The season of Yule can be a mixed blessing to Pagan parents. Many of the holiday festivities, school parties and retail displays seem to be centered on the dominant culture. It might be a little difficult to explain to your children about our beliefs at this time of year, amidst the barrage of Santa Claus, shopping mania, and “Silent Night.” The Goddess and the returning Sun King may seem to take a back seat to opening presents. However, this is one of the best times to involve your children in Earth-based spirituality. Many Christmas symbols really did come from Pagan traditions, and several legends including Santa and the reindeer can be traced to pre-Christian origins. Not only is this a wonderful opportunity to share the holiday customs of many faiths, we can also teach our children the meaning of our own Yule celebrations.
Llewellyn readers can find books with some excellent ideas for commemorating Yule. Dan and Pauline Campanelli’s The Wheel of the Year and Edain McCoy’s Sabbats describe many meaningful rituals and fun crafts. Dorothy Morrison’s Yule gives a detailed history of the holiday, as well as recipes, art projects and spiritual ceremonies. This article is geared toward Pagan parents with small children, and intended to supplement these existing sources. You can explain many of our favorite traditions to the youngsters while involving them in related arts and crafts or allowing them to help you in the kitchen. Many of these ideas can be shared with non-Pagan friends and relatives, without causing offense.
That Jolly Old Elf
The legend of Santa Claus may be based on Saturn, an elderly white-bearded Roman god who was responsible for distributing gifts. Santa may have been modeled on Odin of the German, Icelandic and Scandinavian pantheons. Santa’s reindeer chariot might have come from the Finnish legend of Vainamoinen, who lived in the north, had a magical workshop, and wore a long white beard. If you feel comfortable divulging Santa’s secret identity, you might want to teach your children about the “avatar” concept. An explanation we’ve found useful is: “You know how the priestess ‘becomes’ the Goddess in ritual? Mommy invokes the spirit of Santa Claus the same way.” Our kids enjoy being the avatar of Santa themselves, choosing gifts for classmates or grandparents. You can explain Santa’s history while creating these crafts:
Paper Plate Santas
Materials: A plain paper plate, construction paper, cotton balls, glue, felt-tipped markers.
Method: Draw a jolly face on the paper plate. Give him a pointy red construction paper hat tipped with a cotton ball. Glue on more cotton balls for his beard, moustache and “fur” at the base of his hat.
Santa Ornaments
Materials: Craft foam in red, white, and black, and pink or brown for his face; scissors or craft knife, strong glue, your child’s school photo.
Method: Cut out a round pink or brown face. Add black eyes, a smiling red mouth, a white beard and moustache, and pointy hat. Cut out a larger round red belly. Glue on black buttons and white fur trim. Glue the two together, then glue your child’s picture in the center of Santa’s tummy. Now she is Santa’s avatar. Glue a paper clip to the back, or punch a hole in the hat for a standard ornament hanger.
Trim a Yule Tree
If you’ve got ornaments you’ll need a tree to hang them on. Many families have an artificial tree, but you needn’t feel guilty over buying a live evergreen. Here in Michigan, holiday trees are just another farm crop, like corn, planted and harvested yearly. The Yule tree tradition really does have Pagan roots. In Ireland and Cornwall, many trees were decorated near sacred wells year-round. In Norway, evergreens were brought into the house, but hung upside down from the rafters to save space!
You might want to decorate a tree outside for the birds. Smear peanut butter on pinecones and roll them in birdseed. Hang ears of field corn from pretty ribbons. String popcorn and cranberries. Attach a bell-shaped seed feeder to the top. During your child’s winter break from school, get up early to watch all the feathered visitors enjoy your outdoor Yule tree.
Sled Ornament:
aterials: Popsicle or craft sticks, glue, paint or felt markers, ribbon, scissors.
Method: Cut four craft sticks to 3 inches, two sticks to 3 1/4 inches, and two more to 3 _ inches. You’ll need two more for “runners”. Paint the craft sticks all one color, or two complimentary colors, like red and green. Place the two longest sticks flat in the middle, two shorter ones on either side, and the two shortest on the outside. Place two short sticks across them horizontally, 1 inch from the top and bottom, and glue them in place. You may wish to cut the top of the vertical sticks so they are rounded, to resemble a sled. When the glue has dried, turn your sled over and glue the runners in place on the bottom. Use a ribbon to hang the ornament.
Pipe Cleaner Ornaments
Even the smallest children can do this.
Materials: Red and white pipe cleaners for candy canes, other colors. Some craft stores sell neon and sparkly pipe cleaners, especially for crafts.
Method: Twist red and white pipe cleaners around each other to form a candy cane. Older kids can create bells, stars, angels and fairies, or other Yuletide shapes. Pipe cleaners are also good to twist around holly and mistletoe sprigs. Caution: Real holly and mistletoe berries can be toxic to babies and pets. You might wish to use cloth holly leaves, found in most craft stores and holiday special sales. These ornaments can also be used to decorate wrapped gifts.
Magic Reindeer
Yule is a wonderful time to explain about the Horned Lord called Herne, Cerne, Cernunnos or Boucca in western Europe. You might also wish to discuss the importance of deer and other wildlife in many cultures. The Navajo have a sacred deer kachina. Finnish and Lapp people still use reindeer as herd animals, for meat, fur and milk. Folks in Bhutan, Mexico and South America revere an entity much like Herne, who appears in sacred dances and dramatizations. In Abbots Bromley, England, reindeer antlers are used in a ritualized folk dance that has been presented for over 900 years. Of course, children in America love the tale of Santa’s eight flying reindeer. You can make some of these crafts while singing about Rudolf and friends, or while an adult reads “The Night Before Christmas” aloud. (If you’d like, change the title to “Yule”.)
Clothespin Reindeer Ornament
Materials: Each ornament requires two old-fashioned clothespins, the kind without springs. Use commercial googly-eyes, and red pompoms for noses, or draw on their features with a marker. Red or green ribbons can adorn their necks or serve as hangers. Strong glue is needed to hold them together.
