How I’m Going to Celebrate the Christmas Season
Hello, welcome back! By the time this is posted, Christmas would’ve just finished, however I am writing this before Christmas and I thought I would share how, as a Christo-pagan, I am going to celebrate the Christmas season.
Four Sundays before Christmas, I started celebrating Advent. In the Christian tradition, Advent is the season of waiting. As the Jews were waiting for the birth of their Messiah, today we wait for Christ to come back to earth and rule the nations. During this celebration, I participate in the She Reads Truth Advent readings as well as go to church every Sunday as they light the four Advent candles to represent hope, peace, joy, and love.
On December 21st, I will celebrate the Celtic festival of Alban Arthan. This festival is one of mourning and joy. Those two are in direct opposition of each other, however we mourn the year and sit within the darkness before celebrating the rebirth of light and the hopes we have for the new year. The festival is also accompanied with the legend that Dagda, the great god or all-father (similar to the Norse god Odin), tricked the husband of the goddess Boand and sent him away on and errand and laid with her. Dagda made the sun stand still for nine months until Boand bore a child. This story is significant because it mark the union of the sun and the earth.
I will celebrate this festival by waking up early (since the solstice in at 3:02 in the morning, my time) and sitting in the darkness, reflecting on this past year and mourning the end. Once my reflection has finished, I will light a candle to celebrate the warmth and light of the coming year (and then go back to sleep lol). Later that night, I will make a non-alcoholic cider drink to celebrate the rebirth of the year. I will set my goals and intentions for the next year before watching a Christmas movie snuggled up in my blankets.
On December 24th, I will celebrate Christmas eve, by attending my church’s Christmas eve service and reading the Gospel of Luke to remind myself of Jesus’s ministry on earth and to remember this season of waiting for His return. Afterwards, I will start to make some cinnamon rolls to surprise my family with in the morning.
On Christmas day, once I wake up, I will read my devotional and celebrate the birth of Christ alone in my room before baking the cinnamon rolls and opening gifts that my family has all gifted each other. I will wish my friends and boyfriend a merry Christmas before putting my phone away for the day and spending time with my family.
Throughout my 18 years of life, I have discovered that even though the holiday season has great spiritual and religious significance, there is also a deeply personal significance. This season is meant for giving and for community. In these troubling times, community is more important than ever, spending time with family in every way possible is extremely important. As the year comes to an end, connections shouldn’t. This season is a time to be loved ones and celebrate the joys of life while also mourning the end of a year (although I do believe there won’t be much mourning this year).
I encourage everyone reading this to start new holiday traditions where family and community are at the center of everything you do. The spiritual significance is important, however we don’t know what religion is “correct,” so I can’t tell you to put Christ at the center of this season, especially if you don’t believe in Him. What I do know for sure, though, is that the connections we have with each other last for eternity and it is important to cultivate and grow in these connections.
xoxo Meghan
