, and I look forward to them every year.

I don't find seasonal holidays necessary, but...

[amqu.livejournal.com]

Instead of darkness to light, what about chaos to order? I was reading about Zagmuk, an old Mesopotamian celebration that had something to do with the god Marduk and his triumph over disorder. It had the king at the time being disinvested by the priests in December, doing symbolic battle over chaos, and then being crowned again. Or something like that.

Anyway, it seemed to fall into your confluence of interests of ancient Mesopotamian deities, sovereignty, and orderly worlds.

Re: I don't find seasonal holidays necessary, but...

[qos.livejournal.com]

amqu, I continue to be both delighted and amused that you and athenian_abroad, whose beliefs are among the most different from my own (compared to the rest of my f-list), consistently contribute some of the most strikingly insightful comments about my faith and practice.

I'm going to do some meditating on your suggestion. . .

Thank you.