Method: One clothespin with the pins facing up makes the face and antlers, another clothespin with the pins facing down, glued to the back of the first, makes the body and legs. Add eyes, noses and ribbon. These can be pinned directly to the tree branches or used as decorations on a wrapped present.
Spoon Reindeer Ornament
This project is easy for smaller kids, as well as craft-impared grownups.
Materials: A wooden spoon, brown pipe cleaners, googly eyes, pompoms or paint.
Method: Make antlers out of the pipe cleaners, glue or tape them to the back of the spoon. Add eyes and a nose to the spoon bowl. You can also decorate your reindeers with ribbon, glitter glue, raffia or other materials.
Reindeer Piñata
This is a craft for older children, although toddlers will have a great time squishing in the paste.
Materials: Newspaper strips, a balloon, paste made from flour and water, paint, googly-eyes, crepe paper or construction paper, paper towel rolls, ribbons, bowl, tape, scissors.
Method: Mix flour and water in a bowl to make a thin paste. Tear black and white newspaper into strips (no slick ads). Blow up a balloon, which you might want to balance on another bowl. Dip the newspaper strips into the paste and apply in layers to the balloon. Don’t forget to leave a hole for the candy! Let it dry. Cut the paper towel rolls into antlers and tape or glue them onto one end. You can also use paper towel rolls for legs and a tail, if you wish. Paint the whole thing brown or tan. Again, let it dry. Using brown or tan construction or crepe paper, cut into strips, and make several parallel cuts along each edge to simulate fur. Glue these onto the deer’s body. Give him googly-eyes and a pompom nose, or paint on his features. If you want, he can have ribbons to hang him up, or to adorn his antlers. Fill him with candy, tape the hole closed, save him for a tabletop decoration. or hang him up and have at it!
Yummy Yule Goodies
We enjoy many traditional holiday foods at this time of year, including gingerbread cookies, figgy pudding, roast goose, candy canes and Wasshail. Your children may enjoy “wassailing the trees”, a British and Germanic custom for blessing the spirits of the woods. Splash some apple cider at the base of each tree, while calling “to your health!”
Cocoa to Go
This is a fun gift for a teacher or scout leader. Mix one cup cocoa powder, one cup dry milk, and one cup dry coffee creamer in a bowl. (Add more proportionally if you’re making a big batch.) You can use flavored coffee creamer if it’s something that tastes good with cocoa. If your brand of instant hot chocolate already has milk mixed into it, forgo the powdered milk and creamer. Add a few tablespoons of sugar, chocolate sprinkles, dry mini-marshmallows, and tiny peppermint candies. Mix well. Spoon the mixture into a zippered sandwich bag with Yule-themed decorations printed on the plastic. Stick a bow onto each bag. Viola, instant Yule presents.
Wassail
The original recipe includes alcohol, but you can make this beverage for kids and teetotaling adults using apple cider, red grape juice, orange juice, cinnamon, ground cloves (just a pinch) and ground nutmeg. You may wish to put the spices into a cloth bag and let it steep. Or push whole cloves into the skin of an orange, and let it float in a punch bowl. Experiment with proportions. Some folks like cranberry juice or allspice in the mix. This is a festive punch for a Sabbat party.
Divination Pudding
This is not a creamy milk-based dessert pudding; instead, this is a traditional English dinner pudding. You’ll need about a loaf of stale bread, three eggs, a half cup of heavy cream, a quarter cup of brown sugar, and spices such as cinnamon, ground cloves, ground nutmeg, allspice, mace, and ginger. Pick two spices, and use no more than a quarter teaspoon of each. You will also need some trinkets such as small toy cars, rings, large coins like half-dollars, or other prizes. Grease a quart baking dish. Tear the bread into small pieces – children really enjoy doing this. Beat the eggs until stiff. Fold in the heavy cream and add the sugar and spices. Place the bread into the baking dish, pour the wet mixture over it. Now comes the fun part. Hide the prizes in the pudding. Let the kids push them down into the gooey bread, then cover them over. Bake your pudding in the oven for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, checking it frequently*. The top should be golden brown and an inserted toothpick should come out clean. Serve hot, with butter and whipped cream. Caution: WARN people about the prizes, so that nobody chokes on them! You might want to make a separate pudding for toddlers, or use prizes that aren’t small enough to swallow. The coins represent money, the cars mean a journey, and the rings signify love.
* You might want to check a standard cookbook for a Yorkshire pudding recipe to find definite cooking temperatures. I cook with a wood stove, which has three temperatures: “hot”, “hotter still”, and “really honkin’ hot”. Bread pudding is best cooked at “fairly darn hot”. Dorothy Morrison has some really good recipes in her Yule book, too.
More Timely Traditions
Decorating with holly and ivy, lighting a Yule log, and commemorating the Goddess in her mother and crone or grandmother aspect are all delightful Pagan traditions. You can find representations of the crone Goddess in the form of Mrs. Claus and the good Scandinavian witch who brings candy and goodies. The Latvian people have a female elf who distributes presents. Besides the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus, other cultures revere a Mother Goddess who gives birth to a son representing light, including the Egyptian Isis and Horus, the Persian Asura and Mithras, and the Welsh Rhiannon and Pryderi.
Your children can honor the Goddess at this festive time of year by singing carols in a nursing home, or distributing goodies at a women’s shelter. Many carols have Pagan overtones, such as “Deck the Halls” and “Here We Come a Wassailing”. Others are religion-neutral, such as “Rudolf” and “Jingle Bells”. A nice present for an elder: Wrap a new washcloth around a bar of non-scented soap. Tie it with a pretty ribbon. Stuff the whole thing into a soft bedroom slipper. Fill the other slipper with a shampoo bottle. Put the gift into a pre-decorated paper sack, tied with more ribbon. You might also want to help your youngsters choose gifts for the local kids’ charity drive.
Holly King and Oak King Staff
Materials: A dowel or long stick, cloth or paper leaves, pipe cleaners, tape or glue. Each year, the holly king symbolically takes power at Yule, and rules until the Summer Solstice. Then the oak king takes over until the winter. If you wish to dramatize this event without an actual “fight”, your children can remove last season’s leaves from the staff and replace them with this season’s symbol. Real leaves don’t hold up well, and may be difficult to find out of season. Besides, cutting out construction paper leaves is half the fun. Use pipe cleaners, tape or glue to attach them to the staff. You can also use pipe cleaners and cloth or paper leaves to make oak and holly crowns for a dramatization of the Oak and Holly Kings in ritual.
Yule Log
This is a genuinely older Pagan tradition, probably brought to England by the Saxons. If you don’t have a fireplace, you can create a symbolic Yule Log for ritual or for your Solstice dinner table.
Materials: a large dry log, bark removed, electric drill with a wide-boring drill bit, votive candles in metal holders, cloth holly leaves, ribbon, pinecones, other decorations.
Method: With parents’ supervision, drill three holes a few inches apart in the top of the log, large enough to fit the votive candles. Place the candles in the holes. Decorate around the outside of the log with ribbon, holly, pinecones and anything else that looks festive. You can use all one color – gold is lovely – or mix two or three colors. If you plan on using your log year after year, you may wish to paint it and glue the decorations on permanently. Caution: Make sure flammable decorations are far enough from the candle flames to be safe. Keep it out of reach of toddlers and pets. If you want to re-use your log as a bird feeder, screw a large eye-bolt into one end to hang it, drill more holes, and fill the holes with suet, peanut butter and seeds.
Moon and Star Mobile
Materials: Gold paper foil or gold paint, cardboard, yarn, string or ribbon, a coathanger, scissors, tape.
Method: Cut out moons, stars and suns from the cardboard. This is a good opportunity to talk about recycling. Paint or glue paper foil onto the stars and moons to make them look heavenly. Glue or use clear tape to fasten the ribbon or yarn to each planet, then tie them to the hanger. This is another way to honor the Goddess as Queen of the Heavens, as Nimue, Artemis or Diana the Lady of the Moon, or to enjoy Ariarhod’s castle of stars. It’s also a good time to discuss the sun “returning” at the Winter Solstice.
Festive Yule Wreath
Materials: A wreath form or thick wire bent into a circle, the cutoff leftover greenery from the bottom of your Yule tree or commercial cloth evergreen garland, thin wire or bread ties, pinecones, nuts, craft birds, ribbon, bells, tiny gift boxes, seashells, or use your imagination! You can spray paint the pinecones, and nuts, and wrap the gift boxes, or leave them natural. Wire the evergreen boughs to the wreath frame. An advantage to commercial garland is sometimes it includes tiny electric lights. If so, be careful not to nick or expose the wires. Using bread ties, wire on the other decorations. Tie a festive ribbon around the top of the wreath. A ribbon with wire inside the cloth holds its shape well. This is a fun group project for a coven or a children’s Yule party.
May you and your children enjoy a blessed, peaceful and merry Yule!
CHRISTMAS needs a makeover. To chime with current tastes, let’s call in Ant and Dec and vote out our least favourite aspects. I’ll go first - Christianity!
It’s the Christ part I object to…and the mass. Sure, I’ll be p***ed on the 24th, but it’ll be in celebration of life, love, friends and family and not some saviour’s birth.
Nothing new there, but as I read the national papers last week I began to question exactly how I engage with the…winter festival.
“Kick ‘Em in the Baubles” declared the front page of The Sun with its usual mix of casual thuggery and Carry On innuendo - “PC killjoys want to ban Christmas decorations. We fight back.”
The same paper mocked Channel Four’s decision for a veiled British Muslim to deliver their Christmas message and quote the Christian Institute as saying: “This is just what you expect from Channel 4, which has shown contempt for Christianity and Christian values.”
Shame on you Channel 4 for daring to try something different, shame on you for acknowledging our multi-cultural society and questioning convention - contemptuous!
What is this tradition that The Sun is so valiantly defending:
* Christmas is a winter solstice jubilee hijacked by the Roman Church in order to suppress ribald pagan revelry.
* The modern-day, red-suited Santa Claus was created as unit-shifting propaganda for Coca Cola.
* Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, a marketing tool dreamt up by a Chicago department store.
* The inalienable right of the West to indulgently squander millions of pounds on unnecessary crap evolved during the late 20th century…so at least that’s authentic.
Which brings me to the second evictee - commercialism. It’s an indication of how tired and traduced the phrase has become that I feel apologetic when using the cliché, “Christmas is a time for giving”.
Not to Nintendo or HMV or Gap or Topman or barmen, but to (great phrase this) “those less fortunate than yourself”.
Two weeks ago, The Sunday Times Magazine launched its Christmas campaign beneath the heading, “The Gift of Sight. Two things you can do with 50p this Christmas. Buy a chocolate bar or stop a child going blind”, and the requisite unshakeable image.
It’s as simple as that - we’re rich, they’re not, let’s share! Fifty pence can provide one child in the developing world with enough vitamin A to protect their eyesight for a year. Puts our threatened tinsel into perspective.
Whether you’re singing Silent Night, Slade, I Have A Little Dredyel or We’re All On Our Way To Mecca (just a joke my Muslim friends), we can all curb our spending enough to observe the one Yuletide tradition that’s worth preserving - goodwill to all men.
Merry Winterval!
*So paedophile killer Robert Oliver has been hounded out of the village where he was living. Well, if he hadn’t been released from prison at all, we wouldn’t have to be using taxpayers’ money to house or protect him at all, would we?
Recently a Rabbi asked the Sea-Tac Airport outside Seattle, Wa. to display an 8 foot menorah alongside the 8 large Christmas trees they had on display. The airport blew him off. He threatened to sue. Immediately a Sea-Tac employee went to the local media and made the Rabbi out to be a Grinch, if not anti-Christian. Outraged Christians lodged 500+ complaints with Sea-Tac and threatened the Rabbi with violence. Under public pressure, the Rabbi said he would not sue Sea-Tac so they have now put the 8 trees back up…but what about the menorah? Nope. Sea-Tac will not allow it to go up. One more example of Christians acting as though they have entitlements no one else does.
The double standard of entitlement that most North American Christians exhibit irks me. They yell and scream protesting Halloween celebrations in public schools, while simultaneously brainwashing kids to pledge allegiance to their country, which is supposed watched over by “God,” and they pledge this allegiance to the country and God, basically, every morning in most public schools in the U.S. Christians want full access to Christmas (and Easter) festivities in public schools, claiming Halloween should be banned in books and activities in schools if Christmas festivities are banned. Christians have latched onto Halloween as the scapegoat for their Christianity being allowed into schools, but there are logistical flaws with the arguments Christians are making for Christianity and prayer in public schools. It is more than obvious that the Christian agenda is not about tolerance at all, but rather about hell and brimstone, about smiting and slaying the enemies of Christianity, etc…Christianity is in many ways a zero sum game. There can only be one winner and only one god.
Christians say it is their way or you go to hell, literally. You join their clan, mimic their rituals, recite their rhetoric, and let them teach their religious mythologies as fact in public schools or else you are doing the devil’s work…that is literally what we are dealing with and there is really no inclusion within that philosophy. Christians even claim to “save” people, like their missionary work “saving” African chiefs who have practiced local religions that predate the Christ myth, or Native American Indians who were “saved” from their own native languages and cultures for the white-washed Christian “saviors.” As they say, you will get two different stories if you ask the hunter and the hunted what happened in history. The idea that Christians have a duty to “save” predominantly non-white, non-Christian people from *themselves*, is reflected in America’s self-righteous presence in Iraq right now. And GWBush *has* said “God” told him to go to war in Iraq!
Colonialism, Imperialism, and Christianity, are linked. Christianity is more about politics and economics than spirituality. Christianity is very much about *conquering* other cultures, women, children, animals, the earth…Christianity is basically about oppressing anything that is not white, male and human, for the white male’s profit, which is really what “saving” means in this context. Instead of “Jesus Saves,” they could say “Jesus Conquers,” but what have Christians conquered? Animals, women, people of color, the earth itself…things Christians had no right dominating. Ah, but there’s the rub – they justify all they do as “God’s work,” not their own, thus somehow justify their obscene greed as not greed for it is for “God.” Many of history’s most notoriously violent and despicable dictators have been avid and outspoken Christians, such as Hitler, claiming a right to destroy the non-Christians as their Christian duty and destiny!
And let’s not forget the Patriarchal bias in Christianity, either. Children are taught misogyny early with the Adam and Eve mythology. Just as Greek men tried to asurp birth through the myth of Zeus giving birth out his head, not a woman birthing “God,” we see a similar situation with the myth of Mary giving birth to Jesus, as a “virgin,” somehow bypassing the sexuality and power of women and mothers, and making her merely a vessel of male work, in essence. Studies have shown that cultures with a male godhead have more sexism and more violence towards women. Societies with female or double gendered godheads have less inherent sexism and less abuse of girls and women on the whole. Or as Mary Daly so succinctly put it: “As long as God is male, males are God.”
The patriarchal roots of Christianity, the conquer and destroy, or smiting, philosophy of Christianity and the sense of entitlement Christians flaunt, all really explain their campaign against Halloween and pagans. Pagans allow female godheads. Most pagans reject the conquer mentality Christians have towards nature, and instead respect and revere nature, rather than trying to exploit it for monetary gain. Pagans threaten Christianity due simply to the inclusion of women as godheads and their reverence for nature. Just as feminism threatens sexism, paganism challenges Christianity at the root of its patriarchy and exploitive natures.
Many a Christian professes tolerance, but really, tolerance *is not* part of the Christian doctrine. *Intolerance* is more of a Christian edict. Our way or no way is the most common Christian war cry. Accept a white male God named Jesus, or go to hell, is their motto. The violently puritanical, evangelical Christian history of this country still shows. But even back at the time of this country’s conception, our governmental forefathers saw the reasonability, even the necessity, of the separation of church and state. That separation, in fact, is one of the most novel things about America. American forefathers saw the danger in letting hard core Christians dictate the government’s activities and took precautionary measures to limit Christians’ powers in American government.
Today a Christian friend of mine told me how mad she was that they wouldn’t let Christmas and prayer into public schools but they have books with witches in them about Halloween in the school library. She said WICCA is a religion and should not be allowed. My first response was “but you have the whole school pledging allegiance to “one nation under *God*” every single morning in most U.S. public schools!” Reality is that Christianity and the male Christian godhead mythology gets much more airplay than WICCA, and all other religions combined, in public schools. My son also pointed out witches are most often portrayed as bad people, ugly, old, wicked women, in kid’s books, unlike Christians in kids’ books. I feel my friend’s argument falls flat. She is saying since there are mostly fictionalized books that predominantly demonize witches (as Christians would complain about glamorizing witches if a WICCA-positive book was to go into their kids’ school libraries, I am sure…), and since Halloween is acknowledged in books and activities at schools, she is claiming that she should be able to go all out with her Jesus beliefs and Christmas. But the situation is not that black and white. For every positive portrayal of WICCA or a witch in a kid’s book in public schools in America, there are 100-1000+ references to “God,” using male pronouns for that god, in kid’s books in those school libraries.
Christians get away with a lot of name calling when it comes to pagans. The most common idiotic slur is to label pagans as “Satan/Devil worshippers.” It appears Christians view religions that include women as godheads or nature as a living being, as “demonic,” which leads us back to the Colonialism present within Christianity.
At this stage, Christians have dominated our public domain in the U.S. to our country’s detriment. They want special privileges. Recently a Rabbi asked the Sea-Tac Airport outside Seattle, Wa. to display an 8 foot menorah alongside the 8 large Christmas trees they had on display. The airport blew him off. He threatened to sue. Immediately a Sea-Tac employee went to the local media and made the Rabbi out to be a Grinch, if not anti-Christian. Outraged Christians lodged 500+ complaints with Sea-Tac and threatened the Rabbi with violence. Under public pressure, the Rabbi said he would not sue Sea-Tac so they have now put the 8 trees back up…but what about the menorah? Nope. Sea-Tac will not allow it to go up. One more example of Christians acting as though they have entitlements no one else does.
Christians often seem to be like children who never learn how to share. Like those kids who scream loudest when they don’t get what they want at all times. Like those temper tantrum kids. They certainly cannot take what they dish out, that’s for sure. Just as it is ridiculous for white people to claim reverse racism in a dominant paradigm of white privilege, and it is preposterous that more men have sued and won on sex discrimination charges than women have (in this patriarchy where women are still paid less than men), it is also crazy to claim Christians are being discriminated against on any level in the U.S. The Christian agenda dominates all over the place in the U.S., from the president, to the Supreme Court, to Congress and the Senate, to local politicians and local school boards. American politicians predominantly profess allegiance to Christianity and the Jesus myth, thus it makes news when a non-white, non-Christian, non-male makes it in politics. What really alarms me about Christian politics though, is their claim to be doing God’s work. When I hear GWBush say in public, out loud, without any embarrassment, that his God told him to go to war in Iraq, I shudder. And when I hear Christians whining about oppression, when the people they oppress, such as Native American Indian elders, or pagans, or Rabbis, or women, fight back, and the Christians then claim they are now victims of oppression themselves, well, that is simply stupid rhetoric. Sorry to be so blunt.
The Sea-Tac situation is a perfect example of Christians feigning oppression when they receive the smallest taste of their own medicine. Christians become enraged when treated like all other religions are treated, with exclusion. They pushed for their Christmas trees to be allowed back into Sea-Tac but no Christian organization emerged to support the Rabbi’s reasonable request to add a menorah. No religious solidarity there. Just the same old Christian entitlement. Due to the pervasiveness of Christian dominance, we must now take precautionary measures to promote ANY religion BUT Christianity in our public schools if we are ever to near equality. I support the menorah at Sea-Tac, if there are Christmas trees on display. I support positive and realistic, informative books on WICCA in all public school libraries. I DO NOT support children mouthing the word “God” in their pledges to military allegiance to this country, nor do I approve of that pledge in any way. I do not support Christian-exclusive ANYTHING in our public schools. I do not even support the use of the word “god” in public schools at this point.
Since we’ve used the Christian term for the Great Spirit, “God,” for the entire history of America’s public school systems, let’s now substitute the word “Allah” for the word “God” at all times, in all public schools, for the entirety of 2007. This includes changing the wording of “God” to “Allah” in the pledge of allegiance as well. Then let’s spend all of 2008 referring to this Great Spirit with only female pronouns and again, substituting the word “goddess” wherever the word “God” had been used in public schools before. Let’s actually PRACTICE inclusion for once by using multicultural terminology. If Christians want their religious doctrine in public schools, they’ll need to wait at the back of the line for their second helpings, as most religions have never even had their first helping of inclusion in America’s public schools. And Christians have been far too vocal and oppressive to now claim their lack of privilege, in and of itself, is an oppression. That is utter nonsense. Christians once again got special privileges this week at my local airport, and it makes me sick
Membership in Wiccan, Deity, Druid and Pagan sects has been skyrocketing — up from an unregistered blip in 1990 to more than 350,000 as of 2001.
The life span for newborns has jumped another couple of months, during which time they can expect to have either 5.4 (for men) or 3.3 (for women) sexual partners by age 44. The outlook after that is uncertain.
Both marriage and divorce rates kept declining, except in Connecticut, where the number of divorces per 1,000 people jumped from 2.0 to 3.1 between 2000 and 2004.
If you are curious about your nation, your state or your neighbors, the Census Bureau’s latest national statistical abstract gives a glimpse of where the culture is heading.
Compiled each year from a variety of sources and surveys, it tells us how much television we watch (nearly half our lives is spent absorbing media of one sort or another, according to the Census Bureau), and how often we injure ourselves (women are more likely to suffer falls; men are about twice as likely to be struck by an object or another person; they are poisoned at about the same rate).
Not to mention shoes. We love shoes, 2.1 billion pairs of them, almost all from overseas.
Jerry Falwell, the Virginia televanglist, is the best advertisement for the stupidity, hypocrisy and veniality of TV-based evangelical religion. Watch Jerry Falwell condemn Tinky Winky for being gay, while his three chins quiver in moral indignation. Come on, how can any reasonably intelligent person take this joker seriously?
Jerry Falwell may expend his time, resources and money to promote his intolerant faith, but he has given paganism in Virginia a big boost.
From the Americans United for Separation of Church and State Web site:
“A group of Pagans in Albemarle County, Va., was recently given permission to advertise their multi-cultural holiday program to public school children – and they have the Rev. Jerry Falwell to thank for it.
The dispute started last summer when Gabriel and Joshua Rakoski, twins who attend Hollymead Elementary School, sought permission to distribute fliers about their church’s Vacation Bible School to their peers via “backpack mail.” Many public schools use special folders placed in student backpacks to distribute notices about schools events and sometimes extra-curricular activities to parents.
School officials originally denied the request… citing a school policy barring ‘distribution of literature that is for partisan, sectarian, religious or political purposes.’
…Rakoski ’sicced the Liberty Counsel on the county,’ and the policy was soon revised to allow religious groups to use the backpack mail system. Liberty Counsel is a Religious Right legal group founded by Mathew Staver and now affiliated with Falwell.”
Some pagans took took advantage of the school’s decision to allow religious groups to use the backpack mail system. Now fresh-faced school children, including many evangelicals, are being sent home with printed material in their backpacks extolling the virtues of paganism.
Of course evangelicals are now howling in protest; how dare the school system be fair and impartial! Christian myths and fables are kosher, but the school can’t allow impressionable minds to be subjected to the pagan faith!
Hopefully at least one born again school child will be converted to the pagan belief system. I never heard of a pagan bashing a homosexual in the name of paganism.
Only an organization founded by Jerry Falwell would find fault with a school policy “barring distribution of literature that is for partisan, sectarian, religious or political purposes.” Intolerant freaks like Falwell believe that theirs is the only true religion and therefore should be allowed to proselytize without restraint. Other religions are of the devil and don’t deserve the same privilege.
Jerry Falwell, thanks for helping pagans in Virginia. Blessings in the name of Mother Earth.
In this world of increasing noise and clamour, what could the value of silence possibly be? I found the following insightful thoughts going a-begging and would like to bring them to the notice of HT readers.
“Your silence restores your body as a nest energises birds at rest,” said Rabindranath Tagore, while Mahatma Gandhi had this to say: “Silence helps in winning over anger to the extent that no other thing can.”
Bhartrihari, the ancient Sanskrit poet, opined, “Silence is an illiterate’s jewel in a gathering of scholars,” which I felt was truly inspiring.
Ramdhari Singh Dinkar was fond of the quote, “Speech is silver but silence is golden,” which strengthened my resolve to acquire the practice of silence.
Writer Haribhau Upadhyaya’s observation, “Silence that is born of fear is animal-like while silence owing to discipline is divine,” triggered the spark of spirituality in me.
My thoughts went inevitably to saint Kabir Das’s stanza, with apologies for the translation, always difficult in English: “Arguments and discourse lead to a lot of poison/Speech leads to a great nuisance/But silence bears everyone’s speech/And lends time for a soul to connect with the Supreme.”
With my new soul-consciousness, I recalled my own evolution since my youth. As a schoolboy I was an extrovert with the habit of loud speech who would burst guffaws for no rhyme or reason. By the time I arrived at college, I had become a very talkative person. But what saved me eventually was my habit of going to the library during free periods. I became a bookworm, browsing through any spiritual tome that came my way.
Yet, what could silence give me? I found that it could conserve energy that helped in solving vexing problems. Moreover, if one kept silent through long periods of time, one could get along with one’s business without trouble or hindrance. Calmness has always paid rich dividends.
America prides itself in allowing, even demanding, freedom of religion — until that religion doesn’t feel like a religion. Neo-pagan Wiccas, for example. But the Christmas celebration is wrapped in pagan symbolism. So where does that leave us?
Happy holidays!
Have I just offended you? If you are a member of the American Family Association, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights or the Committee to Save Merry Christmas, I probably have.
For the second year in a row, conservative Christian groups have threatened boycotts of big-box and department stores whose advertisements for “holiday trees” and whose hearty if non-specific holiday well-wishes reflect, these groups say, an “anti-Christian and anti-Christmas bias.” Opponents of generic holiday greetings also suspect that there is something un-American about them. As Alderman Thurston Hanson of Monroe, Wis., objected, when he recently voted against a City Council motion to grant the Chamber of Commerce a permit for a post-Thanksgiving “holiday” parade: “Christmas is a federally mandated holiday.
Ninety percent of people celebrate Christmas, and we shouldn’t offend them by not calling it what it is.”
Hanson’s numbers might be somewhat skewed (roughly 80% of Americans are self-identified Christians), but major chains, including Wal-Mart, Target, Walgreen’s, Macy’s and Kohl’s, have gotten the message. The assumption at work here appears to be that, while we are a diverse society, Christmas is a national holiday that trumps all other seasonal celebrations.
“Black Friday,” the day after Thanksgiving that kicks off the annual frenzy of consumerism known as the holiday season, sets the tone. Gone are the days when folks who worried about rampant materialism cautioned that it was time to “put Christ back into Christmas.” Now it’s time to put Christ back into Kmart. And so, as Wal-Mart spokeswoman Marisa Bluestone has bravely proclaimed, “This year, we’re not afraid to say ‘Merry Christmas.’ ”
What about us?
Of course, if you are a Jew celebrating Hanukkah, or a Muslim marking Eid al-Fitr, or a neo-pagan Wiccan for whom the Winter Solstice (Dec. 21) is a major observance, you probably had appreciated the more inclusive acknowledgement that the end of the year is a festive time for you, too.
Indeed, particularly if you are Wiccan, the matter of being un-included this holiday season must especially sting. A group of Wiccan families is suing the Department of Veterans Affairs for the right to bury their fallen heroes in military cemeteries in graves marked with a pentacle, the five-pointed star that symbolizes their religion, much as a cross does Christianity or a Star of David, Judaism.
Why this symbolic exclusion that potentially affects about 1,800 active service personnel?
Veterans Affairs recognizes 38 religious symbols for soldiers’ graves, and to the casual observer, some of them are odd, indeed. In addition to a variety of Christian crosses and a cross-section of symbols from world religious traditions ranging from Buddhism to Bahai, the “Available Emblems of Belief for Placement on Government Headstones and Markers” also include symbols for atheists, the Church of World Messianity (Izonume), Sufism Reoriented, Eckankar, the “Humanist Emblem of Spirit,” and the United Church of Religious Science. Given this potpourri of “available” faiths, the exclusion of Wicca, which calls itself the Old Religion and traces its origin to pre-Christian Europe, is baffling.
Or maybe not. The federal authorities have offered no convincing explanation for the banning of this one group’s symbol. But the presumption at work seems to be that, while Christian America will tolerate a certain degree of religious divergence, there is something about witchcraft that simply crosses the line. “Alternative” religious perspectives are one thing; paganism, quite another.
Pagan symbolism
Yet there is a deep, and seasonal, irony here — one that might come as a shock to the “Save Merry Christmas” crowd.
For Christmas is, in its origins and its symbolism, perhaps the most pagan-inspired of all Christian holidays. Its dating derives from the ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia, which was determined by the winter solstice, that astronomical point in the year after which the periods of sunlight on Earth lengthen.
And that’s not all that contemporary Christians have in common with neo-pagans. Most of the popular symbols surrounding Christmas — evergreen trees and other greenery, mistletoe and holly, the Yule log, candles and bonfires and holiday lights, mystical spirits with the ability to fly and to enter and leave a house through its chimney, tricksters who treat or taunt little children, not to mention those elves — all derive from older, pre-Christian Europe.
These pagan-derived symbols and customs are precisely the elements of Christmas that Christian activists are pressing to preserve and promote, in venues such as Target and Macy’s. Compounding the irony even further, these are the symbols that federal and state courts have determined make a holiday display sufficiently “secular” to warrant its construction on public property at taxpayer expense. All of which goes to illustrate what’s wrong when any one religious group or government entity claims the ability to determine what constitutes “religion” in America.
In fact, nothing could be more in keeping with the “Christmas spirit” than to embrace and celebrate religious diversity. And nothing could be truer to the spirit of the First Amendment than to honor American war dead as they and their loved ones would wish. No single group of self-proclaimed Christians holds a premium on the meaning of this magical season. And no government agency should decide what “qualifies” as an appropriate religious symbol.
And so, no offense intended, but season’s greetings.
Heavenly Father? God through Jesus? Adonai? Allah? Or the Goddess?
Family prayer at Thanksgiving?
Quick prayer at bedtime?
Asking through clenched teeth for divine aid to control road rage?
Prayer is getting a lot of attention these days: in polls, in labyrinths, in conferences to fine-tune prayer skills. Bloggers muse about such matters as their favorite postures for praying. Some Web sites post prayer requests.
No matter how often people pray or to whom, when it comes to private prayer, “people say that the most recent time they prayed, it was about family,” said Christopher Bader, a researcher in a random survey about religion in America.
The survey of 1,721 people, released in September by Baylor University and the Gallup Organization, showed that three-fourths of Americans pray at least once a week; more than one-fourth prayed several times a day. Of those who prayed regularly, 77 percent prayed for relatives.
“We couldn’t get too specific about what people pray about, like, ‘I need to get rid of this bunion on my foot’ or ‘I need to get this job,’” Bader said, “but we found that the least likely thing they were to pray about is what is listed as a prayer concern in a church program or newsletter. People are thinking about their issues.”
He said researchers got a surprise when they asked to whom people prayed.
“Given the evangelical focus on Jesus and the rhetoric about having a personal relationship with him, only 5 percent said they prayed to Jesus,” Bader said. “Most prayed to God and sometimes to Jesus. But when they pray, they are thinking more broadly, about the big boss, so to speak.”
Depending on religious affiliation or the lack of it, people also prayed to the Virgin Mary, Buddha, Allah, angels, saints, spirits and “a higher power.”
“Nine percent said, ‘No one special,’” Bader said.
Baylor researchers said they plan surveys every other year about prayer and other religious issues.
“We hope to get more specific in the future,” Bader said. “This is the first salvo.”
Here is a look at the prayer lives of some in the United States.
u u u
“More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of . ?”
Alfred Lord Tennyson, poet
While much of the world is dreaming — 4 a.m. — the Rev. Don Miller awakens to his internal alarm clock. Quietly, so as not to disturb his sleeping wife, he heads outside to his “prayer arbor,” a wooden swing facing east.
“The Father has been talking to me at 4 a.m. for 30 years, and I’ve never had to set an alarm clock,” said Miller, 83, of Fort Worth.
Miller, whose nickname is Man of Prayer, is the founder of Bible-Based Ministries and has led prayer conferences around the globe. Whether he speaks in the United States, Africa or Australia, his suggestions are the same.
“Keep prayer simple,” Miller says. “Don’t complicate prayer. Let theologians do that.”
Follow a good example — Jesus — and keep prayer short, he says.
“I’m a big believer in a minute prayer, or a prayer of 15 words or less,” he said. “Many of Jesus’ prayers were less than 15 words.
“When he was on the cross, his prayer was, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ And the last prayer he ever prayed was, ‘Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.’
“The only long prayer is the one in John 17. And that one — the one we call the Lord’s Prayer — is really not a prayer but a teaching instrument given when his disciples asked him to teach them how to pray.
“I praise God in the morning because I’m alive. I praised him one afternoon recently when I drove home from the doctor’s,” Miller said. “I praised him because I didn’t have to have surgery” for a carcinoma, a kind of cancer, but rather just topical treatment.
“You need a quiet time and place to pray. It’s hard to have that in today’s noisy society, but prayer is the intimate communication between the heavenly Father and his child.
“God likes to hear specific prayers,” Miller said. “If we pray for the lost, I hear God say, ‘Which one?’ But God doesn’t get on a loudspeaker; he speaks to me out of his Word, so I carry a little New Testament in my pocket.”
u u u
“As for having a prayer rug, the idea is that you are bowing to Almighty God. You wash up and be clean for your prayers. The rug is anything clean; you can use a clean bedsheet. There have been times when I’ve prayed on cardboard.”
Aftab Siddiqui, a Muslim
Praying five times a day is vital to Islam. When Muslim employees of American Airlines learned that management had found a small room for prayer in the company’s building near the airport, they were thrilled. A manager ushered them into the room, then took a look at their faces.
“What?” she asked.
Aftab Siddiqui chuckled as he recalled the room, furnished with a table and chairs. Muslims pray in a no-frills space — better for laying down prayer rugs and bowing, kneeling and touching their foreheads to the floor.
The furniture’s not a problem, though: They simply move it before prayers.
“We’re very happy and satisfied with the way management has been helpful and understanding of the value of prayers for us,” he said.
u u u
“Any thoughtful person prays for the well-being of his or her family or community, and it’s just human nature if someone is hurting to pray for relief.”
Rabbi Ralph Mecklenburger
“The tradition going back a couple thousand years is that God’s name is too holy to pronounce,” said Rabbi Ralph Mecklenburger of Beth-El Congregation in Fort Worth, a Reform Jewish congregation.
Yahweh is the hypothetical reconstruction of the name for God, but “modern scholars really don’t even know how it was pronounced,” he said.
“Hebrew is only written in consonants. We don’t know what the vowels were.”
The equivalent Hebrew word is Adonai, he said, and “we pray directly to him.”
Pronunciation aside, “it’s natural to reach out to God,” he said.
“Any thoughtful person prays for the well-being of his or her family or community, and it’s just human nature if someone is hurting to pray for relief. It’s not just about me, me, me.”
He said the most common prayer in the Jewish tradition is for peace.
He tells others — and himself — not to forget prayers of thanksgiving.
“I think it’s the unselfish prayers that do us the most credit,” the rabbi said.
“In modern times, Jews, Christians, Muslims all pray to the same God.
“Hebrew is considered the language of prayer, and Hebrew sounds especially prayerful. You’re allowed to pray in any language, but prayer is the language of the heart.”
u u u
“We have very strict rules. If someone wants a specific person to come into their life, we can’t ask for that. That’s manipulating, and you can’t do that. But we can ask for someone suitable to come into their life.”
Kim Hochreiter, a Wiccan
Kim Hochreiter, a resource pricer at Thrift Town in Arlington, Texas, said the Wiccan religion is nature-based and she and other practitioners pray to what they refer to as the Goddess or a universal power.
“All prayer, in my opinion, is focusing your thoughts on a desired end,” she said. “That’s what magic is — to facilitate a change somewhere.
“We use seven-day jar candles sometimes, and you might write a person’s name on it and what you’re praying for. ? I’ve never seen a candle last that long (seven days), but that’s how you set up your spell: ‘May so-and-so be well.’ If possible, you keep it lit, but when you go to work, that’s not always safe, so a lot of us will put it in a bathtub or kitchen sinks so it doesn’t fall out. We believe divinity lives both within and without, and I don’t have to go to church to find this.”
Members of covens also go to “covensteads” to conduct rituals. “Where I live is mine,” Hochreiter said. “We meet on full and new moons and Wiccan festivals eight times a year. After 9-11, we prayed for the people who were injured, that those missing would be found and for the families of those who had physically gone on.”
u u u
“Nobody comes to a builder and says, ‘I want a home chapel.’ This is kind of like a leap of faith. ? Am I goofy? I don’t know.”
Builder Randy Bollig
Early this year in Argyle, Texas, Randy Bollig, a Catholic, began building $1 million-plus speculative homes with chapels.
Dave and Donna Perley say they did not buy their home because it had a place to pray and worship.
“We were a little surprised, but we go to church every Sunday, so we appreciate what Randy is doing,” Dave Perley said. “Most of our friends are believers and don’t go, ‘That’s weird.’”
The 250-square-foot chapel has images replicating early Christian art in Roman catacombs, including an image of the Virgin Mary and the Last Supper.
Perley said his wife plans to hold Bible studies and prayer in the chapel soon.
“You know, with your day-to-day work and dealing with the kids, you just kind of go, ‘Hmm. I think I’ll go in there for a while.’
“It’s not that it’s any greater than any room in the house; we don’t worship the room,” Perley said, “but it reminds you what you are supposed to be doing. It keeps you in check: ‘Did I say the right thing? Did I do the right thing?’
“You don’t go in there to say a bad word, I’ll tell you that right now.”
u u u
“Is this the plan? I went through all this to end up here? Well, let me tell you something, Mister. You’re not funny!”
Robert Barone, the character played by Brad Garrett on “Everybody Loves Raymond,” glaring heavenward after a rough day
The Rev. Bayard Pratt of Bedford’s Martin United Methodist Church doubts that God would take offense at that.
“The Psalms are full of people venting. Job vented as well. That’s anger — that’s a God-given emotion,” Pratt said. “I think railing at God is healthy.”
When he prays, he said, “I begin with the premise that God is a God of grace, rather than vengeance, and that we’re forgiven before we ask.
“When I look at my own life, there’s a comfortableness that develops, a sense of awareness,” he said. “I don’t know that I have a routine. It’s more that I constantly find myself seeking God’s presence in the conversation.
“There’s the ability to be real and human, to say, ‘God, my patience on the highway is not in the top 10.’”
As for why God sometimes does not seem to answer — or at least does not give the desired response — those conundrums have been around for as long as humanity.
Pratt does not have an answer.
“When someone is critically ill and we pray for them, they may or may not get well,” Pratt said. “If they do, we thank God. If they don’t, we need the presence of God.
“We can’t comprehend God. We put God in a box and make him too small. Our language is the way we state our desires to God. But I think how God responds to us is a very different thing.”
u u u
“We hold hands sometimes during our prayers, but we’re not ritualistic. ? It’s like talking to a friend?.”
Marianne Lagerstrom, mother and wife
On a sunny Friday in September, at an outdoor table at Weinberger’s Delicatessen in Grapevine, the Lagerstrom family of Flower Mound was ready to eat lunch.
But first, a prayer.
“We always pray before meals, whether publicly or at home,” said homemaker Marianne Lagerstrom, 38, of Flower Mound. Her husband is corporate trainer Steve Lagerstrom, 47; their children are Andrew, 8, and Liza, 6.
No matter that sometimes singing waiters are making a to-do over a nearby diner’s birthday.
“I know we’re talking to God, and he can hear us anytime, anyplace,” Marianne Lagerstrom said. “You don’t worry about noise drowning us out. It comes from a need inside to be thankful no matter where you are and who may be watching.”
They do not always close their eyes to pray.
“The other day, I said, ‘Let’s do an open-eye prayer,’ because we were with some people who are not pray-ers, and I didn’t want them to feel self-conscious or weird about praying in public,” Lagerstrom said. “I like to do that, too, so the children can see my face and we can pray face to face.”
The prayers go beyond gratitude for food. “I have a wayward sibling — I don’t know if that’s ‘Christian-ese’ — but I pray for him all the time,” Lagerstrom said.
“We hold hands sometimes during our prayers, but we’re not ritualistic. It’s just whatever we do at the time. It’s like talking to a friend — you don’t always hug.”
The goddess Athena’s image is stamped on ancient loom weights.
Maybe women are so afraid of wearing the same dress because deep in our minds, we still retain the ancient idea that clothing is a form of magic.
There’s a really interesting book that I’ve been pimping for years: Women’s Work — the First 20,000 Years, byt Elizabeth Wayland Barber.
Reading that book gave me a whole new understanding of clothing, women,and the textile industry.
Two women showing up in the same dress — it feels as scary and potentially explosive as Gandalf and Saruman showing up with the same staff.
Clothing is cheap and non-unique now, and produced by people who are nearly slaves. Women have lost most of the power they had back in ancient times when clothing was unique and magic and produced by communities of women who worshipped while they wove.
